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INDEX FOR JANUARY-JUNE, 1952
SEI 7 5B?
= Nation
BURLING,
PUBLIC
LIB.
AME
America’s Leading Liberal Weekly Since 1865
”
INDEX TO VOLUME 174
JANUARY 5, 1952 to JUNE 28, 1952
The following letters are used to indicate
the type of article:
A Art i
€ Correspondence
Ct
D
E Editorial Article
EP Editorial Paragraph
M Music
MP Moving Pictures
Fr Poetry
Ss Signed Article
Book reviews and reviewers are
separately in the Book Review Section.
indexed
Pages
1- 20 January 5 309-336 April 5
21- 48 January 12 337-356 April 12
49- 68 January 19 357-392 April 19
69- 96 January 26 393-412 wn 26
97-116 February 2 413-440
117-144 February 9 441-460 ne 10
145-164 February 16 461-488 May 17
165-192 February 23 489-508 May 24
193-212 March 1 509-536 May 31
213-240 March 8
241-260 March 15
261-288 March 22
289-308 March 29
565-592
593-612
A
.
A. D. A. See Americans for democratic action
Academic freedom
American society. H. H. Wilson
Attack on a Lawrence college; vp
Attacks on. Pees Se
Banning of ig ee by
on economics,
Phoenix Apne) college. L. Kohr; C_.
Dismissal of F. O. Wiggins by university
of Minnesota, D. Bruner; S, issue of
March 22
Englewood, New Tate
to certify textboo! (ice eae
Oregon free from ay coreg Sprague,
—_ of the state, R. L. Neuberger;
na schools’
teachers refuse
EP
retreat from freedom. G.
G.
At Lisbon conference, F. Kirchwey; S..
Louis,
Canicesions of a subversive; S
Advertising, good and Ben
and white. K.
Hutchison;
Africa, No
Freedom’s stake in; conference called by
the Nation’s Associates; EP______512;
OE EEE
Report EEE
Africa, South. See Union of South Africa
Aid, economic, for foreign countries. See
Economic aid for foreign countries
Air force; strike of reserve officers; EP___
lanes; E. Engel,
facts on - gee disasters.
een ee ee
Alaska; statehood; i Thott of; EP___145;
“mie America” exhibit; EP_____..
Aliens; bail plod se "to deny upheld by aa
nee Chasen ie hee
———e wiles: clinical ner pp
537-564 June
7
une 14
une 21
613-672 June 28
PAGE
658
117
661
143
70
82
653
195
637
497
477
492
$53
415
7
524
225
Allen, Paul
PAGE
O’Connell, Arthur, actor; name overlooked
in review of Golden boy; C.. = 300;
BOR RO passin oti Oe ee 285
Aluminum; Anaconda’s ’s big steal; power from
Hungry horse dam. W. Shelton; = 7
Alvarez del Vayo, Julio
Argentina; torture used by Perén; S_.... 361
Armaments; Lisbon conference; S.._...... 221
Detention by immigration authorities__. 165
Foreign pole speaking out on; S._...466;
I Ne a cece at eeeecacaeeoctnrctaaets (AOL
France; needed—a Victor muro, S196
Germany:
Effect of signing of European treaties;
a ea es oe
Nazi international; rebirth of; 318
Rearmament; Germany's price goes CUS
Sepecmeaeeoast “OS COR TUGCIOND cece med
Great Britain; middle course; Gen a
Indo-China; views of a Vietnamese; S— 78
Litvinov, passing of; S__________. - a7
Spain; Franco in role of friend of Arabs;
2 Ss ae
Switzerland; “cradle of neutralism; eee ATd
United nations:
Disarmament discussions; S._.........-_-.. 596
Economic and social council; meeting,
discussions, and program; S — ~~ ~~ —. 570
Failure to achieve unity in action; speech
TUOCS TIRE Oe pet ccnccecnicmmeein LAS
General assembly; accomplishment: 5 k
with Padille Nervos Bienes 171
Or the North Atlantic treaty organiza-
tion 265
Vishinaky offer of atomic-bomb control plan; '
a ae sepheaciae 2
Amabl and the night visitors. B. H. “Haggin;
TE ciarccaseegrenuabinctotoesieaiiee akan ALO
America “plus movement, , California, C. W.
Parker; S, issue of March 29
American abstract artists. M, Farber; . 236
American assembly; meeting of; oo oe 441
American association for the advancement of
science; meeting. L. Engel; S.--—_-_..-___._ 27
American legion; accountability ce 635
Objection to two members of Chicago com-
mittee of 19; EP_.__.__. ; .. 242
American medical association; opposition to
“socialized medicine’; S lemainidinsiletid |
American woolen company; may shift niche
tions to south; Sees a. AO
Americans for democratic action; fifth anni-
SEIS Pe cecal hr einen tape 2
"HTUUATE BCOL ONG TOE nce mecetenceniceeeens 4E9
Anna Christie. J. W. Krutch; D —.¥ ~~... 92
Another man’s poison. M. Farber; MP... 65
Anti-Nazis. See Germany
Antony and Cleopatra, M. Marshall; D........ 44
Arabs
And Israel; role of United nations, F.
Kirchwey: a ee 559
Franco plays role of friend. J. Alvarez del
RS i tetera 419
Hostility toward west. R. N. Baldwin; a 554
Peace with Israel the key to Middle east
stability eens ee AO
Refugee problem; long st “step forward; ha 100
Relations with Israel. Mrs, E E. Roosevelt; 586
Argentina
ae crisis and political terror; EP
a neat BEL> 60e alsa = 361, 421
Economic distress: Perén measures; EP... 194
Perén’s downfall foreseen. F. Gonzales;
ess 421; see also EP,.—_______.. 441
agers used b by Perén. J. Alvarez del Vayo; ace
Armaments; discussion at United nations. i
Alvarez del Va nt 596
Disarmament, blow to, at Lisbon. J. Alvarez
del Vayo; hes: 221
PAGE
See also North Atlantic treaty organiza-
ion; ee States — Defense, National
Aronsfeld, C, C.
Tresny arctic of liberal journals of South
Africa; eh eeeeesle eee eee
Around the United States; issues of Tansey
5, February 2, February 16 (see also C,
164); March 1, March 15, March 22, March
29, April 5, ‘April 19, ‘April 26, May S)
May 10, May 24, May 31, a 7. ‘panes ai
Art; reviews of, See Faison,
Farber, M.
wait situation in; views of W. O. Douglass
SS
Assembly, general. “See United “nations
Atkinson fe
On fahiae © stant on presidental campaign
SRC sb \Siesspecdticaninee eecmstvanesunneesnicincenueeerete
Atlanta, Georgia; enlargement increases per-
centage of white voters;
Atomic warfare; Vishinsky offer of control
plan. J. A. Del a
Austria; aid to, further, “opposed ‘by ‘Senator
Ellender; Pence
Auto workers’
Holland; S,
education conference. H. G.
issue of April 19
Awner, Max’
Palmer Hoyt and the Denver Post. S,
issue of March 15
B
Background to danger. M. Farber; MP
Bail for aliens; rig t to deny upheld by su-
preme court;
Bailey, Gerald
Germany: Last chance to negotiate; S......
Balanchine ballets; New hace “Oy ballet.
. Haggin; eee a Ae
Baldwin, Roger N.
Arabs’ hostility to west; S,..qsccscerseecemeerens
Ball, W. MacMahon
Political prospects in oe ee
see also .. ae ida: GC
Ballade, by Robbins. B. H. “Haggin; iS sate
Ballet, ‘the. See Haggin, B, H. — Articles on
the dance
Baltimore; freedom in.......... eee ee
Bamangwato. See Seretse Khama
Barnard, Harry
Tax scandal of 1924; S_..........
Bartlett, Charles
Crusading Kefauver; S....
Basques. See Spain
Batista, General, See Cuba
Baumhoff, Richard G,
Missouri river floods; S.
see also EP, —....-..394;
Beckwith, Burnham P.
Witelenante victim: (Cee Ont
see also C..... sincenaasioemccepananted
Behave yourself, M. “Farber; “MP
Benton, Senator William; charges against
McCarthy nearer investigation; EP.
Sued by McCarthy; i
398;
correction,.__..
Berkeley, ates appearats of Paul
Robeson. Ham urg; S, issue of
June 7
Committee for security and freedom; EP.
Berlioz, Hector, siccetinial du Christ. B. H.
Haggin; Teaco era eorreveiesiees eer
Berns, Madelon
Crisis in French movies; S—————~-.----__
Bernstein, Marver
Guns and butter too; S._———.._—.—
Betone Mary McLeod; barred from deliver-
ing address at high school, Englewood, New
ersey; fp ee
Bevan, Aneurin, See Great eee — Politics
Bevanism wins in America. Sternberg; S_
Beyond comment 423, 449, ts 497, 517,
260
97
574
166
$2
23
18
262
493
45
554
239
238
668
57
426
612
240
65
358
309
538
45
273
275
414
471
576
604
(January-June, 1952
Bhuti. See India
Big night, the. M. Farber; MP__________.
Bigots and the professionals. V. Countryman;
Biser, Max Sats ro
Prisoners of fear; C240; sce also C_
Bisson, T
Japan: Recovery and reaction; S =
Bjol, Erling
Norway's little Point four; S $00;
see also EP.
Blau, Joseph L.
On ambassador to the vatican; lesson of
the past; S.
Bloom, Hannah
Article in issue of December 29, 1951)
commended. R. S. Morris, Jr., and G.
M. Cowell;
California's church school i
Cedars of Lebanon hospital, as
dismissals of doctors; S, issue of May 3
Bofman, Albert
RNS REI set eticmes
Bolivia; revolt against military junta; EP —
Bonn. See Germany — Western
Books
Censorship; M. Josephson; S__—_______
Banning of textbook on economics by
hoenix ) coies. L...obr; C...
Civil liberties read , ieee
Little blue; and E. Haldeman-Julius. W. J.
I a at eerie
Boots Malone. M. Farber; MP__————-_____.
= symphony orchestra. B. H. Haggin;
Bowen, Charles R.
Availability of W. O, Douglas; C_-_..._
Boyd-Orr, Lord
oscow trade — SSiieeriecionaeeel
Boyle, William Jr,; subject of inquiry
into R. F. C. ot i ce eee
Brameld, Doctor Theodore; ban on address
in Red Bank, New Jersey. L. Zuckerman;
S, issue of April 26
Praised for article on free schools; C
Bridges, Harry; crusade against. F, Harper;
Brome, Vincent
British azines; decline of; S
Writer's dilemma in Britain; §
Brooks, Alex.
Immigration;
Brooks, James. M. Farber; A————________
Brown, Edward F.
Availability of W. O. Douglas; C_____
Brown, George; on labor stand on presidential
campaign issue ee
Brown, Ralph S., Jr.
Government employees; civil rights of; S_—
Bruner, Dick
Dismissal of F. O. Wiggins by University
of Minnesota; S, issue of March 22
Bryson, Hugh
On labor stand on presidential campaign
McCarran’s iron curtain;
issues;
ucks ia Pennsylvania; Levittown in.
ee en,
Budapest quartet. “B. HS aggin,
Budenz, Louis; earnings by anti-communist
activities; EP
Budget, government, See United States —
Finances
Bureau of internal revenue. See Internal
revenue bureau
Burke, Edmund, on defense of constitutions.
Burma; Chinese nationalist troops in; EP_17;
see also
Business and religion; EP.
Butler, John R.
Seminar on race violence; C___________
“Butter and guns.” See United States —
Economics C
GC. BH.
Summer and smoke; D—————____.
Caesar and Cleopatra. J. W. Krutch; D—
Cairo, Illinois; violence against Negroes in.
L. Schroeter; S124; see also C.
California
America plus movement. C. W. Parker;
S, issue of March 29
Church school war. H. Bloom; S
Primary elections; confusion; E
Callahan, Clarissa E.
Availability of W. O. Douglas; C_-_______
Campaigns for presidential nomination. See
Presidential election; names of aspirants
ae, concentration; provision for building;
Canada ig
Conscription issue. G. O. Rothney and H.
Montcalm;
Cooperative commonwealth federation; gains
ore R oc ia isttl eg
Radio; freedom in question. H. Montcalm;
SE ya as cause of war; conference on.
PAGE
286
641
101
489
96_
$21
240
395
192
323
39
179
299
209
153
574
645
524
190
395
645
80
215
488
457
17
521
569
143
211
594
253
260
Index
Caracole, by Balanchine, B. H. Haggin; S_—
Carleton, William
Southern Democrats;
bolt; S
Carolus
Germany;
And Lisbon; S
Not uniforms but unity; S—
Rearmament: Road to war; S
no mandate for a
Carpenter, Doctor J. Henry; denial of pass-
DORs WE ee eee
Cartoons. See Connolly, B.; Low, D
Cary, Joyce; article on mass mind, M. Mar-
shall;
Castro, Josue de
Malthusian scarecrow; S__-_156; see also
C,239; correction, ~—240; C, 288; C
Catholic action, See Italy
Catholic church. See Roman catholic church
Cato, Marcus
mney global, of vatican; S__—__.
Cedars Lebanon hospital. See Medicine
Censorship
Books. See Books
Magazine. M. Josephson; S________.
See Motion pictures
Motion pictures.
Radio. M. Miller;
Radio and
posed; EP.
Television, M. Miller; S.____”_
Theater. G. W. Gabriel
Thought. See Freedom of thought
Central Africa. See Africa, Central
Cézanne, a show at Metropolitan. S. L.
Faison, Jr., encima
Chafee, ite ctab, Jt.
ania
by congress; pro-
Spies into heroes; S——— —
Chase, the. J. W. Krutch; D.__ aad
Chiang Kai-shek. See China, nationalist
Chicago
Committee of 19; opposition of American
legion to two members; ees
Freedom in ——
Politics, machine- “gun. eA McWilliams; -:
China
And Japan; relations of. K. a
New; impressions of. V. K. kao;
elite
China, communist
Impressions of. V. K. R. V. Rao__-—320,
China, nationalist
Activities; support by United States; EP__
Chiang’s guerrilas. Roth eae 80;
see also ee
Troops in Barna: EP 7
see also ~
China lobby; investigation nearer; pe
Christie, James F.
On labor stand on presidential campaign
SRI crc eeeeeens
Church, catholic. See Roman catholic church
Church and state; separation of. M. De W.
Howe; SS ee eee
See also Education
Churchill, Winston
Address to congress; EP.
Visit to United States; EP.
Visit; resumé of; EP
Cincinnati, university of; barring of mock
political convention at request of Taft
supporters; EP__
Cinema. Motion pictures
Citizen’s creed, a. B. De Voto.
Civil rights issue, June 28
Academic freedom and American society.
H. H. Wilson;
Appeal for, by’ Judge J. W. Waring; E—
Bouse, seadine Ust
Cities; freedom) in 2 ee
Creed, citizen’s. B. De Voto____________
Defended by a priest. Reverend John J.
McCimlen>: Sess
[. —————————————
Freedom; infringements upon; from May’s
“Constitutional History of England’__
Freedom in peril. F. ene
per tacrsae employees’.
Labor and civil liberties. A. Eggleston; S_
Professional assailed by bigots. V. Country-
eee
Scientists made targets of suspicion. K. F.
Mather; S = a
Spies into heroes. Z. Chafee, Jr.;
Subversive, a, confessions of, S_________
Wind and whirlwind (from The Nation of
January 170501920) ess sss
Witch hunt and civil rights. C. Me-
Wiles) Se
See also Academic freedom
Clark, General Mark W.; withdrawal of
nomination as ambassador to the vatican;
Clubb, Oliver Edmund; diary of: ES SS
Coal mine disaster, at West’ Frankfort,
Illinois; EP_—___
Murder in the mines. W. Shelton; S
Cole, Lester. See Yankwich,
Collter’s; issue on World War III not en-
2S: Brown, Jr.;
PAGE
238
475
220
402
597
$10
337
335
619
631
491
625
391
618
437
348
22
117
80
358
574
28
69
i
49
416
636
658
540
666
667
636
395
650
615
664
647
641
638
618
637
617
651
49
264
123
Vol. 174)
dorsed by state department; EP_._-_-___._ 145;
Colorado; and migratory labor; EP__
Committee against violence in Florida, the;
petition to Attorney General McGrath; C__ 192
mon, Laura
Sex guideposts; C_..487; see also. 250
Communism
= of the Roman catholic church;
In labor unions, W. Shelton; S170; _ .
correction pe ces vee a
Charges of infiltration into Scarsdale, New .
York, schools fail; EP —__...__, 664)
Communist party af
Budenz earnings by anti-communist activ- \
Se.) re Sa 395 F
Kazan confession of former membership,
and newspaper advertisement; EP
Witch hunt in Memphis, Tennessee, a
Mostert; C..144; see also letters. 412
Lattimore’ strikes back; testimony. F.
Kirchwey; S_— speci
ss yeacmsciollans camps; provisions for building; ey
Congdon, William. S. L. Faison, Jr.j A 391 |
Connolly, Bob; cartoons attacking “natism” i
in South Africa — as nceeeapeteae
Conscription, military. See Universal military }
training }
Constitutions; defense of; view of E. Burke 645
Consumers. See United States — Economics
Cooley, Richard Strother '
Case of W. Goulding; S, issue of :
April § t
Cmeneens caeeress federation, Can-
gains; EP___
Corruption in government. See United States
—- Government s
Cory, Donald Webster, and A. Ellis
Defense of Sige sex studies; S250;
reply by M Sapirstein, —_.__.952;
see also eerie ecoesieseeseneron—eean aa a
Cosi Fan Tutte. B. H. Haggin; M__-___._ 259 __
Countryman, Vern }
Bigots and the professionals; S.__t_-.__._ 641
Courts. See Yankwich, L.
Cowell, George M. and R. S. Morris, Jr.
Bloom article commended; C..__._____, ae
Crankshaw, Edward: excerpt from book,
“Cracks in the Kremlin wall”___-____. 621
Credit control See United States —
Economics
Creed, citizen’s. B. De Voto;_________. 636
Cripps, Sir Stafford; death: EP ae
Crossword puzzles, by F. W. Lewis. See
back Rages of The Nation
Cuba; tista seizure of government; EP. 263
Cunnin, apes. S a M., ‘ '
Jim Crow, M. See
D
D. A. R. See Daughters of the American
revolution
Dance, the. See Haggin, B. H.
Daughters of the American revolution; attack
on United nations; Sr 415
Day the earth stood still. Farber; MP___ 18
de Castro, Josue de. See "ihe Josua
Defense, national. See United States
Delaware; decision for admittance of Negroes
to non- ‘segregated schools; EP Sas
Pe. Leon, Daniel: birth centenary. E. Hass;
6 eee 564
Democracy and monarchy; EP__-_______ 145
Democratic party; Frank E. McKinney, chair-
man, subject of inquiry; EP___________ 118
See also Presidential election of 1952
Denver Post and P. Hoyt. Awner; S,
issue of March 15 x
Department of justice. See Justice department
de Tocqueville, Alexis; views, a century ago, on
freedom of thought in America__________ 467
Detroit; free in. LE eo
De Voto, Bernard; citizen’s creeda__-_.____. 636
Diaries of General R. W. Grow and O. E.
Clubb; Ea eee
Dickens, Charles; readings from, J. W.
Krutch; D._ = = EE See
Disarmament, See eee
Discrimination, racial; ee values not
de Seance by tenancy non-Caucasians; ace
See also Negroes — Discrimination
Distrust, international; Ike’s square dance ;
class. D. Low; Ct = eee
Doctors. See Medicine
Doty, Dale E.; We Shelton: to Federal power Ps
commission. elton; S222
Douglas, William O.
Revolution is our business; S__________. 516
Availability for the nomination E73;
letters: ———_ eee
Committee for his candidacy. B. R. Sorkin
and others; C___._._ = eee
Defense by Reverend J. J. McCullen;
Ss —— 397; see’ also EP on
Hon president; preference for. F. Rodell; ‘
dquarters in Massachusetts. A. Sidd;
ferred in The Nation's poll _—
aA
) aft, military. See Universal military
the. Sec @> Ube) Krutch,. J. W.;
M., for reviews
S John Foster; economic consequences
Peetnichison: So
E
eeodic ee Maddie east
near. See Near east
d, Senator; conduct in Memphis
bunt. M. Mostert; C__________
aid for foreign countries; Nor-
‘3 lee ere four, E. Bjol; “¢_500;
need for. J. is
eau; eens
conlandereas social See United
c conference, Moscow; EP___.
; Péronism in; EP.
. for free oe pane = of nope
les praised. H alter;
Wate ee
At ols, reli _ : =
ew Jersey, i ers requir
aa 2
erg law, New York. See Loyalty
‘as teac ers; opposition in Wisconsin;
council.
gressive, condemned, C, Salkind; C_.
ic schools’ retreat from freedom. G.
Yatson;
ed oe —
Relez ublic school for teach-
of religi Greenbaum; S__128;
a . T. aoe BS Oi, see also EP
0 hips. See ‘Scholarships
ol church war in California. H. Bloom;
—
battle for; “second round; E__.__
ition in schools, See Negroes —
ination =
, foreign; gagging of. S. Liber-
4 “Televi allocation of . “channels; eae
Teenie OS ee
ss z Academic freedom
ss 5
ae
a=
fe ; and vl liberties; S
en, Lae Ce
g in; Dre eee
n; dilemma in. A. Roth; S___...____
Harold B. ;
. military training; C---._164;
ver, General Dwight D.; Abilene
conservatism shown; Ss
the primaries. W. Shelton; S__.
assembly, "sponsored by him,
housed in Harriman gift; EP________
nt of wenn Eaees to run; E_
pace arms!
ie with
_ Earope votes for Eisenhower. |
¢ dance class. D. Low; Ct-——
of. J. G Harsch; (
stand on presidential campaign
M. Gayn;
ae
spesideial of 1952; see Presidential
primary. See Presidential election
1952
e power, . See Water
th II; accession of; Fg ego
ity. Oklahoma; cooperative hospital. J.
; S, issue of February 2
i tor Allen J.; opposition to
1 aid for Austria; ei er
Albert, and D. W. Cory
| ense of current sex studies; S.. 250;
by M. R. Sapirstein, 252:
e tractor _corporation, and F. E. Me-
ney; inquiry into; EP. = Se
ees, government; civil rights of. R.
n i —
ower
a ia Christ, by Beri
“ eril
a ee
ee
$3 eee
jyoice of;” meeting of ae.
advancement of science
ersey; barring of M. M.
a a= address at high
PAGE
AAS
2%
103
144
489
555
357
565
192
653
70
243
95
—— 653
441
521
512
346
416
147
647
499
498
74
567
222
441
168
SS
515
ee
= 169
542
573
145
23
a Oe
118
644
45
288
60
27
605
415
Index
PAGE
Dee required to certify textbooks;
English-language opera. B. H. Haggin; M— 259
70
Epitaph. M. Van Doren; ee
Ernst, Hugo
Labor and the presidential campaign; S.— 446
Espionage. See Spies
Ethiopia; destruction of Massawa by British.
So eat Werchter 260
Europe
Army agreement; signing of; EP... 537
Eastern; new trade petental. E. Josephson; ae
Treaties, “signing of; slamming door on
Stalin. D. Low; Cpe ara isn ew GAG
Evyjue, William T.
McCarthy in Wisconsin; S__________, 31
Exchange scholarships; Transatlantic founda-
Mons toike Uh.) Magers) Gee een, 335
F
1 ae B
F. P. C. See Federal a commission
Fable, S. Stephanchev; P.
I. See Federal bureau of investigation
181
Fair trade. See United States — Ecomomics
Fairley, Lincoln
Skinners.” costs s7,C- 95
Faison, S, Lane, Jr.
Art:
Cézanne; show at the Metropolitan... 391
Congdon, W. =, 991
Fifteen Americans. Pee piens 457
Fosburgh, J. a een OL
Kandinsky, Wassily 562
Kirchner, L., PEG I
Morgan, M. ee wae
Tactneewell, Te. oe ee 89)
Smith, D. ait Sees <
Whitney museum of American art......... 354
Farber, Manny
Art:
American abstract artists —.
oe James —.
Frederick Seeetentienaiies
Leslie, BLE ESE BERETA ROI
Matisse, H. eee ; ;
Rosenberg, Jam
correction, —
Sloan, John
Motion pictures:
Another man’s poison
Background to danger
Behave yoursel
Big night, the
Boots Malone
Day the earth stood still, the ——____.
Pe mentary of street life in Spanish Har-
ITEEIN \ henetiichostenntliddeniisinianteatediasiaiseaeannrersaatieiemapimmnsiiens
Fighter, the
Films of 1951 ——
Fixed bayonets
High noon
His kind of woman ~
ee wee
Little Big Horn ——. saleaea
Man who cheated himself, gee
Marrying kind, the
Bsencle, $05 Wile ee
My son John; MP
On dangerous ground
Outcast of the islands
People against O'Hara, the——— ~~...
Prowler, the —-.
Racket, the
Rashomon
Sister Carrie —
Biren ries, RING | Seccrcececeeeeees
TONIRS, TRE octane
Walk east on Beacon ——
Westward the women
Fascism and nazism, See = Italy
Pears patil ‘ot. nee
Prisoners of. M: Biser: C ... 240;
Es B60. (Cy mete
“Fechteler document”; publication in Monde;
Federal bureau of investigation; Hoover un-
easiness over investigation of govern-
ment; SS ae
Methods in Hawaii called into question;
Federal
wer commission; appointment of
D. E. BG ae Ne TG a ieee
Feinberg law, New York state. See Loyalty
Ferris, William G.
Mutual fund rainbow; S____EEE_EFT
Feudalism, imperialism, and nationalism —
Fielding, William J.
eas Vherriari- Fis tasi ey Wee 5 cesses
Fifteen Americans. S. i Fataon, jr.; A ——
Fighter, the. M. Farber; MP
Films, See Farber, M., for reviews; Motion
pictures
Fishing industry; competition b re Japan-
ese. Kraus; S, issue of May
Fixed bayonets. M. Farber; MP ——.
513
338
118
149
579
553
452
457
410
18
January-June, 1952)
PAGE
Flagstad, Kirsten; retirement. B. H. Haggin;
Flight» into Egypt. M. Marshall; D.
SGQ3alSQe eo ee een
Floods; Missouri and Mississippi
EP_...394; see also 398; correction,
Florida; bombing case. See "Moore, Harry T.;
Negroes
Violence in: pevden to Attorney general
McGrath, ommittee against violence
in Florida; C
Food supply; and population; Malthusian
scarecrow. J. de Castro; ==156.
correction, =—— 240; (©, = _288-G.
Foreign policy. See Policy, foreign;
names of nations
Foreign students. See Education
Fortune; article on wives of business men.
ep banners) Se ee ai ee
Fosburgh, James. S. L. Faison, Jr.;
Foundations; investigation of; Wee resolu-
tion fon;
Four saints in three acts: B. Haggin; M-__
France
Economics:
Schuman’s pool of troubles. A Werth; S..
Situation not “tragic”; EP —
onan policy:
And German rearmament; EP — WW ..
Indecision, fatal. A. Werth; SiS
Views anh poller on on rearmament of Ger-
many. A erth; ee
Hugo, Victor, a, eer J. Alvarez del
Vasa: -S . eae epee
Motion pictures; crisis in. M. Berns; S_—..
Politics:
Faure cabinet fallas EP
Government change; fall of Pleven. A,
Werth; ——
Pinay, nas, new premier; split in n De ( Gaul-
list movement; ee
Schuman’s pool of froubiles, An Werth;
rivers;
also
See also Indo-China
Franck, Frederick, M. Farber; A
Franco, Francisco. See Spain’
Freedom, academic. See Academic freedom
Freedom clubs, incorporated; activities and
defense of McCarthy; eens
Freedom in peril. F. Kirchwey; SS tesicnestseaieanaiene
Freedom of speech
Ban on Brameld address in Red Bank
New Jersey, L. Zuckerman; S, issue of
April 26
Barring of M. M. Bethune from deliver-
ing address at Englewood, New Jersey,
high school;
Permission ranted to P. Robeson ‘to ap-
year in Berkeley, California, A. S, Ham-
urg; S, issue of June 7
Stand for, by Methodist church; EP ..
Freedom of thought
Berkeley, California, Committee for security
and reedom ; EP came
Censorship in Pawtucket, “Rhode “Tsland,
school; EP ... sbessann
Denial of passports ‘to Doctors” “Carpenter
and Pauling; EI oa
In America a century “ago; views of De
Tocqueville . ee
In Hollywood, California; ~ dismissals of
doctors by Cedars of Lebanon hospital,
Bollywoor, California. H, Bloom; §, issue
ot 1
Stand for, by Methodist church; EP ..........
Freedom to travel; three articles... siecle
Freedoms; preservation of; remarks ‘by sie
TROOP LE. trace aia ee
Friedman, Milton
ra of travel; the nazis come in;
Fromm, Robert
Spain; BSMSI ITE TOS 2) 95 | seocecnetdoenceaseeey
Spain in decay; S . e
Funds, mutual. W. G. Ferris; So
Gabriel, Gilbert W,
Theater censorship; Sa<
Gabrielson, Guy G.; pubject “of inquiry into
R. F, C, loans; EP
Texas, See
Negroes — Discri-
Galveston,
mination
Garis, Robert E.
Recorded music, 142, 308,
Gasperi, Alcide de. See Italy
Gayn, Mark
Surope for Eisenhower; S. ....
Gedda, Luigi; new head of Catholic action
in Italy; EP
General assembly. See United nations
George VI; death of; EP
George, Manfred
German press, depressing ; S -cececscm-svriom
Germany ;
And the Soviet union, See Union of soviet
socialist republics
And the United States:
Policy, American, on nazis ~.........
535
306;
328
612
192
335
204
391
465
437
12
214
166
544
202
196
273
-. 213
54
241
12
236
415
we 413
. 538
98
~ O10)
467
413
198
556
200
36
9
- 579
625
119
599
145
= 519
319
(January-June, 1952
Index
Vol. 174)
PAGE
Court decisions reminiscent of nazi } regimes
Le ea 70
Jews; negotiations over claims on Ger-
many; ener Ae ee ee
Nazis:
Cruelty in medical ‘experiments’; case
of Doctor Schreiber; EP —. 193; EP —. 289
Entrance into the United States; S —. 200
International Nazism; rebirth of J. Al-
varez del Vayo; S a
No place for anti-Nazis; EP 309
Policy on, arene ee ee
Newspapers, depressing. M, George; S — 519
Peace treaty with; signing at Bonn; E —— 567
Rearmament:
Condition made by Paris, and by Bonn;
ae Rneesietan sect teemecoad . 166
Demands of western n Germny; Bh cnn OR
Effect on, of Soviet unification proposal;
EP A ea
French views and policy. A. W erth; S.. 202
German price goes up. J. Alvarez del
Vayo; S_._._._.... 154: correction, —...... 171
Germany and the Lisbon conference. Car-
olus; *S ...... en
Negotiations; last ¢ change ‘for, G. Batley;
a cs 493
Road to war, Carolus; S — nee
Russians and others, views of; ‘EP __. 309
Unity before uniforms. Carolus; Ba ee
Trade opportunity seen in defense pro-
UNNI TR scereetion cecal Se
Unification:
Before uniforms, Carolus; S — 402
“Contractual agreement”; signing; “EP__ 509
Negotiations; last chance for, G Bailey; ;
sellin ee
Soviet ‘offer, “and the Big Three; EP _.. 489
Soviet proposals; el
Western:
Effect of signing of European treaties h J.
| Alvarez del Vayo; S — . 546
Nationalism; resurgence of; — Ae
eng of peace treaty; Eb © ~ 537
Goa; sa Rossi; S —. 326
God of ae the. Van Doren; . 582
Goitein, David
Nationalism, healthy; S x 555
Gold; demand and supply, and value. K. Hut-
chison; S = at 230
Golden boy. M, “Marshall; D _. 285;
see also, C, —— 336
Golf; action of ;. “Louis on barring | of | Negro
from tournament; EP —.. = 72
Gonzales, Fermin
Perén’s downfall foreseen; S —W.. 421;
ACS 0): ee ae
Goodall, P. Denis
New Statesman and Nation in carina nll for
STNG a NN OP RNIN ane cece ctareaoseemee MAR
Gottfried, Alex
Death by Jim Crow; = issue of shear hace!
TG NS LINC A creesiecarsevciecescmemacensioctenenrn Le
Gould, Kenneth M.
Attack on Scholastic Magazines; S 48
Goulding, Paul W.; loyalty case. R. S.
Cooley; S, issue of April 5
Government, United States. See United States
Grass harp, the; play; review by
Krutch, wrongly attributed to M. Marshall 353
Great Britain
And the United States:
Churchill visit; resumé of results; EP —. 49
Economics:
Austerity program of Conservatives E_. 120
Defense and exports, competition be-
ween ok. 261
Situation, present, shown by survey;
EP ss 413
Textile industry; de ression in; EP, 337;
see also 424, 448 Ep SSS a
Elizabeth IT, Queen; accession of; EP. 145
Finances:
Budget, tory, and British labor. K. Hut-
Chisonsy Se ee eee
Sterling balances, secret. A. Roth; S —.. 174
Sterling; draining away of; =< 566
Foreign policy:
Balks on United Seem policy in Korea.
AS Roth 2: SS
Middle course Y “Alvarez del Vayo; 5
Sudan; dilemma in. A. Roth; S :
George VI; death of; ca
Magazines; decline of. V . Brome; S 39
Politics:
Labor party and the tory budget. K. Hut-
Chison. > eee 272
Labor party; Bevan’s bid for power fA
Roth; es a i OR
Labor party split averted; EP —._.____. 261
Tory party difficulties; swing back to
Pohor thibe ee 57
Royalty: function of; EP ee 14s
Television in. A. Ro th; S ee oF
Writer’s dilemma in. Vv Brome: 0S = 179
Greenbaum, Edward S.
Released time from ne oa for teach-
ing of religion;
PAGE
sce a0... a pion Tae
Grey, Arthur L., Jr.
Korea; steps toward unification; S....—.—.../__ 59
Grigson, Geofirey
Loyalty oath tor writers; C 48
Grow, General Robert W. diary of; warmon-
gering MCE VRRRS, The ccecectn eee eens ee
Gruber, Ruth
Ickes: American legend; S ———_____.. 363
Grundfest, Harry
Malthusianism; C ~~... 288; sce also
156; 240; e Be NS crests OO
Grunewald, Henry W.; * ‘mystery" dispelled;
EP — ene 311
Grzelak, Frank, loyalty ca: case. C. H. Yater; SE
issue of June 21
“Guns and butter.”” See United States — Eco-
nomics
H
Haggin, B. H.
ook review:
The musical experience of composer, per-
former, listener, by R. Sessions — 34, 563
Dance:
Ballade: ty TEGBDIRS cecenennpepeeeedenenen! ee
Caracole, by Balanchine .._._.............. 238
New York city ballet —_.___ ions OA
New York city ballet; Balanchine ballets
. 45; see also — - 110
Sadler's wells theatre ballet ——— 410;
correction, an a. a a ~ 438
Music:
RE eee snug 307
Amahl and the night visitors _________. 410
Berlioz. L’enfance du Christ 45
Boccherini, Quartet Opus 6 No. 1, by
Quartetto Italiano —_____ Senate 45
Boston symphoney orchestra . an 190
Budapest quartet ———___. 190
Cosi Fan Tutte adiveictaneipoaiaeaale 259
Enfance, I’, du Christ, by Berlioz 45
Flagstad, K.; retirement . _— 7 307
Four saints in three Octt nope 437
New music quartet — ene 238
WwW ozzeck - — 410
Reviews of recorded music, 19, 66, 93, 115,
141, 162, 190, 212 (correction, 239); 285,
307, 333, 354. 390, 438, — $07, 591, 610
Haldeman-Julius, Emanuel. cs Fielding;
tec ee ie ee as 452
Halleck, Philip
McCarthy address at Northwestern univer-
sity; S, issue of May 31
Hamburg, Alice S
Appearance of Paul Robeson in Berkeley,
California; S, issue of June 7
Harper, Fowler
Crusade against H. Bridges; § ——-_--___. 323
Freedom of travel a Sooo Lane
Harriman, Averell; gift of house to “assembly
sponsored by Eisenhower; SS ee
Harris, Janet
Hospital, cooperative, at Elk City, Okla-
homa; S, issue of February 2
Harsch, Joseph C.
isenhower; one view of; § ——________. 542
Hass, Eric
De Leon birth centenary; C ——-___---_. 564
Hawaiian islands; methods of F. B. I. called
into maesuon: ee) eis
Statehood ; blocking or; EE “145;
EP, oe ee eee 213
Headache | powders. L.. Engel:; S —-_____—__ 60
Health, public. See Medicine
Hellman, Lillian; credo of Se ee RD
Hell’s canyon dam, Idaho; construction op-
posed by Idaho Republicans; EP —___.._ 23
High noon. M. Farber; MP —— 410
Hill, Tom
Reaction in New Zealand: C _.. 47
His kind of woman. M. Farber; MP 18
Hiss, Alger; move for new trial; EP 119
Not @ liberal: I. Howe;. Cs 536
Hoffman, S. B., and A. G. McDowell |
On labor stand on presidential campaign is-
sness. 6) 2 eS
Hogan, Joan P
McCarthy at Smith college: C = S460
Holland, Herschel G.
Education conference of United auto work-
S, issue of April 19
Honswood: California; dismissals of doctors
by Cedars of Lepanen hospital. H. Bloom;
S, issue of May 3
See a Motion pictures
Hoover, J. Edgar. See Federal bureau of in-
vestigation
Hopkins, Barney
nm labor stand on presidential campaign
issues; et TS
Hospital, cooperative, at Elk City, Oklahoma.
J. Harris; S, issue of February 2
See also Hollywood
Housing; et Bucks oon Penn-
sylvania. C. Allen, Jr.;5 S ————_—— 524
ilmington, Nae dina: delay in pro-
ject. J. Powell; S, issue of January 5
Howe, Irving
Hiss not a # liberals CS Se 536
Howe, Mark De Wolfe
pe gs of church and state; S_-..-—s 28
Hoyt, Palmer, andthe Denver Post. M.
wner; S, issue of March 15
Hae Victor, a, needed now. J. Alvarez del
Hee horse dam; A da 1. sy
ungry horse dam; Anaconda’s power stea
Ww Shelton; S ign Anmonde’s a7 naan 7
Hutchison, Keith
Africa, central, in black and white; S —. 477
Budget, tory, and British labor; S _... 272
Cost, high, of health; S is
Gold “ e”’ — with thorns; § _____. 230
Japan ee ‘China, relations Of: Since LOE
Message of the president; S§ +See
Oey, uncomfortable; SS ncscgptiadeecean ee
Tariffs, high, versus foreign policy. 8 xe OE
Trouble in textiles; aici » 448;
see also, EP, 490; pl 337
Hydroelectric power, See Water power
I
I want you. M. Farber; MP eeceaaiane 65
Ickes, Harold L.; American a legend, R. Gru-
be SS es igecieceigeeedi ee enced ae
Death: Pa <secanieenmaen
Idaho, Hell's canyon dam “opposed | by Repub-
Mcp rin = Fe sstmeeneosesnieansniamenulpeiaesods ee
Ilhnois
Force and violence asningt Negroes. L.
ers S ——___. 124;;_ see also 184; 3
~~ 4250
Vile in Cairo, “and Stevenson record.
W. H. Sharp; C 184; see also 124, C_. 239
Immigrant labor. See Labor — Migrant
Immigration
ik bill before aeenoan veto called
or; E
McCarran bill defects; EP
Peril in Walter bill; 1 ee
Restrictions in McCarran and Walter bills.
A. Brooks; S
Toronto symphony members excluded from
United States; EP WW ee
Imperialism, United States; Lattimore called
CITE nieces eee ee 276
Imperialism, nationalism, and feudalism. 553
» S95
464
289
299
Income tax, federal. See United States —
Finances
India
And Pakistan; improvement in relations.
J. Lyon; C mercsthcnsussseioanine 47
Election day in Bhuti. J. Lyon; S 301
Election results; EP eee
Indians, American; stand in behalf of, by
organized labor; EP ......__ =
Indo-China
ee ee: of the French problem, A. ‘Werth;
sisccace ED
Intervention in: pros ‘for; EE A 49
War in; ee pe t pantpecte fox J. Alvarez
del Vayo; S ane
War beyond means of France. A. Werth;
2s ea
Internal revenue bureau; confusion in. N.
edlich; cms ue
Reorganization plan approved by senate;
E 263
Investigation of the government. “See United
States — Government
aga mutual fund rainbow. W. G.
Ferris; ee
Iran; oil; Sees at compromise; EP__...__
roblems of. Dr. S. R. Shafaqs) S:
Iraq; agreement on oil, and other matters,
with foreign interests; EP —.____m..____ 167
Irvin, Walter Lee; sentence in Florida on
rape charge; EP 165
Trial; echo of injustice. S. Ker Kennedy; : = 203
Isolationism; EP J ee
Israel
And the Arabs; role of United nations. F.
Kirchwey; S 559
Anniversary, fourth; a a TT
Nationalism, healthy. Goitein;’ S-. 555
Peace with Arabs the go to Middle east
stability —— WS SG
SAstions. with Arabs. Mrs, E. Roosevelt;
See wae ee 556
Italy
Peseenice poverty of people. A. Werth; 38
Fasciam; resurgence of; EP ——_— 7]
Gedda, Catholic action, and prospective
battie with Demo-Christians; RP aS
Government, vatican, and United States
catholics. A. Werth oe aca ka A
Nuri; ee point four ae 4 by Ridge-
wood, New Jersey;
Politics:
ee elections; position of premier de
as’ scgeeserscccanensecs seccenes messsnavesceenocconcs
Election results. W. Murray; Ss 547
Miracles in Rome. A. We a
Secularism; rise of, W. lances S$. == 33
Talestes ais with Yugoslavia. A. W. —_
413
Ta
Take
Te Se
12
(Vol. 174
5
Index
January-June, 1952)
PAGE
J
Jacques, Mary Grier, and Doctor J. H. Mas-
serman
NES a aes OS
ane. J. W. Krutch; D 162
a China; relations of. K. Hutchinson; 1a
Fishing industry; competition with Ameri-
cans. H. Kraus; S. issue of May 10
“New,” and Korea. L. K. Rosinger; S _—___ 85
Peace’ treaty; “insecurity” treaty. H. Mears; a
wey and reaction. T. A. Bisson; oa
Trade opportunity seen in defense program;
- : ee ae 46M
enning, Francis P.
J Pennsylvania loyalty (Pechan) act; C —— 508
Jews; 3; Megotiations over claims; ae
im crowism. See Negroes — Discrimination
obless. Labor
ohnson, Senator Edwin C.
Universal 7 training booby trap;
J Ss ———— Stes alsa C,,
New trade oe of Eastern Europe; S
— Matthew
azine censorship; S
ee Sce Vankwich, L L.
en change in attorney gen-
pol ~~ shee seca not to ex-
K
Kalmbach, Frank
ico’s new wealth cotton; and condition
of farm workers; Pa
Fave ei way. 's. L. Faison, Jr., A.
lia; confession, and newspaper ad-
Cee
Kefauver, Senator’ Es Estes; announcement of
Appointment of G. Sullivan as_ campaign
manager; EP —__ = pccipanenein
Boldness in foreign p< ign policy; need 1 for; San
Crusader. C. a caainien Pa
T. Moore;
tl solidarity itmced by bombing out-
aig peice
ae: Echo of injustice; S —
_— panel ce, *
vee also 134, —— in;
King, Cecil R.
Death in discrimination against Negroes;
——__... 164; see also “Around the
U.S. A.,” same issue
King, Judson; eightieth birthday; Ps
Kirchner, Ludwig. S. L. Faison, Jr.,
Kirchwey, Freda
cm rtd law, New York; upholding by
“United States supreme court; S
Wacien, em aa
Germany; Soviet’ proposals for unification;
Israel and the Arabs; role . of United na-
crime
Korea; Rhee dictatorship; S —
Lisbon: Peace or pempenes? Ss
Lattimore strikes bac is
Knowland, Senator Willis; advocacy of F Chi-
nese nationalists; EP
Kohr, Leopold
oan of textbook on economics, by Phoe-
Arizona) college; C —.
132;
ie] the “new” Japan. L. K. e-Bosinger;
Ss
Political ~ ts. Y. Kim; S __
WwW. M. B S, 134; O. Lattimore; S,
134; a Oe nce
Rebuilding. W. Sullivan; S ———
Rhee dictatorship. F. Kirchwey; Ss omer
Unification; steps toward. A. L. Grey, Jr.;
Korea, war in
Great Britain balks on United States policy.
A, Roth; S___.
ium of articles on; announcement;
Trouble spots; truce talks, and | pots; truce talks, and prison camps
on Koje; EP - P
ruce talks:
Continue; no progress; EP —.. 165,
Kraus, Henry
Operation albacore; Japanese and the mee:
ican fishi
Krutch, oa industry; S, issue of May 10
gion; uses of; Ss
plays:
Caesar and Cleopatra
e, the
Grass harp, the
164
366
619
. 338
47
562
394
97
414
557
426
105
203
239
85
239
107
. 541
59
575
50
595
—— 463
Liberties, civil.
Lie, Trygve; difficulties with his staff; EP — 21
Lie detectors. J. H.
PAGE
(review attributed wrongly to M. Mar-
shal
Jane een poe GS
Legend for lovers Sn re IS
Mrs. McThing ee eA
Roun: from Dickens by E. Williams. 189
Shrike; the. 2 Se T15
Venus observed en DOE
Ku klux klan; arrests of klansmen in North
Carolinas EP 165
Arrests; approval by southerners; EP -......... 215
L
r
Civil rights of. A. Eggleston; S -............ 647
Migrant:
Agreement with Mexico extended; EP... 214
In Colorado; EP = 167
Mine; murder in the mines. W. Shelton; ee
Southern and northern, in the textile in-
dustry; EP .. 146
Strikes:
Prudential life insurance company set-
Meera oR ea ey (19S
Steel. See Steel
Unemployment:
Provision needed for jobless due to civ-
PER GARI 00 OC Mem Re carreras 145
Rise in; EP Sacer ee AS
Textile ee AS) Te eres ~. 337; see
she 424. AS Oe _. 490
Union:
And the pranks) sapien. H, Ernst;
ae 6; see als aaa es
Anti-union pric ly in congress; E...... 492
Auto workers’ education conference, H.
G. Holland; S, —— of April 19
Communism in. W. Shelton; S ~.... 170;
correction, eae ania eaieaeiienininchoietarriiciimnietics 212
Discrimination against, in contract awards
to southern textile mills; Se :
see also 337, 424, 448
EnEOey rofessional; unionization. H.
M. Orrel ee sssetigiebieeinatsiam . 605
Gains, ee endangered, by overn-
te labor policy ; sa avace by we? Ran-
dolph eee eee ee ae
Longshoremen; stevedoring costs at var-
RI I hae Ricearaecnahemnieene. 2D
Platform >: bills to curb unions; E —.. 539
| on behalf of American Indians; :
<aecnireaie 7 19
Steel. Sce Steel
Textile union; strife in. R. Lowenstein;
eiiasincaasapetiedeanatataial - ene 404
Wages; stabilization and other measures op-
posed by labor; ee . 360
r party. See Great Britain — Politics
Landau, Rom
Morocco; OL SS ee |.
Laski, Harold; the path ‘of fear 615
Lattimore, Owen; called imperialist by “Chi-
nese periodical —— "= 276
Political prospects in Korea; ip eee . 134;
| aa eee ee
Strikes back; testimony. F. Kirchwey; ‘S216
TWewarie. VUIGRTONONS lo cesae eects 336
Legend for lovers. J. W. Krutch; D . . 44
Levittown in 4 county, Pennsylvania. G:
R. Allen, Jr.; sceoacioamnael 524
Lewis, Frank W . puzzles, zles, See back
pence of The Nation
Liberia; Tubman re-election; E —— 72
Liberman, Sally
Gagging our foreign students; S ~—..... 346
See Civil rights
Masserman and M. G.
eclieebanetintasuatie 368
Jacques; S
Lisbon conference. See North Atlantic council
Little Big Horn. M, Farber; MP —— ~~...
Litvinov, mexiee) death of. i
Alvarez del
eee ME
See reeereieiae 669
Vayo; S
Longshoremen. "See ~ Labor — — Union
Los Angeles; freedom in
Louis, Joe; action on parning, of Negro ‘from
MAE TOCSTINSORIES CP on cacccumciewsseoiegaeem FE
Low, David
Cartoons
Egypt; tC: Cor Cal: Os) i | ,
Ike’s square dance class —~ ie
Slamming door om Stabimy eee
South Africa; Malan popes the consti-
FELON 9 os ciceercie Seemmecees (OAT
Lowenstein, Ralp h
Strife in the textile SUR cesccenere 404
Loyalty
Association with accused wife. G. H. Yater;
S, issue of June 21
Attacks on public schools;
freedom. G, Watson; S
Beckwith, B. P.; victim of witch
.—- 68; see also C
Feinberg law law; protection for teachers in;
retreat
hunt;
aS ey
a “by United mee supreme court.
. Kirchwey; S
PAGE
Foundations; investigations of; House reso-
lution for; E
Goulding, P. W.; case of. 1 R. Ss. . Cooley; | Ss,
issue of April 5
Grzel a, F.; case of. G. Yater; S, issue of
Hielimans UE tan tc redoni 0 be sereeceeseets te
Investigations; abuses in; EP —.___..
Eaemne strikes back; testimony, F. Kirch-
wey 3.0.6
Oath for writers. G. Grigson; C
Oregon free from witch-hunting; Go A:
Pees conscience of the state. R. L.
euberger
Pechan_ bill ae oath, Pennsylvania. ee
Jenning; ee
aa board; leak of ‘minutes to McCarthy;
Struik case; ap peal for accused professor.
G. Sarton app OEE yi Ca eeeerereeees
Truman address in defense of government
officials and employees; E—..——...-.......
White house under surveillance in
witch hunt. C. McWilliams; § ———__.
Witch hunt and civil rights. C. McWilliams
Lyon, Jean
India; election day in Bhuti; S — eee
India and Pakistan; improvement in rela-
PS SS a ee
Lyons, Barrow
POWOr TORY, DELVQte SS) meaccerrecreereeeteereent
M
M. M.
Reviews of plays:
OG Cie RGB cara ca coeperceeronastrceseespenenereeneetneee
ed oty greenies
a t cicnarahity M. Josephson; S —.....
alan, Daniel F. See Union of South Africa
Maltng, ohn P.
New Hampshire reviewed 5S ccccccccncnnewmennmene
Malthusian scarecrow. J. de Castro; S.....156:
correction, 240; see also C, Coane
Mae who cheated himself, “the. aie Farber;
an etetelasinsiapinbannernnaeeaelaneanint a
Mandereau Jean Louis
Technical assistance for undeveloped areas;
Manwell, John P.
Fair-trade legislation; C,
Mare, the V. Watkins; P —...
Searing kind, the. M. F
Marshall, Margaret
Notes by the way:
Mass mind; article on, by J. Cary; S.—.
Reviews of plays:
De OO OO —————EE
Flight into Egypt; D ..— .. 306; see
Mecca eee oes ~
Golden boy; D —~ . 289; see
also ae
Grass harp, the; reviewed | by aif W. “Krutch,
not by M, Marshall; DO octets
Ara a cna
Martin, Kingsley
Way to strength in world affairs; S n...0.06.
Mass mind; article on, by J. Cary. M. Mar-
REIL E Cir ctiteenerncon
Massawa; destruction ‘by British. E. S. Pank-
hurst; Se ee
Masserman, Jules oll “and M. -G. eae
Lie detectors; es ee eaesctenins cataee
Mather, Kirtley F.
Scientists made targets of euapicion; S
Matisse, Henri. M. Farber; A -~———.~-—......
Mayer, Sir Robert 5
Exchange actiolarablps; Trenseslentts foun-
dation; C < sieoeaicaeicee
McCarran bill. § Immigration
McCarthy, Senator Joseph R.
Address at Northwestern university. P.
Halleck; S, issue of May 3
And the Wisconsin primary election. C.
McWilliams; S 269; 1 Se by
DO Re I cers peer oreeemneemerenere
At Princeton. K. E. yer; ;
At Smith colle la Paes Hogan;
“Borrowing” of mail and other m
Charges against, by
gation; a
Defense by Freedom cl
EP
Defense ‘by. R.A. “Taft; ‘E
Dodging by; EP . Saba
Minutes of Loyalty re revie
to senator; 2 ‘
Sues Senator Benton; TP
Truman address in defense
officials and employees; E
White house under surveill
hunt. C. McWilliams; S§ ...
McCullen, Reverend John J.
Defense of civil rights; S ~
also EP, ..
McDowell, Arthur G., and S. 1
On labor stand on presidential campaign
BEACON C8 co cotemsinnce cece
$55
wie 440
. 432
»~ 410
327
44
. 328
. 336
353
306
. 554
327
260
. 368
naan
140
335
ee
(January-June, 1952
PAGE
McGeough, James T. censorship of thought in
Pawtucket, Rhode Island, school; EP ———~
McGranery, James P.; appointment as attor-
eg dele A 338
peer berries bane
McGrath, Attorney General J. H.; ousting,
and the apencernus tion of the government; 338
Relations with President Truman; EP 565
Saved-from dismissal; EP —......__._..... 49
McKeever, Porter; retirement as press officer
United States delegation to the Unit
rm eee recoil ara
McKinney, Frank E.; object of inquiry in
Empire traction corporation case; LP ——— 118
McWilliams, Carey
Chicago’s machine-gun politics; S ——____. 245
Bitutesote, Gre si
North Dakota showdown; S ——— —_______ 295
White house under surveillance in witch
hunt; S suinigletenins Se eS
Wisconsin primaries previewed; een ae
Witch hunt and civil rights; § —_--_-___. 651
Mears, Helen
Japanese “insecurity” treaty; S ————. 277
Medicine
American medical association opposition to
“socialized medicine’; E — WH __ 24
Cost of health, high. K. Hutchison; S 152
Doctors; dismissals by Cedars of ‘Lebanon
hospital, Hollywood, California. H. Bloom;
S, issue of May 3
Doctors, Negro, and Negro patients; dis-
on against. R. M, Cunningham, P
8
Hospital, cooperative, at Elk City, y, Oklahoma.
J. Harris; S, issue of an 2
Memphis, Tennessee, witch bunt in, M. Mos-
tert; c 144; see also ee ee
Messages of the president. See Truman, H. S.
— Administration
et church stand
Pr
on current issucs;
se cinaptandepaitinnae a
Mexico; and the “United S States; extension of
agreement on immigrant labor; EP — 214
ew white wealth, cotton; poverty of farm
workers. a Kalmbach; {7 ee
Meyer, Adele and Paul
Availability = “W. O. Douglas; C —--—_. 143
Meyer, Karl E.
McCarthy at Princeton: Ss... 16
Middle east; conference on, Nation associates’
Sesieoeceess = , 465 (correction, 492); EP, 512 553
Midd le thee nationalism in; riots in Egypt; a
ae program for for C. “Pickett; SS es
Migrant labor. See Labor -
Military training. See Universal military
trainin
Miller, erle
Censorship; radio and television; S 631
Mind, mass; article on, by J. Cary. M. Mar-
shall; = : 327
Mine disaster at West ‘t. Frankfort, I Illinois; ;
EY
Mines, coal; murder in the mines. W. Shel-
tons) Se
See political mix-up. C. McWilliams; a08
Minnesota, university of; dismissal of F. O.
Wiggins; S, issue of "March 22
Miracle, the. See Motion pictures
Miracle in Milan. M. Farber; MP__----._ 65
Mrs. McThing. J. W. Kruatch:: D-——— 258
Mississippi river floods; EP ——___.._ 394;
see also 398; correction, ——————__. 412
Missouri river floods. G. Baumhoff;
398 ;see ‘also ‘EP, 394; correc-
tion, a ee eS rote
Mitchell, Morris R.
Apology for criticism of Scholastic Mag-
animes: Ci eee ee
Monarchy ‘and democracy; EP 145
Montcalm, Henry
Conscription issue in Canada; C —_—____ 211
Bae in Canada; freedom in question; aes
Moore, Harry T.; death by bombing in Mims,
Wlontda”, 22 ee eee
Morality. See Sex studies
Morgan, Maud. S. L. Faison, Jr., Se
Mormons and the Negro. L. ea S, issue
of May 24 me
Morocco; bases in. Dr. B. Rivlin; S —___.. 554
Ghatlenverot. -R: Landa: |S as
Morris, Newbold, and the investigation of the
government; E 338
Morse, Wayne
Need, national, for universal training; S_. 74
Moscow trade conference. Lord Boyd-Orr;
See AR see, also, ie, ee,
Mostert, Mary
Memphis wick hunt; C 144; see
alsoletters; IZ
Motherwell, Robert. S. L. Faison, Jr.; A ——. 391
Motion pictures
Censorship; in Hollywood. X; S 628
Supreme court reversal of ban on “The
miracle’; EP —— 2 537
Index
PAGE
Documentary of street life in Spanish Har-
lem, M, Farber — a es
French; crisis in. M. Berns; § _—__-_--___._ 273
Miracle, the; reversal of ban decreed by
supreme court; EP 537
See Farber, M., for reviews
Murray, William
Sess ee
Politics in Italy; S
Secularism in Ttaly; vise off © =e” SS
Music. See Haggin, B. H., for reviews
ck ty eae . See Garis, R. E.; Haggin,
Mutual fund rainbow. W. G. Ferris; S _. 579
My son John, M. Farber; MP —_-_-_____._ 286
N
Nation, The
Articles on free schools praised. H. K. Wal-
ther; C emnsiipatiathinpedtmig LOE
Back issues offered. R. | Zambeck; C 288
Bloom = commended, R. 8. Morris,
Jr., and G. M. Cowell: C a2 eee. 96
Douglas editorial commended; letters 153
New Statesman and Nation offered in ex-
change. P. D. Goodall; C —_LLLL._ 212
Presidential preferential ballot _._»__._ 314
Preference for Douglas 444-45
Nation’s Associates, the
Conference called on Freedom's Stake in
North Africa and the Middle east; EP.
465: Correction, 492; EP) 2 eee SIF
Report on conference, ee . 553
National association for the advancement of
colored people; mecting. S. Kennedy; S.. 105
National association of manufacturers; and
TORSO Te desecrate aes anne
oe education association; attack on; 5
ee cocenscianat el aan
Nationalism; friendly. te We Palar; 3.) 553
Healthy, D. Goitein; § ._____"_____ 555
Nationalism, imperialism, and feudalism — 553
Resurgence of: EP 97
Nationality; peril in the Walter bill; EP — 289
‘Natism.” See Union of South Africa
Naturalization; peril in the Walter bill; EP___ 289
Navy, United States; “Hush bush” policy in
investigation of U. S. S Reclaimer condi-
tions; EP ashton tee ee! SR
Exoneration of Reclaimer officers; EP ~~ 511
Nazism and fascism. See Germany; Italy
Near east; steps to stability, r yak
Soccer: Ss eee eee ee
Nebraska; primary elections; EP ———______ 337
aiceces
tlanta, Georgia; enlargement of city de-
creases percentage of Negro. voters;
ee a a
Crimes against, in the south; E a
se ao ss Se
Discrimination:
Barring from golf tournament; action of
TENN cere
urial denied to veteran, in Arizona
ences: Le
Death by; killing of R. D. Smith in
Galveston. A. Gottfried; S, issue of Feb-
ruary 16; see also C, 164, and “Around
the U.S.A.,” same issue
Decision against, in case of Delaware
schools: (OP) 3 ee
Doctors and patients, Negro; discrimin-
ation against. R. M. Cunningham, Jr.;
a eS. SAS
Force and violence in Illinois. L. Schroe-
ters SS . 124; gee aise Ge: :
In Levittown, Pennsylvania, C. R. Allen,
2s. Oe 524
Property values not depressed by Negro
fenancy. EP 32 ee eee 359
Supreme court temporizin
Waring appeal for civil rights; E. 540
Florida:
Bombing case; murder of H. T. Moore;
ates S934 ‘see-aiso 45 BE = 71
Ocala: Echo of injustice. case of the
“Groveland four”: trial of W. L. Irvin.
S. Kennedy,’ S 203
Irvin case, sentence for rape; EP _ 165
im Crowism. See Negroes— Discrimination
ormon and the Negro. L. Nelson; S,
issue of May 24
Solidarity advanced by bombing outrages. S.
Kennedy; SoS 105
Violence against; seminar on. J. R. Butler;
on issue; E ——. 120
mo eS ee 488
‘See also National association for the ad-
vancement of colored people
Nelson, Lowry ;
eae and the Negro; S, issue of May
4
Nervo, Luis Padilla. See Padilla Nervo, L.
Neuberger, Richard L.
Sprague — conscience of Oregon; S —. 82;
see also C, 2 ee 211
Neutralism, Swiss. J. Alvarez del Vayo; a" 514
New Hampshire primaries reviewed. Ps
Mallan; S$ cn rasa ON,
New music quartet, B. .H. Haggin; M —_. 238
Vol. 174)
New Statesman and Nation; offered in
exchange for The Nation; P. D. Goodall;
New York cit) city “ballet. H. nD: S see
ae ballets. B H, Deen S .~ 453
sce i soneasamreesgoses caine ine
New Jenteal reaction in, Hill; C
Na Ee — Pest
ewspa rman, See German
Nes Pirsbak .
On labor stand on presidential campaign
issues; inp onis aati cate wines dinmbediny ae
North Africa, See Africa, north
North Atlantic treaty organization
Disarmament, blow to, at Lisbon Confer-
ence. J. Alvarez del Vayo; §:.___., 231
Germany and the Lisbon conference. Car-
betas ne
Lisbon conference. F, Kirchwey; S
Or the United nations. J. Alvarez del
Vays SS ec cic
North Dakota; showdown, political. C, Me-
Willams; § eee
Northwestern university; McCarthy address.
P. Halleck; S, issue of May ab
Norway; little point four, for aid to back-
ward areas, E. Bjol; S ——_. 500; -see. ©
also EP, scans ussiliasn isla
Notes by the way. See Marshall, M.
Nuns as teachers, See Education
Nuri, Italy, See Italy
0
Ocala: Echo of injustice: story of the Grove-
land four. S. Kennedy; S§ ——____.___
O'Connell, Arthur; actor in Golden boy;
a, overlooked. P. Allen; C336; i
Of — I sing. M. MM. Dee
Oil; crude; world supply; 3
See also Iran; Iraq; Venezuela
Oklahoma ; becislative proceedin on televi-
sion. R. Scales; S., issue of Tue 1
On dangerous ground. M. washer) MP
One bright day. M. Marshall; D ____-___._ 306
Opera in English. B. H. Sead MM ——— a
Oregon; Sprague, ex-governor, conscience of
the state. L. Neuberger; S 82; see
aso: C, SSS ee
Orme, Frank .
Morals on television; § ———_____.._._.._ 601
Orrell, Herbert M.
Engineers and unionism; S.________§____. 605
Outcast of the islands, M. Farber; MP ——_. 486
P
Padilla Nervo, Luis; talk with, on work of
General assembly. J. Alvarez del Vayo; S 171
Pakistan; and India; improvement in rela-
‘
tions. J. yon. “ aise esi ee ae
Pal Joey. oe
Palar, N.
Friendly nationalism; § ——_______ 53
Palmer, Russel
Se of = O. Douglas; C == Saas
Pankhurst, Sylvia
Massawa: destruction by British; C 260
Parker, C.
America plus movement, California; S, is-
sue of March 29
Passports; “‘political”; EP —= 2 =
Procedures and freedom of travel ____. 201
Pauling, Doctor Linus; denial of passport to;
sip,
Pawtucket, Rhode Island; censorship of
thought in school; EP ss
Peace directory. A Bofman; C ___.--__.. 240
Pechan act. See Loyalty -
Pennsylvania —
Pechan loyalty-oath bill. F. P. Jenni
————————— 212, 508
eeoros eae labor; EP 490; see F
EP, 337; also pe “=
People a a O’Hara, the. M. Farber; MP..
Perén, See Argentina
Perolenm. § Sec ‘Iran; Iraq; Oil; Venezuela
Phillips, Herbert L
Warren, Earl; achievements and views; ©
een omen at pS a
Phoenix (Arizona) college banning of text- *
book on economics. ohr; i ee Ae
Phonograph _records. See Garis, R E.; Hag-
gin, bre
Physicians. See Medicine
Pickett, Clarence
Middle east; peace fone for$:6 22-22 7558
Pinay, Antoine. See France — Politics
Pittsburgh; prccaoa in 2 Se eee
Pius XII, se See Roman catholic church
Planes. See pia
Plays, reviews of. See C. H.; Krutch, J. W.;
M. M., Marshall, M. ’
Poems
Epitaph. M. Van Doren, —_———_ =e
Fable. S. Stephanchev ee
God of pares the. M. Van Doren... 582
Mare, the. V. Watkins -~....... 432 —
‘the. Pane
. See Economic aid for foreign
reign; speaking out on. J. Alvarez
XII. See Roman catholic church |
and food; the Malthusian scare-
memtastra: S 156; cor-
. 240; see also C, 288; C
Goa; saga of. M. "Rossi; $
North Carolina; delay in pub-
g fe Was S, issue of January 5
Water. power
ssion. See Federal power com-
in steel-mill seizure;
issue
: a of 1952
tic Party:
possible, by southerners.
and issue: ee
date for a ee W. Carleton;
man announcement of decision not to
again; other possible candidates;
r and the campai
| 446; see
Da
, L remember. M. Van Doren
PAGE
62
280
180
335
6
12
Ma gee, SRS H. Ernst;
573
tial ballot, The Nation’s aan wae
ov for Douglas 444-45
elections:
nia; confusion Ch |)
ee 337
. P. Mallan; S 265
BSR SS. cece SOD
ie y 337
dates oan ROS Wr ctereaceatenicmrennn OOS
ota mix-up. C. McWilliams; S — 223
, Suggested, for Republican can-
battle
eens
also names of candidates
messages. See Truman, H. S. —
United States — Economics
. See Presidential election
a university; McCarthy at Princeton.
of fear. M. Biser; C 240;
$ assailed by bigots. V. Country-
‘See United States — Economics
the. M. Farber; MP
life insurance company; strike
enhower for delegates;
ent; EP
K. T. Weiss; Cc
See Medicine
housing. See Housing
schools, See Education
Q
eens. politics; clinical study. C. R. Allen
5 S -
¥
R
©. See Reconstruction finance corpor-
plence; seminar on. J. R. Butler;
M. Farber; MP
g, good and poor —_________.
z of writers a others; EP _—
freedom in question. H. Mont-
M. Miller; S
1m
320,
a= Dickens by E. Williams. J.
” United States. See United
7 nationa
- 1
B.S. Navy, United States
0 corporation loans, in-
; cases of Gabrielson and Doyle;
music. See Garis, R. E.; Haggin,
New Femme, See Freedom of
, Norman
revenue bureau confusion; S —_
See Arabs
242
593
316
68
641
18
193
164
225
488
65
497
119
253
631
62
180
348
65
189
119
55
Index
PAGE
Religion
And business; EP 215
And the schools. See Education
Uses of. J. W. Krutch; S a ARG
See also Church and state _
Republican party. See Presidential election
of 1952
Revolution is our business. W. O. Douglas;
Syngman. See Korea
Richards, Will
Availability of W. O. Douglas; C____-__.
Ridgewood, New Jersey; Litle point four for
Piabanwitiace 3
Rights, civil. See Civil rights
Rivlin, Dr, Benjamin
Morocco; bases in a
Robeson, Paul; aphearers in Berkeley, Cal-
ifornia. A. S. mburg; S, issue of June 7
Rock. K. Raine; P aes
Rodell, Fred
Douglas for president; preference for; S —
Roman catholic church
Ambassador to:
oe anes: religion, and the constitution.
De W. Howe; S —— ee
oe of the past. J. i
Message by Pope Pius; EP ———_____.
Second look at appointment; E
correction,
Withdrawal of C Clark nomination; EP —.
Attitude toward communism; EP.
ree by T. Sugrue on worldly activities;
i the vatican, and U, S. catholics. A
e a
Strategy, io global, of the vatican. M. Cato;
Roosevelt, Mrs. Eleanor
On Israel-Arab relations; § ————_____
Speech at Nation associates conference; on
preservation of freedoms ————~~-__..
Rosenbaum, Frank
On labor stand on presidential campaign is-
sues; S pegs te stares
M. Farber;
James N.;
et 236; correction ——
somo Lawrence K,
Korea and the “‘new” Japan; S ———_
Ross, Harold; death; a professional tribute.
M. R. Werner; $2
Rossi, Mario
ere gaee (Of: Soo neem
Roth, Andrew
China, nationalist; Chiang’s guerrillas; S
ace eaan 80> 966 (ale0 (EP; wees
Great Britain:
Bevan’'s bid for power; S
Sterling balances, secret; S
A a
Korea; Britain balks on Korea; ese
Sudan; dilemma in; S
Tunisia; tinder box; S
Rothney, Gordon O.
Conscription issue in Canada; C —_______
Royalty and democracy; EP ——-—______.
Ss
Rosenberg, by
Sachs, E. S.
South African madness; S
Sadler’s wells theatre ballet.
sce csasee A Se OUR eeeectesemeten
Saint Lawrence seaway. R. Van Every; S —
Salkind, Charles
Condemnation of wtvaraarer eclucation)
B. H. Haggin;
Salvin, “Monte
Endroclinological error? C ——W—. 335;
see also 156; correction, 240; C, ———
Sapirstein, Milton R.
Peiadcring the search for morality; S — 252;
see also
Sarah Lawrence college; attack on; EP ———
Sarton, George, and others
Appeal for D. J. Struik; C ——________
Scales, Ray
Television of Oklahoma
issue of March 1
Scarsdale, New York; charges of communist
infiltration into schools fail; an
Scholarships, exchange; Transatlantic founda-
tion. Sir R. Mayer; C eet >
Scholastic Magazines; eat A.
Gould; C
Schools. See Education
Schreiber, Doctor Walter, Nazi, medical ex-
eh expulsion from America asked;
lawmaking; S,
attack on.
Contract with, by Air force, not to be re-
newed; pS ee see
Schroeter, Len
Force and violence against Negroes in
Illinois; S 124; see also C, 194;
in plan; difficulties in France. A.
Schuman
eR Rit eet
Science, "articles on. See Ex Engel, L.
Scientists made targets of suspicion. K. F.
ie ie ee: ee
516
143
537
554
62
400
28
96
49
416
450
34
556
. 556
573
258
85
178
326
117
247
174
297
498
126
211
145
344
438
468
95
288
~ 250
117
96
464
335
48
193
289
239
12
638
January-June, 1952)
PAGE
Seetenaticn: See Negroes — Discrimination
Seigel, Kalman
Spek strait-jacket; S
Sercise Khama to be barred from power;
es as chief of the Bamangwato; °
Sessions, Roger; ‘book on. Reviewed by B, H.
Hagens! Spo ee ee
Sex studies, current; defense of. A. Ellis and
D. W. Cory; S
250; reply by M. R.
Sapirstein, 252; see also Ce ei ee
Shafaq, Dr. S. R.
Iran; problems of; S —~— a
Shaine, David
Korea; unholy alliance in; C 239;
seevalsopes =
Sharp, Waitstill, and others
Governor Stevenson’s record; C..__.192;
see also pee ee
Shelton, Willard
Anaconda copper company’s bi
for aluminum production
horse dam; S
Communism in unions;
correction, Sedementeetel Sa eects pence
Doty appointment to Federal power com-
mission; S
cree campaign and the primaries;
steal; power
rom Hungry
fans Goo ee 1208
Se
Murderiin the mines. S$)
Retrogression of Senator Patten Ss =e
Steel; prices and wages proposal of the
Wage stablization board; S—..
Steelworkers will fight; S......
Shippers’ costs. oy Fairley; C —.
Shrike, the. J. W. Krutch; D ——...... pai
Sidd, ‘Allan
pares maaciquasrters in Massachusetts;
Simmons, Ernest Ti
Soviet writing today; S - asco anscheenaed
Sister Carrie. M, Farber; MP
Sloan, John. M. Farber; Bi setparenteaenptoenetan
Sniith, David. S. L. Faison; Jr.; A —..
Smith, Lawrence
“Witch hunt” in Memphis; C .......— 412;
see also ..
Smith, Robert Dorsey, Negro; ‘death h by. Jim
Crow in Galveston. A, Gottfried; S, issue
of February 16; see also C, ..
ath college; McCarthy visit. ant P, Hogan;
ints, “the. M. - Farber; SMP oe
Socialism; Canadian; Cooperative common-
wealth federation gains; EP...
“Socialized medicine.” See Medicine
Sorkin, Bernard R., and others
For ‘Douglas for president; GS ee
South, the
Arrests of Ku Klux Klan men approved;
Bolt, possible, by D Democrats. R. E. Wil-
liams; =
WV. Carleton, S.—
No mandate for a bolt.
Crimes against the Negro; E ~~~ 3;
see also ——.
South Africa. See Union of “South Africa
Spain
Admittance to United nations economic and
Socig’ (apt. Re siemens
Executions of strike leaders; EP
Protest planned;
Franco's props. R, Fromm; Se
he worries, domestic and foreign;
Land in decay. R. Fromm; S ——.
Negotiations with; EP ————¥_____.
Opposition 6h abroad to Franco; arrests of
asques;
Snubbing im qa United States; bases in
Spain not essential; EP ————--__
Sparks, Paul C
On labor stand on presidential campaign
issues; sen cetesiree as
Speech, freedom of. See Freedom “of “speech
Speiser, Dr.
Near east; steps ‘to Cty GS iicecceeee tote
Spies into heroes. Z. Chafee, jr; S
Sprague, Charles A.; conscience Be Oregon.
R, ¥ Neuberger; S ~~... 82; sce also
661
310
490
534
487
554
132
124
164
460
533
594
557
618
SS ene Me
Stage, the. See. “Krutch, ee W.; M. M.;
Marshall, M., for reviews
Stalin, Joseph. See Union of soviet socialist
republics
Startled, I remember. M. Van Voren; P —..-.
State and church, See Church and state;
Education
Steel
And stabilization of wages; E ~~...
Big steel and the little man, M. H. Vorse;
Profits and t: taxes; ‘issue in seizure > of mills;
E
Responsibility BR Ginle: E. Wilson for critical
situation; E ———_
Seizure of mills; constitutional issue over
presidential powers; EP
(January-June, 1952
PAGE
Seizure of plants a threat against labor;
E scassesgnci nas ciieeiaraeaneiaea, MG
Strike continuance; questions still unre-
solved; 593
Wages and prices proposal of a age stabil-
She
ization board. W. CO ee
Workers will fight. W. Shelton; S ————_ 501
Ste ar Stephen
able; - 181
Steptoe, Elizabeth
Availability of W. O. Douglas; C 143
Sterling. See Great Britain — Finances
Sternberg, Fritz
Defense, national, and non-military output;
Bevanism wins in America; S ————— 471
Tito’s unique Yugoslavia; S — 226
Yugoslavia; experiment in industrial 1 dem-
ocracy; S ————_________—_____—- 322
Stevedoring costs. L, Fairley; C ______-_._ 95
Stevenson, Adlai E. By A. aes Ss 341
Record in Cairo violence case. W. H. Sharp
_ others; 194; po also 124; ase
Strengtis ia in world affairs; way way to K. areas 556
Strikes. See “Air force; Labor
Struik, Dirk J.; appeal for. G. Sarton and ‘
; Meee, oe eee Oe
Students. See Education
Subversive, a, confession of. L. Adamic; S — 637
Suceess, formula for; from a story 'by a,
Reston in the New York Times ET
ilemma in. A. SSS
Suffridge, James A., on labor stand on presi-
campaign iseues taigudtiscnaatentaninonetipiindaaea Ene
Sugruc, Thomas, and reviews of his book on
worldly activities of Catholic church; EP — 416
Sullivan, Gael; ————- manager for Ke
| a |
Sullivan, Walter
Rebuildi eo a eoisiicunee meee:
Summer and smoke. Review by 'C. Be Din 457
Supreme court, United States. See United
States supreme court
Survey, the; passing of; EP .._______-__._ 538
Switzerland; cradle of neutralism. J. Alvarez
del Vayo; S ES EE
1
Taft, Robert A.
Barring of Cincinnati university mock polit-
<— conn convention, at request of supporters;
Bore i ceeercepeeiens- caine ansiane nna
Battle with Eisenhower for “delegates; EP—_593
Defense of McCarth pt EP 98
Meetings at plants; 167
Retrogression of. W. ‘Shelton: elton; S 473
Supporters’ tactics; EP 69
Views on foreign policy; EP —— 194
Tanner, Juanita
Wives of business men; S —___________.._ 204
Tanff, high, versus foreign policy. K. Hutch-
ison Sere na $22
Tamution, federal. See United States — Fi-
mances
Taylor, C. Fayette
Airplane safety; C 288; see also —__ 228
Television
Blacklisting of writers and others; EP —— 119
Britta. A: Roth: S
Censorship. M. cat S 631
Education by; ee SS
Lawmaking, Baiirce legislature. R. Scales;
S, issue of March 1
Morals.on, F. Orme;s-S: ———___- = 60
New stations, and allocation of channels
for educaton: EP... ae |
Textiles
Contract awards by Pentagon to non-union
mills; EP_490; see also EP, 337, 424, 448
Trouble in. K. Hutchison; S a A,
448; see also EP, 337; EP, —________ 490
Union; strife in. R. Lowenstein; S 404
Thayer, V
Released time from public school for teach-
ing of religion; S__. 130 see also... 128
Theatre, the; censorship, G. et S625
See also C. H.; Krutch, ie M. M.;
Marshall, M., for reviews
Thing, the. M. Farber; MP 18
Thought, freedom of. See Freedom of thought
Tito, Marshal. See Yugoslavia
Titus, Joseph H.
Availability of W. O. Douglas; C 143
Toronto symphony orchestra; exclusion of
some members from United States; EP ——565
Trade, fair. See United States — Economics
Training, universal military. See Universal
military training
Transatlantic foundation;
ships. R. Mayer;
Travel; freedom of; three articles —______..
Trieste; disturbances in Italo-Yugoslav dis-
REE cee WER FN pe oer
Truman, President Harry S.
Address in defense of government officials
and employees; E
Address _to Americans for democratic ac-
tion
exchange scholar-
335
198
— 361
461
Index
PAGE
Administration under surveillance in witch
bunt. C. McWillinms:'S ee
And J. Howard McGrath; EP
Announcement of decision not to run again,
Message to congress. K. Hutchison; S__53;
see also EP,
Tubman, V. S. W. See Liberia
Tuna fishing. See Fishing industry
Tunisia
Nationalist movement; EP
Situation, political; EP
er box. A. Roth; S wis
Trouble.in; EP .........
U
“USA ae a ” A. Boren: C......,
A ecw Labor
Unesco. See Vinited nations — Economic and
social council
Union of South Africa
Civil war threatened; EP ............
Connolly cartoons attacking “‘natism”
Crises over discrimination law; E —— ~
Fear of miscegenation; case of Seretse
Khawa: EP cc
OY —EE——————EEEEE
Liberal journals; disappearance of. C. C.
Asensteld; C ee i eiepiieaataan
Madness. E. S. Bachay © . ccpeceeneccern
— imprisons the constitution. D, Low;
Ss crracnieteensiandinaiale
Malan reaches for
EP
Union of Soviet Socialist Republics
And Germany
Offer of draft of ana a.
Soviet for unification of Ger-
man rechwey; § —.._._._.....-
- f, proposals on policy of Soviet Rus-
jee warfare; Vishinsky offer of control
plan. J. A. Del V.; S ————_—_____
Cracks {n the Kremlin wall; from book by
E. Crankshaw ileecincticineeninasipeiiaadiggill
Economic conference in Moscow. Lord Boyd-
One's a. 418; see also EP, —___
Finances; military budget; EP
Literature; writing today, E. J.
native protectorates;
Simmons;
Litvinov, M., passing of. a3: Alvarez del
Vayo; S —
tre ‘auto workers’ education conference. H.
Holland; S, issue of April 19
United nations
And the United States; anti-United nations
movement; EP os
Attack by D. A. R.; EP Cs caninsoaeniod
Assembly, general; accom lishments; talk
a Padilla Nervo. J. Alvarez del Vayo;
Disarmament discussion. a3 “Alvarez ddl
Pn) een Ee
Economic and social council; admittance of
Benet ras ee eres
Meeting; discussions and program. J.
Alvarez del Vayo; S
Failure to achieve unity in action; the
~ ii nobody made. J. Alvarez del Vayo;
Or the North Atlantic treaty organization.
J. Alvarez del Vayo; S—..____.
Role in the Near east. F. Kirchwey; S——.
a oo Lie’s difficulties with his
staff eres
United States
And Germany. See Germany
And Mexico. See Mexico
And the United nations: Anti-United na-
tions “movement; EP sss
Attack by D. A. R.; EP
Defense, national:
Armaments race; evidence seen in mil-
itary, Pudge; 2)
Cost, and standard of livin:
economic report to congress;
Guns and butter too. M. Bernstein; S —..
Output, national, and defense appropria-
tions; Bevanism ° wins; F. Sternberg; S__
Provisions for, in the budget; E ——
Economics :
Credit, easy, for consumers; EP —...
Fair trade; battle over; Bp a 261;
Seeidiso lec.
Guns and butter too, M. Bernstein; [Ses
Output, national and ee appropria-
tions; anism wins. Sternberg; S_
Escspeny, pepe oy K. Hintelagon;
Truman
Truman report to congress; EP =
Wage stabilization and prices; measures
opposed by labor; E
Finances:
Badge, nuit, 2 ee
Budget, record; provisions for security
program; ee eect
Defense cost and living standards: Tru-
man economic report to congress EP —_
Tax, income; increase in;
Tax scandal of 1924. H. Barnard; S_. Seam
150
$65
312
71
~ 412
126
._ 337
240
$66
$77
292
310
$38
260
334
345
263
416
340
621
357
243
17S
$93
415
171
596
$09
$70
123
265
559
593
415
243
69
275
471
99
463
440
275
471
6
69
360
243
99
69
241
57
Vol. 174)
ka eggs unfair distribution; EP
oa
high tariffs. K. Hutchison; §
Attacks on, called scurrilous; EP __ 491;
see also Eee
Imperialism; Lattimore called an agent —
ocnacseeensesspmeitea
Need for boldness. E. Kefauver; S —_. $7.
Need for eee etary, following signing
- treaties; EP es 537
rogram suggested for Republi . 4
dential can idate; EP , ae
peaking out on. E , del Vayo;
——_—.. 466; see also °
Taft's views; EP = eaeencesaseniiiadioaiapesiaiianannn
Freedom of thought absent a century ago;
views of De Tocqueville
Government:
Corruption in
overnment; Morris-
McGrath investiontins
Euslopess; civil rights of. R, S. Brown,
Rearmament. See United States — Defense,
Reselation is our business. W. O. Douglas;
United States supreme court ~
Denial of bail to aliens upheld; EP —.. 262
Feinberg law, New York, upheld. F.
Kirchwey; Sse
“Released time’ for instruction in relig- +
Boe s TP eens eee
Reversal of ban on Miracle,
picture; EP
Temporizing in Jim Crow issue; E
Wire- tapping case; Court versus F
v as nee Ss ee
niversal military training; — trap. E
Cc. eee a 164
: ss national. W. Morse; S——_____ 74
Universities. See Education; also names of {
me
institutions
Van a Mark t
Epitaph; 'P ae
The ged vd ee 280
of galaxies; 582
Van Evert, Rod
Lawrence scaway; SS...
the. catholic church 4
Julio’ Alvarez de. See Alvarez del
ayo,
Vegetables, canned; rise in price; EP
Venus observed. J. W. Krutch; eae.
Venezuela; oi] nationalization threat; EP =
Veteran, nes burial denied in Arizona
cemetery; een alesse
Victims, the K. Raine; P
ee See Indo-China +
iolence, race, seminar on. J. Butler; C_
Vishinsky, Andrei; offer of atomic- bomb con-
trol plan. J. A. Del V.;
Vorse, Mary Heaton
Big steel and the little man; S —
Ww
Wage stabilization board; Wilson fiasco as
critic; eee
Wages. See Labor
Ww east on Beacon. M. Farber; MP —__..
Walter bill. See Immigration
Walther, Herbert K.
Reprint of educational series; C ——______.
War; capitalism as cause; conference on. R.
ydohnson CSE SS See
— Judge J. Waties, on civil rights;
Warren, Earl; achievements and views. H. L.
Piillics- Ss Br
Water power; Hell’s canyon dam, Idaho;
a opposed by Idaho Republicans;
Ledtois by private corporations; B. Lyons;
Watkins, Vernon
The mare; P
Watson, Goodwin
Public schools’ retreat from freedom; 4
Weiss, Katherine T.
Prudential life insurance company’s wealth;
Cc
Werner, M. R.
Ross, Harold, professional tribute to; § ~.......
Werth, Alexander 5 $4
x 1
“Fechteler document” 5
France:
And rearmament of Germany; § ——~...... 202
Government change; fall of Pleven; S..._ 54
Indecision, fatal; ene
249
12
176
Problem; Indo-China the heart; S
Schuman’s pool of troubles; S
Indo-China; war beyond means of France;
government, the vatican, and United
States catholics; S
Italy;
Index
January-June, 1952)
; miracles in Rome; S ——____—
Illinois, coal mine disaster;
“Ala F.
: Supreme court versus F. B. I.
d the women. M,. Farber; MP — —....
th, Ernest M.
litics; C21
, Adlai E.; S
“museum of American art.
CO Ee
Sein with, = loyalty. G. H.
5 = issue of June 2
; dismissal by the Univer-
Minnesota D. Bruner; S, issue of
ag readings from Dickens. J.
<a
cs in the ae possible bolt from
t-) see alsa ___—
Sse
cl
n, North Se Eacslina: delay in public-
ject. J. Powell; S, issue of
Jes E.; fiasco as mobilization di-
mic freedom and American society;
and whirlwind (from The Nation of
—— z
McCarthy oe Wik. . Evjues
elections; E —.. 291; (7)
a _ Preview. €. McWilliams; s.
: Supreme court versus F. B. I.
estin; S
Lattimore; C —.. eee
es of business men. J. Tanner; S
War III. See Collier's
en nacgin; M ——___
x
5 censorship in; S ~...
Yy
ich, Judge Leon; proposed matcetian
ace, in Cole case; EP
“George H.
lation with wife,
of June 21
and loyalty; S,
. avia . :
periment in industrial democracy. F.
o’s unique country. F. Sternberg; oa
; dispute with Italy. A. Werth;
Raymond
| Offers back issugs of The Nation; C
oS mn on’ Brameld address in Red Bank,
_ New Jersey; S, issue of April 26
BOOK REVIEWS
PAGE
429
172
65
82
341
354
189
294
311
—.- 658
617
~ 315
337
269
172
. 336
204
410
628
359
- 322
226
- 361
288
Books are indexed under author and title
and in some cases under subject.
, The following explanatory letters are
‘used in the index:
B Book review
AN Brief annotation
R Reviewer
PAGE
A
stract BB. Hess ae and American
ttern of responsi-
_, bility. Dan ci The pa Bundy amas
ts as of secretary of state Dean Ache-
Adams, Brooks: enenective conservative. T.
letters of. Edited with an in-
Acolia. I. cade ee E. D. Scott-
Kilvert; AN eee oe: D. Scott
= all’ The autobiography of Norman An-
111
88
184
87
90
328
282
284
532
PAGE
American vanguard 1952. Edited by UD. M.
Wolfe: AN == =
Americans at home, the. D. Macrae; B ~~
Anderson, Thornton
Brooks Adams: Constructive conservative;
ie re
Angell, Norman
After all; autobiography; B
Annan, Noel Gilroy
Leslie Stephen: His thought and character
in relation to his time; B
Ardrey, Robert
The brotherhood of fear; AN
eee theory of _Poetry and ae art;
Arkell, Reginald __
Green fingers, and other poems; AN —._..
Arnaud, Georges
The wages Cf fear. Translated by N. Bales
Art treasures of the Louvre; B
Asia and the west. M. Zinkin; B -. =
Axes and songs. A. Lazarus; AN oS
B
Bailey, “Stephen K., E. E. Schattschneider,
and V toes
A guide to the study of BARS ae AN
Ball, W. MacMahon,
Behold Virginia: The f fifth crown. G. F. Wil-
lison; B
Behrman, S. N.
SCAN ALR ar a eeceneeeemtcmniie
Bellamy, Francis Rufus _
The private life of George Washington;
Best m the best short stories, es, 1915- -1950. Ed-
ited by M. Foley; AN
Best stories from new writing. Selected and
with an introduction by J. Lehmann; AN.
Betrothed, the. A. Manzoni. New translation
by A. Colquhoun; B as
Bevan, Ernest
In place of fear; B —..... anaiaba ne ieician piceknapias
Biddle, Francis
The fear of freedom; B —
Bidou inheritance, the. E. de ] Born; “AN Samael a
Bigiand, Eileen
Ouida; B
es William, a primer. “of~ "H.
"S. White;
Blood, ‘oil, and sand. R. Brock; B — ins
Bloody precedent, F. Cowles; AN =
Bolles, Blair
How to get rich in Washington; B..350;
see also letters, —.___. same 439,
Bolshevik revolution, the, 1917-1923. Volume
two of a history of soviet Russia. E. H.
Carr;
Books, outstanding, ‘of 1952 —
Borchert, Wolfgang
The man outside, The prose works of W.
Borchert: AN ............
Edited by F. A. Potties
Boswell in Holland.
Bes ie
Bowles, Paul
Lett come dows; AN...
trock, Ray
Blood, oil, and sand; B ee
Brod, Max
Unambo. A novel of the war in Israel.
Translated by L. Lewisohn; AN — ~~...
Brooks Adams: Constructive conservative.
T. Anderson; B ee
Brooks, Van Wyck
The confident years: 1885-1915; B
Brossard, Chandler
Who walk in darkness; = ‘aeeticic
Brotherhood of ceass the. R. Ardrey; CRN ce
Brower, Reuben A.
The fields of "light: Bian
Brown, W. Norman; a
Buchler, Justus
Toward a general theory ot human judg-
ment;
Buckley, "Jerome Hamilton
The Victorian temper; AN .
Buntline, Ned, biography. J. Monaghan; ‘AN.
Butterfield, Herbert
History and human relations; B —— ~~.
Cc
Cabell, James Branch
IRN CORAM I I rset
Geanacy,. batuere= (ho 254,
Caesar. G. Walter. Translated by E. Beat
furd. Edited by S Rol: AN ==.
Canada’s century. M. Lebourdais; ae
Capitalism and a on trial. F. Stern-
berg. Translated by E. Fitzgerald; B___..
Carlyle, Jane Welsh, biography. L. and E.
Carr, Edward Hallett ie caak
The Bolshevik revolution, Volume two of
a history of soviet Russia; BW...
609
389
184
328
207
257
589
332
206
208
305
14
236
90
233
431
41
257
89
235
406
161
487
383
590
608
. 504
350
406
189
. 184
63
531
257
139
183
282
332
114
561
. 180
330
PAGE
Carruth Hayden) Ro —~.456, 584
es against paychosnalyais, the. A. Salter;
Castro, Josué de
The geography of hunger; B..W. a Ae
Catherine wheel, the. J. Stafford; B. —— 136
Catholic, a, speaks his mind on America's
religious) conflict; a. 2 eee ATG
Catton, Bruce
Glory, road; AN=— | . 436
Catton, Bruce; RSS eee ln]
Chambers, Whittaker
Witness; B._____._...502; correction, 536
Chaplin, Charlie; book on. R, Payne; AN... 436
Childs, Marquis
The farmer takes a hand; B........... 586
456
Chase, Richard
Emily Dickinson;
Chase, Richard; Seach Amaia OS
Chattanooga country, the, GWE,
Govan and J. W. Livingood; INYR eee 437
Chivers’ life of Poe. Edited with an introduc-
tion by R. B. Davis; AN......... 533
Churchill, Winston. An informal _ study: “of
greatness. RESOLD. Taylor: Buu (1608
Clark, Eleanor
Rome anda: wills) Bio-.s,noncscmncnsinoeee ARS
Colette
Short novels. With an introduction by G.
Weatcott:' (B2....... iciiininaca AO
Collected poems. M. Moore; AN... 113
Collier, John
Fancies and goodnights; AN....... 90
Collins, Wilkie, Bioarep hy: K, Robinson; _ B.. 434
ur
Communism in wester ope. M. Einaudi,
J.-M. Domenach, nang A. Garosci; B.......... 229
Composer’s world, P. Hindemith; 434
Confident years, Wine 1885-1915, Van Wyck
BEVIS RS ececsiceseerccaes siscoenainconbies 63
Conroy, Hilary; Ree aes an SM
Courbet, Gustave; two books. on; Bienen
Cowles, Fleur
Bloody precedent; AN..... a LOL
Creekmore, Hubert; R..... eiactssshictenopmnsigy Ga
Curtis, peat -Louis
The torests of the pignt 7 Translated by
N. Wydenbruck; A ‘omen Mag
D
Dance to the piper, A. de Mille; AN 161
Davis, H. L.
Winds of morning; B............ caisinpiiidpatiiacm EO
de Born, Edith
The Bidou taperitanioe; AN saaicussccshgt Oe!
Degas, D. C. Rich; B..... sstinaceteontarisameeagt LO
de Lima, Sigrid
PU es sweets: AUN occcteietcreteeercercccncectunseees
de Mille, Agnes
Dance to the piper; AN. ets
Desert year, the. _W. Krutch; B.
De Weerd, S| Mibdauasnasmuodie nasonex eee OU
Dewey, John: The reconstruction “of the
democratic life. J. Nathanson; B........... 588
Diaper, William
Poems; AN... Sesiakiasnonannaiedl
Dickinson, Emily. ak “Chase; B=
District of Columbia. J. Dos Passos; B.....
Dobrée, Bonamy
Alexander Pope; AN...
Domenach, Jean- Marie, with M. ‘Einaudi and
A. Garosci
Communism in western Enrope; B..
Donald, David; R... a castrate
Donald, Henderson H.
The ‘Negro freedman; AN...
Dos Passos, John
eee, ae Seema B.
sain gg ae
ty, rea Tas Be aoa vee
oe en: Poetry. prose and plays.
Grant; emai cas
Duke of Ghctovo, “the. A. Menen; AN.
Duveen, S. N. Behrman; i sssecsceeeasaeocs
E
Eastern zone and mnie policy in Germany,
the, 1945-1950. J. P. near LS. 64
Einaudi, Mario, with J.-M. Domenach, and
A, Garosci
Communism in weer Europe; B....-.... 277
Ellen Knauff story, the. Knanty AN... 436
Ellison, Ralph
Invisible man; B.......... 454
Emile Zola. An introductory _study “of his
novels. A. Wilson; B.... sca convene HI
Emily Dickinson. R. Ch ase; ‘B.. 456
Enchanted grindstone, the. H. M. / Robinson;
ON ere es es tierra
Eternal stranger. To “Resner; Bn eae
Ethics of distribution, oie B. de _Jouvenel;
Bs SE aap cect icant gtaoecicneeee a ae
Ethridge, “Willie Snow,
Let’s talk Turkey; B..... . 585
Extraordinary Mr, fnaie the. “H. “Swiggett;
AN anc . 436
Ezra Pound and the cantos. “H. W: atts; ; AN.. 589
PAGE
F
ee CUS A
Faison, S$. Lanc, Jr.; R—16, 111, 186, 283, 305
Fancies and goodnights, J. Collier; AN 90
Farmer takes a hand, the. M. Childs; 5... 586
Fast, Howard
Spartacus; B._ eee 331
Fear of freedom, the. F. Biddle; B__- 41
_ Fehling, Helmut M.
One great prison. The story behind Russia's
unreleased POW’'S. Forewords by
Adenauer and joueph Cardinal Frings.
- ‘Translated by C. joy; B.____...
Fields of light, the. R. % Brower; B 139
First love, and other poems. E. Rolfe; AN 113
Ford, Ford Madox
OE es SS ee,
Ford, Henry, book on. G. Garrett; AN 533
Forests of the night, the. J.-L. Curtis. Trans-
lated by N. Wydenbruck; AN... 236
Forgotten language, the. An introduction to
the understanding of dreams, fairytales and
Penne, arom * Wi. 160
Fosdick, Raymond B.
The story of the Rockefeller foundation;
a eae nections accrcnchceimscime a Ae
Four thousand million mouths. Scientific
humanism a the shadow of world hunger.
ae by F. L. Clark and N. W. Pirie; is
Bee 3
Freeman, Dov Douglas Southall
e Washington: A biography. Volume
wih lanter and patriot. Volume IV.
leader of the revolution; Bi. _14
_ Freud, Sigmund: His interpretation of the
mind of man. G. Zilboorg; Butt. 42
Fromm, Erich
The forgotten language. An introduction to
the understanding of dreams, fairytales
ERIE Serer iis 260
| Frye, Richard N., and L. V. “Thomas
= United States and cueey and Iran;
beieeaemciie - ees Rencasianeg Pa
mites: TG.
Voyage to windward: The life of Robert
is Stevenson; AN WW
G
Galbraith, John Kenneth
erican capitalism: tO ae concept of
countervailing a leg siege ceeeeeeies Gee
Garis, Robert E.; Sane ey MOE
Garosci, Aldo with M. Einaudi and J.-M.
Domenach
Communism in western Europe... 277
Garrett, Garet
The ‘wild erties. AUN ae ae 533
Genzmer, George; es = 187
peavey of hunger, the. J. de Castro; B_. 254
Geor, ashington: A biography.
Volume III, planter and patriot.
Volume IV, leader of the revolution. D. S.
reeman; B earns ecerancaapnieae: 1
George Washington and “American indepen-
fence ->.P- Nettea:. BO
Germany, two books on; B_ 64
Gide, André
The secret drama of my life. Translated
by K. Wallis; B— J See
Glory road. B. Catton; NS = 1 ae
Gogol, Nikolai, biography. J. Lanvrin; B —— 587
Good soldier, the. F. M. Ford; AI. tere Oty
Goodfriend, Arthur
The only war we seek; AN any LD
Gordon, di King Ro 2s 2 eee
Govan, Gilbert E, and J. W. Livingood
The Chattanooga country, 1840-1951; AN 437
Great god Pan, the. Payne; AN 436
Great rascal, the. J. Monaghan: AN See ete
Greece; American dilemma and opportunity.
Powe eostaviianos. Bo eee
Green, Henry
Dotin a ue
oes ngers, and other poems. R. Arkell; fuk
Ben, eee
Groves of Academe, the. M. McCarthy; B_— 278
Guerard, Albert; sea?
Guerard, Albert J.; Sa ee 386
Guide to the study of public affairs, a. E.
Schattschneider, V. Jones, and S. K
Bailey; ee Sal
Cun 1 304
Gwyn, Nell, biography. J. H. Wilson; B — 351
H
Hadas, Moses; R. eee eee 62
Haggin, B. RS = Gee ee ee ce 534, 563
Hamilton, asian j.3 ‘Re S529 585
Handlin, Oscar; Rees Se oes =) 208
Hanson, Lawrence and Elisabeth
Necessary evil: The life of Jane Welsh
feamtr lees See 581
Hawkes, eons
A land; (aa te ee oe ee
Hayes, Carlton J, H.
he United States and Spain; B_-___
Heavens on earth. M. Holloway; AN
Heerikhuizen, F. W.
Rainer Maria Rilke:
AN
Heine, Heinrich
His life and work;
Poems. Translated by V. Watkins; AN.
Henry Irving: The actor and his world.
L. Irving; B jos —
—— Melville: A biography. L. Howard;
Herzog, Elizabeth, and M. Zborowski_
Life is with people; Bo
Hess, Thomas B.
Abstract painting. Background and Amer-
ican phase; 5.
Hicks, Granville
There was a man in our town; AN WW.
Hillman, William
Mr. President. Pictures by A. Wagg; B—
Hillyer, Robert
The suburb by the sea; AN. SS
Hindemith, Paul
A composer's world; B—
History and human relations,
Hobart, Alice Tisdale
The serpent-wreathed staff; AN
Hofstadter, Richard;
Holloway, Mark
Heavens on ecarth;
Homer
Iliad. Translated, with an a by
R. Lattimore; AN
Hovde, Carl F.;
How to co-exist writhout playin the Krem-
lin’s game. J. P. Warburg; B
How to get dn’; in Washington, B. Bolles;
BL Se oe also letters, 439,
. Moley; B
A biography; B
H. Butterfield;
EE
How to keep our liberty.
Howard, Leon
Herman Melville:
Howe, Irving; RW
-454,
350
304
434
$61
43
184
140
285
. 561
529
487
606
~ 255
$02
(correction, 536)
Hughes, H. Stuart
Oswald Spengler; Bee Se
Hughes, H. Stuart; R_____-__-______88, 135, 277
Hughes, Langston
Laughing to keep from crying; AN. 408
Humphries, er R___.113, 139, 283, 389, 589
Hurewitz, J. C SSS eee
Hutchison, Keith; scr ee
I
Ideas of order. W. Stevens; AN__..__.____389
Iliad, Homer, Translated, with an introduc-
tion, by R. Lattimore; AN_-_______ 285
Impatient lover. L. Rockwell; AN 589
In country sleep. D. Thomas; "AN 389
In place of fear. A. Bevan; Fae aT
Indigo bunting, the. (Biogra hy of Edna
Saint Vincent Millay). heean 370
Invisible man. R. Ellison; ers 454
Irving, Henry; biography. L. Irving; B 406
Irving, Laurence
Henry Irving: The actor and his world;
D> eee 106
Is anybody listening? How and why U. S.
Business fumbles when it talks with human
beings. W. H. Whyte, Jr., and the ed-
itors of Fortune ; ek 455
Isaacs, J.
The background of modern poetry; AN 589
Israel, two books on; B a ee 158
Israel: The beginning and tomorrow. H.
Lehrman; ee. 158
Italian painting: The renaissance (from Leon-
ardo da Vinci to pecans Text by L.
Venturi and R. Skira-Venturi. Trans-
lated by S. Gilbert; B_____ e=) 16
J
Janeway, Eliot
The struggle for survival. A chronicle of
a eae mobilization in World War II; ?
SS SS ee DY
Japan in worl history. G. B. Sansom; B.. 91
Jarrell, Randa
The seven- Seas crutches; B 182
Jefferson, Thomas, three books on; -B 187
Jefferson and his time. Volume II: Jefferson
and the rights of man. D. Malone; B -_.. 187
jaan Selleck. C. Jonas; B_____ .. 209
ennings, Humphrey
Poems; _——— ee
John Dewey: The reconstruction ion of the demo- ’
Sane lites ee Nabnacison. (bs = 588
Jonas, Carl
en Selikcki ap ee 209
Jones, Ernest, Ro 240, 90, 136, 350, 482, 582
Jones, Victor,” SSK Bailey, and E. E. Schatt-
schneider
A guide to the study of public affairs;
AN 23 eS. 22
Jouvenel, Bertrand de
The ethics of distribution; B...._-___ 583
a Mark: (on 5 es
Kahn, ios
The aa war; AN
Katherine Mansfield’s letters to John Midd
a yet oe it
\eene, Frances; 15, 233, 384, 3
Knauff, Ellen Raphael oe
Ellen Knauff story, the. AN
Kohn, Hans: Bc
Korg, Jacob; R
Kramer, Dale
Ross and the New Yorker; AN
Krutch, Joseph Wood
Religion, uses of; reviews of two bo
The d B
lo
esert year; B
Krutch, Joseph Wood; R180, 479, 5 0
L
Land, a. J. Hawkes; AN
ne, Frona
The third eyelid; AN
Lanvrin, Janko 7
Nikolai G a (1809-1852). A cent
Laughing to keep from crying. L. Hu
A cp ying,
survey; |
Lazarus, An Andrew
Axes and so} AN...
Lazarus, H. P.; aap
Lebourdais, D. M.
Canada’s century; B
——— s 4 ‘
srael c cginning and tomorrow; B.
Lekachman, Robert ;
Leslie Stephen: His thought and ch t
G. Annan
in relation to his time. N. G.
Let it come down. P. Bowles; AN
Let's talk Turkey. W. S. Ethridge; B
Letters of ee Wheeler, the. Ed
B. H. dell Hart; AN
Lewis, fede: Gregory
The monk; wee’
Life is with people. M. Zborowski and E
Herzog: 3B... a
Livingood, James W., and G. Govan
The Chattanooga country, erin A
Logan, Rayford RW
London a Tras tales of the eight
centur P. Stebbins; AN
Lorca, ae
Romancero gitano. Translated by L. Hu
Lost library, the. The autobiogra
culture. Mehring. Translated
By Winston; B
Lynd, Helen M.; R_____ age
oP
M ’
Mack, Gerstle
tave Courbet;
MacOrlan, Pierre
Courbet;
Macrae, David
The Americans at home; B
Mallarmé, Stephane
Poésies. Translated by R. Fry;
Malone, Dumas
Jefferson and his time. Volume II.
son and the rights of man; B 18
Man outside, the. The est works of Waitt
gang Borchert. Translated by D. Porter; AN 608
were the blue guitar, the. W.
en
Mansfield, Katherine; letters to John Middle-
ton Murry; AN... er 0
Manzoni, Alessandro
The bethrothed. New translation by A.
Colquhoun: BW = ee eee
Mao’s China; Party reform documents, 1942-
44. Translation and introduction by _B.
Compton; BS eee
Marshall General George C., biography. R.
Payne; ec
Marshall, Margaret; 2 Oe )
Marshall story, the, R. Paynes ANS ie
Masefield, John
So long to learn; B___..__
McCanse, Ralph Alan
Waters over Linn Creek Town; AN... 589
McCarthy, J ‘
The groves of Academe; B______.___.__ 278
Mehring, Walter
The lost library. The anton
ae Translated by R and
oe
Stevens;
ee
of a
Win-
Bo ee
Melville, Zeca: A biography. L. Howard;
Memoirs of Emnst von Weizsecker. Tr Trans-
lated by J. Andrews; B_..
M
enen, Aub
The duke OP Gato: AN :
Metaphysical passion, the. S. Raiziss
Michell,
Sparta:) AN... =
a Edna Saint Vincent, memori:
Saint Vincent: A memoir, E.
na Saint Vincent; it; biography The
bunting. V. Sheehan; B_.___
ohn
The 1645 edition. Edited, with
in an by C. Brooks and J.
eye S. Pritchett; AN.
ne 6 W. illman. Pictures by
,
oe ae
Raymond
p our liberty; B_.
Seinen! AN
R.
and ad Politics: 5s
M. G. Lew Se
and bobtail; AN
rrington, Jr.;
ll
Wri
0 nt az. ig etssaac
Philip E eee St
: experience of composer, performer,
ner, the. R. Sessions; B.—~_534,
ster and I. F. Nietzche; letter, 611;
N
George J the world of. Selected
; ean, world of. ecte
d = an introduction by C.
- Jerome "
; See estraction of the of the
a | SS: Sa
is have souls. - Siegfried. Translated
a,
mnael, ge Essays on reality and
Stevens; B
[ ‘evil: The life of Jane Welsh
Pemsosons Ba,
freedm » the. H. H. ee AN.
yyn royal mistress. J. . Wilson; B
‘Washington and American indepen-
in
i a Be
ns 13. Edited by J. Laughlin; |; AN
for a changing world. . Russell;
writing. First Mentor tor selection;
Friedgich; book on. 4 * Article by le by A.
520; see also letter
° (1809-1852), A centenary sur-
avrin; B____. dealt
“pundred and fifty-two; outstanding
Rectrrot, century, the. M. Raynal; B
Riven, Paul;
eo Biicy: » The Negro in Europe
“ON
! "Our, German policy: Propaganda and cul-
2 a
ture;
ee with the spring. E. W. Teale; AN
oO
ga eres sto
i
ee gpl s
. Fennin ore-
words by Ke Tein and Joseph Cardinal
|. _.Frings. Translated by C. R. Joy; B
Only war we seek, A. Goodfriend;
Origins of the 1877-1913. C.
oodward;
hog Spengler. H. S. Hughes; B_____
Ottley,
No 1 a Negro in Europe
Ouida. E. ie
Our German policy: Propaganda and culture.
A. Norman; B__—
eng books eeseae
Owl’s clover. W. Stevens; AN.
yes
new south,
the. Volume I:
c H.
yd, L
Bryan;
the. Edited by by McG.
veto of Secretary of
I storys ee 4
J. Kahn, Jr.; AN__161
PAGE
AN...
Berner, biography. H: / Sraestt:
370
370
436
90
304
110
606
114
138
482
352
383
113
~ 587
529
563
526
. 181
532
588
232
351
14
586
532
vas
530
611
587
590
186
431
136
92
235
139
” 483
303
137
89
64
590
389
187
88
436
774
PAGE
Pérez Galdos, Benito
[Phe ‘spendthriitss Bo 582
Phelps, Robert; SO 00s 404
Pillar the: D. Walkers, AN=— > 609
Plantation county. M. Rubin; AN... 353
Poe, Edgar Allan; Chivers’ life of. Edited
with an introduction by R. B. Davis; AN 533
Poems, = Diaper; AN 589
Poems. Jennings; AN. 389
Poems — Sir W. Ralegh: ANS = 283
Poems, North sea. H. Heine. Translated by
V. Watkins; AN 283
Poems of Mr. John Milton. The 1645 15 edition;
Edited, with essays in analysis, by C.
Brooks and J. E. Hardy: AN... 436
Poésies, S. Mallarmé. Translated by R. Fry;
AN RS 8 ee ee 283
Poetry, books of (Verse chou}
283, 389, 589
Pope, Alexander. B. Dobrée; lea 284
Pope, Alexander; Catholic poet, F . B, Thorn-
tone AN ees SOE
Portable Arabian n nights, the, ae = oa
with an introduction by J. age Deo
Pound, Ezra, and the cantos. zy AN 589
Powell, Dawn; Vag ere 455
Primer of Blake, a. He S. White; aaee
Prisoners are people. K y Gatien AN. 161
Pritchett,
Mr. Beluncle; PUN cle orer vcaeerriscoarnad 90
Private life of George Washington, the. F. R. a
Ps choanalysis and politics. R. E. Money-
SS cence gee eteinitasinesiomantion, GOS
Psychoanalysis, man and society, P, Schilder.
Arranged by L. Bender; B_....__.__.... 138
Q
Quiet please. J. B. Cabell; ‘Boe 180
R
Rag, tag and bobtail. L. Montross; AN... 352
Raine, Kathleen
Selected poems; AN 389
Rainer Maria Rilke: His life and “work. . FF.
Van Heerikhuizen; AN I |
Raiziss, Sona
The metaphysical passion; AN..........—... 589
Ralegh, Sir Walter
Breet PAN a eters, | AO
Peete: S, Ke Fe teeeeteeene 000
Raynal, Maurice
The nineteenth century; Translated by J.
Emmons; S became LOG
Religion and the intellectuals; Be 409
Religion, uses of; reviews by J. W. Krutch
CE ON DOORS) pete 479
aaligiows faith and world culture, 1 Edited “by
PR enn a in nee enttinntammincetaamenn SAF
ieee ue, Erich Maria
Spark of life. ‘Translated by J. Stern; B.. 158
Resner, Lawrence
Eternal stranger; B. ae: Sas
Rice, Laban Lacy
The universe; Its origin, nature, and
destiny; SS SS eee, ||
Rich, Daniel Catton
Deg as ho abet eeee ae bien 200
Rilke Rainer Maria; ‘life and work, F. W.
Van al ANe ees: ae
Ripley, S. Dillon
lig for the spiny babbler. A natural-
ist’s adventure in Nepal; ba 256
Robinson, H, M.
The enchanted grindstone; AN ..__.. 589
Robinson, Kenneth
Wilkie Collinies’ Re cnn 434
Rockwell, Lillian
Impatient lover; AN.__. 589
Rolfe, Edwin
First love, and other poems; AN... 113
Romancero gitano. G. Lorca. Translated by
ee asian © AN ncemecemcant LAG
Romano, Romualdo
Scirocco. Translated by W. J. Smith; B.. 15
Rome and a villa. E. Clark; B__________. 384
Rosenman, Dorothy; ee a ae
Ross and the New Yorker. D. Kramer; AN 43
Roth, Samuel
Letter on Werner review of My sister and
I, by F. Nietzsche._.___611, see also 526
Rubin, Morton
Plantation county; AN. iene OOM
Russell, Bertrand
New hopes for a changing world; B..._._ 181
Ss
Salter, Andrew
The case a agate psychoanalysis; B 527
oa Id hi B 91
apan = wor istory; a
Schachner, Nathan
Thomas Jeéerson: A moeTaDey e187
pe citer, E. E., V. Jones, and S. K,
ailey
A guide to the study of public affairs; AN 332
January-June, 1952)
PAGE
Scirocco. R. Romano. ae by W.7 J:
Smith; SSA Ee Soe SE on LS
Scudder, Kenyon i
Prisoners are people; AN... LG
Search for the spiny babbler. ‘A naturali s
adventure in Nepal. D. Ripley; AN... 256
Secret drama of my life, ‘the. A, Gide. Trans-
lated bys Keo\Walliss) 2 ee 386
Selected letters of Henry Adams, the. Edited
with an introduction by N, Arvin; B...__ 87
Selected poems. K. Raine; AN. 389
Selleck, Jefferson, C. Jonas; Ba eae
Serpent- -wreathed staff, the. A. ce Hobart;
Stes ce ae ee 4
Sessions, Roger :
The musical experience of composer, per-.
former; \listener:: Ba ——934,° 563
Seven-league crutches, the. R. Jarrell; BL. 182
Shanghai oeeacyi Major General C, A.
See lou see reese a
Sheean, ones
The indigo bunting (Biography of Edna
Saint Vincent Millay); Bi. 370
Shelton, Willard: Ri esas 350
see also letters, 439, 487
Short novels of Colette. With an introduction
by _G. ‘Westcott; Bo...
Siegfried, André
el ee have souls. Translated by E. Fitz-
gerald etssiaoewesteennsenne ecaseetaitos nonusers seac a
Sigmund mend: His interpretation of the
mind of man. G,. Zilboorg; Bo 42
Skira-Venturi, Rosabiance, and L, Venturi
Italian painting: The renaissance (from
Leonardo da Vinci to Veronese) Trans-
lated by S, Gilbert; BH
So long to learn. J. Masefield; Bess 408
Soule, George asain LEE
Spark of life, a M. ~Remarque.. ‘Translated
by J. Stern; B.. ones nesseessnsesseshene sacs DEER
Sparta, H.
Michell; AN ese .
Spartacus. H. Fast; i
Spencer, Elizabeth
This crooked ways. Bac eccesccees cee
Spender, Stephen; QR. 182
Spendthrifts, the. B. Pérez Galdés: BWW...
Spengler, Oswald, H. S. Hughes; B......... 303
Spielberger, Charles; Rovcsenscsrenneer stansonaioneaee een REDD
Stafford, Jean
The catherine wheel ; Bonasce.ccsmccusmsccmmn 136
Stavrianos, L. S.
Greece: American dilemma and _ oppor-
ONG e TS aor La
Stebbins, Lucy Poate
London ladies. True tales of the eighteenth
century; AN... ~scmmmcetea) AEE
Stephen, Leslie: His thought and ‘character in
relation to his time, N. G. Annan; B.. 207
Sternberg, Fritz
eae and socialism on trial. Trans-
lated Wy E. Fitzgerald; 2c ESN LE
Stevens, allace
Ideas of order; AN..
Owl’s clover; AN ;
The man with the blue guitar;
The necessary angel. Essays on realit
the imagination; B. a
Stevenson, Elizabeth; R......
Stevenson, artes Louis;
Furnas; ae
b graphy. J. CG
ae
Story; avis Sai liad in
Story of the Rockefeller foundation, ‘the. R.
Be Omics AN iascaceceseccccesccsvochancinnstcisitonnes aoe
Straus, Nathan
Two-thirds of a nation. A honsling program;
BY eee ~ 204
Struggle for Europe, t the, C. “Wilmot; ; B_. 560
Struggle for survival, the. A chronicle of
economic mobilization in World War II.
. Janeway; B.S ee
Suburb by the sea, the. R. Hillyer; AN 589
Sugrue, Thomas
A catholic speaks his mind on America’s re-
ligious conflict; editorial... 416
Swados, Harvey; R 158, 209, Sale 530, § 561, 587
Swift cloud, the, S. de Lima; AN osc
Swiggett, Howard
The extraordinary Mr, Morris; AN... 436
Syrkin, Marie; R...... scapes kt ae ete ea 432
rT
Taylor, Robert Lewis
Winston Churchill. An informal study of
greatness; snes nino en esac aa
Teale, Edwin Way
North with the spring; AN-—.—..__._-__.. 92
There was a man in our town. G. Hicks; AN 350
Third eyelid, the, F. Lane; AN. ean
This crooked way. E. Spencer; B.._.___.._ = 56]
Thomas, Dylan
In country sleep; AN cca 389
Thomas, Lewis V., and R. N. Frye
The United States and Turkey and Iran; B 111
beh sy Jefferson: A biography. N. Schachner;
Sn ei a cere 187
Thornton, Francis Beauchesne
Alexander Pope: Catholic poet; AN. 532
Todd, Ruthven; Re 235, 388, 408
~ +7 4 pe Alea” oe z
pe a > oe x
t - t-
a be oe ,
a
Seer pes 1952
os PAGE
0 ral theory of human judgment. Ww Wilmot, Chester
a2: Buches a ng 282 The vevent for Europe;
m9 Petiaest aS . Mr. President. Wages of fear, the. G. Arnaud, Translated Wilson, A a
" Ww. Hillman. Pictures m = Wagg; B 304 iON. Daler See Emile = An introductory
rae |, the. E. Williams; AN-________. 409 Ww lier, David novels;
a >thirds of a nation. A oes program. The pillar; AN... | Wilson, Riawat
Na Straus; B____. ae ccaaeseecerere eae Walsh, Warren 3.; RO 255 Edna Saint Vincent Millay: A x
Pi Warburg, James P. Wilson, Edmund;
‘ How to co-exist without playing the krem- Wilson, John Harold
Ve U lise game; B.......,.d eee SEE Nell 7a. royal mistress;
Washington, George, four books on; B 14 Winds of mornin . en Bs Davis;
~Unambo. A novel of the war in Israel. M. Waters over Linn Creek Town. R. A. ynccoan, Jack ;
_ Brod. Translated by L. Lewisohn; AN 189 McGane:: AN... SE Winston urchill, S. Soe
¢ — States and Spain, the. C. J. H. Watts, Harold greatness, R. L. Tay —
ag nice SAD Ezra Pound and the cantos; AN. $89 Witness. W. Chdakaee "p50; ‘cor
b Wai _ States, the, and Turkey and Iran. Weizsacker, Ernst von a Woodward, C. Vann -
fost V. Thomas and R. N. Frye; B 111 Memoirs; ee: ee et Origins ‘of the new south, 1877-19 r
the: Its origin, in, mature, and des- Werner, Alfred : Works of love, the. Morris; B_..
"| Otay te Rice; A) . 161 Article on book on F, Nietzsche —— $26; World of George ie Stra Sel
€ see also letter, 611 and edited with an i a
eal Werner, M. B.; BR iia 42 Angoff; AN .
hh Vv White, Hal Saunders Worldly muse, the, an anth
.* A primer of Blake; B...__...._.........—. 235 light verse. Edited by A. J.
. Who walk in darkness. C. Brossard; B $31
Vedanta for modern man. Edited, and with Whyte, William H., Jr., and the editors of
an introduction by C. Isherwood; — 281 Fortune Z
_ Venezis, Is anybody listening? How and why U. S.
~ Acolia. ieciinted by E. D. Scott-Kilvert; business fumbles when it talks with Zabel, Morton Dauwen; R
a a 90 Intman beings; Bice 455 Zborowski, Mark, and E. Hecke
ier, Lionello, — R, Skira-Venturi Wild wheel, the. G. Garrett; AN $33 Life is with people; :
painti The renaissance (from Wilkie Collins, K. Robinson; Bw. 44 Zilboorg, Gregory ‘
rdo da Vinci to Veronese). Trans- Williams, Eric. Sigmund Freud: His intrepr on
a oS, Gaibert: 5S... 16 The tunnel; AN ee, mind of man; B sal
Verse chronicle, See roe Willison, George F. Zinkin, Maurice ;
a temper, the. J Buckley; 332 Behold Virginia: The fifth crown; B__..__. 208 Asia and the west; B
to windward: The life . Rober Willoughby, Major General Charles A. Zola, Emile. An introductory
is Stevenson, J. C. Furnas; AN 90 Shanghai conspiracy; B.-.._..-—«<206 novels. A. Wilson; B
EF 281
a eat kok te tye ee eh Va
pat Mi tae > re. ~ —
“No Day: of Triumph EiltoriS}
fr BURLING, GA Ame
PUBLIC LiBRARY |
January 5, 1952
SPAN ISH JOURNEY
I Land tn Decay
BY ROBERT FROMM
Anaconda’s Big Steal
' You Can Stop This, Mr. Truman!
BY WILLARD SHELTON
= 7
Ti rca a's Middle Course - - - - - - J[ Abarez del Vayo
| 1CC eee lc Prosperity - - - - - - Keith Hutchison
n’s Pool of Troubles - - - - - Alexander Werth
a gor 195 - - - - - - - - - Manny Farber
oY ¢ EVERY WEEK SINCE 1865 7 DOLLARS A YEAR
f os ba ‘apy FS
F AROUND T TE
| ges .
wy! Rolling Back Time points: first, they contended the project
would break the Housing Authority's
+ Wilmington, N. C. own rule of thumb by increasing pub-
RMED with high-powered charts,
‘ maps, and legal counsel, and
2 _ marching under the shop-worn “‘road to
if aa socialism’ banner, a group of real-
eh estate men have delayed the construc-
____ tion of a public-housing project in Wil-
ahi _mington for a year now and may hold
Aaa it up for another year. So far they have
le lost every skirmish: state commissions,
vue City councils, and the Superior Court
ie
have denied their claims. Now they are
seeking a decision by the state Supreme
_ Court.
A yeat ago, when the Housing Au-
thority of the City of Wilmington was
looking for a site for a 150-unit project,
its eye chanced to light on some fallow
fields lying beyond an outlying in-
dustrial district, and that, it decided, was
the place. It did not know, or if it knew
felt safe in ignoring, that a number of
real-estate dealers, headed by Richard
'A. Shew, planned a residential develop-
ment in the neighborhood and had spent
money laying out streets, blocks, and
utility systems on nice-looking charts,
At first the project went forward
smoothly. After clearing things with
Washington, the city asked the state
Utilities Commission for authority to
condemn the so-called Willard Street
area for a public-housing site. Willard
Street, by the way, existed only on
paper, although it had been dedicated
at formal ceremonies some time before.
Last August 3 the Utilities Commission
_— motified the city that condemnation
could proceed.
vs ‘The real-estate men, who had been
BAe fuming none too quietly up till then,
| ba Pe es ; _ promptly came out into the*open with
full-page newspaper advertisements and
with protests to the county commission-
ets and the City Council. They notified
by he 3 the Utilities Commission of their inten-
a ie tion to appeal its ruling and obtained
a. a court injunction prohibiting the city
i * _ from beginning to build. On October
a yf 15 they appeared in the New Hanover
ae avs County Superior Court to defend the
injunction, having engaged Ozmer
ale: | Henry, a crack Lumberton lawyer, as
their chief counsel at a reputed $500 a
day in court. Their case rested on two
lic housing fo more than 20 per cent
of local substandard units; and, second,
that without state legislation the city
could not take over a street that had
been dedicated.
They also had an imposing sheaf of
signed affidavits protesting against the
housing project, including some, they
said, from public officials. The only one
by an official they produced was a state-
ment from a worker in the juvenile
court who observed that she thought it
would be better to have the project on
the other side of town. The rest of the
affidavits were from the dealers who had
planned the new development and who
foresaw a decline in the value of their
property if the project were built.
On October 23 Judge Walter J.
Bone dissolved the injunction prohibit-
ing the city from proceeding. One might
have thought the question was settled.
But it was not. On November 9 the
real-estate men appeared before the City
Council, armed again with Ozmer
Henry. Their chief claim now was that
the project would prevent access to their
property. In the manner of most gov-
erning boards, the council decided to
settle the matter temporarily by dodg-
ing it, and voted to have the city Plan-
ning Board look into it. But the Plan-
ning Board sent it right back to the
council, saying that it had no jurisdic-
tion over the case. The council disliked
to make a decision that could not be
popular but finally, on November 22,
upheld the Housing Authority.
Early this month, however, the real-
estate men were at it again, this time in
Superior Court, appealing from the
Utilities Commission’s first ruling. Judge
John J. Burney added another rebuff to
those they had already met when he
turned their appeal down. But even that
was not enough. Noting that two new
justices had recently been named to the
state Supreme Court and apparently hop-_
ing for a new era in state law, the real-
estate men immediately appealed Judge
Burney's decision to the higher court.
There the case rests at present.
The opponents of the housing project
have hoped to make it a test case, pos-
pate
sibly even to roll back time with
In their oratory before court and cour
cil the road-to-socialism theme has be
emphasized too frequently, too hotly ai
even obsessively, to be wholly insince
Of all economic groups the real-est
dealers seem to have been most
gruntled by the public-housing laws, t
slum-clearance projects, the home le
the rent controls, Their motives”
plain. Some of the affidavits 2
frankly selfish as to be almost d
ing. These men had property,
planned to make money on it; ther
city came along and tried to spoi a
them. They are not going to Ie
city ruin their plans if they can §
Of course hardly anybody ge nt
court without a clear selfish rea sc ;
it. But a look at the sagging pot
in the poorer districts of Wilming
at the windows stuffed with newspa’
at the toilet bowls standing in the of
in the middle of the back yards
enough to show why in this case self
ness should not prevail.
SIDENT TRUMAN has an
nounced that as Ps as Con
the Holy See. Wold sending a:
ambassador to the
the principle of sepa ©
and state? What ~—
have on American prim © |
and on internal Italien pol}
an early issue The Natiow %i1. —
alyze the constitutionality and 7
ical implications of the peop =”
move. Among other contribes.
Mark de Wolfe Howe of ye
Harvard Law A
cuss the constituti
Joseph Blau of the Depz
Philosophy of :
will review the i
of United States-Vatic Laci
relations. An a, u
the issues and state ad ation
position. pet Se
= .
Shape of Things
(DAYS MANY CALIFORNIANS REFER TO
t William Knowland as “the Senator from For-
'Scarcely a week passes without some new Know-
intervention on behalf of the Chiang Kai-shek
€. The Senator’s carefully timed charges against
e Communists—that they are unlawfully de-
Be hiericans in China, that they seek to extort
$ itom Chinese Americans with relatives in China
sp the ge reotlight on Peking and envelop Formosa in
! = obscurity. In the meantime one hears very
” bout Senator Wayne Morse’s resolution calling for
vestigation of the China lobby, the need for which
een emphasized by Robert S. Allen's account of the
terious purchasing agencies, commissions, and offices
uintained in New York and Washington by Chiang
ti-shek, The list includes, among many others: Allied
, Inc., headed by Dr. R. H. Kung, brother-in-
Ww oO! E Chiang: Yangtze Trading Corporation, headed
a H. H. Kung, son of R. H. Kung; Fu Chung
Orporation, headed by T. V. Soong, another of Chiang’s
oe in-law; Ho Chong Company, headed by Dr.
. Taou; Wah Chang Corporation; Chinese Petro-
rporation; and Central Trust Company of China.
the itinese Nationalists are said to maintain
|, more agencies and purchasing commissions in this coun-
‘W) try than either Britain or France. It is time that this far-
ung network of agencies was thoroughly investigated.
An investigation might even explain why Senator Know-
d continues to defend the Formosa regime with the
passion of an advocate. *
AN EXPLOSION OF METHANE GAS IN A COAL
mine at West Frankfort, Illinois, on December 21, cost
119 lives, the heaviest toll in any mine disaster since
28. Only after detailed investigation will it be pos-
, ible to learn exactly what happened and whose was the
bi but there is reason to believe that once
a tragedy has struck at a mining community because
profits were placed above safety. According to James
pe ceiekd, Regional Accident Prevention and Health
Director of the Bureau of Mines, this was an “absolutely
disaster” due to “somebody’s carelessness.”
c gassy condition of the pit appears to have been
wo pwn for some time. Last July two federal inspectors
<a
aot
—™Narion
TERICA’S LEADING LIBERAL WEEKLY SINCE 1865
NEW YORK + SATURDAY +
JANUARY 5, 1952 NUMBER 1
recommended that abandoned workings, where gas tends
to collect, should be sealed or, alternatively, that air
used to ventilate them should not be circulated through
other parts of the mine. These recommendations were
ignored by Mine Superintendent John R. Foster who has
declared that they were “controversial” and that any-
way the was under no legal obligation to follow them.
This recalls the terrible explosion at the Centralia Num-
ber 5 mine, also in southern Illinois, in March, 1947. In
that case repeated warnings of the dangerously dusty con-
dition of the pit were given by both state and federal
inspectors and by United Mine Workers local officers.
But the Centralia management was unwilling to inter-
rupt profitable coal-getting to clean up the pit and
adopt safeguards against dust explosions, and the State
Department of Mines, which had the power to crack
down, failed through carelessness or connivance to do
so. In view of the inadequacy of state mining codes and
their frequently lax enforcement, John L. Lewis is
thoroughly justified in pressing for a federal inspection
Jaw with teeth in it. We hope that the West Frankfort
tragedy will move Congress to action before more blood
is smeared on our coal. *
BROADCASTING TO THE BRITISH PEOPLE ON
December 22, Prime Minister Churchill warned against
attaching “any exaggerated hopes or importance to my
visit to Washington.” Nevertheless, the composition of
the large party accompanying him indicates that he him-
self attaches the greatest possible importance to his talks
with President Truman and that he expects to cover the
whole range of Anglo-American relations. In addition
to Foreign Secretary Eden, he will have at his side
Lord Ismay, Secretary for Commonwealth Relations,
Lord Cherwell, his chief adviser on scientific matters and
superviser of Britain's atomic research, Field Marshal
Sir William Slim, Chief of the Imperial General Staff,
and a number of high-ranking military and civilian ex-
perts. Doubts have been expressed that Mr. Churchill
will request further specific economic aid, despite Brit-
ain’s mounting economic difficulties, but there can hardly
be any realistic discussion of rearmament problems and
military policy without reference to these difficulties. And
if he intends to talk frankly, Mr. Churchill can hardly
refrain from pointing out to the President and his
colleagues the dangers of overstraining the economies of
Brae atkig Sa ee “Ye Sy Se ee Se ee. eee
1 we a’ my we: Were ae wi ore ly ail oa ma (se Ole |
r - 1 i ne Go 4 ATATTH fr i
Y + . —Ryal European eMDe: INALO. D re \
" statements suggest that he is less fearful of Ru
am
4
‘
° IN THIS ISSUE e "| gression than most Washington officials and still «
to the belief that relations with Moscow can k
EDITORIALS proved by top-level negotiations. With this in ¥
The Shape of Things 1 he may urge greater efforts to bring the Korean tr
talks to a speedy and successful conclusion—a ne
essary preliminary to a new approach to Russia. Wi
also urge reconsideration of the American belief that
German problem is non-negotiable? It is difficult t
how he can avoid doing so since it is clear that Ge
No Day of Triumph 3
es ba ae
ARTICLES
Murder by Bombing by Stetson Kennedy
wii
7
~
A en es
Ue 7 Britain’s Middle Course by J. Alvarez del Vayo ‘5 rearmament is the most formidable obstacle blo
Ln Uncomfortable Prosperity by Keith Hutchison 6 the road to mitigation of the cold war. (
* Anaconda’s Big Steal by Willard Shelton 7 * .
Ae eee iecy: pane Ie’ Deray AS AMERICANS FOR DEMOCRATIC ACT
_ by Robert Fromm 9 F eae , uae
. 2 approaches its fifth birthday, a salute is due this |
; Schuman’s Pool of Troubles by Alexander Werth 12 organization for the way in which it has develog
hd increasingly affirmative program, As an avowed!
BOOKS AND THE ARTS Communist group, A, D. A. faced the danger t
Leader of the Revolution by George Genzmer 14 leaders might fritter away their energies in ster le de
The Hemingway School by Frances Keene 13 rations of antagonism to the Soviet system. But A, E
‘ has not allowed its dislike of communism to blind
The New Canada by J. King Gordon 16 a : ee:
serious threats to liberty at home. Last year Congres
The Masters in Color by S. Lane Faison, Jr. 16 close to A. D. A. were among the few who oppo: ¢
Books in Brief 17 McCarran “‘anti-subversive” act when dozens of
Drama by Joseph Wood Krutch 7 erals’’ voted for a measure they privately despised.
s Sinise dMawny. Fasber 4 A. D. A. has issued a timely pamphlet demandin
peal of the Smith act. Emphasizing ‘‘action’’ as it d
eres eo > Al, Hoppin 19 A. D. A, can be relied upon to follow up this
broadside by filing amicus curiae briefs in pending
cutions and by organizing a movement for repeal o
act, A. D. A. has reason for pride in the’ stand it
¢ taken, and we wish it a continuing useful future. ¥
Editor and Publisher: Freda Kirchwey a
CROSSWORD PUZZLE No. 446
by Frank W. Lewis Opposite 20
i ee
*
Associate Editor: Carey McWilliams ~ oe
Foreign Editor Literary Edit Si
Re Alvates del Vero Siatesie? Marshall IN HIS ANNUAL CHRISTMAS MESSAGE ©
Financial Editor : Keith Hutchison Pope indirectly answered those who would sen
: ghee peeing! ch te American ambassador to the Vatican in order to estz
Assistant Literary Editor: Caroline Whiting é ; : ae
Assistant Editor : Charles R. Allen, Jr. close links between the two major anti-Communist fo
Copy Editor: Gladys Whiteside in the West. He emphasized again the church's neutra
; : Staff Contributors in the conflict between East and West and its unwilli
Se ee canola ness to enter into an alliance with any temporal pov
Hise: Manatee thee taal ee This position has of course been repeatedly stressed ditty
Advertising Manager: Mary Simon the Vatican, especially by Count Della Torre, editor o !
Director of Nation Associates: Lillie Shultz L’Osservatore Romano, But never so far as we remem
e
et akhy te Gein. SO
g Bo es ee has the Pope himself given it such explicit approv:
zon, publis: wee and copyrig 52, t a « ° . : ;
ys A, by The Nation Associates, Inc., 20 Vesey Street, New York a. = ¥ Echoing previous Christmas messages which — attad
; neal’, Entered as second-class matter, December 13, 1879, at the Post Office ase
get of New York, N. Y., under the act of March 8, 1879. Advertising communism and denounced the governments of Easte:
8s Jo and Circulation Representative for Continental Europe: Publicitas, + ye pee »
a a Subscription Prices: Domestio—One year $7 ; Two years $12 : Three Europe, the speech also indicated the Vatican’s lack
} cea: years . itional D ge per year: Foreign an nadian $1, ts : . . . eT
1 3 Change of Address: Three wecks' notice is required for change of confidence in American world policy as well as its
: at e 4%
4 eerie n ¥: a =o ich cann e without the old address as well as approval of the widespread weakness of a
ss Information to Libraries: The Nation 1s indexed in Readers’ Guid i i :
tg Periodical Literature, Book Review Digest, Index to Labor loves emphatically to call itself ‘the free
Spee. nah Articles, Public Affairs Information Service, Dramatic Index, Holy See believes that communism cannot
ee ete by war; as a doctrine with a super-national ap
er super-national doctrine, that
ils that the Catholic church
the United States is equipped to lead the
communism and that Washington should
this fact. All of which has—or should have—
p bearing on Mr. Truman’s announced in-
force the issue of Vatican recognition in the
ed Congress.
, Dy of Triumph
Bf Christmas night Harry T. Moore, who had Jed
a long and brave fight for Negro rights, was
d to death in Mims, Florida. He died as he was
g rushed to the hospital by his brother-in-law,
st Sergeant George Simms, just returned from
Bie months in Korea. It was Simms who, in the
die of the night, found the bleeding and dying Moore
he shambles of his home after it had been bombed,
with dynamite but with nitro-glycerine, or TNT.
| the “white folks” of Brevard County concede that
fry Moore was “a good law-abiding citizen.” The day
e died was, indeed, no day of triumph for American
"I poe Nation does not need to indulge in any post
f o_o of outrage over this latest act of Florida
. Two fine pieces by Stetson Kennedy (No-
on ot 24, December 22), and two editorial comments
: es ber 15) called the attention of Nation readers to
he increase of violence in Florida and the meaning of
his violence. When on November 6, Samuel Shepard,
me of the Groveland defendants, was murdered by a
sheriff, we wired President Truman, then vaca-
ioning in Key West, urging him to speak out against
the rule of terror in Florida and suggesting that he de-
: action from his Attorney General. Sending the
required no special insight. In a sense Harry T.
bre was murdered because the rising tide of violence
igaceed.
_ But what is truly tragic about the death of Moore is
that even now those who should know better refuse to
acknowledge the harsh meaning of his death, For ex-
ample, the editorials in the New York Times and the
derald Tribune of December 28, with their phrases
© about ahs * creeping sickness” and “faceless menace” and
about a “wave of crimes . . . arising from racial bias,”
were not only irritatingly irrelevant but clearly evasive.
_ The bombing murder of Harry T. Moore was part of
f pattern of open force directed against the struggle
ea cal Minorities to win full rights as citizens. Moore
wa a symbol of this struggle. So was John Lester Mit-
chell, one of three Negro plaintiffs ih a suit to win voting
in Louisiana, who was shot by a deputy sheriff on
ber 19. So was the Reverend J. A, Delaine, chair-
| January 5, 1952
=
a
man of the parents’ committee in the Clarendon, South
Carolina, school case, whose home was recently burned
to the ground by way of reprisal. These crimes cannot be
understoed as senseless acts of depraved or prejudiced
individuals. On the contrary, they were essentially politi-
cal crimes, crimes deliberately committed for a purpose.
The struggle for full civil rights for Negroes, as we
have pointed out, entered upon a new phase with the
filing of the suit which sought to end segregation in
the public schools of Clarendon, South Carolina, Com-
ing in the wake of a series of important civil-rights vic-
tories in the Supreme Court, this suit threatened the
entire edifice of segregation and white supremacy, since
it involved, not a few individual Negroes, but all
Negroes of ‘school age in almost every Southern state.
The Dixiecrats were quick to see that if the trend of
which this suit was part was not reversed, the existing
social pattern in the South would be seriously under-
mined. It was not the crackpots but the Bourbon leaders
who voiced the first threats and thereby revived the al-
ways present danger of mass violence.
Governor James Byrnes of South Carolina, remem-
bered as a not too successful former Secretary of State,
sounded the first alarm. “In Reconstruction days,” he
said, “'a canpetbag government tried to do it [force the
South to abandon segregated schools} and failed. A
Democratic Administration cannot now do what a Re-
publican Administration could not then do.” In Georgia,
Governor Herman Talmadge introduced a constitutional
amendment that would turn the school system over to
private individuals should the courts ever order integra-
tion of Negro and white schools. A major political aide,
Roy Harris, threatened that if segregation should be
outlawed, Negroes would be driven forcibly from fifty
Georgia counties, and Talmadge himself said that in-
tegration “would create more confusion, disorder, riots,
and bloodshed than anything since the War Between
the States. . . . There are not enough troops or police
in the United States to enforce such an order.” Governor
Fielding Wright announced that Mississippi would en-
force segregation “regardless of the costs or con-
sequences.” The Alabama legislature warned: “We will
not submit to the intermingling of races in the public
schools.”
No clearer declaration of defiance of law and provo-
cation to violence could be possible than these statements.
What they mean, and were intended to mean, is that the
South will never voluntarily abandon the system which
has kept Negroes ‘‘in their place” these many decades.
Segregation is part of a strategy of dominance, the ul-
timate sanction of which is force. It is absurd, therefore,
to condemn the unknown and perhaps demented in-
dividual who placed the bomb under Harry Moore’s
home without condemning the pattern of “force and
violence” upon which the structure of white supremacy
3
-
oy a
. before a “deal”
4 AL
—
hee tt ke Feel pg / Te
Ren red Ue iti Se ae
rests. 5k oually bao eetanoeloe cectare * “racial
prejudice” or KKK hoodlums without condemning the
elected public officials who incited the violence which,
for special reasons, has broken out in Florida but may
soon spread throughout the South, This is the same
phenomena that came with the organization of the KKK
in the Reconstruction period: it is political terror, insti-
____ gated by Bourbons and applied by Kluxers, to prevent
_ the real emancipation of Negroes in the South. Once
robbed Negroes of the full fruits of
the victory of the Union forces in the Civil War. Today
the “coalition” between Dixiecrats and Taft Republicans
_ being engineered by Senator Karl Mundt and others
threatens to repeat in 1952 the famous bargain of 1876.
If this coalition becomes a reality, it will rob Negroes of
the civil-rights gains of the New Deal and the last six
years as surely as the bargain of 1876 robbed them of the
protection of the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth
Amendments.
Not to recognize this is also to miss the clear meaning
of contemporary events of major historical importance.
For the murder of Harry T. Moore is likely to bring
about an imponderable change in the political thinking
of American Negroes. It was not the Negro leadership
that proposed a huge meeting in Birmingham, Alabama,
to protest the murder of Moore; the idea came from rank-
and-file Negroes whose patience™is utterly exhausted not
merely with Dixiecrat provocation but with the relaxed
middle-class attitudes of some of their leaders, who have
been quite willing to issue further political bills of credit
to Mr, Truman on the basis of his stale civil-rights
speeches of 1948 and the lesser-evil premise. If these
leaders show reluctance to challenge the threatened for-
feiture of gains made in the last decade, the Negro peo-
ple see the danger and will no longer be put off with
feeble promises and slippery phrases, The bells that
tolled for Harry Moore may thus have sounded the polit-
ical death knell of Harry Truman. The Moore bombing
was not another “incident”; it was a date in history,
ie
k
e . Murder by Bombing
Jacksonville, December 28
ide
ees THE murder by bombing of Harry T. Moore, Florida
Seok: _ secretary of the National Association for the Ad-
% zs _ vancement of Colored People, brought to a new peak the
ok wave of terrorism which has engulfed the state in recent
Bri hae weeks. It was, perhaps, the inevitable result of official
se _ impotence in the face of the vicious onslaughts that have
been directed against Negroes, Jews, and Catholics.
Moore was killed by the blast from a bomb planted
eines the bedroom of his home; his wife was so seri-
Secly injured that she has but a fifty-fifty chance to live.
The couple had celebrated their twenty-fifth wedding
anniversary on Christmas day,
4
Sree
a Wits -
, ene ;
‘Cenerd Sa much | f I liy ae
fin oe ae ford, my nase is we
my children ate all grown, others can carry on.” J Moc
was apparently not unaware of danger to himself ar
family; talking with his mother recently, he had s
“Every advancement comes by way of sacrifice.”
The forty-six-year-old Moore was a fighter for dem
cratic progress, Eight years ago he was fired from _
post as superintendent of the Brevard County Neg
High School for prosecuting to the state Supreme Co
a suit for the abolition of racial differentials in teach
salaries, More recently he served as head of the Prog:
sive Voters’ League of Florida—not an affiliate of 1
Progressive Party—which has been instrumental in q
ifying and mobilizing Florida Negroes as voters, In |
year's Senatorial contest Moore unseated and |
a leader of the league who had come out for Georg
Smathers, campaigning on a “Southern traditions” pl
form against Claude Pepper. At a recent convent
the Florida N. A. A. C. P. an effort was made to un
Moore as secretary on the ground that he was invoh
the organization in politics, but Moore insisted on
necessity for political action, and a majority of the d
gates rallied to his support. ee
As in the case of the Miami bombings, attempts
been made to explain the murder of Moore as a “
munist plot,” but Mrs. Moore for one puts no ia
the suggestion, William Hendrix, Grand Dragon of
Florida Ku Klux Klan and a money-spending candid
for the governorship, has issued the customary Klan
claimer and offer to assist investigators, adding } Mc
was a good fellow who was trying to help his ra
he just found out he was going about it wréng.”
exceedingly rare move two Negroes have been in
in the six-man coroner's jury—perhaps as a result of 2
Nation's pointing out the farcical aspects of the
white jury which whitewashed Willis M val
shooting sheriff,” in adjoining Lake County. As it
Lake County and Miami affairs, both Governor F
Warren and Attorney General J. Howard 1
sent in “investigators, ” but thus fat neither s
federal agencies have preferred charges or ev
moned grand juries. Governor Warren, by the wa
gone to great pains to claim that all this action:
taken prior to, or at least without regard to, de
made upon him by the N. A. A. C. P. and other ¢
rights groups. Public and private groups have of
rewards in the several cases totaling nearly $20,00
to no avail. If local, state, and federal a iti
OD,
ay
Sa
e ii
bp
a
shy
D Edgar Hoover were to send a team of i
FBI investigators to Florida.
STETSON KE
: Paris, December 20 (delayed)
EVERY major question that has come before
present U. N. Assembly the British delegation
with the American. This has surprised no one
stands the dependence imposed by the Atlantic
Whenever there has been any sign of a split
ght be exploited by the Russians, the United
has demanded that its allies form a common front,
Merican-British-French solidarity has at once been
ished.
vertheless, the British have made it plain, as far
ney could without imperiling Anglo-American col-
. ion, that their views often differ, if not funda-
y at least by several shades, from those of the
ericans. The unwarlike tone used by Mr. Eden in
o 2 it 2 speech in the general debate was maintained
Selwyn Lloyd in the Political Committee during the
ite on disarmament. Mr. Lloyd’s efforts to have a
amission set up which would at least assure a con-
ni tion of the discussions and the exploration of all
ible paths to eventual agreement clearly revealed the
fe of the British government not to push the con-
inment policy to the limit. In his speech of December
_ Mr. Lloyd proposed that this commission,
oe
29
i a
ov “in defer-
ice to Russian wishes,” be called the “atomic-energy
ad conventional-armaments commission,” and showed
1 other ways that he was searching for a middle road
tween the American and Soviet positions.
es : same moderation was displayed by the British
e debate on whether the U. N. should supervise
man elections, In everything they said it was ap-
that-they would not agree lightly to German
fearmament as long as there remained any hope of a
attle ment with Moscow. With their innate political
a they understand that of all the issues dividing
5 ad West, German rearmament is perhaps the only
n which the Russians cannot logically be expected
. The British know that they are dealing with
dversary who is not swayed by emotion; so they base
cir hope of avoiding war on the Kremlin’s reluctance to
art something it could not stop. At the same time they
that for Russia, German rearmament is a special
se and that the Western powers would be taking a
es y tisky gamble in insisting on it.
C in less important questions, such as the election of a
ew member to the Security Council, the British did
-
t_ Greece until the last ballot. They would un-
; ee have pushed their mediation efforts more vig-
putside the Assembly if the Russians had not in-
that they felt concessions would be futile in
5, 1952
k with the Americans, voting for Byelorussia and
a
view ef the American determination to rearm West
Germany. The British delegation was also inhibited by
Churchill’s impending visit to the United States.
One gets the impression that the British do not con-
sider war inevitable. They subscribe to some extent
to the American theory about positions of strength, but
while the United States is unwilling to enter into nego-
tiations with the Russians until these positions have
been attained, the British want to negotiate along the
way. In fact, they show a disposition to seize any op-
portunity for serious discussion. Churchill declared
openly that he would like to talk with Stalin, and the
U.N. British delegation tried hard to have the sessions
of the current Assembly utilized to diminish the tension.
Above all, the British have been anxious to take no steps
in any direction that might make the situation worse. If
it had been less critical they would surely have been
tougher with the Egyptians. They believe moderation
more indicated than bluster, and they are even consider:
ing facilitating new arrangements in Libya if they can
remain on the Suez only at the risk of war,
It is a bad sign when the work of the United Nations
has less weight than international decisions taken out-
side; the influence of the League of Nations declined
as soon as a similar development took place. Western
European governments are placing much hope on the
Truman-Churchill conversations. They believe public
opinion in America will be affected by the personality
of the British Premier, who for all his imperialist and
reactionary views has more imagination and intellectual
boldness than most of the Labor Party leaders. And peo-
ple here remember his speech in the Mansion House,
when he said that “Great Britain has every need and
every right to seek and reccive the fullest consideration
from the Americans for our point of view.” Both he and
Mr. Eden, moreover, have shown that they agree with
Aneurin Bevan that the tempo of rearmament demanded
by the Americans would force the country into bank-
ruptcy. Yesterday the talk in the corridors of the Palais
de Chaillot was less about what happened in this com-
mittee or that than about the energetic stand of the Bel-
gian government—not a “red’’ or Socialist government
but one much admired by the Americans—against the
demand of the Atlantic Council that Belgium spend
more money on rearmament.
The reservations of the British in the North Atlantic
Council meeting at Rome and in the European Council
at Strasbourg showed that if they were free they would
adopt an armament program much closer to the Bevan
conception of what is possible than to the requests is-
suing from General Eisenhower's headquarters. As to the
European army, they would prefer to have no part in
it, since they view it as the first step toward the sort of
European federation—with a common Parliament and
common finances—they have steadfastly opposed. But
>
~ on his recent visit to Rite Mr. Cinch i “acne
felt he must edge toward the American position on
the question of a European army.
4, In United Nations circles it is feared that when Mr.
Churchill asks President Truman for a new loan and
other dollar aid, he will find America in an unfavorable
HE year just ended may be best described as a pe-
j riod of uncomfortable prosperity; that now begin-
ning promises more of the same—a very high rate of
economic activity and larger money incomes combined
with strains, stresses, shortages, and fears for the future
which will give prosperity a rather sour taste.
" Many economic records were broken in 1951, Accord-
ing to Secretary of Labor Maurice J. Tobin, the total
output of goods and services was 10 per cent higher than
in 1950 and 5 per cent above 1944, the previous all-time
peak. But this addition to the nation’s gross income was
: absorbed by arms expenditure or by new investment
mainly of a defense-supporting nature. And although
personal income reached a new high in terms of dollars,
the purchasing power of the average American was little
eae greater owing to a 7 per cent rise in the cost-of-living
index and a bigger tax bill.
Employment figures reached an all-time high in Au-
gust, when 62,600,000 men and women had jobs and
less than 3 per cent of the labor force was unemployed.
Many trades in many areas have been complaining about
__ labor shortages. Nevertheless, there is also unemploy-
ment or underemployment in some industries adversely
affected by the diversion of raw materials to defense.
Workers in other industries, notably textiles, clothing,
and shoes, suffered from substantial layoffs when con-
sumer demand for such goods fell sharply after inven-
; ae tories had been built up in anticipation of continued
; es “panic” buying, As a result we have such paradoxical
ae pas - situations as that in New England, where textiles, shoes,
E ‘ae, _ rubber, and paper plants are providing 18,000 fewer jobs
. Bee than a year ago, while employment in metal-working in-
[ hy ‘s4 “dustries is up by 101,000.
Ff a Ws a The impetus of the boom which began with the out-
‘ee B “break of the Korean war has been provided by govern-
Ue ment expenditure and Private investment, with the sec-
$ ond of these factors of major importance. Up to last
_ Jane the federal government was not contributing
oh oad to inflationary pressures since revenue exceeded
__ expenditure. Since then it has been accumulating a defi-
cit, but because of surplus social-security and other non-
7. receipts actual cash income has been only
=) tea ea
af + Ena i «
“ ie ae
re Retr ve
. Uncomfortable Prosperity
io’ Stalin” eco am :
its own defense by rearming at any cost. Yet th
be no doubt that Great Britain's acute economic diff
ties are caused principally by the Atlantic conlition'l
armament demands.
BY KEITH HUTCHISOD
slightly smaller than cash outlay. On the other hag
private investment in houses, plant, equipment, ar j
ventories, financed to a considerable extent on credit, |
been expanding more rapidly than at any other tim
in our history.-Such investment has an inflationary fore
since it adds to the stream of income but not immediate
to the available supply of consumable goods.
The chief unknown quantity in the 1952 econo
equation is the total of private investment, Governm«
expenditure is bound to increase, and assuming
further changes in taxes, a cash deficit for the yeas C
some $7,000,000,000 seems probable. However, sa
observers believe that the effects of this deficit will
largely offset by a contraction in private investmer
House-building, they point out, is being curtailed.
credit restrictions, so that total “starts” in 1952 may
no more than 800,000 compared with the 1950 recc
of 1,400,000. Industrial and commercial construct
and public works also seem likely to decline. All for -
commercial building are now subject to governmen
censing and control, and the National Production a
thority has indicated that all applications Pi dur
the next six months will be turned down unless “de
necessity” can be proved. This means that few ne
stores, theaters, office buildings, or hotels will be startec
lack of structural steel and other materials is expected
Expenditure on producers’ equipment may
cline moderately in the next twelve months. The
industries have already undertaken much of thei
ing-up,” and purchases of new equipment b
industries seem likely to lag in view of the
material shortages and increased taxes are dimmir
prospects. But the form of private investment m
to be curtailed during 1952 is that in inventories. |
twelve months after the beginning of the Korea
threat of shortages—although not the immediate
—persuaded consumers to buy everything in
ticipation of continuance of this demand |
reckless scramble to build up inventories, —
In the second quarter of last year this”
reached a climax with inventory accumulation
—. hh 5
, Sain
vo e
per annum, ertendins to ee
e estimates, which compares with an
of $4,300,000,000 in 1950. Then there
den change in the public mood, sparked by the
rk “price war,” which indicated that the fear of
had been much exaggerated, followed by a
le decline in consumer demand for automobiles,
i appliances, furnishings, and clothes. Weekly
vith those of a year earlier. As a result many busi-
a to cut back their swollen inventories,
e third quarter of 1951 the annual rate of in-
1 back to $6,100,000,000.
» overstocking and consumer resistance have
t led to serious price-cutting. The retail-price in-
1a: . in fact, continued to creep up to a new high
thas not reflected the moderate fall in wholesale
rom their peak last March. Since Christmas sales
id to fulfil the hopes of most retailers, a good many
ain: may appear in the stores during the next few
ks. The midwinter catalogues of the big mail-order
es lis impressive mark-downs on hundreds of items,
ading clothes, furniture, tires, television sets, re-
erators, and shoes. Price reductions in these and other
umer goods, if they prove general and stick, may
et the still rising tendency of rents and food and
tve to stabilize the cost-of-living index.
On the other hand, we have to remember that pro-
tion of all kinds of consumer goods containing
tals is likely to be sharply reduced in the coming
nonths. For instance, allotments of aluminum for
ilian industries have been set at only 20 per cent of
te Korean consumption, and the use of steel, cop-
, zinc, and other metals by non-essential industries is
0 to be =" restricted. Thus while supplies of soft
a se
a
Washington, December 28
¥ DECISION of Manly Fleischmann, administrator
f defense production, and Mobilization Director
ut les E, Wilson the powerful Anaconda Copper Min-
C has been given a lift into the aluminum
The Department of the Interior doesn’t like
1e Anti-Trust Division of the Justice Department
n't like it, but Anaconda gets what it wants—a sure
ly of cheap public power from the Hungry Horse
” peng built. Thus the one important Mon-
ARD SHELTON was formerly The Nation’s Wash-
rersew.
ry 5, 1952
store sales figures began to compare unfavor-"
a
goods may remain fairly plentiful, stocks of “durables”
will tend to decline.
Looking at the whole economic picture, my own view
is that, more by luck than cunning, we have reached a
stage of rather precarious equilibrium. If the cold war
is intensified, or if the military are penmitted by the
Administration and Congress to plan for a still greater.
expansion of armaments, or if our long record of good
harvests is broken, then we may expect the forces mak-
ing for inflation to regather their strength. On the other
hand, if the government listens to the economists and
business men who are urging a moderate check to the
pace of rearmament, and if wage increases are restricted
to amounts that can be paid without increases in prices,
we may be able to keep our economy in balance during
the next twelve months.
That would make prosperity a little easier to live
with, although it is bound to remain an uncomfortable
roommate as long as it is based fundamentally on the
production of weapons which we must pray are ulti-
mately destined for the junk pile, While we devote our-
selves to making guns we worry about what will happen
if they go off and also about what will happen if they
don't. Two or three years hence the defense blueprints
will have been fulfilled, and we shall find ourselves
with an immense stock of weapons and an industrial
capacity expanded out of proportion to the normal
growth of civilian demand, Shall we then suddenly dis-
cover that instead of a plethora of money and a shortage
of goods we have to cope with a plethora of goods and a
shortage of money? Are we destined once again to fall
from the frying pan of inflation into the fire of deflation?
These are questions that farsighted economists are begin-
ning to ask, and we ought at least to begin thinking
about the answers,
SR onda’s Big Steal
BY WILLARD SHELTON
tana interest that consistently opposed construction of this
$120,000,000 project will, it now appears, fall heir
to a substantial part of Montana’s share of the power to
be generated.
How Anaconda became Wilson’s and Fleischmann’s
favored corporation is a complicated story. Last summer
Secretary of the Interior Oscar Chapman thought it
would be a good idea to stimulate competition in
aluminum by putting relatively small independents into
the business, Chapman wrote to Wilson on July 12 urg-
ing that special financial arrangements be worked out,
if necessary, to aid companies which might compete
with the existing Big Three—Alcoa, Reynolds, and Kai-
7
Ps
Saas SON aR nahh heb al rer a IR |
“hg
Se! Tint, Speen Nasi
set. Chapman also awarded a contract for power from
Hungry Horse to an aluminum subsidiary organized by
the Harvey Machine Company of California. Harvey's
aluminum plant was to be located at Kalispell, Mon-
tana, and Chapman recommended a $45,000,000 RFC
loan for construction purposes.
At this point the columnist Drew Pearson called pub-
lic attention to the fact that the Harvey Company had
been accused of using improper testing gauges on some
of its World War II military production, and Chapman
asked Fleischmann to hold up completion of the con-
tract pending an investigation. Anaconda now suddenly
entered the picture as a company anxious to produce
aluminum and ready to take over Harvey's power con-
tract. Pearson then examined Anaconda’s war perform-
ance. The Harvey Company was never indicted or
prosecuted; in fact, it was exonerated, whereas the
Anaconda Wire and Cable Company, a subsidiary of
Anaconda Copper, paid $1,626,000 in damages to the
government for shipping untested wire to the British and
American armed forces, But by the time Pearson got
around to discussing this, things had happened.
Harvey had offered to put up $7,000,000 of its own
money, but the $45,000,000 RFC loan recommended by
Chapman was not approved, the recommendation having
been stopped dead in Fleischmann’s office. Harvey was
unable to arrange private financing as a substitute for
the RFC loan, and there are dark suggestions—none of
them provable—that promising deals were blocked.
Finally, without advance notice to Chapman, a new com-
pany in which Anaconda held 95 per cent of the stock
was organized to take over Harvey's power contract.
In addition to 5 per cent of the stock of the new com-
pany, Harvey will be given a contract which is sup-
posed to assure it a supply of aluminum—up to 25
per cent of the total output—for its Los Angeles fac-
tories. Despite sharp protests from Chapman and the Jus-
tice Department, Fleischmann gave his approval and
directed Chapman to confirm the assignment of Hungry
Horse power.
Anaconda already uses about 30 per cent of all the
electric power consumed in Montana. The power itself
is almost all produced by the Anaconda-controlled Mon-
tana Power Company. Now, by order of Fleischmann,
Anaconda is to become dominant in a new field, alumi-
num, with the benefit of the cheap public power pro-
duced at Hungry Horse with public money,
ae 7s propriety of putting a copper company into the
aluminum business is one dubious aspect of the
oot Aluminum is rapidly becoming a competitor in
‘oat
_ fields where copper has long been supreme, It can be
used in transmission lines, for example, as efficiently as
_ copper and is much cheaper—and the Interior Depart-
= a ment is now building 12,000 miles of transmission lines.
8
2 oe a a tn
om
7 a
] o
oe
3 Re. SUES Rea. ee
Anaconda: a
in eee 1
a majc ert 7 ug al i.
adaskeys ig gsi erie on if
floor in the conipeliies eiog ewe in nd will tk
be in a position to monopolize bidding on constructi
work as well as to protect its traditional interests, _
An Administration interested in obtaining the max
mum social benefits from Hungry Horse power wou
have awarded the contract for this power to an in
pendent concern, with guaranties that once the pre
emergency was over aluminum would be fairly alloc
to all small-plant fabricators, But as things now stand
is a foregone conclusion that Anaconda will use the’
put of the new plant for its own operations and t
the plant will be of little benefit to other fabrica
small or large. That the contract ended up with Anacor
rather than with Harvey would be a blow to small t
messes under any circumstances; it appeats even mi
significant in the light of the post-emergency implicat:
for small businesses dependent on aluminum,
Fleischmann issued a statement justifying his” !
conda decision on two grounds: that Anaconda ¢
produce aluminum at Kalispell more quickly 1 a
other company, and that it could build its plants wit!
use of public money. He brushed aside the arg
copper and aluminum are competitive metals by saying
that coppee has a sure market for at least ten years, —
It was not necessary for Fleischmann to wait u
Anaconda had swallowed Harvey before taking some
action on Harvey's application for a loan. During Wor
War II the government stimulated competition in
aluminum industry by huge loans to the Kaiser
Reynolds interests, Government funds financed a
stantial part of our industrial expansion during the w
and their use to spread competition was consid
healthy. It was one of the few ways of counterac
the tendency of existing large corporations to at ract £
of the prime war contracts. ae
In 1950 and 1951 Congress refused to authorize gor
ernment construction of new industrial faciliti
approved RFC loans and price incentives. Chap
the Department of Justice called Fleischmann’s
to a Congressional declaration on the dispositio
lic power and an executive order coverin,
contracts both of which aim to decentralize |
strength, To help Anaconda into the aluminum
and allot it a big part of Hungry Horse power
because it is already big enough to devour
petitor and can do so without borrowing governm
money is a grotesque contradiction of the spirit i
the letter of the law and the executive order, =
In a final effort to block Fleischmann’s direct
adier General Telford Taylor, as head of the
fense Plants Administration, urged President
intervene, But the President, doubtless influenc
embarrassing position in which Representati
The:
it! ent Ti
> Se
ODS ba!
Senator Reaiiies . Gadd thettsdlycs on
matter, ‘decided to uphold Fleischmann and Wilson.
no secret that Murray and Mansfield would rather see
Horse power go to almost any company other
aconda, but unfortunately their constituents fear
ess the power goes to Anaconda, it may be al-
1 to the West Coast plants of Reynolds and Kaiser.
ould Secretary Chapman decide not to approve a long-
m contract for the power—it is understood that Ana-
da is insisting on a twenty-year contract—the deal
tht still be upset. But Mr. Chapman is not likely to
this action in view of the fact that the President has
dy upheld Fleischmann and Wilson. However, if
eral Taylor and Secretary Chapman, with Senator
y and Representative Mansfield, were to go to the
ident and insist on a reversal of the decision, the
al might still be blocked.
Madrid, December 21
OU drive southward from Bilbao, cross the verdant
| JL slopes of the Pyrenees, and descend on to the great
if ¥ tile plateau. This is the old heart of Spain, the home
a grandee families, the site of ancient cathedrals,
| and the fountainhead of Spanish culture and national-
) ism. You soon discover that it is also a dreary and ex-
hausted country, a land in decay.
_ Starved for fertilizer, parched by a dry spell, worn out
aad tillage, the land looks like an aged hag. If
eS ever grew here, they were long ago chopped down
fuel. The rivers are dry. The villages, built of yellow
-cxendh ‘merge with the barren countryside. Their
y streets are covered with a carpet of dry manure
d filled with ragged children, who rush to the car to
eg for food. The shops are few and have little to sell.
At the entrance to each village there is a large Falange
bat five crossed arrows. These freshly painted em-
ms of the ruling party are as out of key with the
d background as is the one big building, which is
ver the school but the barracks of the Civil Guard,
faring its motto, Todo por la Patria. The Civil Guard
the rural arm of the Secret Police, and its two-man
trols stand at each end of every Castilian village, peer-
intently into vehicles and questioning the passers-by.
ey look tough and competent in their green uniforms,
c hats, and business-like arms—one man
a rifle, the other with a tommy gun.
x-4acquel
3ERT FROMM is an American newspaperman who has
ng Europe for several years. A second article from
will appear in an early issue.
ary 5, 1952
a
In all conscience this final effort should be made.
Anaconda is reaping huge profits from the production
and fabrication of copper. By being able to state that it
owns 95 per cent of the stock of the new aluminum
subsidiary, Anaconda will be able to plow back its copper
profits into the new plant and then write off almost
the entire cost under the extravagantly generous provi-
sions of the accelerated tax-amortization program, which
allows concerns holding “certificates of necessity” to
amortize most of the cost of new defense plants over a
five-year period. To put it plainly, Anaconda now stands
a chance to end up with a new aluminum plant presented
by the government along with a twenty-year contract for
60 per cent of the power from a public project which
the company strenuously opposed. A succession of Re-
publican Administrations were never this generous with
~ Anaconda.
5; anish Journey: Land in Decay
BY ROBERT FROMM
You break your journey at Burgos, the old capital of
Castile, Here are dust, clatter, and bustle, crowded
streets, ten-story ofhce buildings going up, and stores
beyond whose grimy fronts fancy goods are for sale. Ten
minutes out of Burgos you are again in rural Spain—
where too many people produce far too little food,
where a village is lucky to have a public fountain in
which the women can wash clothes,
Suddenly the narrow, pitted road widens into a four-
Jane highway. At its end, like a technicolored panorama,
spreads Madrid, with its villas, palaces, parks, and sky-
scrapers (the newest is twenty-eight stories high, and
one wonders how many joint stock companies will have
to be added to Madrid’s 2,100 to fill its offices). In fif-
teen minutes you are on the Gran Via, Europe's closest
approximation to Fifth Avenue, The shops here sell
luxury goods the match of any in Paris or London; the
traffic, despite an army of policemen in English Bobby
uniforms, keeps jamming up; the women are hand-
somely dressed and bejeweled; and in the sidewalk cafes
every seat is taken by seven in the evening.
Standing on the Alcala one day, I counted sixteen
banks. On the shady streets off Prado Boulevard are
scores of handsome apartment buildings, Of the esti-
mated 150,000 housing units which Spain will need each
year in the next decade, it is building about 17,000, and
the bulk of these—by official admission—are for upper-
bracket incomes. At eleven at night fleets of limousines
unload their occupants at the fashionable “revue”
theaters.
After a week here you begin to think of this hand-
some city as a leech, growing fat on the blood of the
9
Suge hs eats f ae
exhausted country, The great landlords live here. So do
the industrialists of Bilbao, Half the nation’s trade and
industry is run from here; profits, instead of enriching
the localities where they are earned, are channeled to
Madrid. Yet they go only into the pockets of the few,
despite the Falange’s constant talk of social justice. On
the Gran Via the well-fed are besieged by the ragged
and hungry peddling American cigarettes, offering to
shine shoes, or selling lottery tickets—one of Spain's
great industries. No other capital in Europe has so many
beggars. The bread ration at the controlled low price is
a third of a pound a
day, but you can buy
a loaf of beautiful
white bread at any of
the luxurious delica-
I tessen stores for what
is half a day’s pay for
most Spaniards. A
semi - skilled
earns 50 to 60 cents a
day; the constant pres-
sure from the over-
worker
peopled countryside
keeps wages down. The white-collar class is relatively
even worse off. A postal inspector makes $30 a month
after thirty years of service. A teacher can barely keep
his family alive on $20 a month. Many people hold two
jobs. I know of a General Staff colonel who takes off
his uniform at night and goes to work as a typist. But
not everyone can find—or survive—two jobs, and there
is bitter, and growing, discontent.
The distress cannot be ignored. A Western diplomat
tells me that many worried employers asked for permis-
sion to raise the wages of their workers last year but were
turned down by the government, fearful of more infla-
tion. The same diplomat believes, as do many informed
Spaniards, that the wave of strikes last spring was started
by the Falange syndicates, which felt that some of the
steam must be allowed to blow off—though they did not
reckon on the explosion they got. “What could you ex-
pect,” said a Spaniard to me, “when a kilo of sardines
was selling in Barcelona for 27 pesetas, or just about a
day’s pay?” Each time I talked of the strikes, I suggested
the Communists had started them. Each time the people
laughed and said, “That's what the government would
like us to believe, but we know better.” Violent anti-
Communists told me they had taken part in the strikes,
if only by refusing to board a streetcar. “We hed to do
something, One can no longer live like a human being.”
It is easy, but wrong, to blame it all on Franco, or the
Falange. When the Caudillo won the war in 1939, he
inherited a mess of problems. The impoverished soil,
primitive agriculture, inefficient industry, oversized bu-
reaucracy, centralized controls—all these existed in the
10.
Lv are SY +
pes tee ee
days of the republic, in t : fi
de Rivera's dictatorship in the Ia te twenties. If ‘yous
the economic statistics, you see that the grap h started
skidding twenty years ago and more. Moreover, m: +e
the things for which Franco is blamed today are imp osed
on him by harsh necessity. It is true that in this ma)
olive-oil producing nation the worker's oil ration is
tragically inadequate. But olive oil is one of the few
commodities Spain can sell in the world market; it 2 aust
sell oil if it is to buy flour, fertilizer, or ma hiner sl
Wages must remain low as long as the productivity of
the Spanish worker is one of the lowest in Europe. A
the same time, productivity must remain low as le 1s ‘
people do not get enough to eat. To buy fertilizer o
build hydroelectric-power projects, Spain needs fore reign
credits, but it received none until some American banks
extended credit in 1949, Every country in Weste er
Europe, including Germany and Italy, has been de
American aid for reconstruction, but Spain has had to
repair the damage of the civil war by its own effort, ~~
7.4%
i p
he Ae oe ee
. Hit ae Ln - A
HIS much must be said to avoid distor ior
‘Ke it is said, the bill of indictment agains
Franco regime remains long. The smell of decay ii
heavy from the entire scene—land, culture, olla
public life, The charge against Franco is that he has do ok
nothing to arrest this decay, and often, in fact, spe
it up behind a screen of high-sounding phrases
matched this side of the Communist world.
The core of the Spanish problem is the village. Here
the decay is at its worst. While Spain's population fh .
been growing at the rate of 1 per cent a year, its agri-
cultural yield has been dropping steadily. With 1929
(Primo de Rivera) taken as 100, the output in 935
(Republic) stood at a good 97.3, skidded to 71/
1947 (Franco), and in the dry year of 1949 slippe
farther to 64.3, This year the crop has been fair, but th
trend continues. According to the regime’s own f
the annual yield in 1940-49 was nearly a third belo
level achieved before the civil war.
To arrest the decline, the land needs water, fer er!
mae
ere
Ministry of the Interior 14 per cent——is less t
Pe cent. Less than 6 per cent of all the cultivate
first fertilizer plant was completed only this year. 4
tem of supplying low-cost mules to the farmer has pi
woefully inadequate, and it is a rare farmer who has
$1,400 with which to buy a pair of mules in the «
market. As for the modernization of methods, it :
almost wholly in glossy government pamphlets. WV
the tired land needs is rotation of crops. What it ¢
best is a bit of rest; so that a quarter of all wheai
No Spaiaas ts in Haves give sich
all below ten metric quintals a hec-
s a tiny part of the broad canvas. Only in Asia can
d such extreme conditions of landlordism and
as here. According to one estimate, 28.7 per
the persons engaged in agriculture own their
16.3 per cent are share-croppers, 8.3 per cent are
nV orkers holding regular jobs, and 46.7 per cent are
mal workers. California’s Okies were rural aristoc-
‘compared with the hungry men and women I have
n on the roads of Andalusia and the eastern provinces,
tying their belongings on their backs and their infants
their arms. They trudge over high mountain passes in
starch of a job that will pay them 30 to 40 cents a day
a week and then turn them off until another season,
[he Falange has a land reform on its books. (“W
lon’t like to use the words ‘land reform,’” one Falan-
ist told me. “It smacks too much of the stuff the reds
sed to peddle, and it alarms the landowners.”) The
National Land Settlement Institute has been organized to
purchase the estates of the great landowners and resell
them to the share-croppers. In October, the institute an-
not aced that by January 1, 1950, it had settled 23,000
people on 274 estates—“1,168 people in 1949 alone.”
No one obviously need be alarmed at the pace.
_ The figures help to explain the government's over-
fiding interest in industrialization as the solution for
in’s ills. Western experts here disagree strongly with
this view. The dropping agricultural yield, they argue,
has cut into Spain's earnings, compelled it to buy food
= toad, and put most Spaniards on a hunger ration. And
n if Franco were right, most Western experts here
B insist that he has no coherent industrial plan. (‘This
no a plan,” one expert told me. “It’s just a lot of
Bures on paper, plus a few projects that can be shown
0 visiting firemen.”
aot
PPIHE industrial index today is about a quarter above
j L the 1929 figure, but the progress is deceptive. While
e e nd cries for tractors, factories produce one of the
shiest and most extravagant jobs displayed at the
s Automobile Show. A much-publicized achievement
us year was a penicillin plant. But, as an economist put
| M0 one seems to have given serious thought about
here they're going to sell this penicillin’; at the corner
fugstore where I go the penicillin of course is Danish,
Spain's economy is dominated by the Big Five of its *
oP tivate banks. This is speculative capital, with an
A quick returns. While heavy industry lacks funds,
“const mer industry booms. The whole economic
e is lopsided, with the basic industries—coal,
‘power—unable to cope with the demand and un-
ary > 1952
a
able to expand, When the government proposed a great
new steel works, the steelmakers of Bilbao refused to
subscribe a peseta, They had other uses for their huge
profits. A lot of money goes into the black market, or is
invested in Madrid real estate, or is smuggled to Tan-
gier. Only a small portion goes into the public till.
When, a few years back, the government decided to in-
troduce a new tax on incomes exceeding $1,200 a year,
only 9,000 people in all Spain confessed to earning that
much.
Despite bitter complaints against government inter-
ference, this is still a paradise of free enterprise. Juan
March, who financed Franco's revolt, is now making
fabulous sums in ways so well concealed no Western
diplomat can trace them. And a Spaniard tells me of a
man named Vila who “can buy or sell anything you
want.” Vila had a contract to feed Spain’s armed services
and the prison population—his allotment per prisoner
was three cents a day. Eventually, he ran afoul of the
authorities, was fined $4,000, and put in prison. He
promptly installed telephones in his cell and ran his
business from there: ‘Hello, hello, I will buy 10,000
liters of olive oil.” Now he is free again and doing well.
Wealth is not confined to Madrid. Andalusia’s land-
owners and Catalonia’s textile manufacturers are also
prospering. A few years ago a Catalan married a woman
in San Sebastian, He flew the Barcelona Philharmonic
to San Sebastian to play at the wedding, brought a bishop
to officiate, and gave a two-day feast to his guests,
The bride wore jewelry worth $400,000.
But nowhere else in Europe are the masses so badly
off. An adult’s ration permits 150 grams of bread a day,
100 grams of Spanish beans a week (for cocido, a stew
which is the mainstay of his diet), 100 grams of lentils
a week, and haif a pint of olive oil every ten days. No
one, of course, can survive on this diet, So everyone goes
to the black market, where a 100-gram bun costs 4 cents,
a quart of olive oil 70 cents to $1, and a kilo of rice,
lentils, or Spanish beans around 20 cents, These are
staggering prices to a man earning 50 to 60 cents a day,
“Meat?” said a mechanic to me, “What's that?”
There are just a few more strokes to add to the story
of the little man, Franco's system of social welfare—
which includes no unemployment insurance—applies
only to incomes below $360 a year. And Franco's own
Institute of Statistics reports that in 1948 a worker
earned, in real wages, only two-thirds as much as he did
in 1936, The tragic inflation, brought on by the red
adventure in Korea, was still ahead.
The other day a rich Spaniard I know took a lady toa
restaurant run by Hitler's former chef. When I asked
him the next day how much the meal cost him, he replied
cheerfully, “Oh, half a month’s income.” It was no joke.
His dinner for two cost him exactly a fortnight’s pay for
most Spanish workers.
11
aus a eee
ve
: ES hmian
ew ne iene ae a
i = ee oes
Pool of T
-
a ee
A
aa Paris, December 29
a 7 N DECEMBER 8 the French National Assembly
4) embarked on a debate in the grand style—one
which clearly revealed the various trends of thought in
France, The question was the ratification of the Schuman
Plan, and discussion went on for several days. Some
French papers have expressed astonishment at the ex-
traordinary lack of interest in this debate shown in
_ Britain—as distinct from the United States, where the
interest seems to have been almost excessive. At one mo-
ment the Pleven government found itself in serious
difficulties, so urgent was the demand from the right to
postpone a fina] decision and give the Schuman Plan a
few more months’ study, but soon all was well again,
and by 377 votes to 235 the Assembly took “the plunge
oe
Ee
i ene aS ae
Vv %
:
ar
hi — *
a~<
_ into the unknown’’—a phrase, surprisingly enough, used
___ by that worthy European gentleman M. Van Zeeland of
Belgium.
There is no doubt that the offensive conducted against
the plan by the Gaullists and Communists was joined by
a large number of right-wing deputies representing the
French employers, particularly the steel magnates of Lor-
; raine, as well as by deputies whom the strongly ‘‘anti-
___Boche” speeches of General Aumeran and others had
___._ left with the uncomfortable feeling that conditions today
were radically different from what they were in May,
~ 1950, when the Schuman Plan was launched. As one
_____ speaker put it, “It may have sounded revolutionary then,
but one has to choose the right moment for revolutions.”
_ Today, many felt, the Schuman Plan was mixed up with
____ too many other things, and was inseparable from the
problem of German rearmament. In the course of the
_ debate 101 objections to the plan under present condi-
{an em tions were offered, but the Pleven government was de-
_ __ termined to have it ratified, and when there was danger
_ that it might not be, American influence made itself felt
in all sorts of direct and indirect ways. Finally the wob-
_ blers decided it was better not to make Unde Sam and
Uncle Ike angry. As for the industrialists, they appear to
have received some private assurances from the United
ee tie that their interests would be defended.
One need not dwell too much on the Communist
es - tinades against the plan; Duclos and others went out of
a their way to make France’s flesh creep with visions of
millions of French “slaves” being deported to Germany
after the supra-national authority and the United States
| AbexanpeR WERTH is The Nation's correspondent in
_— -France.
2
BY ALEXANDER WERT
had developed the Ruhr into something so gigantic th
the French coal and steel industries were on
ruined, The government insisted that the High = ith
ity, the Assembly, and the Court constituted s
safeguards, The plan, it maintained, had three maje
vantages: it would supply France with badly needed ¢
and coke and perhaps even turn Lorraine into a “seco
Ruhr"; it would add to “the glory and pres ige
France; and it would make the Ruhr, instead of an
senal of Germany imperialism, “an organ of Europe
vitality.” f
A lot was said about Briand, the “pilgrim of p ea P
M. Gouin, for the Socialists, became so lyrical about t
prospect that he even quoted Victor Hugo, and said th
the Schuman Plan was like the first rays of dawn 0}
those United States of Europe of which Hugo I
dreamed more than a hundred years ago, But this wa:
little too simple, and the government was rather on ed
throughout the debate. After all, even if the Foreign
Affairs Committee had approved of the Schuman Plar
the Defense Committee had not, and its spokesmar
M. Loustanau-Lacau, declared: “Are we to put our k
industries at the mercy of a High Authority in whi
France is in a minority? By ratifying the Schuman Plz
you also automatically agree to the creation of a Euro
pean army. The Defense Committee is oppos ed t
scrapping our national army.” ;
There were other more precise objections. One w
that the Adenauer government could not be expected 1
last long and was therefore not qualified to commit Ge
many to observe a particularly inelastic fifty-year treat
Moreover, German governments of the future, like tho
of the past, would observe a treaty only as long a
suited them, Grave doubts were also expressed about
High Authority. To what extent would it and coul
defend France’s interests? If its guiding principle > was
be “the most rational distribution of production_at
highest level of productivity,” was it not only too 1 lik
that the Germans would always secure priority
capital investments and France be left high and d
Several speakers quoted from a recent statement bj
High Commissioner McCloy in which, emphasizing th
benefits that would accrue to Germany from the
man Plan, he said, “With German efficiency all
nomic concerns in other Schuman Plan countri
eliminated in a short time.” M. Pierre André (
quoted Mr. Churchill as saying in June, 1950, t
out Britain taking part in the pool it would “nz
come under German domination.”
a Sale of has coal and coke, it was replied that there
was absolutely no guaranty of this in periods of shortage.
ho who knew how much France would get if Germany
were to go on expanding its own steel production in-
itely? (Point is lent to this argument by the news
the Schuman Plan may not be ratified by the Bona
ament unless West Germany is authorized to in-
e its steel production to nineteen million tons imme-
tely.) Other objections referred to the Saar. What if
Saar broke away from France and thus reduced the
snch vote in the Assembly from eighteen to fifteen
ie a Bircased the German vote from eighteen to twenty-
' Could anybody say that might not happen in
000 A. D.?
-» ENE MAYER, Pleven, and Schuman himself—
a in order of effectiveness, if one may say so—dis-
if osed of these criticisms as best they could. They admit-
| ted there were risks, but what great new venture did not
ie Biidive risks? At the same time they stressed the obvious
benefits to France, and the psychological effect
fy “that the laying of “this cornerstone of a United Europe”
te ‘would have on world opinion. But somehow it did not
i sound quite right. As many speakers observed, there was
k no United Europe. The Germans, unfortunately, even
_ some people in Adenauer’s Cabinet, could think of a
United Europe only in terms of “unifying all the Ger-
‘ man lands, including Austria and Alsace-Lorraine,”
while the Americans looked upon the Schuman Plan as
if being, above all, a first step toward the formation of a
~ More or less German-dominated European army. This
ie | point was clearly stressed by Mr. McCloy in a recent
iz Speech, which was also extensively quoted. And the
i ‘European army (German version) might well mean, as
os of different parties pointed out, that France
would be dragged into a war against Russia, The govern-
"ment was careful to state that the ratification of the
itiesman Plan did not mean the ratification of the
| European army—M. Schuman himself had often ob-
eared that the two were not interdependent—but many
e unconvinced.
While the Gaullists also contended that “the Germans
- woul cheat,” they attacked the plan chiefly as anti-
" Mational, saying that it handed over to a “stateless tech-
Mocracy” the fate of French industry, They were in favor
dF federation, but putting economic federation before
| political federation made no sense. Political federation
"should be achieved in: Western Europe by means of a
ferendum in all the prospective member countries;
mi after a federal parliament was set up, there could be
federation. But each member state should keep
$ own national army. rate
ae y concluding phase of the discussion summed up
the main arguments, The government spoke in terms of
January 5, 1952
ig scOnomMi
’
ae
Po epi
erate
+
Me ka
a
sconom i
a
France's prestige (“You mean your prestige; France’s
prestige is not involved,” one speaker interjected), M.
Chaban-Delmas (Gaullist) said he hoped the Schuman
Plan would be a success but did not believe it could be.
M. Duclos (Communist) said that before long Krupp
and other war criminals would set up new torture cham-
bers for French slave labor; he also revealed, rather to
the embarrassment of the Socialists, that the Federal
Mineworkers’ Committee of the Socialist Force Oxuvriére
trade unions had passed a resolution against the Schuman
Plan. M, Pierre André (right), reflecting the views of
certain industrialists, said he had still failed to receive a
satisfactory reply to what was to him the chief question:
“What would happen if the High Authority were to
decide to concentrate its capital investments in the
Ruhr?”
Finally, Paul Reynaud sharply warned the Assembly that
if it did not ratify the Schuman Plan, the United States,
which with the Presidential election impending was in a
very tricky mood, might give up the defense of Conti-
nental Europe and adopt Taft’s strategy of peripheral
defense. This really amounted
to saying that the Schuman
Plan was the prelude to the
European army—and to Ger-
man rearmament. Even so, the
reference to Taft scared many
deputies,
The sequel of the story is
in Germany. As mentioned
above, the Germans now wish
to raise their steel output to
nineteen million tons a year,
and Adenauer, in his de-
termination to get the Schu-
man Plan through his Parlia-
ment, is said to be willing to
make far-reaching conces-
sions to the rightist parties,
who would above all like to
be told, if only off the record, Poreign Minister Schuman
that the pool will in the end be their pool and the Euro-
pean army predominantly their army.
What, it is asked, will the German Socialists do to
counteract these dangerous trends? The French Socialists
are a little mystified by the behavior of their German
colleagues. At the latest meeting of their National
Council there was a marked movement in favor
of keeping Germany disarmed and against ratifying the
European army. Despite the implication of M. Reynaud’s
speech, they voted for the Schuman Plan—M. Gouin
had not quoted Victor Hugo in vain—but the army is
different, This was made plain at Strasbourg when M.
Spaak failed to “sell” it as a “lesser evil” to the French
and Belgian Socialists,
13
BOOKS and. the ARTS
Leader of the Revolution
GEORGE WASHINGTON: A BIOG-
RAPHY. By Douglas Southall Free-
man. Volume III, Planter and Patriot.
Volume IV, Leader of the Revolution.
Charles Scribner's Sons. $15.
GEORGE WASHINGTON AND
AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE. By
Curtis P. Nettels. Little, Brown and
Company. $5.
THE PRIVATE LIFE OF GEORGE
WASHINGTON. By Francis Rufus
Bellamy. Thomas Y, Crowell Com-
pany. $5.
S MR. FREEMAN is the most ad-
mired of our living biographers,
and as Volumes I and II of his life of
Washington were published three years
ago, few readers need to be reminded
at this date that in fulness, authority,
and interest his work is superseding all
others. There will be other biographies
of Washington, of course, and they will
be welcome, for it is dangerous in prin-
ciple to leave any great man in the cus-
tody of a single literary guardian; but
additional investigation, as far ahead as
can be seen, is more likely to take the
form of commentary or supplement,
and the correction of minor shortcom-
ings, than of an entirely new undertak-
ing on a comparable scale.
Until recently a Washington biogra-
phy of such breadth and solidity could
not have been projected, for it has taken
more than one generation of archivists
and editors to assemble the materials in
usable order. With all requisite sources
at hand, the right biographer might not
have been easy to find. Mr. Freeman
was not the inevitable choice that he
now seems, for his experience had all
been in a later period. It is good to re-
member that it was that clear-sighted
poetic interpreter of the American
spirit, Stephen Benét, who first sug-
gested him. Not since Monday, May 16,
1763, when a young Scotch visitor in
London was drinking tea “in Mr.
Davies's back-parlour” has there been
any happier bringing together of sub-
ject and biographer. To be sure, the
returns are not all in; but with these
14
volumes the biography reaches its half-
way mark, and although the most dif-
ficult years are yet to come, prediction
seems safe,
The present instalment resumes the
story at the close of 1758, when the
twenty-seven-year-old Virginian, having
resigned his military commission, re-
turned home to marry and to take up
the relatively humdrum life of a planter
on the Northern Neck. It ends on a
note of drama that Mr. Freeman, with
his delicate feeling for effect, intention-
ally subdues. On April 30, 1778—a
year that “thus far had been a night-
mare of cabal and intrigue in com-
mand, and of pallor, hunger, tatters, and
foul odors at Valley Forge’—a mes-
senger arrives at headquarters in Mor-
ristown with news from France. It is
great news. Spring has come to America,
The 1,200 pages in between give the
seader the twofold pleasure of hearing
a great story told with classic precision
and economy of language and of watch-
ing the biographer at work, in the foot-
notes, marshaling and examining evi-"
dence, weighing problems, determining
degrees of probability, formulating his
conclusions, or perhaps adding some ad-
ditional information that would retard
the movement of the narrative and yet
is too precious to discard. There are
many uses for footnotes besides the
ones listed in the manuals of historical
method, and Mr. Freeman knows them.
In an introductory essay the author
comments at length on several matters
of importance such as the growth or
transformation, “beyond documentary
explanation,” of Washington’s char-
acter and the nature of his work as
Commander-in-Chief: “he was one-tenth
field commander and nine-tenths admin-
istrator.”” On the first he might have
quoted William Ernest Hocking’s ob-
servation that “the important facts [of
history} are never verifiable, for they
take place m the mind.’ Actually, he is
not disturbed by the absence of paper-
and-ink confirmation of the fact; he
is merely stating what every experienced
biographer knows.
The attentive reader of a work as
detailed and complex as this needs every
mechanical help that the book designer
can give. It is a serious defect in the
design of this work that it lacks an
analytical table of contents, preferably _
with the additional convenience of cor-
responding running-heads, and a chro-
nology. The analytical table of contents °
appears to have gone out of style ex-
cept in technical books. It is time to ";
bring it back. The index is admirably
full and accurate, but all too many of
the longer entries consist of line upon -
line of page references unrelieved by
any word to indicate their importance,
and the huge composite entry, occupy-
ing thirteeen pages, under Washington's
own name is so badly arranged as largely
to defeat its purpose.
The other two books here under re-
view require less notice. In “George
Washington and American Independ-
ence’ Professor Nettcls has traversed
once more the fifteen months that led
from Lexington and Concord to the
Declaration of Independence in order to
determine Washington's part in hasten-
ing the great decision. That part, as his
vividly and vigorously written book
makes clear, was larger than has always
been supposed. The excitements, en-
mities, and uncertainties of ‘the time
live again in his pages as we see Wash-
ington emerge as the leader of the
Revolution. Mr. Nettels combines a
highly competent technique of investi-
gation with a partisan, patriotic, and
even moralistic point of view that seems
rather old-fashioned. His is not the
most philosophical kind of history, but
it makes lively reading, and bias so
forthright and aboveboard is less ob-
jectionable than a bogus objectivity. _
I wish I might say as much for Mr.
Bellamy’s queesly proportioned “Private
Life of George Washington.” He writes”
with so pleasant a mixture of shrewd-
ness and sentiment, and with such
winning friendliness toward both his -
subject and his readers, as to make
criticism sound ungracious, but this
latest attempt to disclose the “real
Washington” beneath the trappings of
war and state is seriously deficient in
historical and literary craftsmanship.
GEORGE GENZMER —
The NATION
‘SCIROCCO. “By PRamualdo Romano.
"Translated from the Italian by Wil-
iam Jay Smith. Farrar, Straus and
g. $2.75.
RY prizes have a way of
ES offering deceptive guaranties of
m it; the latest prize novel to reach us
Ttaly, Romualdo’s “Scirocco,”
won the newly instituted Hem-
way Prize in 1949, is a case in point.
novel, plotless and moody in the
mefican school” tradition of the
's, chronicles a few days in the life
| Sicilian school teacher who has
SP arsigned classes in a remote moun-
n hamlet where the conditions of pov-
ty apathy, ignorance, and sordid in-
fill the narrator with ‘“‘ex-
tated irritation.” Irritation and a
la fed impotence not only to act but to
€ projects of action seem the
key to the author's as well as the nar-
ator's state of mind.
_ Though the action takes place in the
“seco nd year of the war, as little refer-
"ence is made to the world beyond the
‘village as if the young school teacher,
Tike his illiterate charges, were bound
ively by parochial interests. Nor
pes the interplay of moral forces be-
‘tween the Fascist satraps and the lone
‘suspected anti-Fascist ever come sharply
inte focus. The narrator's comment on
a ight excursion headed by the local
arty secretary, in which he takes a
feluctant and passive part, is: “I was
gad and bored? and did what the others
d with no enthusiasm whatever.” The
ity secretary himself, a character who
two contrasting facets to the
with no attempt on Romualdo’s
% att to integrate these complexities, is
shown as “one of those who believe in-
bly in their own laws.” And the
| young, bored narrator sums up, “As
| such I hated him.” He does not explain
why the man who believed in his owa
Jaws could at the same time be the
mecutor of a remote but despotic ab-
; Nor why, throughout, this
secretary, the only man of action
| the hamlet, is given such loving,
se-dimensional, albeit confusing,
iT
Li
th
{
= 6b HR
a a a A. a. ee a
geeie
a ation,
“It ‘Romualdo’s intent has been to
pasate in all its moral inconclusiveness
_ the personality of a drifting, observant
but morally“ inert young man, he has
Et January 5, 1952
be
’
succeeded at least partially. Yet the nar-
rator’s very quality of drifting makes
him before long uninteresting in the
extreme. After he has observed seven
times in three pages that the world he
lives in is “filthy,” the reader is bound
to take his word for it: the postmaster's
teeth are filthy; the _ fellow school
teacher’s socks, which he throws in the
bread basket but puts on again when
he goes to bed, are filthy; and of course
the bedraggled children in their under-
fed, half-naked pullulating life are filthy
too. The point is, does the drabness of
the narrative and its poor, monotonous
preoccupations make for realism, or a
form which convincingly communicates
the tenebrous view into the Sicilian
rural world young Romualdo seeks to
offer us? Or does it just imbue us with
the boredom and indifference which so
patently characterize the hero-narrator?
Except for a disproportionately de-
tailed scene of heron hunting, the “‘real-
ism’ is a poor imitation, by an eager
student of American literature, of the
early novels of Caldwell and Faulkner
(both writers have long been more
familiar to the least alert civil servant
in the provincial cities of Italy than to
our equivalent readers, who still prefer
the Satevepost). Romualdo does not
paint in depth but only in surface grime,
which can prove pretty unsatisfying even
in a book of only 182 small pages.
a
The translation is very good indeed,
except for the one slip Mr. Smith
makes when he translates continentale
as continental: here the perversity of the
Sicilian nature breaks through with in-
sular force, for anyone who comes from
the Italian mainland is, of course, called
in Sicily a continentale.
The evident derivation of the hunt-
ing scene—a genuine experience in lo-
cally unique surroundings worthy of the
best Hemingway hunting scenes—and
the open worship of what the author
considers the American realistic school
seem to me the only possible reasons,
however wrong-headed, for ‘“‘Sciroc-
co's” having been awarded a prize ex-
cept for sustained monotony.
FRANCES KEENB
The New Canada
CANADA'S CENTURY. By D. M,
Lebourdais, The British Book Center.
$4.
HE place names in Canada are mov-
ing north, Names like Yellowknife,
Leduc, Steeprock, Knob Lake, and
Hamilton River will be the familiar
names of tomorrow. It was not so long
ago that Canada to the average Ameri-
can, and to many Canadians as well,
meant that ribbon of tilled and settled
land, with its tourist byways, that lay
just north of the border—the Maritime
Thomas Paine’s
eG aun E
SENT TO YOU WITHOUT OBLIGATION AS PART
OF A NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL CAMPAIGN
190 PAGES
COMPLETE AND
ee
r
I
!
i
l
i
L
ARLY in life, Abraham Lincoln was tremend-
ously influenced by the writings of Thomas
Paine—particularly by his essay advocating the
abolition of slavery. Lincoln constantly sought
inspiration in Paine’s works. He said: “I never
tire of reading Paine’. Thomas A. Edison came
under the influence of Paine and fully acknowl-
edged his indebtedness to this profound think-
er. He said: “Paine educated me...” Men like
Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson loved
and honored this great genius.
SD Why not let Thomas Paine do for you what
he did for Lincoln, Edison and countless others?
Start one of life’s most rewarding experiences by
treading Paine’s masterwork, ‘‘The Age of Reason”.
You are invited to send for this 190-page, complete
and unexpurgated book as part of an educational
campaign—but please enclose 10¢ to cover postage.
2 = ae os oe a oe ow oe ow oe oe oe oe oe oe oe
The Thomas Paine Foundation
Dopt. 102,370 West 35th St., New York |, N, Y.
om . my copy of “The “Age of Reason’, This book i
» but "1 enclose 10¢ to cover postage.
HAG. . ow. ccnderes: 0 cperceenessseses wececroeseny . ;
AGAlOSS, 5550s 0s- cree soe, oo coreree: seescerneesesess j
Clty, Zone; State. vcccerccrerccvcessvesscvrenssssces
_— was ow BE ew ee ee ee ee ee ee ee ee ee
15,
° eis iva
rf "7 “0
a Provinces, the ay of the St. Sawrence,
it the western peninsula of Ontario, the
. north shore of Lake Superior, the wheat-
ss growing plains of the Western prov-
) inces, the Canadian Pacific Rockies, and
the fertile valleys on the West Coast.
Even today the highways and the rail-
---—- soads take you through this part of
Canada and seldom beyond. This book
takes the reader into the new Canada, a
vast territory extending from Labrador
to the MacKenzie and reaching up into
the islands of the Arctic Sea—the two
and a half million square miles of pre-
Cambrian rock and muskeg, the oil
lands of Alberta and Saskatchewan, the
iron mountains of Ungava, the great
northern rivers awaiting hydroelectric
as
em
oe
ae
--
Chas eiecs
___ installations, the spruce forests, and un-
Pe tapped bodies of ore. Today the new
70 ae railroads, the new air routes, the new
yt ae investments are all pointing north.
igs Saea’ D. M. Lebourdais has done a com-
petent reporter’s job on the geography
____and geology of this new Canada. Fifty
years ago, in a moment of exuberance,
Sir Wilfrid Laurier predicted that the
twentieth would be Canada’s century.
____ Now, Lebourdais thinks, there is a good
Bt chance that this prediction will come
at true. A railroad is under construction to
nik the great iron-ore deposits of Labrador.
A pipe line already brings Alberta oil to
ee the Great Lakes. The St. Lawrence sea-
i <5 alin eencinetiars
~ at th eit a area mama
A ee BOOKSAND fromthe |
Dae PERIODICALS uss R,
i Just Arrived! M. LERMONTOV
: A Hero of Our Time. |
& DeLuxe Edition — IHustrated |
In English — 174 pp. — $1.50 |
Latest Soviet Records, Handlerafts
1952 SUBSCRIPTIONS OPEM® FOR ALL
SOVIET NEWSPAPERS AND PERIODICALS
Ask for Complete Catalogue P-52
FOUR CONTINENT BOOK CORP.
55 W. 56 Street, N. Y. 19 MUrray Hill 68-2660 |
through“ /Vation
Nation readers can avail themselves of
our offer to send them any book at the
regular publisher's price post-free if
payment is received with the order, or
_ ot the publisher's price plus postage if
_ the book is sent C.0.D. No C.O.D.'s
___ gutside the United States. When order-
ing, please give name and author and
publisher, if possible.
BS Please address your orders fo
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a aie READERS' SERVICE DIVISION
20 Vesey Street New York 7, N. Y.
————————————
16
oe Md
co, ol
way will soon be sastructed by Can ie.
with or without the coope: ons if tes *
United States. The North is is bursting
with energy. The last great geographic.
and industrial frontier on the con-
tinent is under assault.
There is one disturbing note in the
Lebourdais’ survey. Apparently in the
development of Canada’s newly found
resources the all too familiar pattern of
exploitation is being followed. It is the
big companies that are in it up to the
neck: the big oil companies and the big
mining companies are pouring in their
millions and will soon be drawing out
their multi-millions. True, as the author
suggests, the workers in the new wilder-
ness will not have to rough # as their
forefathers did. They will have all the
modern facilities—the neat stucco houses
with hot and cold running water, the
recreation center, the modern company
store, and the new movie twice a week,
all the comforts of the well-run com-
pany But perhaps ordinary
Canadians may want more than that.
They may even advance the modest plea
that if the next half-century is to be
labeled Canada's, a little more of it
should belong to them and not merely
to some very solid and reputable names
on the New York Stock Exchange. I am
a little surprised that Mr. Lebourdais
made no special mention of the province
of Saskatchewan, where it appears that
the public authorities persist in the
heresy that the natural resources which
are being uncovered in the North are the
people's birthright and should be de-
veloped primarily in the interest of their
better life. J. KING GORDON
town.
The Masters in Color
ITALIAN PAINTING: THE RE-
NAISSANCE (from Leonardo da
Vinci to Veronese). Text by Lionello
Venturi and Rosabianca Skira-Ven-
turi. Translated by Stuart Gilbert.
Albert Skira. $17.50.
da second volume of the Skira his-
tory of Italian painting covers the
sixteenth century in Florence, Rome,
Venice, and northern Italy. As in the
Skira series on modern painting, all the
illustrations are in color. Fhe 105 plates
included in the present volume give a
fair idea of many of the finest pos-
sessions of the galleries of Rome, Flor-
ence, Venice, Naples, Milan, Madrid,
eps te re z
fees ee
ditio: ) ay ne
masters like ‘Bavoldo, .
Lorenzo Lotto are Fortune includ
but I could wish for somethin g bette
than a couple of portraits to represe
such original artists as Bronzino |
particularly Pontormo, There are
cial reproductions of some of he Ce
reggio frescoes at Parma, and som
the Raphaels in the Vaticin, a
truly remarkable group of seventeen
tails from the Sistine ceiling. The
—due allowance made for transl
from plaster to slick paper—are ee
curate as to be unexpectedly di
ing: Michelangelo's work has |
considerably patched up
centuries by restorers, and all p
color reproductions gave a
impression of a homogeneous surfi
The actual state of disrepair is cl
the detail of Daniel, but none
Michelangelo's power surmounts even
these obstacles. Two of the nudes, i
relatively good state, come throug
magnificently.
The accompanying text is ra her
functory. Lionello Venturi’s fifteen-page
introduction accents the importance of
judging these artists on their ov
merits and not from Vasari's <
tion that the masters who precede
these heroes of his day were merely pre
paring the way. He also points to t
paradox between the high,condition ¢
the arts and the disintegr
marked other aspects of Italian lif
the sixteenth century. Venturi’s da
ter has written the many biog:
summaries. While they are satisfz
enough, they contain nothing new
reader familiar with the history
Italian painting. ah
I return therefore to the
Modern reproduction on shi
works reasonably well for brig
pictures, especially those of
sixty years and of the ea
sance. But the sich echoes of Lec
shadow or of Giorgione’s color, :
mention the subtleties of late
and Tintoretto, are not caught s
There are serious discrepancies
this volume: the bleached de
nude woman in Giorgione’s “Ter
as against the over-dark illustrati
the whole picture. And there are worse
discrepancies between reproducti ion
the same picture in this book: sii
nrougn
-
2 vd L
oo
omg.
YIOT LP
“a7
z
~ 25
S
i
>
m4
ae
Z
i . the other, the larger plate is
- monochromatic. Here Paul
"s “Calvary” is too dark; in
album it is properly blond.
h, Giorgione’s ‘‘Concert”’ is grave-
misrepresented, and the detail in-
ded in the present volume is shock-
y_ bad. In general, however, the
ails of the Venetians are very suc-
iia ; it is the ensembles which dis-
at through an inevitable loss of
are in the small scale of the plate.
G Drgione’s “Venus,” so long at
Mresden, now euphemistically described
ee.” is reproduced from a
‘color reproduction. The decision to do
3 cannot even be classed, I am afraid,
: oe experiment.
S. LANE FAISON, JR.
_Books in Brief
| ARISTOTLE’S THEORY OF POETRY
i AND FINE ART. With a Critical Text
| and Translation of the Poetics by S. H.
L toher. With a Prefatory Essay on
Aristotelian Literary Criticism by John
#7 Gassner. Dover Publications. $4.50.
| his is a welcome and handsomely
printed reissue of a standard translation
de more than half a century ago.
"$s exposition and interpretation
vice as long as the ‘‘Poetics’’ itself—
has become something of a classic in its
| own right, and John Gassner contributes
. ra i intelligent discussion of the relation
| of Aristotle's ideas to some recent atti-
| tudes toward tragedy. Romantic critics
who stressed literature as an expression
"of a writer's personality rather than an
“imitation of life’’ discounted and mis-
] construed Aristotle's meaning, and to
he came to seem irrelevant. Prob-
ly most critics today are closer to him
a critics were half a century ago, and
sre is still no better approach to a
discussion of, say, “The Death of a
Salesman” than via some of the general-
he made. The Butcher text af-
ford: the best way of finding out what
tistotle actually said.
ro
a
.
a.
‘
a
Butche
‘
rie
Th
fd
i
i
i
]
|
h
.
i
De *
action
_
STORY . The Magazine of the Short
Story in Book Form. Number One.
Edited by Whit Burnett and Hallie
January 5, 1952
walt
rea
Burnett, David McKay. $3. Those who
remember with some affection the old
Story Magazine, which introduced a
number of gifted American writers to
the reading public, will be pleased to
learn that its editors have decided to
bring it out twice a year in book form.
Number One presents twenty moderate-
ly entertaining stories, ranging in locale
from China to the Bronx to Ireland, by
an international group of young writers.
Although a few of the stories are banal
and some are merely slick, the general
level is one of unexciting competence,
with the exception of one or two that
are sharply executed (such as James
Wyckoff's ‘The Door Between” and
William D. Magnes’s “The Vise’).
Perhaps the prospect of appearing be-
tween book covers will encourage new
writers to enliven future issues with
more stimulating and original writing.
JOSEPH
WOOD
Drama |_¥2°,
T WAS in connection with ‘Caesar
and Cleopatra’ that Bernard Shaw
asked his famous question ‘Better than
Shakespeare ?"’ Up tg the end of his life
he was still explaining that he had never
meant “‘better in all respects,” and the
question does not need to be answered
in that expanded form, What is really
important is the fact that the Vivien
Leigh-Laurence Olivier production at
the Zicgfcld Theater demonstrates that
“Caesar and Cleopatra” is brilliant and
engrossing simply as a play, without
reference to Shakespeare, and, what is
more surprising, without any undue
emphasis upon its paradoxes or its les-
sons.
What time and familiarity with the
Shavian point of view has done is to put
audiences at their ease. They are no
longer either puzzled by his point of
view or nervously anxious to demon-
strate that they understand what he is
getting at. Taking his drama as drama
and his comedy as comedy, they can
enjoy both. Perhaps no work cam really
become a classic until something like
that is true, and if—I apologize for the
phrase—the “audience acceptance” of
Shaw has reached a new high during
the last few years, what that means is
simply that Shaw has by now educated
these audiences to the point where they
enter his special world almost as easily
as they do that of any other popular
writer. One may even go one step far-
ther and say that just as his own con-
tention that the premises of Shake-
speare’s “Antony and Cleopatra” are
foolish and immoral is fundamentally
irrelevant to the drama as drama, so the
alleged superiority of his own is irrele-
vant to our judgment of him. In both
cases all that is really necessary is that
the premises should be temporarily ac-
ceptable and that an interesting story
resting upon them should be told.
I must add that “Caesar and Cleo-
patra” has never before seemed to me
so interesting a play as it did at the Ziep-
feld and that this is of course at least as
much the result of what the present pro-
duction does for Shaw as of what time
had previously done for him. The day
may come when his reputation will tend
to oppress his interpreters as much as
Shakespeare's often does now and in its
own way interfere with effective inter-
pretation as much as another kind of
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. ~ ; er 4 ae arte war Se abe
—e vr hb ate ce : ~_h lal
interfered with
some productions of Shaw. But Miss
Leigh and Mr. Olivier are quite prop-
erly at ease in a play which is, for them,
neither merely impudent on the one
hand nor sacred on the other. Mr.
Olivier’s Caesar is the disillusioned
idealist humorously resigned to doing
the best he can in a world he did not
make and with human material of very
disappointing quality. Miss Leigh is an
exasperatingly attractive Cleopatra who
learns only half the lesson that Caesar
would teach her—how to assume power
but not how to use it. The support is
uniformly first-rate, the mise-en-scéne
sufficiently imposing without being
overwhelming, and the action moves
with admirable swiftness. It is not often
that those who go to the theater in the
line of duty feel moved to say as I am
now: it seemed short and it was too
soon over.
None of this is meant to imply that
what Shaw has to say is of no impor-
tance to him or to us; only that the
intellectual implications have been, with
the aid of time, put in their proper
place. Of course Shaw himself did mean
a kind of retort to Shakespeare. The
play is no play unless one realizes that
when he tells us that the real signif-
cance of the story of Cleopatra emerges
when the drama does not center around
an amorous episode but around what
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Lea Pocker SCORES New York 32, N. Y.
(ZA, PULITZER PRIZE and CRITICS’ AWARD
in RICHARD RODGERS & OSCAR RAMMERSTEIN Znd
present in cssociclion with
LELAND HAYWARD & JOSHUA LOGAN
ROGER RICO
MARTHA WRIGHT
South Pacific
itesic by RICHARD RODGERS
Lyrics by OSEAR — 2nd
Scenery & Lighting by Jo Mielziner
~~ qgith MYRON McCORMICK
MAJESTIC THEATRE, 44th St, West of B’way
Evenings 8:20. Matinees Wed. & Sat., 2.30
. he — si ee oe
moe 2 rah f a oe
~~
he § ia © . 2 “cu
“appenn ‘ehin 2 SiGlk wa aaa
ec tan ee oe
up, he is thereby returning to his puritan
insistence that life is real and life is
earnest. But neither could it become the
kind of play it now is until we had
learned to be at home with this idea in
a sense that its earlier audiences were
not.
It is no news that Shaw, to a degree
extraordinary for an artist, was con-
cerned with the idea of government, its
importance and its difficulty. Almost at
the end, when Caesar is reminded that
Rome produces no art he replies by
asking if peace or even war is not an
art, and by dismissing what the subject
peoples have to give as mere ornaments.
If this is not necessarily all that Shaw
himself would have to say on the sub-
ject it is an attitude not wholly incom-
prchensible to him, and st suggests
again the obvious fact that he sees in
Caesar a hint of both the superman and
the philosopher-king. Curiously, despite
all his contempt for that Elizabethan
man in the street with whom he identi-
fies Shakespeare, the two have some-
thing in common. Shakespeare, as his-
torians are fond of asserting, had a
sense of the primary importance of
social stability which renders the histor-
cal plays, perhaps even “Hamlet,” in-
comprehensible to those who do not
share it.
Among the many Shavianisms scat-
tered through the text of the present
play two widely separated ones, cer-
tainly not intended to be taken as com-
ments one on the other, may neverthe-
less be confronted. Near the end Caesar,
rebuking Cleopatra for her wilfulness,
says: ‘I do not do what I want to do; I
do what must be done. That is not hap-
piness but it is greatness.’’ Much earlier
he had said: ‘When a stupid man is
doing something of which he is thor-
oughly ashamed he is sure to tell you
that it is his duty.’” Now Caesar was not
a stupid man, but is not the fatal defect
in the idea of the philosopher-king here
exposed? It is terribly difficult for even
a benevolent dictator to distinguish be-
tween “what has to be done” and that
“duty” which is only an apologetic .
name for something of which anybody
ought to feel thoroughly ashamed.
There was a great English writer be-
tween Shakespeare and Shaw who spoke
wisely of “necessity, the tyrant’s plea.”
ET Stevens or Kanan win oil O: =
cars; The Nation’s Emanuel—a!} ife -
size drip-celluloid statue of Kirk De a
las ranting and disintegrating in
vengeful throes of death—goes tot
man or men responsible for each o
following unheralded production: sie
1951, ‘*
“Little Big Horn." A low-budge
Western, produced by Lippert, starrin
John Ireland and Lloyd Beldeats
tough-minded, unconventional, persua-
sive look-in on a Seventh Cavalry pakrol
riding inexorably through hostile tet
ritory to warn Custer about the t a
Sitting Bull had set for him was alr st
as good in its unpolished handling f
the regular-army soldier as Jamés
Jones's big novel. For once, the men
appear as individuals rather than
—grousing, ommery, uprooted, com
cated individuals, riding off to glory
against their will and better judgment,
working together as a team (for all
their individualism) in a genuin 7
loose, efficient, unfriendly Am erica
style. The only naturalistic photog 3
of the year; perhaps the best acting
the year in Ireland's graceful, som ber
portrait of a warm-hearted but oa
pletely disillusioned lieutenant who n
or may not have philandered with h
captain’ s wife.
“Fixed Bayonets.”” Sam Fu er’s:
jagged, suspenseful, off-beat variant of
the Mauldin cartoon, expanded in
full-length Korean battle movie v
out benefit of the usual newsreel c
Funny, morbid; the best war film since
“Bataan.” I wouldn’t mind seeing it
seven times. sy
“His Kind of Woman.” Good. co
remantic-adventure nonsense, exploi
the expressive dead pans of Ro
Mitchum and Jane Russell, a young:
and a young woman who would prob-
ably enjoy doing in real life what ey
have to do here for RKO. Vincent
Price superb in-his one right 1 ,
that of a ham actor thrown
into a situation calling for high m
dramatic courage. Russell’s petulan
toneless rendition of “Five Little Mi ies
from San Berdoo”’ is high art of
sort.
fast, crisp, and
e atom ‘age; good ae take-offs
Jandings; wonderful shock effects
human babies cry for milk); Kenneth
jbey’s fine unpolished performance of
2, clean, lecherous American air-
officer; well-cast story, as caw and
ocious as Hawks’s “Scarface,” about
battle of wits near the North Pole
tween a screaming banshee of a
egetable and an air-force crew that
2 ers away as sharply and sporadi-
ally as any Cagney moves.
@ Prowler.”” A tabloid melodrama
of sex Sad avarice in suburbia, strict-
ly from James M. Cain, featuring al-
mx perfect acting by Evelyn Keyes as
a hot, dumb average American babe
ho, finding the attentions of her mid-
ie-aged disc-jockey husband beginning
to pall, takes up with an amoral rookie
cop (nicely hammed up by Van Heflin).
Sociologically sharp on stray and hith-
erto untouched items like motels, athletic
nostalgia, the impact of nouveau-riche
furnishings on an ambitious ne’er-do-
_ well, the potentially explosive boredom
of the childless, uneducated, well-to-do
housewife with too much time on her
| hands.
) “The People Against O'Hara.” An
| adroit, scholarly example of sound
story-telling that every Message Boy
_ should be made to study as an example
iy of how good you can get when you
' neither slant nor oversimplify. Also
highly enjoyable for its concern about a
“static” subject—the legal profession,
i. as such—and the complete authority
with which it handles soft-pedaled in-
_ Sights into things like the structure and
routine of law offices; the politics of
‘@ conviviality between cops, D. A.’s,
‘4 judges, attorneys; the influence of bar
_ associations; the solemn manner of
Memorializing the wrench caused by the
_ death of a colleague; the painful
_ “homework” of committing to memory
_ the endless ramifications of your case
_ as well as the words you are going to
_ feed the jury in the morning.
_ “The Day the Earth Stood Still.”
| Science-fiction again, this time wtth
_ ideals; a buoyant, imaginative filtering
|, atound in Washington, D. C., upon
the arrival of a high-minded inter-
hz January 5, 1952
pees
> i a eT... a . sa a. i Or
SET Sapo
=
‘
planetary federalist from Mars, or
somewhere; matter-of-fact statements
about white-collar shabby gentility in
boarding-houses, offices, and the like;
imaginative interpretation of a rocket
ship and its robot crew; good fun, for a
minute, when the visitor turns off all the
electricity in the world; Pat Neal good,
as usual, as a young mother who be-
lieves in progressive education.
“The Man Who Cheated Himself.” A
lightweight O. Henry-type story about
a cop who hoists himself on his own
petard; heavyweight acting by Jane
Wyatt and Lee Cobb; as a consequence,
the only film this year to take a moder-
ate, morally fair stand on moderately
suave and immoral Americans, aged
about forty. An effortlessly paced story,
impressionistically coated with San
Francisco's oatmeal-gray atmosphere; at
the end it wanders into an abandoned
fort or prison and shows Hitchcock and
Carol Reed how to sidestep hokum in a
corny architectural monstrosity. Cobb
packs more psychological truths about
joyless American promiscuity into one
ironic stare, one drag on a cigarette, or
one uninterested kiss than all the Man-
kiewicz heroes put together.
“Background to Danger.’ Tough,
perceptive, commercial job glorifying
the P-men (Post Office sleuths), set in
an authentically desolate wasteland
around Gary, Indiana, crawling with
pessimistic mail-robbers who act as
though they'd seen too many movies like
“Asphalt Jungle.” Tight plotting, good
casting, and sinuously droopy acting by
Jan Sterling as an easily-had broad who
only really gets excited about—and real-
ly understands—waxed bop. Interesting
for such sidelights as the semi-demi-
hemi-quaver of romantic attachment be-
tween the head P-man and a beautiful
nun,
And, for want of further space, six-
inch Emanuels to the following also-
ans: ‘The Tall Target,’ “Against the
Gun,” “No Highway in the Sky,”’ ‘'Hap-
piest Days of Your Life,” “Rawhide,”
Skelton’s ‘“Excuse My Dust,”” “The En-
forcer,”” “Force of Arms,”’ ‘The Wood-
en Horse,” “Night into Morning,”
“Payment on Demand,” “Cry Danger,”
and an animated cartoon—the title
escapes me—about a crass, earnest,
herky-jerky dog that knocks its brains
out trying to win a job in a Pisa pizza
joint.
B. H.
HAGGIN
Records
1 shift of the N. B. C. Symphony
broadcasts from Studio 8H to
Carnegie Hall has improved the over-all
quality of the sound that comes out of
our radios, giving it a warmth and
naturalness which the sound from 8H
did not have. But whereas C. B. S.’s
method of picking up the New York
Philharmonic in Carnegie Hall brings
us an orchestra which is at a sufficient ~
distance for the components of the sound
to be spaced out, N. B. C, transmits a
sound whose components are tightly
crowded in on us as though we were
placed right in the middle of the
orchestra.
In Carnegie Hall the N. B. C. Sym-
phony plays and sounds, under Tosca-
nini’s and Cantelli’s direction, like the
great orchestra it became the year of
the transcontinental tour—with the
unanimity, precision, finish, and sensi-
tiveness, the blending, refinement, and
beauty of tone that were carried to
breath-taking incandescence in the per-
formance of Debussy's ““La Mer’’ at the
final concert of the tour in Philadelphia,
A week or two later “La Mer’ was re-
corded—but not in the Academy of
Music or Carnegie Hall; and the newly
issued RCA Victor LP record gives us
the performance with the altered sound
it had in Studio 8H—some of the most
agrecable sound we have ever had from
that accursed place, but not what I
heard in Philadelphia. And not with the
warmth and distinctness of the sound
of the New York Philharmonic on the
Columbia LP record of the perform-
ance of “La Mer’ conducted by Mit-
ropoulos. The Mitropoulos violence pro-
duces nothing worse than an excessive
acceleration here and retardation there;
so that on the whole the performance
is an acceptable and effective one, though
not what Toscanini’s has become—the
definitive performance of our time.
Coupled with Toscanini’s ‘La Met”’ is
a transference of his older recording of
Mendelssohn’s “Midsummer Night's
Dream” music—quite satisfactory with
treble stepped up; coupled with Mit-
ropoulos's is Debussy’s “Iberia” played
by the Philadelphia Orchestra under
' 1g
Ormandy—one of Ormandy’s better per-
formances, and the first Columbia re-
cording to reproduce the orchestra's
playing not only with distinctness but
with the warmth and sheen of its sound.
Of the Bach Harpsichord Concertos
Nos. 3 and 4 recorded for the Bach
Guild (Vanguard) by Kurt Rapf
and a small Viennese orchestra, No. 3
is an alternate version of the E major
Violin Concerto, with a superb slow
movement whose long-breathed melodic
flow is more effective with the sustained
tone of the violin, and No. 4 has only
a moderately engaging first movement.
The performances are good.
Some of the works of Vivaldi that
we know well are very beautiful; but the
unfamiliar Concertos in E minor and F
and Violin Concertos in C and B flat
recorded for the fisst time by Polymusic
1 find mostly uninteresting. Elliot
Magaziner’s violin tone is a little veiled;
the playing of the Orchestra Sym-
phonique de Paris under Charles Bruck
is good; surfaces are a little gritty.
Beecham’s often graceless and pon-
derous performances of Haydn's
wage
JOIN THE MARCH OF DIMES:
Soe Te eee ee ie maha fae
20
Symphonies Nos. 94 (“Surprise”) and
103 (“Drum Roll’’) with his Royal
Philharmonic (Columbia) provide fur-
ther evidence of the recent deterioration
in his work; and their recorded sound
becomes coarse, dull, and enveloped in
distortion as the pickup moves toward
the center of the record. His perform-
ance of Mendelssohn's “Fingal's Cave”
Overture, on another record, is also
over-deliberate; that of the “Ruy Blas”
Overture is good; surfaces are a little
gritty. Still another record offers his ex-
cellent performances of the Suite from
Rimsky-Korsakov's ‘Le Cog d'or,” some
of Rimsky's best music, and Franck’s
“Le Chasseur maudit,” a poor work.
Considered by itself Monteux's new
performance of Stravinsky's “Le Sacre
du printemps’’ with the Boston Sym-
phony (RCA Victor) is competent and
effective; but it lacks the force of
Stravinsky's own dynamic performance
with the New York Philharmonic, or
eveft of Ansermet’s more stolid per-
formance with L’Orchestre de Ja Suisse
romande. The recorded sound of Stra-
vinsky’s performance is clear and cold;
igo sic hae
f INFANTILE 4
ii lane eine
that of Ansermet’s has the spatial depth
and roundness of London orchestral re-
cording; that of Monteux’s has Victor's —
warmth and radiance, My choice would
be the Stravinsky.
And I would choose Ansermet's —
somewhat stolid performance of the
complete score of Stravinsky's “Pet-
rouchka” in preference to the violent
one by Mitropoules and the New York
Philharmonic (Columbia) and the
frenetic one by Stokowski and an as- ~
sembled orchestra (Victor). But best .
of all, again, is Stravinsky's own, inade-
quately reproduced performance of ex-—
cerpts with the New York Philharmonic;
and one wishes he would make a new
recording of the entire score.
As for Milhaud’s “La Création du j
monde” and Copland’s “EI Salon Mex-
ico,” excellently performed by orchestras *
under Leonard Bernstein (Columbia);
the idea behind Milhand’s use of jazz in
his picce—that because jazz is the
music of the American Negro it is the
right material for a ballet about “the
creation of the world as it might be
imagined by an aboriginal mind’—
seems to me fallacious; but a couple of
the passages in which Milhaud uses jazz
material are effective, and indeed the
only good things in the piece. That is
more than I can say for Copland’s work,
into which he says he hoped to have put
something of the spint of the Mexican
people that he felt im the popular tunes
he heard. With his treatment of the
languorous tunes—which I would again
describe as putting them into a rhyth-
mic straitjacket and pouring harmonic
acid on them—I] would say he put into
the work the spirit not of the Mexican
people but of Aaron Copland.
CONTRIBUTORS
GEORGE GENZMER is working on a
critical biography of Thomas Jefferson”
for the American Men of Letters Series.
FRANCES KEENE, formerly with the
OWI in Rome, edited “Neither Liberty
Nor Bread,” the only documented his-
tory of fascism as told by the opposition.
J. KING GORDON, formerly manag-
ing editor of The Nation, is on the
staff of the United Nations Commis-
sion on Human Rights. ~
S. LANE FAISON, JR., is chairman of
the Art Department of Williams Col-
lege.
The NATION
ford | 7 Bucsle No. 446
~ BY FRANK W. LEWIS
Tee PEELE
Bee eee
atti te | ee
fe fee o
oe me ae
A
ooo
BE iz a
Tire amnenneue
BEBEAH EA.
“py gee pa is
i | ie
Me tt Tt Fo |
ACROSS 8 Border state? (This side Paradise!)
5)
Comparatively presumptuous? 9 His hold isn’t strictly legal. (7) _
Says he’s afraid, otherwise.) 15 It makes a sort of agent gain, in
She large proportion. (9)
5, rie sieht might make its point. (5) 16 A square shouldn’t have one near.
p 11 Their reaction might depend on the (9)
112 Instructions for bubble formation {7)
_ might be deadly. (9) 18 The
Emperor set a good example.
13 Comparatively sec. (5) (8)
+A Did it begin with Francis Scott? 20 Take a taxi and a couple of articles
(, 9) to arrive at the cottage. (6)
topia? (1, 5, 2, 4) 21 Part of your habiliment, perhaps,
] k 3 li ke 2 bed!
Bt Things night bess endnes ini 23 Stick wih the hined help! (6)
r tially. (9) 24 Part of a battery works from one.
25 What many pitchers rely on? (9) (5)
26 I’m past being an adult insect. (5)
27 Super-duper? (10, 3)
SOLUTION TO PUZZLE No, 445
ACROSS :—1, 10 THE BIRTH OF A NATION:
DOWN 6 SHED; 11 SERIOUS; 12 CONDUCTS; 1%
‘ QUITO; 15 INSHT; 17 OUTWHIG HS; 19
2 Fair game for a Russian wolf- COMPASSES; 21 and 7 down TRAPSHOOT-
; hound? ING; 23 OILED; 24 RETICENT; 27 KICK-
OFF; 28 BRASSIB; 20
SIF LAGE.
DOWN :—1 THAW ;
4 TENACIOUS;
3 This is §3:,3) (3, 6) YANK; 30 PER-
4 Stop in at a change of course. (9
eauits are so passé! (5) (9)
6 Change. (Notice when it’s about
_huma n beings!) (5)
1 Poker debts? (8)
2 ENAMORS; 8 IVIED;
5 OASIS; 8 DISPOSSESS; 9
9 FREQUENT; 14 DISC JOCKE Y; 16 TRAP
DOOR; 18 TE ST TUBE 5; 20 MILK CAN ; 22
. AMNESIA; 24 RIFLE; 25 ‘CHAFF ; 26 MERE.
Readers are invited to send for a free copy of Mr. Lewis's “ground rules.” Address
requests to Puzzle Dept., The Nation 20 Vesey Street, New York 7, New York.
season. (9) 17 The whim of a top U. S. dramatist.
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BEES EeE SEER Eee EEE BS Ee eS
i |
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hed LIBRARY )
January 12, 1952
THE VATICAN
APPOINTMENT
Is It Constitutional?
BY MARK DE WOLFE HOWE
Lesson of the Past
BY JOSEPH L. BLAU
The Vatican’s Global Strategy
. BY MARCUS CATO
J
=.
———
CENTS A COPY ; EVERY WEEK SINCE 1865: 7 DOLLARS A YEAR
o .
PROTESTANTS AND OTHER AMERICANS UNITED
for
SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE
—POAU—
HE CRISIS precipitated by President Truman’s appointment of an
Ambassador to the papal head of the Roman Catholic Church must arouse
every patriotic American to a sense of his personal responsibility in pre-
venting the consummation of this threat to religious liberty in the United
States. Our Constitution guarantees religious liberty by maintaining the
separation of Church and State. An Ambassador to the Pope is a clear
violation of this constitutional principle. It gives a single church a secret and official
access to the ear of our government which no other church would accept. It is a
defiant violation of the First Amendment and will place all non-Roman churches in
a subordinate status in American society.
A vigorous and expensive campaign lies ahead to prevent the consummation of
this un-American and unconstitutional project. The POAU is spearheading a na-
tional campaign to alert the nation to the danger. It will extend into many weeks
while the Senate debates the issue. If the appointment is confirmed by the Senate,
the campaign will extend into an indefinite future.
POAU will carry the banner of opposition until this high-handed invasion of
religious liberty is triumphantly defeated. It has already held 50 of a projected 100
mass meetings in cities and towns across the nation to arouse public opinion and
focus it upon the Senate. It needs money for every form of publicity — newspaper,
radio, television, direct mailing, and legal action in case this becomes necessary.
The campaign which P O A U foresees will require a great increase of its present
budget. Many large gifts and thousands and thousands of smaller gifts m+ *
forthcoming.
In this battle for religious liberty and equality of all churches before t
POAU is the nationally recognized spearhead of militant patriotic action. It
agency through which this present peril to American freedom may be avert:
,
Send your check, large or small, today to—
AMERICANS UNITED (POAU)
1633 Massachusetts Ave., N. W., Washington, D. C.
‘ 3
a ea ~
Lourz D. NEwTon
a) eer ee
Executive Director
E i‘ E A
GLENN L. ARCHER - STATE ;
(P OA U isa non-profit public service organization. Your gift Ia
eductible on your income tax.)
Epwin McNEILL PoTEAT '
Vice-Presidents i POAU, 1633 Massachusetts Avenue, N. W., Washington,
SER Mane i Please find enclosed my check for the amount indicated below. }
aku 1 part in support of your campaign to prevent the consummation
C Bi ane Sees : ment of aa ambassador to the Pope as head of the Roman Cath ;
E. H. DsGroor,JR. $1,000 $500 O$300 Osteo O$s0 O$2s Ogio O$s O$s
Secretary i
J. M. DAwson i NAMB ;
Chairman of the Board Mr. Mrs. Miss Rev. Dr. _ ete
|
MERICA’S LEADING
UME 174 NEW YORK -
be Shape of Things
ANCO, IT SEEMS, IS ALL BUT IN THE
a _ At first, when Paul A. Porter, acting Mutual Se-
| Administrator, announced that the United States
1 Spain were about to negotiate an economic-aid agree-
at, the State Department made sounds of surprise and
tested that major decisions had yet to be made with
pect to the “basic military relationship” between the
. It looked, too, as if objections might be
ed in the Pentagon unless the issue of bases for dol-
s were settled in advance on more favorable terms
n Franco is known to have agreed to. But apparently
e reactions were sparked by crossed wires rather than
uny basic doubts, Mr. Porter is reported as saying that
s would begin by the middle of the month and an
reement would be concluded within ten days there-
if this schedule is held to, objectors will have to
5 nation
-
aN4. 4
ove fast. But no one seriously doubts that a Security
gency and permanent military mission will soon be
ablished in Madrid and a deal made granting Spain—
) begin with—$100,000,000 in military and other aid
and formally eonverting Franco into an ally of this coun-
try. More funds will certainly follow, for Mr. Porter's
decision was based in large measure on the recent report
made by Professor Sidney C. Suffrin of Syracuse Uni-
tsity, who recommended an annual United States sub-
dy of $150,000,000 to bolster up Spain’s economy at its
yeakest points and make it a military asset instead of a
burden,
. +
DNE POINT MR. PORTER STRESSED SEVERAL
‘BH times. Franco is not to be pressed to reform his regime.
; “I look upon it {American aid} from the standpoint of
: investment.” This cold bargaining position
ot shock us as it seems to shock some of our liberal
soraries. We have never liked the look of politi-
attached to American dollars; and if we did,
w in this particular case that they would
o' meaning Franco cannot liberalize his regime.
> do so would be to invite its overthrow. Not even
ne! ican della Sil save him if he allowed the Span-
seople to speak or vote or strike freely. If we are to
hands with a fascist dictator, better to do so without
4 €conomi
Ey
SATURDAY * JANUARY 12, 1952
LI BRERA WEEKLY SINCE 1865
NUMBER 2
‘camouflage, on Porter’s formula. The sickening fact is
not that we exact no political concessions from Franco
but that we should ally ourselves with him on any terms.
Those who read the remarkable articles by Robert
Fromm in the two last issues of The Nation will realize
with new acutemess what sort of ally we are buying.
What most Americans may not yet realize is that our
decision to support the Franco regime with money and
military missions will inevitably have the effect of con-
verting Franco's internal enemies—the oppressed people
of Spain—into enemies of the United States. How can it
be otherwise, since we are committed to the survival and
strengthening of his rule? And if this is true, how secure
can we feel even in the bases and airfields we get for our
dollars? %
RECENT DEVELOPMENTS IN THE UNITED
Nations secretariat indicate that relations between
Trygve Lie and his staff continue to deteriorate, An-
other leading official of the Staff Association (see edi-
torial comment in The Nation of July 28, 1951),
H. Lukin Robinson of Canada, has been dismissed with
no reason assigned; and now Mr. Lie proposes to ask
the General Assembly for practically dictatorial power
tu set aside staff regulations and the findings of the
Administrative Tribunal, all as part of a campaign
to drive from the secretariat persons whom he regards
s “bad international civil servants.” As bearing on
Mr, Lie’s conception of a “good international civil
servant,” it is reported that he informed the chairman of
the Staff Committee recently in Paris that the staff
would have to decide whether ‘it is loyal to me or loyal
to Lukif Robinson.” Mr. Robinson, it will be recalled,
was assigned by the Staff Association to defend, before
the Appeals Board, fellow staff officers who had been
dismissed early in 1951. It is to be hoped that a widely
representative group of delegations will call a halt to
this program of intimidation and reprisal.
*
J. HOWARD McGRATH IS MAKING A UNIQUE
contribution to a solution of the housing problem. The
Attorney General is building, with federal prison labor,
three “stand-by” prisons in Wickenburg and Florence,
Arizona, and El Reno, Oklahoma, for use as con-
FTA nm ye he m4 yx ol Ses ,
F ae La aay 7 P ah ast AIRY, oP Nong re u y onl ar
a} 4 - ’
‘ a
oe, @ IN ERIS ISSUE s
ys EDITORIALS
} ip The Shape of Things 21
1 Mr. Truman Versus the A. M. A, 24
a te A The Vatican Appointment: A Second Look 25
iP 7h
if
ae ARTICLES
2a The Passing of Litvinov by J. Alvarez del Vayo 27
a ve The Voice of Science by Leonard Engel 27
i oer Diplomacy, Religion, and the Constitution
| by Mark De Wolfe Howe 28
The Lesson of the Past by Joseph L. Blau 30
te The Rise of Italian Secularism
i i by William Murray 33
b bakes The Vatican’s Global Strategy by Marcus Cato 34
Spanish Journey—Franco’s Props
La ae by Robert Fromm 36
4 st BOOKS AND THE ARTS
j a Periodical Famine by Vincent Brome 39
a Ne Colette in America by Ernest Jones 40
+1 Ate Essay on American Fear by M. R. Werner 4l
] ee by Freud or Zilboorg? by Helen M. Lynd 42
i re Books in Brief 43
|) eee Drama by Joseph Wood Krutch 44
i - The Other “Cleopatra” by Margaret Marshall 44
aE m Music by B. H. Haggin 45
<9 eae
? © os
oe” " LETTERS TO THE EDITORS 47
Ey coe,
} ~ CROSSWORD PUZZLE No. 447
; . by Frank W. Lewis opposite 48
Editor and Publisher: Freda Kirchwey
Associate Editor: Carey McWilliams
Foreign Editor Literary Editor
J. Alvarez del Vayo Margaret Marshall
Financial Editor: Keith Hutchison
Drama: Joseph Wood Krutch Music: B. H. Haggin
Assistant Literary Editor: Caroline Whiting
Assistant Editor: Charles R. Allen, Jr.
Copy Editor: Gladys Whiteside
Staff Contributors
Andrew Roth, Alexander Werth, Howard K. Smith, Carolus
Business Manager; Hugo Van Arx
Advertising Manager: Mary Simon
Director of Nation Associates: Lillie Shultz
The Nation, published weekly and copyright, 1952, in the U. S, A.
by The Nation Associates, Inc., 20 Vesey Street, New York 7, N. Y,
Entered as second-class matter, December 18, 1879, at the Post Office
of New York, N. Y., under the act of March 8, 1879. Advertising
and Circulation Representative for Continental Europe: Publicitas,
Subscription Pricea: Domestic—One year $7; Two years $12; Three
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Articles, Public Affairs Information Service, Dramatic Index,
‘qiatztion compa shock tis URS
ot should war be deta of an insus vii
No slum-clearance feobares will
housing projects, which will anand’ :
pleted about 3, 000 dissenters. News stories ref
construction as “a big-scale operation, rovidingl .
possible roundup of many thousand potential spies an
saboteurs.” It was Mr. McGrath's predecesse Te mr
Clark, who as an Assistant Attorney General laid
constitutional groundwork for these ominous insti
tutions. Mr. Clark was in charge of rounding up 100,
000 Japanese Americans during World War II 3
placing them in so-called “relocation centers,” one :
which, that at Tule Lake, will be used as an addit
future concentration camp. Unfortunately, the S$ ren n
Court, in the Korematzu case, upheld the execut
order under which the Japanese were removed from th
West Coast and placed in detention centers. And
decision will be cited as the precedent for uphold ding
the provisions of the McCarran act under which any
person who, “there is reasonable grounds to b lieve i
might conspire with others to commit acts of sabo n
or espionage in an emergency may be arrested and de
tained in the concentration camps now being constructed, ”
»~
THE STATE DEPARTMENT HAS DENOUN(
as false the Russian charge that American forces
transporting Chinese Nationalist troops to So
Asia for possible action against Communist Ci
Washington stories state that the charge may be 3
“cover” for aggressive action planned by the Commu
nists in Indo-China or elsewhere, but items sppeattlig ll
the American press with Taipei and Hongkong dates
lines lend some support if not to this then to another —
recent Soviet acousation, made in the United Nations— —
namely, that the United States is plotting subversive —
activities in Communist-controlled countries. For ex-
ample, on December 4, Jim G. Lutas, in the New York
World-Telegram and Sun, reported from Taipei that —
Major General William C. Chase does not regard |
Formosa as “an isolated area” and that he would soon
pay a visit to Major General John Cole, who heads —
our military mission in Thailand. An A, P, dispatch |
from Taipei on December 26 said that a Nationalist —
officer and twelve soldiers had been killed in an attack —
on an island off Fukien held by the Chinese Communists. .
Although not previously announced, the attack took: _
place on December 7. On December 27 a
dispatch fromm Hongkong announced that six unic
planes had attacked the Communist-held isl
Taichan. And on December 31, General Chase,
-
Nationalist China might work as “a team in ¢
side Formosa.” The same dispatch quoted Chiai
deter Boksible Chinese aggression in
Asia, but it points to the danger that Chiang’s
occupation of Formosa with a large force,
ind trained by Americans, may involve us in
er difficulties with Communist China. Formosa is
=-bomb ticking off the coast of Asia,
os +
NA YOUNG AMERICAN OF INDIAN
en i in Korea, was refused burial last summer
braska cemetery because his heritage was some-
ie than pure white, President Truman rightly
munced this most un-American outrage. Now the
Jen may be forced to repeat his denunciation. An-
Korean veteran, this time a nineteen-year-old
o from Phoenix, Arizona, has been denied burial
a veterans’ plot in Greenwood Memorial Park. A
J icy of the park—owned and operated by Arizona
ydge Number 2 of the Free and Accepted Masons—
s “be een to bury Negro veterans only after three no-
d letters of request have been received from vet-
3 ongaizatios The father of the dead soldier has
id to ask for such a humiliating “clearance.” He be-
es his dead son should be buried in a democratic man-
eside his fallen comrades—just as his life was taken
hi m—without regard to his race or color or creed.
Ss orts to lift the cemetery’s bar have been blocked
a€ ground that they would constitute “undue inter-
r ce in the cemetery’s affairs,” and consequently the
iet’s body has been lying in the morgue for more
& five weeks, Thus a new twist has been given to
ist practice, which now follows its victims to their
y gtaves. An official of Greenwood Memorial Park
said: “. . . we got a place for all races and creeds out
e. The soil is the same in one part .. . as it is in
+
§ OF UNEMPLOYMENT ARE BEGINNING
PI ear in industrics where new defense orders are
uff cien to compensate for cuts in production due to
tply reduced allocations of materials. In the Detroit
ict, for example, the number of jobless has risen
120,000—80 per cent more than twelve months
—largely owing to layoffs in the automobile industry.
ill rise still farther if the Defense Production Au-
abides by its plan to restrict the output of private
pon ,000 units in the second quarter of this
x or and management alike are protesting on the
t the proposed cut is discriminatory, but DPA
claim that the automobile industry is actually
m special consideration. The contemplated
ori nai eon to 52 per cent of pre-Korean out-
> a i N ey eee oo rm Cw we
fiche ag NG ii italian eerie cl
~<
ee Poe
put. white some other consumer -goods industries are
eine restricted to 35 per cent of that level. On the
other hand, the social impact of sharply reduced produc-
tion is especially serious in the case of automobiles be-
caus of the immense size and geographical concentration
of the industry. Moreover, it seems that it may be many
months before arms contracts take up the slack. The
Ford Company, for instance, expects to fill only $400,-
000,000 worth of defense orders this year while losing
$1,300,000,000 worth of civilian output. Such a hiatus
suggests faulty planning in Washington. But it may be
that some responsibility also attaches to managements
which have been reluctant to turn to defense production
so long as the demand for cars was high and materials
could be scraped together.
+
THE WEST AGAINST ITSELF IS AN OLD THEME.
Nearly half a century ago, Western Senators and Repre-
sentatives, obedient to the timber interests, put up the
major Opposition to the creation of federal forest re-
serves in the Western states. Similar disregard of the
people’s interests is now exhibited by Idaho's solidly Re-
publican delegation on Capitol Hill, which is trying to
block the construction of Hell's Canyon Dam across the
Snake River. The Idaho politicians are supporting, in-
stead, a proposal of the Idaho Power Company to erect
five low dams on the Snake. Idaho is without any im-
portant home industry, and low-cost electric power is the
state’s principal need. The five Idaho Power Company
dams would generate 487,000 kilowatts of prime
power. The dam in Hell's Canyon would produce
688,000 kilowatts at the site, and by storing water for
release during the dry season, would add 742,000 kilo-
watts to the output of Bonneville and McNary Dams,
downstream on the Columbia River system, Thus the
elected representatives of the people of Idaho are will-
ing to settle for only one-third of the energy which
might ultimately be made available to them in order to
protect the preferential position of a private power
monopoly. The Hell's Canyon Dam would also provide
flood-control benefits all the way to the sea, while the
Idaho Power Company dams would be useless for that
purpose. The Idaho Power Company, moreover, charges
a substantially higher rate for industrial power than that
offered by the Bonneville-Grand Coulee grid, and Hell’s
Canyon’s kilowatts would flow into this system. A bill
authorizing construction of the Hell’s Canyon project is
now before the House Committee on Interior and
Insular Affairs. *
SENATOR ALLEN J, ELLENDER, RETURNING
from a trip to Europe, has discovered that while the
United States is assisting Austria with ECA money,
France, Russia, and Britain are demanding from Austria
23
a“ mene Hy. See a
at
‘
— a me
y- s os 2 ere *
es
some 150,000,000 alias F a year ie Seates costs.
‘To the Senator this seems so sensational that he wants to
call the Austrian Ohancellor Figl as a witness before a
Senate investigating committee. The Chancellor's re-
sponse was somewhat embarrassed—about the way a
Nobel Prize winner might react when called to testify on
the validity of the multiplication table. Senator Ellender
seems to have overlooked the fact that the United States
has been paying its way in Austria for the past four years
and assisting the Austrian government, first with army
funds, later under the Marshall Plan. The British, while
- obtaining Austrian shillings for occupation costs, have
contributed substantial relief funds to Austria, The prob-
lem is thus essentially one of inducing France and the So-
viet Union to forego their demands upon Austria. If the
Senator intends to do this, we wish him the best of luck.
But does he really think this purpose would be served by
his opposing further assistance to Austria? Moscow
can hardly be expected to change its foreign policy under
the threat of a lowered living standard—in Vienna.
Mr. Truman Versus A. M.A.
4HE President's appointment of a Commission on
the Health Needs of the Nation is in one sense a
confession of failure, since it means that he has aban-
doned hope of early passage by Congress of his national
health-insurance bill, However, the move shows that
Mr, Truman is not prepared to surrender to the Ameri-
can Medical Association, whose expensive and unprin-
cipled propaganda against “socialized medicine” has
been a prime factor in blocking action for a national
health service, The new commission should at least keep
public interest in the problem alive, and if it performs
a thorough job of fact-finding, it may provide us with
a really authoritative up-to-date picture of our health
set-up.
No one can say that the commission has been
“packed.” Its chairman is Dr. Paul B. Magnuson, dis-
tinguished Chicago surgeon and former chief medical
_ director of the Veterans’ Administration, who even if
he does not share the A. M. A.’s complacency is on
record as opposing compulsory health insurance. A num-
ber of highly qualified physicians and medical educators
have also consented to serve, together with a group of
prominent laymen representing labor, farmers, and con-
~~ sumefs.
Nevertheless, the appointment of the commission has
i been violently attacked by Dr, John W, Cline, president
_ of the A. M. A., who charges that President Truman's
action is “a biezen misuse of defense-emergency funds
_ for a program of political propaganda designed to in-
fluence legislation and the outcome of the 1952 elec-
tions.” According to Dr. Cline, “there is no health
emergency in this country to require such an investiga-
24
faery, ~
aa 4
“OO ae i
n,” since “the health of the America |
his been better.” see
This onslaught, with its adeneane ean = if tisf actio
was easily predictable from the record of the ALD L.A, .
which has a Candide-like faith that, medically speaking, |
this is the best of all possible worlds, Last June, in ; we
speech at the dedication of the National Insti tes of
Health Clinical Center, President Truman said that in
advocating health insurance he was not wedded to a
particular plan. “What I want,” he continued, “is ¢
good workable plan that will enable all Americ ns to
v
ALC
~
. ae
pay for the medical care that they need. And I will
here and now that if the people who have been “ :
health insurance for five years will come up ¥
better proposal—or even with one that is almost as §
—I will go along with them.” Replying to this ¢ cha I
lenge, Dr, Cline declared: “A better program already
available and is functioning admirably—the
medical system, which has made this the healthiest g
nation in the world.”
Such ineradicable smugness itself proves the need f fot
an objective survey of the medical facilities avai 0
the American people. Possibly this country is’ the
healthiest in the world—the Swedes might chal
that—but certainly good health is not available in
measure to all the people. In the country as a who!
instance, there is 1 physician for every 741 persons, bu
in Mississippi the ratio is 1 to 1,449 and in
Dakota 1 to 1,316. For the United States the infac nt-
mortality rate has been brought down to 32 per 1 000
live births (1948) compared with 47 ten years ea = P,
But in New Mexico 70 out of every 1,000 babies die i
their first year, which may have some connection ¥
the fact that 34.4 per cent of the births in that |
were unattended by physicians, (Incidentally, bolle
ternal and infant-mortality rates are lower in soci tsa
Britain than in the United States.) be
Even the A. M. A. admits that more doctors
needed and that medical educational facilities are
adequate. It has started a fund for their improvem
but apparently has not been as successful in fais
money for this purpose as in passing the hat to fi
national health insurance. As a result, the rush of
cal students to Europe is so great that Dr. Morris
bein, a veteran opponent of public medicine, has |
led to declare that some means must be found to u
government funds for medical schools. .
But the training of more doctors, important as ¢
is, will not by itself solve the problem of the high |
of medical care, which puts it beyond the rea
millions and in cases of serious illness not infreq
swallows up the life savings of comparatively w
do people. Blue Cross and other prepaid vol
surance plans have modified the problem to some é
but they have not proved an answer to those ,
taaat
The }
se erica
=
out
~—y
may make or this score will deserve careful
ation. But until some other plan is adum-
“socialized medicine” holds the field as the best
means of raising health standards to the high level
hic ich the wealth of this country and progress of the
B arts make possible.
Vatican Appointment:
A Second Look
“\ESPITE the many puzzling and contradictory
J aspects, it is now possible to trace at least the main
= of the story behind President Truman's extra-
announcement of October 20 that he had
ominated General Mark W. Clark as ambassador to
Although the President acted suddenly, it is now clear
hat he had had the appointment under consideration
r a long time. In a press conference on October 26 he
id that he had been studying the question ever since
ie retirement of Myron C. Taylor in 1949 as his per-
ral ee enative at the Vatican. The abruptness with
a the Taylor mission was terminated had come
ahd: to the Holy See, and a marked change had
en noted i in Vatican protocol in dealing with American
I sito and related matters. President Truman had
a urged at the time, by Representative John Mc-
‘mack and others, to meet the issue by sending a
in ster to the Vatican; but apparently neither a minister
‘a “petsonal representative” was what the Vatican
1féd .
rdina y
the matter rested for some time, although the
fe within the Administration continued. Then, in
aty, 1951, the President privately offered the am-
dorship to Charles P. Taft, formerly president of
Federal Council of Churches. Mr. Taft declined it.
In May and again early in the summer Mr, Truman
ured Bishop G. Bromley Oxnam that the appoint-
at would not be made, but before long the goings
comings between Rome and Washington indicated
the issue was once again receiving top-level con-
tion. On October 12 Representative Franklin D.
Jt., announced from Rome that no action
likely to be taken before the 1952 Presidential
yn; in the double-talk of politics this implied that
sointment was in the cards. .
vident, therefore, that although the President’s
lo send the name of General Clark to the
may have been abrupt and dictated by purely
24]
TT 1
ane}
=
a
ne ‘aan
ee eee ae ey PAA Sa eae , mo
rina “r 3 <h *%y -
ob 4 bhaaes
7 a
aes
”
political reasons, the idea of resuming diplo-
"matic relations with the Vatican was part of a carefully
thought-out strategy. Several Washington columnists
have recently reported that Mr. Truman is entirely seri-
ous about the matter; one of them has said he intends
to send a representative to the Vatican “no matter
what happens to delay or block confirmation’ of the
Clark appointment. It can be taken for granted, there-
fore, that Mr. Truman intends to have his way on this
issue. p
The timing and method of the announcement, how-
ever, appear to have been influenced by short-range polit-
ical considerations. Clark was named on October 20.
Two days later, when Philip Jessup was given his in-
_ terim appointment as United States delegate to the
U. N., the opposition of McCarthy and McCarran was
noisy but ineffective. General Clark*s name was sent to
the Senate a few hours before it adjourned and with no
advance notice. Since unanimous consent would have
been required to consider the appointment, the President
cannot have expected it to be confirmed, Also Mr. Tru-
man named a general of the active army who had already
assured him that he did not intend to resign. Unanimous
consent would also have been necessary for consideration
of legislation required to exempt General Clark from
the provisions of the 1870 statute barring such appoint-
ments. Obviously, therefore, the proposal was made in a
way that insured postponement of ratification until Janu-
ary, with no interim appointment possible. These facts
justify the conclusion that the President intended to put
Congress “on the spot,” to embarrass Senator Taft in
particular, and to create an issue out of which he could
win political advantage. The more strenuously the Protes-
tants attacked the appointment, the more strenuously—
by inference—the Catholics would have to rally to the
defense of the Administration, McCarthy and McCarran
to the contrary notwithstanding. But politics are not
always as simple as the blueprints of politicians. In this
case there is reason to believe that the President's han-
dling of the entire affair was a diplomatic and political
blunder.
In the first place, Mr. Truman announced that Gen-.
eral Clark was being named as ambassador “to the State
of Vatican City.” That even this would be unacceptable
tc the Pope was made crystal-clear in a column by Anne
O'Hare McCormick in the New York Times of Decem-
ber 24. Writing from Rome, Mrs. McCormick said:
Advocates who argue that the appointment is not to
a religious leader but to the ruler of the scrap of real
estate called Vatican City do not get much support here.
The mission is either to the Pope as the head of a
world-wide church or it is nothing . . . to pretend any-
thing else is to make the appointment useless or reduce
it to absurdity. All other countries sending representa-
tives to the Vatican accredit them to the Holy See, and
25
bp Tee Tle.
. vate SY eA
Taek 7 able ae
~.
Se eiuateene delle Teed eke Ee al
follow the regular formula.
Reports from Rome in the wake of the announcement
were eloquent of Papal dissatisfaction. Naming a mili-
tary man as ambassador was itself a source of annoyance,
for it emphasized the strategic aspects of the appoint-
7 r
oe
. 3 ih Soe
SRE ee: =e,
;
:
4 ~
that the whole idea of “blocs and groupings”
ment. “If I go,” said General Clark, “I will go as a mili-
tary man in much the same status as General Walter
Bedell Smith when he went to Moscow.” A similar
diplomatic faux pas was implicit in Mrs. Roosevelt's
comment that the appointment would have “tremendous
_ yalue in our fight against Communist Russia” and would
“broaden the base of our intelligence,” since the Vatican
had “many good men behind the Iron Curtain.” Dis-
patches from Rome quickly pointed out that this careless
reference would constitute “excellent justification for the
jailing and expulsion” of priests in Iron Curtain coun-
tries. Referring to Vatican sources, they also emphasized
was fe-
pugnant to the church, that the announcement of the
President's decision had been greeted with “marked
reserve,” and that even confirmation of an ambassador
would not be construed as meaning that the “Holy See
_ hhas become a member of the North Atlantic Military
Alliance.” These rather frosty comments seemed in-
tended as a rebuke to those who had presumed to
address the church as though it were merely another
European state.
But the larger issue relates, of course, to the question
of strategy: did the President strengthen the forces
“combating communism” by appointing an ambassador
to the State of Vatican City? The Pope's Christmas Eve
message, which emphasized again the church's neutral-
ity in the conflict between East and West and its unwill-
ingness to enter into an alliance with any temporal
power, arouses serious doubt that the appointment has
improved relations between the Vatican and the United
States. At the same time, confirmation of the appoint-
ment is more likely to undermine than to strengthen
those “center” political groups which, both in Italy and
France, contain important anti-clerical elements (see
_ William Murray's article elsewhere in this issue), Nor
did the President’s move contribute to the improvement
S of Anglo-American relations. It has been suggested that
one reason for British coolness toward the European fed-
eration planned at Strasbourg is that such a federation
ould be dominated by Catholics. This would lend cre-
_ dence to the theory lately advanced in the European
Bd Me fn posed
_ and would, of course, be almost exclusively Catholic.
ess that the appointment of an American ambassador
as intended to win Vatican support for the idea of a
little federation,” should the larger European federa-
1 not be achieved. The “little federation” would be
of France, Italy, and perhaps Luxembourg,
- In the United States the effect of the appointment, on
26
ar
a
fens 6 Pe
tant iniantiey among aps Catholics hemse!
differences have been given greater political sig
than they have had i in many years, It is already c a th
issue to their own advantage. Already, too, P sd
groups are displaying a new political unity of @ ion.
this sense, the appointment subverts the civic. otal
which we have always managed to maintain as a peopl
with a few lapses, despite our manifold racial, 10
and religious differences.
But apart from its political impact, both abre
at home, there is no reason to think that the sendit ing
an ambassador to the Vatican will be of assistance i )
effort to contain communism. The notion that the
can is an invaluable “listening post” has been f
thoroughly demolished. Dr, Henry P. Van Dusen, f ia 5:
dent of the Union Theological Seminary, has pointed
out that on three recent occasions of the highest impor
tance to the Papacy—the agreement of the Polis
government with the Roman Catholic bishops, the bat
ishment of Archbishop Beran from Prague, and the tt
and conviction of Archbishop Grosz in Hungary- i
Vatican received its first information from se _
sources. Time magazine said: “The efficiency of the V
can's ‘world-wide information service’ has probably t
exaggerated for many years.” The Pope, of course ha
frequently and vigorously condemned commun ism, b
he continues to insist that the church cannot be 2 a all
in a struggle for power. Even if this statement is to
taken with serious reservations, the presence of s
Communist parties in Catholic France and Italy w
indicate that Catholicism is not always an ae nt
toxin against communism.
We have discussed the appointment as a political
matter, since that is apparently its chief cnt sig
nificance. In the blind struggle for power now
waged throughout the world it seems almost irre
to raise an issue of principle. But that issue cz not be
pushed aside. Does the appointment violate the prin
of the Separation of church and state? Speaking
life-long Baptist,” Mr. Truman has said “certainly
but the Baptists, including his own pastor, strem
disagree, In our view, the appointment violates the
ciple not only in the narrow sense that it might be
unconstitutional if a test could be devised but i
much broader sense of undermining the traditior
experience, the meaning of the principle i
Bishop Oxnam has pointed out, an ambassador ii
means an ambassador here. The presence of a
nuncio in Washington would surely give a priv
status to one religious faith not enjoyed by any ¢
It would also support the contentions of those w
stressed the political orientation of the church anc
The}
ia o
oes e =i
of Bical snot es a ee
deed, wou id arise, whether the members
erarchy should be required to register as
a foreign power. More important, perhaps, is
he fact that the appointment represents a regression to
in outmoded, European form of church-state relation-
ip. If it stands—whether General Clark or another
s confirmed—it will be only the first step in a process
t will reverse the historical American position on
n and state. To most of us this would be far too
igh a Price to pay for even a brilliant diplomatic suc-
$s; it is incontestably too high a price to pay for a
tip Beenst blunder which has annoyed those it was sup-
sosed to please and confirmed the suspicions of those it
as certain to annoy.
i
_ The Passing of Litvinov
BY J. ALVAREZ DEL VAYO
Paris, January 4
T 'T WAS one of my greatest privileges to work closely
with Maxim Litvinov in the Council of the League
of Nations. In a volume of German documents on Spain
seized by the Allied armies and published by the State
Department at the beginning of last year there is more
than one reference to that period and that association.
Hitler's ambassadors were uneasy when they saw the
‘ase of Spain taken to heart by a man of such tremendous
of persuasion and such penetrating insight.
ih Litvinov, of course, realized that the question of
Ww wh ether or not there would be a second world war would
ye decided in Spain, and I had his full support in the
il from the day I predicted that if Hitler were not
- oped in Spain, general war was unavoidable. But I
re ofer to think of Litvinov’s role in another great hour,
hen Spain was not a direct issue—the period preceding
* Munich disaster. He had always been convinced that
he only hope of keeping the peace was to confront Ger-
many with an irresistible security bloc; and in spite of so
pany previous failures in the League, he tried with all
his strength to inject the will to resist into the weak
chorus of the Chamberlains and Bonnets, I saw him con-
stantly during those days and I am a witness to his de-
ion, and Russia’s determination, to back the
League to the limit if the League stood up to its duty.
He had many advantages over most of his colleagues,
md one of them was his knowledge of the essence of
scism and his hatred of it. I am sure that until the
y of his death he felt the same.
le knew the West quite well; especially he knew its
s. His unique experience of having worked for
mand successfully, to break the cordon sanitaire
und the Soviet state made him a realist in his approach
?
etn policy. From the moment that Czechoslovakia
=.
the issue in the Assembly of 1938, he clearly
ae ry 12, 1952
>
a6-0lUC
3 ‘.
=
r
Lo wn
a
-
ea
ee ee te pe
ae - - a4 4
Pie haw events would unfold. For he realized that
hatred and fear of communism would prevail even over
the instinct of national patriotism and self-defense. He
anticipated Munich, and Munich took place. His formula:
for dispelling the apparent obscurity of an international
situation would today lead inevitably to the conclusion
that the main goal of the policy of containment is to
tule out the possibility of negotiation with Russia.
By an ironical coincidence Litvinov was buried in the
Novo-dyevichi cemetery the day the Political Commit-
tee in the Palais de Chaillot started debate on the work
of the Collective Measures Committee. It was Litvinov
who, not in theory but in practice, concluded the most
exemplary non-aggression pacts with Russia’s border
states, who negotiated the French-Russian pact, who
presented the League with a definition of aggression that
has never been improved upon, and who not only de-
clared peace “indivisible” but knew how to combine
strengthening the defensive position of his own country
with strengthening peace throughout the world.
Hoping against hope, I continued to believe that im-
provement in his health and changed circumstances
might permit Litvinov’s reappearance on the world scene
at a moment when Germany, in defiance of the dictates of
reason, was being transformed into the cornerstone of
Western policy. He knew Germany as no one else did.
But now Litvinov is gone. In yeats to come historians
and commentators on foreign affairs will appreciate much
better than they do today the real stature of this re-
markable man.
The Voice of Science
BY LEONARD ENGEL
HE biggest annual event for American scientists is
the Christmas-week meeting of the 103-year-old
American Association for the Advancement of Science,
While important discoveries are seldom announced at the
meeting—miost scientists prefer to publish them in pro-
fessional journals as soon as they are made—its symposia
and invited addresses, plus corridor gossip, accurately
reflect the main trends in American science.
This year’s meeting in Philadelphia was the most
“political’’ I can remember. No fewer than eight sym-
posia, some extending through two or three sessions,
were largely concerned with the difficulties of science in
the contemporary political world, (Many other sessions
were devoted to the help science can offer in solving the
world’s problems, such as food resources and social
change, but science has always had a lot to say about
that; Jam talking about the problems the world has
created for science.) The views expressed were not al-
ways welcome to liberal humanists, but many sharp,
useful things were said, and the association’s Executive
Council wound up with a stiff resolution condemning
27,
aie
~ aes
“the McCarran act, Dr, Edward U. ‘Cad izat of
the House Un-American Activities Committee two years
ago, was elected president for 1954—I am told
unanimously.
An all-day session on Soviet science was extremely
_ provocative. Dr. Theodosius Dobzhinsky, the Russian-
born Columbia University geneticist, unsparingly de-
fe nounced Russian suppression of Mendelian genetics but
oe pointed out that genetics and other sciences are also
subjected to heavy political pressure in the United
_ States. Dr. Russell L. Ackoff, of the Case Institute of
_ Technology, said that there had been no new ideas in
the social sciences in Russia since Lenin, but that neither
oe had there been any in the United States in decades.
tn In both countries, he declared, the primary activity of
social scientists has been justification of the status quo. (I
f
—
-
2x)
ae ours
T IS a sacred political tradition of the United States
Fat a that questions of public policy are to be discussed as
| _ peti of constitutional law. It was inevitable, there-
pat ft ee fore, that when President Truman announced his deci-
Bt a sion to send an ambassador to the Vatican, discussion of
_ the matter should, sooner or Jater, be directed to the
issue whether the President's action violated the provi-
_ sion of the First Amendment that “Congress shall make
mo law respecting an establishment of religion.” Those
_ who assert that the Presidential proposal is unconstitu-
_ tional have, quite naturally, turned to passages in recent
Opinions of the Supreme Court in which the justices,
speaking either for themselves or for the court, have
_ made broad pronouncements with respect to the mean-
ing of the American principle of separation embodied
__ in the First Amendment. Perhaps no pronouncement has
_ been more comforting to the President's critics than that
of Justice Black in the Everson case: “The ‘establish-
ment of religion’ clause of the First Amendment means
at least this: Neither a state nor the federal government
can set up a church. Neither can pass laws which aid one
religion, aid all religions, or prefer one religion over
: . Neither a state nor the federal government
a, | openly or secretly, participate in the afiairs of any
fe sligious organizations or groups and vice versa.” It can
s ieee be necessary to elaborate upon the application
ich such pronouncements as this have been given by
ra
\
4 % 3
. "ee
MARK DE WOLFE HOWE is professor at the Harvard
Law School. He has edited a case book entitled “Cases on
Church and State in the United States,” which will be pub-
lished next month.
~ oat y a ad P ¥ ey ~~ a
Bes gare , Meg sets
einen Religion, and the Constitutio mn
te
inde that t
ss petal on eA
ee Ackoff was talki slg bout
program was devoted almost entirely to a te Hic m
rationalization of current official American policy.) —
Two symposia at the scientists’ convention toc cy
the question of anti-scientific trends and urged wider
public dissemination of the rational scientific appro:
to social and political problems. The suggestion
made that American science needs a voice to spe kf ;
it, continuously and authoritatively, on questions of th
day as they come up. I am not sure that this idea is.
feasible—the ‘voice could represent only the lowest
common denominator of the scientific comm unity
opinion—but it is good to see scientists recognize ti
obligation to speak out as citizens.
Nf gp rs o
of Niew 3 "o rs anid wee
7
BY MARK DE WOLFE HOW 3
those who oppose the President's decision. Emphasia ag
the tenuous character of the Papal claim that Vatica
City is a “state” in the sense that international law h 5
used that concept, the critics of President Truman have.
been insistently asking how the head of one church can
constitutionally be granted a status which no o her
church has sought or secured. Certainly there is grave
doubt whether the President's proposal does not violate —
the principle of separation as formulated oe Just tice
Black, aa
So far as I know, the most careful effort to answer t
President's critics in constitutional terms is that which ©
Professor Edward S. Corwin made in the New Yor rk
Times on November 12. That answer, if I understz
correctly, involves three basic points, First, it ee
the Executive's diplomatic powers are unlimited 2
that the President, accordingly, possesses virtually ca
plete discretion to establish diplomatic relations wh ch
he believes promise national advantage. Second, 1 he
answer of Professor Corwin maintains that the letter
the First Amendment merely prohibits the Congressi on
enactment of laws respecting an establishment ‘of 1
ligion and does not forbid non-legislative action by t
President, even if that action, if taken by Congre
would be a violation of the First Amendment. Fin:
Professor Corwin emphasizes his belief that there is 1
procedure by which Presidential action, even if its con- —
stitutional validity is doubtful, could be brought in ques-
tion before the Supreme Court of the United States,
Persuasive and cool-headed as is Professor Corwin’s
argument, a few questions concerning its validity a
properly be raised. It is well to remember, in th
The Nation
a Corwin has been a vigorous critic
ions and dicta of the Supreme Court re-
His Peviction that the court erred been it
d such broad pronouncements as those of Justice
which I have quoted leads Professor Corwin to
d them and to look only to the language and the
es surrounding the birth of the First Amend-
at, It is true, of course, that the text of the amend-
Ehienits Congressional action only; yet the court has
t the prohibition applies not simply to Congress
& the federal government. It is difficult to under-
d, I submit, how in this respect the court could have
1 ithe amendment a narrower reading. Those who
d the amendment were surely concerned with im-
posing limitation upon all branches of the national gov-
| mment, and not simply with providing a safeguard
)against Congressional action. To accept Professor Cor-
}win's suggestion would seem, furthermore, logically to
"mean that when other problems of the First Amend-
such, for instance, as those concerning freedom of
ech, are dealt with by executive rather than legislative
n there are no constitutional barriers to Presidential
su) Tstica, at least if that suppression does not involve
imposition of a “rule of conduct” by executive order
we decree. Perhaps Jefferson and Madison gave an ab-
i urdly extensive interpretation to the First Amendment
n they contended that its provisions made a Presi-
proclamation of Thanksgiving Day unconstitu-
) tional, but they were surely right in believing that the
amendment limited executive power to the same extent
‘that it confined legislative authority,
T ROFESSOR CORWIN does not make it entirely
|X clear whether in his opinion sending an ambassador
| I ) the Vatican would, under recent decisions of the Su-
2 ne Court, be unconstitutional. In urging that the
scutive’s discretion in establishing diplomatic relations
i; eeually unlimited he seems to accept the principle
| th mo provisions of the Bill of Rights limit Presi-
ential authority in that area, Yet his concluding argu-
a gent that no procedure exists assuring judicial review
: either of executive action in making an appointment or
| Of Congressional action in appropriating funds for the
furposes of an embassy at the Vatican, seems to assume
"that serious questions of constitutional Jaw are involved.
~ Quite possibly Professor Corwin did not intend to
in his reader's mind the impression that action
ay be characterized as unconstitutional only when the
preme Court is empowered to condemn it. It is, how-
€r, dangerously easy to read his argument as if it sup-
ted that proposition. If “unconstitutional” is so
fined for purposes of the current debate, and if Pro-
o1 Scwin's argument that there is 20 means by
aich judicial review could be assured is also accepted,
y 12, 1952
be
then the Presidential appointment and legislative ap-
propriations in aid of it would be constitutional. Any
such narrow definition of terms, however, would have
most unfortunate consequences, for it would go far to
justify the President and Congress in abdicating their re-
sponsibility to observe constitutional limits on their
power. If it is important that those limits be seriously con-
sidered by the Congress and the President in normal cir-
cumstances, when the safeguard of judicial review is at
hand, it is doubly important that the responsibility be
thoroughly recognized when no procedure exists whereby
the issue of constitutional law may be brought to the
judiciary for final solution.
In facing the constitutional problem there are, of
course, Many questions which the President and the
Congress must consider. Not the least important of them
is the question which Professor Corwin thas raised con-
cerning the authority of the President, in handling the
nation’s diplomatic relations, to follow a discretion lead-
ing him in directions which the Supreme Court has said
he may not take while dealing with domestic prob-
lems, That question is doubtless serious and debat-
able, and I, for one, should be unwilling to say that
Professor Corwin’s answer to the problem is not accept-
able. In facing that issue, however, the President and
the Congress are not as morally free as Professor Corwin
seems to think they are to disregard recent decisions of
the court concerning the separation of church and state.
Whether or not one believes with Professor Corwin that
those decisions have distorted the original meaning of
the First Amendment, they remain, until reversed, the
constitutional law of the land. Certainly those who dis-
agree with the decisions are free to urge their reversal
and to marshal the reasons why such decisions, right or
wrong, are inapplicable to the problem in hand. What is
objectionable, in my eyes, is Professor Corwin's pro-
nouncement that when President Truman nominated an
ambassador to the Vatican he “performed an act of state
of the most commonplace kind.” Surely it was not that.
At the very least it was a determination that recent con-
stitutional opinions of the Supreme Court on permis-
sible domestic relations between the national government
and churches have slight if any international relevance.
NE further element in the present controversy de-
serves emphasis, History is normally the most
helpful of instruments in the solution of constitutional
questions. Things often done are likely to be classified
as constitutionally done. The Supreme Court went sur-
prisingly far in transforming the separation of church and
state into a divorce of government and religion. The fact
that this transformation has so recently occurred means
that the history of relations between the United States and
the Vatican, although it is relevant the question of
policy, has little constitutional significance. It also
29
nf) 7 °°) © J wees aithe | - : ae J
Woes be i PA oe , f Pe ee
avr : aS a! -
2 . al i" onl ae —e rr cu
7
eho > hp Se ae sie
. vied re Uo ee
nitte
hi as frisis, 1 wing Welk Waaeets We oaereies eT.
‘ often emphasized by those who support the President's
action, that other nations committed to the principle of
-| separation have found no constitutional difficulties in
maintaining diplomatic relations with the Vatican, Until
io another nation committed to separation has gone as far
| on the road to divorce as the Supreme Court went in the
_ McCollum case it is hard to treat the policies of other
nations as having substantial bearing on our constitu-
tional issue. The seas of separation to which the court So
ATICAN CITY is a token of the former temporal
PY es of the Pope. About a thousand people live
erated in its 109 acres. For nearly sixty years before 1929 the
H 'y secular power of the papacy was non-existent, but
_.___ through a concordat signed in that year this tiny domain
| was restored to the ruler of the Roman Catholic church
____ by the Fascist authorities. It is to the Pope as “governor
of Vatican City’ that President Truman proposes to
send an ambassador. The issue will undoubtedly be
thoroughly aired before Congress acts. Here I shall ex-
plain only that it is not a new one, although it is posed
' :
sim an unprecedented form.
ee In the mid-nineteenth century the Papal States formed
' | __ a Significant political entity. Their area was about 16,000
hi | On square miles and their population more than 3,000,000.
‘s I oe ‘They were no mere “token” of temporal power but a
geal force in the political life of Italy and Europe. Only
the ruler of the Papal States—which included the city
Pt a _ of Rome—could hope to become ruler of a unified Italy.
Had the democratic forces under Mazzini been able to
hold the city, whence the Pope had fled, the course of
Italian history might have been changed and with it the
history of Europe and America,
__ As early as. 1779 wise John Adams, out of his experi-
ay ence as the representative of his country in France, wrote
: 3 that he thought the Continental Congress would never
“send a Minister to His Holiness, ars can do them no
ee _ servic, upon condition of receiving a Catholic legate or
oe _ nuncio; Of, in other words, = ecclesiastical tyrant
specifically directed against the exchange of representa-
ives. In 1797, during his Administration, the United
ae, JOSEPH L, BLAU is assistant professor of philosophy at
Columbia University. He edited "Cornerstones of Religious
Freedom in America’ and this spring will bring out a new
Et; Ai book, “Men and Movements in American Philosophy.”
Eee
HES oe 30
The Lesson of the Past — | :
rey
dent's suppo ters | oe wai hos . admit, till ri
tunate To eer tae
occurring in a teapot. To evade the storm om a .
refuge in a formula which says that the judiciary h
authority to consider the problem or to control a u-
tive discretion is to encourage irresponsibility in go vern-
ment. Discretion is only to be respected when it i
conscious of the traditions which surround it and of th
limits which an informed conscience sets to its ex «2
ce,
om
od
he eS
BY JOSEPH L. BLAU
States established consular offices in the Papal Sta res, wt
formal diplomatic relations were instituted only after th
lapse of half a century. bes
Pius IX was elevated to the Papacy in June, 1£ 346.
Within the limits set by his combination of socal
ecclesiastical authority, he was progressive in his pout
views. At the beginning of his reign he had a box
id
nes
at
suggestions and complaints. He introduced many long-
overdue reforms into the social and political structure,
of the Papal States and inaugurated a program for im-—
proving the material condition of his subjects. In his”
demand for withdrawal of Austrian troops from Ferrara:
the long dream of Italian unification was revived
the slogan " ‘Italy, one country, one ruler, and that
Pius IX.” Even Nicholas Browne, United States ae
Rome, who made no effort to conceal his lack of sym-
pathy with the Papacy, reported , to Washington |
“many Jong years have elapsed since the Chair of P
was filled by a pontiff as amiable and worthy as Pius L
In the United States, newspaper editorials, mass-m
ings, and legislative resolutions urged the governm
make some tangible demonstration of the sympathy of
American people for the new regime. This enthusiasm,
culminating in the demand that formal diplomatic 1
tions with the Papal States should be establ’ shed,
generated by a libertarian political spirit which welco
Pius IX to the group of enlightened rulers and the P
dominions to the list of modern states, Scattered signs
aloofness from this general sympathy could not be cal
opposition. Objections were more concerned with
Be)
sie
of “Pope” and “Papal yin a ‘Only a handfu
jou like the eae Churchman of New
The | \
Pee
“The Papal authorities had always extended the
suls in Rome. Now they suggested to the American gov-
sent that they would not be averse to receiving a
ly Ecscdited diplomatic representative. Secretary of
te Buchanan thereupon recommended to President
, ic relations with the Papal States. Polk’s mes-
pe to Congress of December 7, 1847, transmitted
Buchanan’s recommendation with this comment: “The
“interesting political events now in progress in these
) States, as well as a just regard to our commercial interests,
‘ave in my opinion rendered such a measure highly
dient.”
The proposal was vehemently debated in the House
esentatives. Lewis C. Levin of Pennsylvania, a
der of the Native American Party, was the spear-
stad of the opposition. In a long speech on the issue he
i aid that “sympathy with Pope Pius IX appears to be the
" hobby-horse of political leaders,” and ‘ ‘sympathy for the
| Pope has grown almost into a fashion.” The measure
| was dictated, he asserted, by a desire to attract the votes
of Catholic Americans; no public benefit would come
"fro m this embassy. Much of his speech, however, was
“Mere Native American vituperation, and his opponents
| had no difficulty in pointing out his falsifications and
Ks atements, thus drawing attention away from the real
Retin to a host of secondary matters. When the ques-
/ i tion was put to the House, the appropriation for an em-
,)| bassy was approved, 137 to 15. One of the two Roman
1) Catholic members of the House voted for the measure,
= other against it. After equally prolonged but far
acrimonious debate, the Senate approved by a vote
if 36 to 7.
HE first chargé, Jacob L. Martin, secretary of the
American legation at Paris and a Catholic convert,
ee soon after reporting to Rome, His suc-
, Lewis Cass, Jr., was raised to the rank of resi-
T iminister in 1854. Other ministers were John P.
(1858-61), Alexander W. Randall (1861-62),
. ichatd M. Blatchford (1862-63), and Rufus King
a 363-68). The instructions issued to them by the in-
) cumbent Secretaries of State stressed the civil nature of
Beeprsscntsticn Each Secretary recognized and tried to
y to the minister certain difficulties in the situation
faused by the Pope's dual position. Buchanan's instruc-
ti 2 is to Martin were more explicit, partly because the em-
SSy Was a new departure and these instructions were
its foundation, and partly perhaps because the Secretary
d some feeling that the distinction between civil and
Clesiastical should be drawn with special care for the
‘Pench of this Catholic appointee.
January 12, 1952
MX
D aa
c
tockto
_ privileges of the diplomatic corps to the American con- —
a
Buchanan’s letter of instruction makes it plain that he
regarded the maming of an envoy as a reward to the
Pope for his adherence to the cause of freedom. It was
the hope of the American government that the reforms
instituted by Pius might facilitate profitable commercial
relations, This hope remained unfulfilled while the Pope
retained the secular sovereignty. Not until the Papal
States had been incorporated in a unified Italy was the
afitiquated system of monopolies which restricted trade
eliminated. Buchanan feared too that a situation might
arise in which it would be difficult for the American
envoy to take a stand because of the interweaving of reli-
gious and civil issues. In his reply to these instructions
Martin indicated that he understood their purpose and
the delicacy of his mission.
Both personal and official relations between the Papal |
government and the American ministers were very good.
Each side made the utmost effort to understand the view-
point of the other and to present its own case in disputed
matters sincerely and in full detail. The development of
a number of misunderstandings duning the two decades
of the mission, despite the good intentions of both
parties, lends plausibility to the belief that the diffi-
culties were inherent in the attempt to maintain diplo-
matic relations between a freedom-loving nation for
which governmental non-interference with religion was
a central principle and a sovereign in whom secular and
ecclesiastical power were united.
The liberalism of Pius IX was before long revealed as
but temporary and prudential. As soon as he could Pius
Courtesy St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Look Out, Harry, Here Comes Something Still Bigger!
31
..
. } Her iy cae ror ne Bh ey She é =
‘2 s SS
broke gh ihe Veaat Ce aaa ase Many of the cities: 1 visited e wer
Italy” movement, In the struggle between the Papacy and _strations him as the su; mee er and repre
Mazzini for domination, the American minister was of G iectenae loans et
placed in the middle. When the triumph of Mazzini’s
forces drove the Pope out of Rome and into retirement
at Gaeta, other members of the diplomatic corps ac-
companied Pius in his flight. Cass, who had not yet
presented his credentials, asked the Secretary of State
whether he was to present them to the Pope or to the
authorities of the new Roman Republic. True, no other
nation had recognized the Roman Republic, but it had
che been till then the policy of the United States to recognize
de facto governments without inquiring into their
legitimacy.
- Mazzini and other officials of the Roman Republic
pressed Cass to present his credentials to them and thus
implicitly extend to them the recognition they craved
from a sister. democracy. The anti-Papist Nicholas
Browne, who was in charge of the American legation
_ pending Cass’s arrival, had gone as far as his authority
extended and perhaps even exceeded his warrant by
warmly congratulating the new government as soon as
it was set up and assuring it that the American govern-
ment would be sure to recognize it. Cass, with more
perception than Browne, realized that the other Euro-
pean powers would do all they could to prevent the
provisional republican government from establishing
itself, and for this reason did not present his credentials.
Now both the Papal and the Republican party felt that
the American minister had acted improperly.
When Pius IX returned to Rome—after the French
had intervened and the forces of Louis Napoleon had de-
feated the Republicans—he shifted completely from his
eatlier reformist program. It had been possible before
for his partisans to say that he was prevented by the
cardinals from implementing his liberal program; now
it was evident that he had renounced liberalism, Both
ae theologically and politically the rest of his long pontif-
cate was to be marked by an extreme conservatism. Yet it
was not true, Cass pointed out in a dispatch of April 21,
1849, that the anti-Papal group was merely a radical
, ae and ultra-democratic rabble; much of the opposition was
mt es to government by the “ecclesiastical oligarchy’ of the
a cardinals. —
fundamental sympathy between the two governments.
The very reason for the inauguration of relations, the
idly. No longer could Congressman Levin have
_ Claimed that sympathy for the Pope was a reigning
_ fashion. When Monsignor Bedini, a Papal representa-
tive, visited the United States in 1853, he was of course
received with official courtesy in Washington, but in
= ga
Aaa
FTER 1849, then, there was a surface patina o! con
diality between the American government and th
of the Papal States, but underneath was a deep- 00) ted
distrust which bred minor incident after minor incide nt,
In 1852 the Washington Monument Association re
a block of Italian marble sent by the Pope for use it
construction of the monument. During the Cid \ War
American public opinion and official sentiment 1 ver
offended by the report, unsubstantiated but wid
lieved, that the Pope had extended “virtual recogni
to the Confederacy. Finally, in 1867, without fo
rupture, diplomatic relations were halted when ne
refused to appropriate funds for the embassy. a
One basic reason for the distrust, a reason which t hag
today fully as much force as it had in the middle of
nineteenth century, is that even the secular mind in
America is deeply influenced by the Protestant hetit ge
When, in 1850, Cass saved two thousand Ita
Protestant Bibles from burning, his stock rose in
public mind and that of the Papal government deci ‘nod d.
From the very earliest days of the embassy in Rome, |
Americans at home doubted that the Papal autho: ies,
in accordance with international custom, were permit-
ting the embassy staff to hold Protestant services, Offic "
documents make it clear, however, that Protestant ser aa
ices were held regularly, with the full knowledge and
consent of the authorities. Some difficulties were a
sioned by the fact that there were frequently as man
three hundred American visitors in Rome and the chapel
in the embassy was not large enough to a
of them; when another building was used, the police wi he
held approval until the embassy insignia was placed or it
as well as on the building used for official purposes.
list all the incidents of two decades would be irrelev
here; it is both relevant and important to point out t
rumors of the denial of the right of Protestant wots
were frequent in America in this time and that s
writers have explained the failure to continue the
bassy after 1867 entirely on that ground. =
Today, when the oo of an ambassador t Ov i
can commerce, In neither of these aims was ani iy D2 sy
successful; the Pope reverted to conservatism, and «
mercial advantages did not come until after the termir
tion of Papal dominion. Finally, we should reme
red to Roman Catholic publications for most
material used in this article. Leo Francis
edited for the American Catholic Historical As-
“Consular Relations Between the United States
the Papal States” (Washington, D. C., 1945) and
VIGOROUS attempt is being made in Italy to unify
the minority center political parties into a powerful
lar third force.” Recently in Rome, Ugo La Malfa,
ister of Foreign Trade, made a public appeal for
y. Of course creation of a third force between the
left and the Demo-Christian right has long
¢ | the ambition of Italian moderates, and La Malfa’s
ypeal was unusual only in coming from a member of
Gasp is Cabinet. It was preceded by another ex-
sion of national discontent. In late October thirty-
sht non-Communist Senators and Deputies signed a
nifesto also calling for formation of a third force
d voicing concern that Western Europe, and Italy
particular, was losing control over its destiny. (Amer-
n de mination has caused one Italian writer and teacher
ref . Italy as “East Florida.” )
oth a La Malfa’s speech and the earlier manifesto
tioned the growing dissatisfaction with the influence
Piicen Catholic church in Italian affairs. La
a, who i is a Republican, was very specific. He called
M agreement among the democratic secular parties,’
= bly excluding the Christian Democrats. The
tical purpose of such a move is either to take the
ernment away from De Gasperi’s party or at least
ntce it to al important decainiaia vA the center
es. The past and present power of the Demo-
ist ans to formulate policies without considering the
er has been entirely due to the inability of the bick-
g Republicans, Liberals, and Social Democrats to
= on even the most trivial issues.
2 : Demo-Christians are at last worried about the
ility of secular unification. This was evidenced by
: tate declaration of their secretary general, Guido
L : “on the day after La Malfa’s appeal: ‘“Today’s
em is social, not political, An accord with Christian
j nmuni
A MURRAY worked for 1wo years (1948-50) in
nd Milan offices of Time. He is now a staff writer
im news agency with offices in New Y ork.
aw
ees
ry 12, 1952
1e-
isk va me i pa * ; 1 [
_ "United States Ministers to the Papal States: Instructions
and Dispatches, 1848-1868” (Washington, D. C., 1933).
ry A, he
eS Td ta
2 d in pet erennial
ne Ne
id t , instead, misunder-
ase
mony.
Sister Loretta Clare Feiertag’s dissertation for the Catholic
University of America, “American Public Opinion on the
Diplomatic Relations Between the United States and the
Papal States (1847-1867)” (Washington, D. C, 1933),
brings together a great deal of useful material. Needless to
say, the interpretation of the sources given here differs from
that of Stock and Feiertag.}
Rise of Italian Secularism
BY WILLIAM MURRAY
Democracy would satisfy this exigency. This is no time
for discussions on ‘secularism’ or ‘confessionalism.’ ”
Spokesmen for the Liberals and Social Democrats, how-
ever, hastened to assure La Malfa that now was certainly
the time. Bruno Villabruna of the Liberals and Giuseppe
Saragat of the Social Democrats said that they favored a
united program but that the Republicans would have to
quit the government before this could be achieved. If
the center did unite to form a secular bloc, the prospect
of losing the 1953 elections would force the Demo-
Christians to cooperate with it in order to defeat the
Communist-dominated “Popular Front,” still the largest
vote-getter in Italy. It is even conceivable that a secular
bloc could obtain a slim majority in 1953. A fresh polit-
ical wind blowing through the peninsula could capture
the votes of people veering away from Christian Democ-
racy in search of a positive political philosophy.
La Malfa, one of the ablest economists in Italy, was a
member of the now defunct Action Party, the “party of
the intellectuals,” before joining the Republican Party,
which claims Mazzini and Garibaldi as its’ spiritual
founders, The Republican Party is the only minority
party now participating in De Gasperi’s seventh govern-
ment coalition. The Social Democrats walked out last
April, causing a minor crisis which the confident De
Gasperi overcame simply by resigning and resuming
power within the space of three days. The Demo-
Christians, whose political strength rests squarely on the
negative issue of anti-communism and the positive pros-
pect of continued American aid, have long realized that
if any unification of Italy’s discontented, anti-clerical
center parties is to be accomplished, the initiative must
come from the Republicans, who command few votes
but much respect. Politically the Republicans could
bridge the gap between the conservative but anti-clerical
Liberals and the Social Democrats. The present Cabinet's
ablest members are Republicans: Randolfo Pacciardi,
Minister of Defense; Carlo Sforza, ex-Foreign Minister,
now without portfolio; and La Malfa himself, the young-
33
td Roe set . Be Rigas ip hin cuted
' Er Ye eh eae oat agrees
Salant 'inpoe SRR ae le ‘hake wae barbs
lent their considerable talents and the prestige of their
_ party to De Gasperi’s otherwise colorless and unin-
spired government.
As La Malfa made his appeal during a session of the
Republican Central Committee, there is no doubt that he
speaks officially as a member of his party. By calling for
_ More social reforms and by laying the emphasis on anti-
clericalism he struck at the core of the national discon-
tent. Internal Italian politics have always revolved
around the issue of state versus church, and the Repub-
__ licans have fought on the side of the state since the days
. _ of Mazzini and Cavour, and even before Garibaldi
marched up the peninsula to chase the foreigner out and
smash the temporal power of the Pope. Clerical rule has
never been popular in Italy, and we must not forget that
Christian Democracy was founded by an Italian priest in
, 1919 and that De Gasperi emerged from the Vatican
_ _—_— Tibrary after World War II to step into a job for which
the church had carefully prepared him. This makes
a4 y powerful propaganda for a secular political coalition
_-—s with the drive and the means to bid for power.
qi} On a practical political level, however, there are
many obstacles to unification. At present only the Re-
hp Se z publicans seem to be capable of formulating a program
and carrying it out. The Social Democrats, a party only
| _ im mame, are floundering about in a morass of pedantic
hair-splitting. Their leaders call for party unity and re-
fuse to yield a political inch. The ablest man among
them, Silone, has refused to accept any official post and
RESIDENT TRUMAN has proposed to estab-
lish diplomatic relations with the Vatican at a
_ time when the Catholic church is engaged in one of
_ the greatest organizational efforts in its history. Since
_ the end of the Second World War the Vatican has
seen that American diplomacy, now dominant in Western
_ Europe, was content to fight communism without offering
an alternative. Its own purpose goes farther: Catholicism,
it is determined, shall provide the alternative. Its suc-
cess can be gauged by looking at Western Europe today
_—Italy, West Germany, Belgium, Holland, Spain, Portu-
gal, and Ireland are ruled by openly Catholic parties.
This achievement is the work of Catholic Action groups
in the various countries. Similar groups are now being
MARCUS CATO is the pseudonym of an Italian journalist
who has reported on Vatican politics for many years. He is
now visiting in this country.
net 34
The Vatican’ Global Strategy
4% " 4
”
dia Rion ta | ideas ar ee
chan (Ir ecent! oe are ted e ce to Cel red S
bassador James C. Dunn as the Vice-King of
The Liberals, who have been trying to agree on a
form for months, came up with a seven-point “uni - |
tion program” a week after La Malfa’s appeal. In p oint
six they proclaim their “respect for the church, as I 0 ng
as it remains within its proper sphere of action.” ch ¢
Liberal platform, however, as laid down in the seven.
points, differs widely from the moderate socialism o} ft he
Social Democrats, calling as it does for the “reestablish-
ment of a free, competitive economy" — “reestab lish
ment” is hardly the right word, since such an econo my
has never existed in Italy. es
The Republican problem is to strike a balance betweer
the Liberal program of freedom for business inter ts
and the state-control formula of the Social Democrats
All three parties feel strongly about the necessity of de
stroying the temporal power of the church. As a matte
of fact, the Liberals, whose internal policies othe:
closely resemble those of the Christian Democrats, have
long fought the government program of regional auto i
omy, which has enabled Catholic Action, the tempo a ral
arm of the church in Italy, to gain actual political contra L
over communities in many parts of the country. If ng g
secular democratic parties could agree temporarily to
aside their differences concerning the administration of ,
the national economy, they could offer the underf ss
underpaid, poorly housed Italian voter a strong i e
to go to the polls and recapture his self-respect,
7 eed
LCi) C
av
BY MARCUS CAT
formed throughout Latin America and in the Un a
States to assure the West's active cooperation in ‘Pap pal
policies. Since the United States is simultaneously trying
to build up Europe's military defenses against comm us
~~ ae
nism, the Vatican is en eager to strengthen i its t b pone ds
Once Catholic governments had been installed n
Western Europe and Latin America, Rome set about
coordinating their activities and using them to fur
its perennial aim of uniting all peoples under its
thority. That is the significance of two recent ev
which are more closely related than they appeat-
World Congress of the Lay Apostolate held ast
Rome and the ceremonies closing the extended _ Holy
Year at Fatima in Portugal. i‘ t
The purpose of both was to produce conditions fa
able to world-wide Catholic let total 3, th
pe d creda against Peabe at-
does not exist, as in the East, it must be
the same everywhere.
a address to the World Congress of the Lay
olate the Pope stressed that all Catholic Action
must become, like their prototype in Italy, an in-
t to help the clergy further the policies of the
. He ruled out a suggestion that their action should
allel to but independent of that of the clergy. “It
evident,” he said, “that the apostolate of the
y is subordinated to the ecclesiastical hierarchy, for
e hi h etarchy is of divine institution: the apostolate,
- , cannot be independent with regard to it.” And
s added: “To think otherwise would be to under-
ine the very wall of which Christ Himself has built
b et purpose of the Lay Apostolate Congress was
| 9 sete the thorny question of the relation between or-
fs P ized religion and the state. The Catholic church has
| long maintained that since politics influence the morals
of a a people, it has a duty to invade the field of poli-
tics in order to defend morality. In his address the Pope
“condemned the “noxious tendency” that would ‘‘con-
ne the church to those questions said to be purely re-
to keep the church to the sacristy and sanctuary,”
and went on to explain: “There is a reciprocal penctra-
| tion between the religious apostolate and political action
|... in the highest sense of the word, which means
nothing other than cooperation for the good of the
_ state. ” Quoting from a previous address, he added:
it would be blameworthy to leave the political field
et free to persons unworthy or incapable of directing the
| affairs of state.”
| Tactics that apply to Catholic countries do not of
purse apply to Protestant countries, As the French
ic leader, Count de Mun, once said, in France the
Silo of church and state is an impious thing, while
the United States it is pious. Where Catholics are
‘ia a minority, separation protects their freedom and
"must therefore be supported, but should America ever
become a predominantly Catholic country, the principle
ion between church and state, upon which this
ountry is founded, would be considered by Rome as
Pi impious” as it is in France. In terms of the organiza-
thor of Catholic Action, however, this difference does not
exist. Even more than in Catholic countries, Catholics
her ate expected to extend and coordinate their ac-
tivities to serve the purposes of the church.
f
a
a
jye10u
oe
-
_ r) NE of the church’s primary aims is the conversion
A JSof Russia, which will be accomplished, the Vatican
_ feels certain, when communism is destroyed, This aim
patty explains the emphasis on the ceremonies at Fatima,
wary 12, 1952
~*~
which have been described by Bishop Sheen, who at-
_ tended as the representative of Cardinal Spellman, as
“the greatest religious event in the history of the modern
world.” One million persons, one-eighth of the popula-
tion of Portugal, took part.
The Virgin Mary is said to have appeared in 1917 to
three Portuguese children in the village of Fatima and to
have told them: “The Holy Father will consecrate Rus-
sia to me. It will be converted, and an era of peace
will be granted to the world.” At that time, because Rus-
sia had proclaimed the freedom of religion and de-
stroyed the power of the Orthodox church and of its
head, the czar, the Vatican hoped that the revolution
would lead to a reunion with Rome. A semi-official pub-
lication saw 4h it the hand of Providence, and Benedict
XV later referred to Russia as the country where “the
announced liberty of religion gave rise to the hope of a
better future.’’ The Orthodox church, having been closely
bound up with the czarist regime, was left without
head or prop and might, it was thought, seek an alli-
ance with Rome in order to survive,
Immediately the Vatican laid its plans for that day. On
May 1, 1917, Benedict XV created the Sacred Oriental
Congregation and shortly afterward the Pontifical Orien-
tal Institute to train missionaries to go to Russia. The
Congregation was given jurisdiction over all countries
where the Greek Orthodox Church was predominant—
that is, Russia and Bulgaria, the Middle East, and north-
eastern Africa. Today, having been excluded from East-
ern Europe, its field is necessarily limited to the Middle
East. Through that region, especially the Holy Land,
the church hopes eventually to reach Russia, That is why
the Vatican has in recent years taken an unprecedented
interest in the Palestine question. That is also the mean-
ing of the encyclical “Sempiternus Rex” of September
8, in which the Pope urged “heretical” Middle Eastern
sects to return to the unity of the church,
The Middle East has additional importance for Rome
today because it adjoins the Far East, where the loss of
China with its 3,000,000 Catholics was a severe blow to
the church. The Vatican hopes that just as the conversion
of Greek Orthodoxy in the Middle East may lead to the
conversion of Russia, the conversion of the Moslems in
the Middle East may help it to reach the Orient. In the
two most important Moslem nations in the Far East—
Pakistan and Indonesia—Catholic missionary activities
have been greatly intensified.
‘The ceremonies at Fatima were connected also with
the Vatican's desire to convert the Moslems. The Virgin
appeared in that tiny village, the church declares, because
it bore the name of the daughter of Mohammed, of whom
the Koran said, “She is the most holy of all the women
in paradise, next to Mary.” According to Bishop Sheen,
“the Blessed Virgin chose to be known as Our Lady of
Fatima as a pledge and sign of hope to the Moslem peo-
35
ple, and as an assurance that they who show her so much
respect will one day accept her Divine Son.”
The Vatican hopes to gain American support for its
plans for the conversion of Russia and the expansion
of missionary activities in the Far East because its free-
dom of action in both the Middle and Far East is
dependent upon political conditions, which in turn de-
Spanish Journey—Francos Props
Madrid, December 21
T IS some months since the day I took Mrs. L
] to town. Yet I remember clearly the ride and what
she said. Mrs. L was a gray and placid housewife
of fifty-five, and I had not paid much attention to
her during the week I had known her. Then, on my last
day at the village, I offered her a lift. We were exchang-
ing monosyllables, when suddenly, as if the dikes of
restraint had burst, she began to talk. In a low, angry
voice she spoke of the low rations, the rising prices, the
thriving black market, the official corruption, and the
general distress.
“Half the people in our street are hungry,” she said.
“They'll work for ten pesetas a day, or even just for
food. But they are afraid to complain. They don’t know
who might report their words, and then the police come.
People who were arrested a year, or two, or three years
ago are being let out now, and they are only fit to die. I
talk freely with you because you're a foreigner, and
you're going away, But if anyone knew I'm talking like
this now, I'd be in prison tonight. Our life is black
with fear.”
Other people in other towns have told me the same
story, but somehow it is this gray, stout woman who
symbolizes for me Spain in its years of distress. As in
the Communist countries, fear here is part of the
climate of daily life. People grumble, but very cautiously.
Jokes are repeated about Franco, or his Moorish guards,
or his wife’s visits to the jewelry stores on Gran Via, but
only to trusted acquaintances. Spaniards seems to have
a curious yearning to share their troubles with a friendly
foreigner, but they don’t want to be seen talking earn-
estly to a foreigner in public. -
This fear is one reason why there is no large under-
ground here. Police and Falangist informers are every-
where, and the penalties are savage. An underground
does exist, but it is small and fragmented. Until about
ROBERT FROMM is an American newspaperman now liv-
ing in Europe. This is the second of two articles on bis
“Spanish journey.” The first appeared last week.
36
os
pend on American policy in those regions. Thus diplo-
matic relations with the United States can be a valuable
aid to Catholic expansion. For the church the destruction
of communism in the Middle East, as in Europe, is only
a step toward the achievement of its ultimate purpose.
Catholicism hopes eventually to serve as the alternative
to communism,
a oe ee a a eee eee. or
ew
BY ROBERT FROMM —
two years ago a strong group, comprising mostly former
Anarchists and Republicans, was active in Barcelona,
especially in the distribution of illegal newspapers. Their :
work has now been stopped. Smaller underground groups |
run by Socialists, Communists, or Basque or Catalan?
separatists sporadically issue newspapers or handbills but .
are incapable of any important action. While they prob-
ably all took part in the strikes of last spring, no one I -
met thought they initiated them. ‘
Inefficient and often corrupt as the police are, they
have built an enormous web of paid and volunteer in-
formers which misses little. According to the govern-
ment’s own admission, of the 37,000 people in jail, half !
are political prisoners, Careful Western investigators
put the number of political prisoners at 40,000. No one
but Franco and General Hierro, his Chief of Security, —
knows the exact number. A bystander gets occasional
glimpses into the workings of a police state. Word
is smuggled out of the Guadalajara Prison that
Eduardo Villegas, a forty-eight-year-old Socialist, is be-
ing fed forcibly, after a six-week hunger strike; he was
sentenced to thirty years’ imprisonment in 1947 for try-
ing to establish liaison between the Spanish Socialists
in France and the clandestine groups in Spain. Some days
ago the entire Spanish press carried a statement by the ©
police on the arrest of twenty-seven members of the
United Socialist Party of Catalonia. The statement was
a pained Falangist reaction to a protest filed with the
United Nations by the Socialist International. The ar-, —
rested men and women, it said, were not Socialists but —
Communists, and they had been publishing two under-
ground newspapers, Mundo Obrero and Trevall; it —
was “not expected” that they would be executed. :
Arrests are not the only way in which the Falangist -
state deals with dissidents. The “‘sanctions” which it im-
poses can make normal life all but impossible. In July the
newspapers front-paged Franco’s amnesty for railroad —
workers “sanctioned” in the fearful aftermath of the ©
civil war, who were now permitted to apply for
their old jobs. In October, “at the request of the syndi- —
cates,” Franco pardoned thousands who had been —
The NATION ©
underground. The civil war is not forgotten, It
Spain a million lives, and the physical damage still
yws naked and ugly at every turn. Most people feel
it Franco cannot be overthrown without a sharp fight.
at would mean another civil war, and they shy away
m the thought. Franco is an abomination, but chaos
id bloodshed are worse.
RH ZET the belief of liberals that Franco survives only
] through terror is a fallacy. No dictator can hold
0 yet solely by means of his secret police, Franco stays
“in power because, in addition to the police, he has
s stro ng institutional support, and he uses it adroitly.
gr far the most important of Franco’s props is the
; the army is the solid base of the Falangist state.
is threatened by no enemy, Franco has
en keeping 300,000 men under arms, It is a pathetic
e, ragged, badly equipped, and underpaid, but it has
Perea its purpose as a super-police body.
_ To make sure the army does not get any odd ideas,
1) Franco jealously weeds out all potential rivals. Such
| Motable figures as General Alfredo Kindelan and the
1) Nationalist war hero Aranda Mata have been purged.
Not all the generals are happy. I am told that before
ie st spring's strikes some of the more perceptive officers
| urged the Generalissimo to take steps to relieve popular
distress before it expressed itself in violence. On the
whole, however, the army is not socially conscious, and
“itis Franco's pet. The military have been getting a third
of the budget, apart from the sums allotted to the
colonial forces and the armed Secret Police. And it is a
“8 ute bet that.in his talks with Washington, Franco will
it above all, on funds and equipment for his army.
Hi le Knows where his power rests.
. _ Next to the army stands the church, which since the
Hdeteat of the Axis has come to play a commanding role
“ ; social and political life here. Franco himself is of
uurse deeply religious, but his present close affiliation
h the church is less piety than a shrewd political con-
Ramon Sufier,. Franco’s brother-in-law, and
“formerly his liaison with the Axis, has vanished from
‘the scene which he dominated for so long. His place next
a Franco's ear has now been taken by the Cardinal
Primate. A cleyer and able Catalan in his late sixties,
e Cardinal helps to mold El Caudillo’s mind and policy.
a even suggested that some of his most important
“Speeches were ghost-written by the Cardinal.
there are other links between the church and_ the
“rae state. Franco’s Foreign Minister, Alberto
_ Martin Artago—less famous for his diplomatic talents
_ than for his thirteen well-publicized children—is a
HOU PT
ers = 1952
ee an
:
a
former head of Accién Catolica and is still influential in
its affairs. The Bishop of Madrid is one of the thir-
teen members of the Falange’s Political Council. The
_ Bishop of Montonedo recently visited a Falangist youth
camp and delivered a speech extolling “the glorious
Spain made by Franco.” “The army bugle and the
church bells” he said, oo call the youth of
Spain.”
In the shift of paieea power which brought the
church to the fore the Falange has lost ground. This
has been more than an echo of totalitarian defeat. Like
the Kuomintang in its years of decay, the Falange has
grown fat with wealth, corrupt, and lethargic. The black
shirts are taken out only for the prescribed rallies; the
Fascist salute is frowned on officially; the old fervor is
gone.
But the Falange cannot be underestimated, It has
grown into the political body, and especially in the smaller
towns the Falange 7 the state. Franco himself is its
head. Its secretary
general sits in the
Cabinet—and until
the July shake-up
served concurrently as
Minister of Justice.
The new national
leader of the syndi-
cates was until this
fall 4 provincial gov-
ernor and a Falangist
chief. (American
labor leaders who are
said to be willing to ae Rae
accept the Franco re-
gime if it “liberal- ~
izes” the trade-union
movement should consider whether labor unions in a
Fascist-patterned, corporate state can be divorced from
the ruling party.)
Even more importantly, the Falange is the dictator's
main instrument of mass control, The Falange runs the
labor, youth, and women’s organizations. It dominates
the press, culture, and education, With its 700,000 mem-
bers, it forms a gigantic web of espionage into private
lives. Finally, it provides Franco with a para-
military force which he could use in case of domestic
trouble. El Caudillo is sensitive to criticism of the
Falange. The other week, in a typical aside, he noted
sharply that “the movement is not outworn, since it
represents the destiny of a whole generation.”
The man who speaks for Falangist “ideals,” if not for
the party, is one of Franco’s closest aides, Luis Carrero
Blanco, a captain in the navy. Still in his early forties,
Blanco has had a meteoric career. Since the July reshuffle,
which put him in the Cabinet, he has held the post of
37
Courtesy Washington Post
= ‘. , M4
~~ ee f
Minister of the Presidency, a sort of deputy Premier.
_ Two daily news programs which every Spanish radio
{station is required to carry frequently include a com-
| mentary by one Juan de la Cosa, the name of a famous
, navigator of the age of exploration, Under this pseudo-
nym Blanco extols El Caudillo as the savior of the West
from its own folly and communism, attacks the West
_ for its “blockade” of Spain, and praises the “high moral
ideals” of the Falangist state. It is widely believed that
Franco himself outlines some of his aide’s more im-
portant broadcasts.
. Among these three props of the Falangist state—
: the army, the church, and the Falange—not all is
| brotherly love. The army, for instance, regards the
___ Falange with no more affection than Hitler's Wehrmacht
-_ once showed toward the Storm Troopers, But the fric-
tion thus far has been pretty well concealed, and Franco
has skilfully kept the factions supporting him fairly well
balanced. Together, they form a strong foundation for
| the regime, for they represent Spain’s only mass organi-
zations, control all means of communication and suppres-
sion, and know what they want.
picion of the regime to hatred. The moneyed class
is divided. It is grateful to El Caudillo for saving it from
Marxism, but it worries about the Falange’s syndicalist
ideas, borrowed from Italian Fascism. “The ban on
strikes,” a factory-owner told me, “is a sound develop-
ment, but why can’t I fire my workers if I want to?” On
2
*
ay S FOR the le, their reactions range from sus-
ae peop g
5
‘ae, the whole, however, the rich are prosperous and content,
and in any leftist revolt would again flock to Franco's
Ps||(ae 2 banner.
bi . ie ' The middle class, caught in the grinder of inflation, is
i x largely anti-Franco. It ranges from bookkeepers, who
cannot make ends meet, to intellectuals, who not only
starve but also have to make their ideas acceptable to
‘some Falangist overseer. It is symbolic of the fate of the
intellectual in Franco's Spain that the chief censor,
_ Dario Fernandez Florez, who decides what is to be
_ published and what suppressed, is the author of a cur-
_ fent best-seller—the near-pornographic story of a
prostitute.
Industrial labor and the peasantry, ill-paid, under-
nourished, illiterate—the government admits one in four
) Spaniards cannot read or write—and unable to protest,
are bitterly hostile. It is possible that the accumulated
_ resentment expressed in the strikes of last spring might
_ have forced a change of government, or at least impor-
_ tant modifications, if at the critical point friendly Amer-
ican gestures had not saved Franco. I am inclined to
“doubt it, but it is a view widely held in Spain, and it has
te be taken seriously. As once in China, opinion here
links us with an unpopular regime.
The official propaganda line has changed a bit since
pe 38
ves
as
stb Te are still vigorou
Sint cas cans ee mother a |
the Spanish-speaking republics of Latin a rh ner
is still fairly open talk of a ‘Greater Spain,”
first moves in the direction of Gibraltar and nal ch
Morocco, both “stolen from Spain.” The Falange ven
proposed a “Day of Mourning” in August, to be o ob-
served annually until Gibraltar is regained. There are
sharp anti-British undertones in Captain Blanco’s ca m-
mentaries, reflecting, beyond doubt, Franco’s own belief:
that Britain is responsible for Spain's historical decline: ,
But this attitude is being modified, and the anti-American
propaganda, for the moment at least, has beer
suspended. 4
The new line seeks to persuade the Spanish people—
and perhaps the foreign embassies here—that we
events justify Franco's policies and that the West a eds
Franco's help in its hour of danger. Thus the newspaper -
Madrid, in an editorial circulated, for emphasis, by ¢
Foreign Ministry, said:
Although it is true that from a military standpoint
the Pyrenees are formidable, what Spain is really en-
vied is its moral worth. This moral worth, and Spain's
proved anti-communism, gives the Pyreneean summits
their real importance. The contrast between the Spanish
people, armed with their perfect morale, and other —
countries, whose morale is shaky and tainted with com-
munism, forces the Tyrians and Trojans to acknowledge
that Europe's real bulwark, its best guaranty of resist-
ance, its decisive chance of victory over communism, its
garrison of good soldiers, its natural bridgehead for
America, is Spain and only Spain.
‘
This, of course, is nonsense. Franco needs the West
far more than it needs him. Neither he nor anyone ¢
can be certain what the impoverished and restless Spanish
workers and peasants would do in a crisis. But the new
propaganda line changes El Caudillo from a supplicant
for American help into a powerful figure to whom the |
free world must turn for aid.
I do not know how people here will react to this line.
In general, they are too occupied with the dreary oe
ness of keeping alive to pay much attention to Fa
editorials. A few have told me hopefully that * + pethapal
American aid will mean more bread.” A few hope that
if any aid is granted, “you'll make sure that it doesn’t
stick to the hands of the gang in Madrid.” But I eae
heard one remark I shall not forget. With a Spanish,
friend I was attending a Falangist rally at a a
ranean port. There were the usual black shirts and i
voluntary crowds, the usual tributes to Spain’s glory, ite!
usual cheers for Franco (‘Franco Si, Comunismo.
Novy and the usual gibes at the decaying West.
“This,” said my friend, ‘is what you Americans are
backing here. And so many of us have thought ye u
friends!” a
Th é Nic bs aM
ISTRESSED as it is by the odor of
so many deceased and dying jour-
British periodical publishing today
rdly be expected to show an air
yptimism. Since the end of last year
than twenty-three journals have
_ publication or merged with
or appear Jess frequently than
. They represented an extraordi-
y S discrsiy of opinion and interest,
t most of them were highly special-
od small-scale weeklies of not very
at significance to the community at
2 ; several catered to, shall we say,
oteric tastes—Pigeon Racing News,
mateur Sport, Childhood and Youth.
real rub is this: in its more bitter
Britain’s ‘economic struggle
s to penalize the “'serious’’ maga-
literary, cultural, and sometimes
more effectively than others.
sr the last few years literary journals
like Horizon and New Writing have
Pen away, while great populars
| fie Illustrated appear at first sight
.
a
.
“ne:
In point of fact, popular magazines
fe not unaffected. Some survive and
ourish only with a radical change of
icy, some have been forced to vul-
their appeal, and a few are now
eavily disguised that no one would
st their origins. Too frequently, in
p present economic mold, whenever
ble threatens and circulations waver,
bt
udatds are lowered and sometimes
iscarded. But the majority of popular
pers do survive while Horizon and
lew Writing sicken and die.
Ahe trouble begins once again with
of paper—though of course the
¢ profound question of whether
ext d rearming for peace can sustain
life intact underlies every-
eabese are many types of paper,
print to art paper, and thé
mt varies from 100 to 160 per
but the difficulties are due as
’ h fo advertising fluctuations as to
cost. Many trade, technical, and
January 12, 1952
-culturz
BOOKS and the ARTS
By VINCENT BROME
even scholarly periodicals have found
that rearmament and the shortage of
raw materials seriously inhibit advertis-
ing—nobody wants to advertise the
greater havoc wrought by his particular
brand of shell or the explosive range
of his torpedo in the Times Literary
Supplement or the Cornhill, Some mag-
azines have lost one-third of their rev-
enue as a result. Soaring costs and
falling advertising together call for
fierce economies if publication is to be
continued.
But post-mortems on defunct, dying,
or indisposed journals cannot stop here.
A third and equally significant factor
has to be taken into account. Before the
war there were flocks of magazines in
Britain publishing short stories and
articles, from the Strand Magazine and
the Windsor to the Grand Magazine
and Twenty Story, All these have gone.
The death struggles of the Strand were
long drawn out, Different editors
changed its policy and character, ad-
justed its format, introduced more intri-
cate display and layout, and in the long
run accepted diminution to pocket size,
but none of these elaborate twists and
turns saved it from extinction. The
wholesale collapse of magazines like the
Strand began long before the current
economic difficulties arose and reveal
the third influence in the general de-
cline. One of the stock fallacies sus-
taining the confidence of many publish-
ers over the years has been the belief
that a magazine “of character,” present-
ing a strongly defined attitude to life
and integrated by a creative idea, can
preserve its prosperity indefinitely. Pub-
lishers resist the notion that the par-
ticular character of a magazine may be
“worked out.” They insist that timely
injections of modernization, to recon-
cile the paper with a change in current
attitudes, will continuously renew its
life. Hence the prolonged attempts to
stem falling circulation by every device
from vulgarization to gift schemes, and
PERIODICAL FAMINE
the monotonous consistency with which
«they fail.
Some element of atrophy must be
admitted in any post-mortem on more
recent magazines. The philosophies for
which they stood have crumbled away;
their personality has suffered hardening
of the arteries. But whereas in the
1930's this was the dominant explana-
tion of decay, today the cause is at least
as much economic.
Some highly revered monthlies show
this ambivalence very clearly. Scientific
materialism has overrun their Old
World outlook, and the reluctant at-
tempt to compremise cannot be carried
too far without destroying the original
identity of the magazine, Compromise
might have sufficed without the fierce
rise in costs, but sheer economics force
some of them, like the Cornhill, to meet
the situation by appearing quarterly in-
stead of monthly. (The rumor that the
Cornhill is about to close down is
false.)
In contrast, the story of the women’s
magazines remains phenomenal. Woman
is said to sell two million copies weekly,
and its rival, Woman's Own, presses
close on its heels. The production and
sale of popular fiction, female advice,
romance, and mysterious substitutes for
the harsh realities of living continue to
flourish, and in some cases make mat-
ters worse for the more “significant”
magazines,
Not that they have any direct effect
on periodicals like New Writing. The
troubles of the literary periodical in
Britain today are epitomized in the de-
cline and death of New Writing. At its
peak, during the war, this magazine was
selling 80,000 copies. Torn out of their
normal environment, beset by ultimate
realities, people then faced up to a
deeper consciousness which was to some
extent satisfied and was certainly made
atticulate by New Writing. Thrown
back upon their own resources, they
found the mind not only a refuge, as
39
l
i
John Lehmann puts it, but a fortifying
influence, and they eagerly absorbed
what one group regarded as their cul-
tural “medicine” and another as pro-
found reading. Today the pressures
have relaxed, preoccupation with every-
day things has overlaid deeper aware-
ness, and the audience in consequence
has dwindled. Before it ceased: publica-
tion New Writing had fallen to 20,000
or 30,000 copies. But it was not only a
matter of numbers. The rise in produc-
tion costs and the increased selling price
played a big part; it is possible that
without the fierce upsurge of costs the
magazine would have survived, for
John Lehmann, its editor, had many
ideas for renewing its life. Indeed, he
still has.
But much of this happened before
the weight of British rearmament be-
came a serious threat. Today, rearma-
ment may inhibit still more the free ex-
change of ideas, information, and opin-
ion in some sections of the periodical
press, although most of the old-estab-
lished weeklics have the situation in
hand.
The New Statesman—dare I mention
it?—has compromised by increasing its
price from sixpence to ninepence, but
the Tribune—does the name mean any-
thing ?—has a literary editor who bit-
terly complains that lack of space has
become a Procrustean bed. The Specta-
tor has so far done nothing more drastic
than increase its selling price by one
penny, and the Economist appears to
thrive. Some monthlies are in far
worse shape. Wholesale increases in
selling prices and advertising rates are
one widely accepted solution, but they
bring the danger of a proportional fall
in advertising. Some weeklies now ap-
pear fortnightly, fortnightlies appear
monthly, and quarterlies—completing
the logic—sometimes fail to appear at
all.
It may sound metaphysical to suggest
that rearmament will be that much less
effective if our periodicals become more
inhibited, but critical analysis of ideas
and current events has an indisputable
part to play, and endless subtleties of
the democratic principle are involved.
International democracy does seem to
some British writers and editors a rather
ptimitive affair when the most wealthy
and powerful member of the United
Nations proliferates magazines of every
40
ne —
a a =
kind from the glossy giant
learned journal while Britain is forced
back on papers so insubstantial in some
cases as to be almost incapable of self-
support. The whole of a British Sunday
newspaper runs to eight to ten pages,
perhaps as Jarge as one supplement of
the New York Times; Picture Post has
60 pages against Life’s 140; Partisan
Review survives, Horizon has gone. We
have no equivalent of the Saturday
Evening Post, Collier's, or Look. Com-
paratively, the British scene is desolate.
eo a
.
[This is the second of two articles on
publishing in Great Britain. The first,
dealing with book publishing, appeared
in the issue of December 1.}
Colette in America
SHORT NOVELS OF COLETTE.
With an Introduction by Glenway
Westcott. Dial Press. $5.
HIS reprint of six short novels of
Colette is a joy, though the selec-
tion might have been better and the
translations—'Chéri,”’ beautifully done
by Janet Flanner excepted—are some-
times rather feeble English. Yet the
choice, considering that Colette has been
writing for more than fifty years, is
representative, ranging from the giddy
and pleasantly school-girlish “The In-
dulgent Husband” (1902) through
“Chéri” (1920), “The Last of Chéri”
(1926), and the incomparable “The
Other One’ (1929), with “The Cat”
(1933) and “Duo” (1934) as pendant
attractions. The total effect is impressive.
In addition, Glenway Westcott has pro-
vided a long and informative though
somewhat rhapsodical introduction,
Reading and rereading Colette is an
amusing and exciting experience. Even
without Mr. Westcott’s assertion that
“she is the greatest living French fiction
writer,” one becomes aware of gifts
enormous in their range though care-
fully limited in their application. She
never attempts more than she can well
manage; she knows always exactly what
she can do; she is profound, but she
never tries for profundity. She is enor-
mously skilful. In the earliest of these
tales, “The Indulgent Husband,” a situ-
ation which might easily have degen-
erated into a sordid triangle or a
wretched farce becomes an occasion for
wit, high spirits, and, at the last, deep
emotion. The Chéri sequence is more
) es
the
of the brief and sad career of a monied
gigolo, a young man incapable of real
feeling or of real expression who is at
once civilized, so far as he ever becomes
a human being, and ruined by an éelder-
ly courtesan. For when he marries—
Colette’s moral insight is infallible—it
is he and not his temporarily broken-
hearted mistress who suffers disaster. _
“The Other One” is the best story in
the collection, quiet, almost uneventful,’
with, as a background, all the eventful-
ness of a successful play going into pro-
duction. Here again there is a triangle,
this time husband, wife, and secretary,
which is brought to a certain resolution
when the wife realizes that her relation-
ship, woman to woman, with the secre-
tary is as necessary as the loving com-
plaisance she has expended on her
spoiled husband. “Duo” and “The Cat”
are only less good because the experi-
ences they re-create are more limited. ,—
All, with the possible exception of “The
Indulgent Husband,” have a wonderful
variety in their unity, which goes, by way
of “Adolphe’’ and “La Princesse de
Cléves,”’ back to Marie de France so far
as French fiction is concerned. Histori-
cally Colette is in the grand French
tradition.
About her art in general, however,
there are three further comments to be
made, and the two last cause me to
wonder somewhat at her popularity
here and in England. Everywhere in her
writing are passages which reveal her
joy in nature, whether she is observing |
the weather or describing the various
beauties of cats, country landscapes, or
the tamed foliage of Parts streets. Some-
times her scenery becomes a symbol, as
when the aging Léa, whom Chéri has
deserted for a suitable marriage, ob-
serves the dying beauties of his mother’s
garden. Most frequently, however, na-
ture is an enchanting phenomenon to
be carefully observed and fully enjoyed.
So far, given our school-day training
in the nature poetry of the nineteenth -
century, so good. But other matters can’
make us uneasy. Even if she makes fun —
of it, the world of every one of these
tales is bourgeois. Ms mores are rigid.
Respectability and order, founded on a
solid cash basis, triumph over love. The
retired courtesans in the Chéri sequence
ape the bourgeois life, and, after much 9
hard work, achieve # for themselves a
The Nation —
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romantic love, in our good
and in our disinterestedness, this
de can be shocking. It is Colette’s
ph that we never fall out of sym-
with even her most unpleasant
* | ‘characters.
| re likely to be disturbing to the
"Waverage reader is the fact that love and
Withe arts of love, although they must
) | Walways give way to other considerations,
_ | ate so important. In America or in Eng-
nd the kind of plot Colette uses re-
Its in the lowest fiction, because, in
America and in England—Jane Austen
and Henry James are exceptions—love
S| never been taken entirely seriously
“matter for fiction. Nor, except for
awrence, has sensual love. In one of
lese novels a woman recognizes in her
isband’s conduct and appearance “‘the
grace” that bathes him all over
fter love-making; in “The Last of
héri’’ Léa loses her lover because, one
lorning, she is careless enough to let
lim see her double chin, her ruined
oat. The fault is hers, quite as much
Was the bourgeois code which restores
"Chéri to his girl wife. His disgust may
Wibe heartless and ungentlemanly; it is
} Walso an actuality. For if love and love-
Mmaking must give way to marriages of
| convenience, they are still the central
| facts of life and must be taken seriously.
They are more important than simple
sexuality, of which there is very little in
ese stories. The average reader, then,
ust adjust to-values alien to those he
j likely to have come on in American
' English fiction, where sex is em-
loyed regularly to make best-sellers
tillating or, more honestly, reduced to
Ornography. Not even “Sons and
; | Lovers” and “Women in Love” have
lade it artistically respectable.
; ERNEST JONES
3ssc y on American Fear
"HE FEAR OF FREEDOM. By Francis
Biddle, Doubleday and Company.
$3.50.
OW far American fear of Russian
& communism has gone in destroy-
American liberties is thought-
lly set forth in this book by our for-
mer Attorney General, who was in a
gsition to observe the beginning of the
focess at first hand and who has
ud ied it carefully since he left office.
i I lll al
. | January 12, 1952
Reis
”
His main theses are that fear is neces-
sarily incompatible with freedom and
that the pursuit of “loyalty” leads to
the grave of conformity rather than to
the promised land of security. Al-
though he exhibits well-tempered scorn
for the careless political fanatics, such
as McCarthy and McCarran, who would
turn everyone into their own images,
Mr. Biddle blames in some measure the
public, which, he says, demands repres-
sions out of fear of an imagined peril.
I would have thought the word “ac-
cepts” better than “demands,” but the
results are just as tragic in either case.
Mr, Biddle points out that the obses-
sive fear of communism has led to the
rise of hysteria not only among the or-
dinary run of bigots, who have been
with us throughout our history, but
among college professors, lawyers, and,
with some notable exceptions, public
officials. Scientists have shown more re-
sistance than lawyers, whose fear of the
threat of communism exceeds their con-
cern for the preservation of liberty—
and even law, It is thirty-one years since
Charles Evans Hughes actively pro-
tested the ousting of five Socialists from
the New York State Assembly. No one
of his stature in the law has dared to
protest effectively the deprivations of
liberty which are becoming an every-
week occurrence in our trembling land,
One of the many lessons Mr. Biddle
points is the frequency with which
we abandon liberties for all when some
of us get scared. He gives useful ac-
counts of the red scare following World
War I. He goes to England for a paral-
lel, where fear of the spread of the
French Revolution led the governing
and owning classes to act with even
greater physical cruelty against noncon-
formists than we have done so far out of
fear of communism. In the years imme-
diately after World War I, Mr. Biddle
points out, “tendency” became a test of
criminality, and it has become so again
today. On February 19, 1880, during
another period of fear, this time in
France, Flaubert wrote to Maupassant,
who was being accused in a public trial
of indecency: “With the theory of
tendencies, you can execute a sheep for
dreaming of meat.” Fish, Dies, Thomas,
Wood, McCarthy, and McCarran have
been doing just that for too many years,
and they have had the support of the
worst elements in both political parties.
BASIC BEACON STUDIES
ON CHURCH-STATE ISSUE
AMERICAN FREEDOM AND
CATHOLIC POWER
By Paul Blanshard $3.50
Sixteen printings; 200,000 coples
Selected as one of the “50 outstanding books
of the year” by the Division of Public Libra-
ries of the American Library Association,
John Dewey, dean of American philosophers:
“Mr. Blanshard has done a difficult and neo-
essary piece of work with exemplary scholar-
ship, good judgment and tact.”
AMERICAN TRADITION IN
RELIGION AND EDUCATION
By R. Freeman Butts $3
Sdlected as one of the “50 outstanding reli-
gious books of the year’ by the Religious
Books Roundtable of the American Library
Association,
N. Y. Times Book Review: “A fully docu-
mented survey of the relations between
church, state, and school from colonial times
to the present.”
ATTACK UPON THE AMERICAN
SECULAR SCHOOL
By V. T. Thayer $3
Agnes BE. Meyer in The Washington Post:
“If any book can Introduce a note of calm
and rational consideration into our heated
religious controversies, it Is Dr. V. T. Thays
er’s scholarly defense of the American secu-
lar school. .., Dr, Thayer makes it olear that
secularism is not and never has been hostile
to religion, nor is it a substitute for religion.
... The secular world thus makes for genuine
toleration between antagonistic religious de-
nominations and helps them to live together
peaceably in the common body politic, ,,.”
COMMUNISM, DEMOCRACY,
AND CATHOLIC POWER
By Paul Blanshard $3.50
Five printings ; 75,000 copies,
Newsweek: “ ‘Communism, Democracy,
and Catholic Power’ is a study of authort-
tarlan thought and practice as exemplified by
the Communists and the political side of the
church.... Blanshard, of course, recognizes
that there is a difference In kind between the
two organizations, and while his purpose is
plainly provocative, it does not seem basically
unfriendly to Catholiciam, ... He also believes
that habitual, uncritical acceptance of supe-
rior authority leaves its followers unprepared
to meet modern Communism,”
CORNERSTONES OF RELIGIOUS
FREEDOM IN AMERICA
Edited by Joseph L. Blau $3
Selected as one of the “50 outstanding reli-
gious books of the year” by the Religious
Books Roundtable of the American Library
Aasociation, ‘
N. Y. Timea Book Review: “We should be
grateful to Dr. Blau that he has not only
given us the benefit of an analysis from his
presuppositions, but has supplied basic ma-
terials for us of those with somewhat differ-
ent presuppositions. No one should freeze his
thinking on this vital question without read-
ing this book.”
WALL OF SEPARATION
BETWEEN CHURCH AND STATE
By Conrad Moehlman $3
The New Leader: *‘This volume Is a valuable
addition to public understanding of the prob-
lem....He has marshalled his evidence to
leave no doubt of the intent of the American
people to want church and state separated
completely in a constitutional and legal
sense,”
At all booksellers
41
———
|
i
‘Mr. Biddle has had access to hearings
before loyalty boards, and if the results
were not so tragic, some of the ques-
tions he cites would be ludicrous enough
to blow up in a burst of laughter stimu-
Jated by common sense the whole ap-
patatus of fear and oppression under
which we live. Again, if our press were
not also afraid, satire might regain us
our liberties. Mr. Biddle rather neglects
the negative role of the press; he like-
wise neglects the positive role of the
Roman Catholic church jn the spread
of hysteria that has led to so much loss
of freedom. He does point out how
Roman Catholics themselves suffered in
earlier periods of our history from an
unreasonable fear of rule by the Pope.
The Alien and Sedition Laws were
passed out of fear of the effects of the
French Revolution; our fear of Bol-
shevism kept the rigorous Espionage
Act of 1917 in force Jong after it had
served its purpose as a weapon against
Germany; the McCarran act of 1950 is
our latest legislative expression of hys-
teria.
Freedom, Mr. Biddle points out, re-
quires maturity. Perhaps the American
people are still suffering from growing
pains—or is it that, worse still, they are
suffering from hardening of the ar-
teries? The enthronement of “guilt by
association” —which Mr. Biddle de-
scribes in detail—not only as govern-
ment policy but almost as a principle of
law seems to indicate that we are at best
in second childhood.
In his account of the loyalty program
in operation Mr. Biddle gives instances
to illustrate that the inquisitors are
more interested in remaking the investi-
gated in their own image than in intel-
ligent inquiry. One member asked a
victim whether he thought it was right
to mix white and colored blood plasma
and whether whites and Negroes should
intermarry; another wanted to know
whether the victim had read any bad
books lately, such as Howard Fast’s
novels—the man admitted fearfully
that he had once read articles in the
New York Times on Karl Marx. It be-
comes clearer and clearer as one reads
“The Fear of Freedom’ that Commu-
nists are not the target but liberals, New
Dealers, and Socialists, all of whom
the Communists despise. And the effort
is not to produce loyalty but conform-
ity. It is also clear that the $21,500,000
42
Sa =
< =
=i = eM Ms
~
spent on loyalty laytatigntishe from
1948 to 1950—and this figure covers
only the direct cost—has not revealed
one actual case of espionage or evi-
dence, Mr. Biddle writes, pointing to
espionage.
Mr. Biddle's suggested remedies for
the current hysteria are that inquiries
should be concerned with a man’s be-
havior rather than his beliefs; that we
should cease using “loyalty,” a mis-
nomer for conformity, as a yardstick for
security; that we should stop choking
our own progress by secrecy; and that
we should have faith in ourselves. He
contends that the remedy for espionage
is counter-espionage and investigation by
qualified federal, not state or municipal,
agents, and that competition for pub-
licity by politicians, misnamed states-
men, produces inquisition, not security.
Courage to combat those in both parties
who are now doing their utmost for
personal political advantage to debauch
our fundamental liberties is another
requisite, Otherwise we are in danger
of losing what freedom we still have,
for giving in to bigots, like giving in to
blackmailers, inevitably makes them all
the more greedy and bold.
M, R. WERNER
Freud or Zilboorg?
SIGMUND FREUD: HIS INTER-
PRETATION OF THE MIND OF
MAN. By Gregory Zilboorg. Charles
Scribner's Sons. $2.
O AUTHOR in the Twentieth Cen-
tury Library, which aims to give
the intelligent layman a basic under-
standing of the thinkers of the last
hundred years, has a harder task than
Dr. Zilboorg. Each of these authors is
faced with problems of translation. Un-
derstanding of Einstein or of Henri
Poincaré demands translation of mathe-
matical symbols into words. In the case
of Karl Marx and of Freud the transla-
tion of technical concepts into everyday
speech is complicated by the polemic,
half-understanding, - misunderstanding,
and emotional distortion which surround
their names. With Freud there is the
additional difficulty that many of his
terms have now become part of the lan-
guage, so that there is constant need to
differentiate their technical from their
colloquial meanings.
Dr. Zilboorg.is well qualified to give
Lopman f cosslly Sean oe Se ni giv
an emotionally colored rather than |
scientific appraisal of his material, an
he makes constant use of imprecise
guage. Freud's stature derives from th
originality of his thought, his close ob
servation of clinical data, and his us
of these observations to correct and en
large his theories. These qualities do ne
emerge in this book. It gives neithe
a clear exposition of Freud's major con
cepts nor a chronological account of th
development of his thinking. Instead i
consists of somewhat random discu:
sions of various things connected with
Freud and of people in some way
sociated with him.
The emphasis on the lack of appre
ciation of Freud and on society's un
readiness to accept his thinking gives
the book an oddly dated quality; battle:
of half a century ago are fought pas-
sionately as if they were current. On the?
other hand, there is almost no treatmen
of actual current attempts to modify a
extend Freud's theories in the context
of historical and comparative cultu
studies.
To a reader who attempted to form a’
conception of Freud solely on the basis
of this book Freud would appear, I
think, primarily as a man’in great need
of defense, to whom detractors co
stantly “do an injustice,” of whom it is
necessary insistently to point out things
that “do him credit,” or are “to his
honor,” who must be defended a:
human in his “quasi-Olympian aus-
terity.” In the midst of almost any
discussion on any particular subject. Dr.
Zilboorg breaks off to champion Freud
yet again against charges of a
sexualism,” “narcissistic pride,” ‘and “ac
tual misrepresentation. Freud had ‘
group of “loyal and arduous disciples”
who were also under attack, and these
are singled out for praise by Dr. Zil-
boorg if they “understand and oppose
. most of the opponents of Freud.’
There would seem to be only two kinds
of people in the Freudian world, “anti-
sexualist opponents of Freud” and “pro-
Freudian partisans. ” Dr. Zilboorg’s facts ©
are presented in terms of moral judg-
ments: he does not say that Janet dif-
fered from Freud but that he had an
“inability” to accept Freud’s version of
the facts; Galton was “unable” to ad mit
The Natt ON
»
appears, further, as a person
believed that there is no freedom
Ou ‘e “free functioning of reason,”
who thought that problems con-
ed with the conscious, reasoning
d require “no special hypothesis”
ate “obvious” and “easily dealt
Fe judgment which itself does
do justice to the rigorous quality
treud’s thinking. The reader would
uer that somewhere along the way
ud talked about the unconscious, id,
jper-ego, narcissism, and sex “in
Freudian sense,’ but these
ms are usually introduced casually
h little or no explanation of the
taning Freud gave to them, apparently
the assumption that the reader either
aderstands what they mean or that this
; not the place for him to acquire that
aderstanding. In some parts of the
ok there is oversimplification to the
t of inaccuracy apparent to anyone
pha read carefully Freud's “Collected
pers oe even “The Interpretation of
* and “The Three Contribu-
ons to the Theory of Sex.” In others
there i is detailed discussion of engage-
nts _ in the wars among various
reudian sects which can be of interest
ee who have intimate knowl-
ge of these orthodoxies and heresies.
e picture of Freud that Dr. Zil-
& presents to the layman is prob-
d to his view of the intel-
it layman. It would appear that the
yman to Dr. Zilboorg is a person who,
pls ce of any attempt at scientific pre-
n, prefers such vague terms as “'well-
gh Se iactical ” “almost with anxiety,”
ne would almost say,” ‘“‘more often
an not,” “major ingredients,” “simple
id self-evident.” This layman for
gm Dr. Zilboorg writes does not
ad being put off with vague generali-
ions: “clinically and sociologically
aking, this theoretical basis of Freud
/ not matter”; “we had never known
e whole dark continent that is man}
il Freud offered us a glance at him’;
er mind the reasons.”
re are stimulating passages in
book, such as the discussions of
in anc of Freud’s view that there
_ icreconcilable conflict _ be-
wary 12, 1952
i Revi "
YIOdad
re ms’
Be
d “It is this intuition [the ebb and flow
of affect} that Freud brought from ob-
scurity and scientific disrepute, . . . and
he tried to make a scientific tool of it.”
The seven chapters have no titles, and
it is not clear how most of the chapters
could appropriately be differentiated by
title. The layman reading a book of 132
pages on Freud is assumed to be more
interested in polemics about Freud and
in long quotations from Catholic jour-
nals on the relations of Catholicism to
psychoanalysis than in Freud’s thought.
Freud’s last work, “An Outline of
Psychoanalysis,” is a book of 127 pages.
This, too, is a difficult book for the lay-
man. But it is written seriously, in
Freud's remarkably lucid style, and its
difficulties arise not from confusion but
from the complexity inherent in the
problems dealt with. With this compact
volume available, in addition to Freud's
“Autobiography” and his other earlier
work, it is hard to avoid the question:
Why Zilboorg?
HELEN M. LYND
_ Books 1 in Brief
THE SE SERPENT-WREATHED ST AFF.
By Alice Tisdale Hobart, Bobbs-Mer-
rill. $3.50. The problem of making
available to all Americans the benefits
of modern medical science is here seen
principally through the eyes of two
brothers—the older a highly skilled but
reactionary surgeon, the younger a cru-
sading orthopedist pioneering in group
and preventive medicine, Despite the
primitive simplicity of the characters,
and a prose style which can only be de-
scribed as abominable (p. 318: “Jo
thought, Sally is becoming more mother
than wife’; p. 364: “He was worried.
Sally had become more child than
wife’’), the rare sincerity and honesty
of purpose of the author of “Oil for
the Lamps of China” shine through
every page of her long novel.
ROSS AND THE NEW YORKER.
By Dale Kramer. Doubleday. $3.75.
A once-over-lightly of the best-edited
magazine in America. All the familiar
legends and anecdotes are included—
everything but an understanding of the
elusive personality of the genius who
made it what it is.
The indispensable —
background book for the
present situation
Church ano State
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By ANSON PHELPS
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“The total combination of the sub-
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this one of the most vital sets of
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—PAUL BLANSHARD
“Nothing like it has been under-
taken beore; nothing like it will
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—HENRY STEELE COMMAGER
Three books totalling 3000 pages.
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ee ee
_ posium resumes.
JOSEPH
} yy, Ma WooD
a KRUTCH
UROPEAN visitors have been
known to complain that we Ameri-
cans do not spend enough time talking
about love. In my country, they some-
times explain happily, a mixed company
will often spend a whole evening dis-
cussing only one fine point in the cas-
uistry of that infinite subject. At such a
symposium Jean Anouilh must be a star
performer who can talk all fellow
aficionados under the table before he
even reaches the ultimate subtleties. But
as a playwright for American audiences
he is much better when, as in “An-
tigone,”’ he does not really let himself
go, and I cannot predict much success
for “Legend for Lovers” now at the
Plymouth Theater. It is always possible,
of course, to blame everything on a
mistake in the translation, and it may
possibly be that this adaptation by Kitty
Black is worse than the original. But it
is difficult to imagine how this original
could have been good.
Called ‘‘Eurydice” in the French, it is
a version of the ancient story so in-
genious that any residual resemblance is
difficult to detect, and the moral seems
to be that since love is sure to turn out
less well than young lovers hope,
Eurydices are fortunate when they get
themselves killed in a bus accident and
Orpheuses are wise to commit suicide
without waiting for wild women, Greek
or otherwise, to tear them to pieces. In
Anouilh’s version the scene is moved
from Greece to a provincial railroad sta-
tion in France. A minor actress happens
to look into the eyes of a street musician
and after a brief philosophical conversa-
tion they rush off to bed in a Marseilles
hotel. As soon as things there have
quieted down sufficiently to permit the
curtain to be raised again the sym-
Eurydice trembles to
think how easy it would have been for
them never to have met. Orpheus hopes
that she will love him always and that
she has not loved too many other fel-
lows before. But since, through no fault
of her own, she has been about quite a
bit she decides that she had better run
away and in so doing she catches her
bus—in a sense she had not intended.
44
BP eereseg eo Te
A eer |
Then a mysterious File o has
been hovering expectantly in the back-
ground explains to Orpheus that things
would never have been the same again,
that, as a matter of fact, things never
are what one had expected them to be,
and that, in general, anyone who has
ever spent one perfect night in a Mar-
seilles hotel had best call it quits. Death
is kind. Indeed, even dying would not
be bad if it were not for the struggle
which life perversely puts up. Orpheus
then accepts this logic, and the final
tableau shows him and his Eurydice
reunited in some future whose reality
or lack of reality is in no way defined.
All this solemn nonsense is very care-
fully staged, and in some sense it is well
acted. Dorothy McGuire seems to be-
lieve in what she is doing, and Richard
Burton, as the young lover, at least acts
with that combination of nobility and
pettishness which is the traditional for-
mula for making a romantic hero. In
fact, there is one part, that of the young
man's aging father whose unsuccessful
efforts to make a conquest of the bar
maid are intended to show what hap-
pens to great lovers who live too long,
which Hugh Griffith acts superbly well
in every sense, thus contributing the
only moments of reality in the whole
play. But no acting could possibly save
a work which is neither consistent in it-
self nor recognizable as a representation
of an audience's experience.
Some say that the proposition “Re-
solved that life is not worth living”
does not state a debatable question. Per-
haps they are wrong. But in all serious-
ness I must say that I have never heard
the case for the affirmative less convinc-
ingly argued and that only those really
convinced for other reasons could ever
find “Legend for Lovers” persuasive.
When I was young we used to be told
that one of the great differences be-
tween civilized Europe and Puritan
America was simply that here we did
not know how to take light loves lightly.
We were put through an intensive
course in importations from Vienna,
Budapest, and Paris, from which we
were bid learn that the end of the
world does not necessarily come if two
young people fall into bed together or
even if it is discovered that members of
the female sex have more than once
been the victims of this pleasant acci-
dent. But did any Puritan ever have a
eebhar ae
Va 4 ay oe ;
young man in this play, adds n)
Puritan ever argue, as M. Anouilh h
does, that if casual encounters in rai il.)
way stations do not usually turn into
beatific visions then life is obviously not
worth living? Yet it is something very
much like that which he seems to main-
tain with utter seriousness. No doubt
a death wish can be the occasion of i m-
pressive works. But it needs to be @
great deal better rationalized than it is
in this merely sickly play. 4
The Other “Cleopatra”
BY MARGARET MARSHALL
ONTEMPORARY audiences are
conditioned to accept, much less
respect, the love which Shakespeare;
celebrates in “Antony and Cleopatra’’—
the passionate love of a man and woman’
who are mature and at the full but no
longer young and therefore jealous of
time. Small wonder, since contemporary
audiences are fed on the puerile, the |
“pure” and prurient, romance of the
films, fed also on the cruder “Freudian”
clichés about sex, and beset by the public
convention—the private conviction may —
be different—that there is something a—
little ridiculous about passion in middle
age. All the more reason why a produc- —
tion of “Antony and Cleopatra” should
be pitched on a level of taste and tact
which allows for gaiety but not for
farce, for the communication of sensu-
al delight but not of mere “sexy” titil-
lation. And the appropriate tone, I
learned on seeing the Olivier produc-
tion, must be set in the very first scenes
if the last scenes are to have their a
tragic import.
The first scene of the Olivier prod
tion (Ziegfeld Theater) owes more
to Hollywood than to Shakespeare, not
only in its attributes as spectacle, which
is well enough, but also in the first
sight it gives us of Antony and Cleo- —
patra. Instead of entering “with their
trains” in the full dignity of a queen
and a conqueror, they are carried in on
a litter and they are so disposed and so
comport themselves as to invite the tit-
ters that were immediately forthcoming.
In the second scene, in Cleopatra’s pri-
vate apartment, farce is added to titilla-
tion. The eunuch Mardian is cast and
made up to be funny; so, even, is the
queen’s adviser, Alexas. In this context
The NATION
>, But what is far worse, the
of Egypt is instantly made ridicu-
$ in our eyes.
; handling is not only cheap but,
natic terms, incredibly stupid.
y tension of the play rises
the conflict between two views of
ubsumed in the conflict between
Band Egypt. The reader is pulled
coward one and then the other,
J in the end the choice between them
omes for him, as for Enobarbus, a
pic choice. But here we are instructed
he outset to take, as it were, the
nan view of Egypt. As a result the
be rim
action begins. It follows that parts of
play are rendered all but meaning-
s; and I think the utter wrongness of
opening scenes is best indicated
“the fact that the crucial role of
Obarbus, the sensible man whose rea-
des him to choose Caesar and
om bind who then dies of grief and
morse for having deserted Antony and
3gypt, has so little significance or rele-
that it scarcely matters that he is
y cast—though it is hard to take
inept reading of ‘Age cannot wither,
custom stale... .”
Needless to say, the belittling of
ypt reduces the stature of Cleopatra
y ell, so that the love between her
a? inevitably takes on the pro-
of a private affair, not an af-
f state involving the highest poli-
s. F And Vivien Leigh cannot overcome
s hazard. She has not the presence
queen; she is more girl than
yman: she is very pretty but not volup-
mus. She reads very well and her voice
suff ciently rich, but it has little
ety, and its overriding, finally
sound often tends to
b rather than display the extremes
mood of a woman in love or the
in tone between the woman
3 ene
s for Mr. Olivier, his performance
f # suggests in spite of the lines that
e it clear, that the capacity for love
sy much an aspect of Antony's great-
as the capacity for world con-
. His passion for Cleopatra is
y 12, 1952
Ba age
a onous
incti ons
Aid
ic conflict is renounced even before
Olivier's reading and his overacting
more than a hint of the old lecher, which
is unforgivable. The audience loved it.
In the latter part of the play the act-
ing of both, and particularly that of
Miss Leigh, is much more in keeping
with the spirit of the original; but the
damage has been done, and though the
final scenes are moving they are closer
to pathos than to tragedy.
Robert Helpmann as Caesar and as
symbol of the cold pursuit of power is
pictorially effective—his head and face
are made up to resemble the visage on a
Roman coin—and he acts the part fairly
well, though he gives the impression
less of the strong man who has subdued
the softer emotions to his will to power
than of the robot who has never had
to contend with them, Lepidus, the
elder statesman, is well handled; the
characterization of Pompey as an in-
effectual and genial fool is another
gaffe. But I must desist.
The pace of the production is fast,
and the revolving set is employed to
generate excitement as well as to ac-
complish quick changes of scene. To
people who do not know the play the
Olivier interpretation will probably
seem “wonderful” if only because it
does make so many concessions to cur-
rent conventions. To me it seemed a
sorry mishandling of a great play.
The NATION
[[] with Harper’s Magazine .
The NATION
[_] with Consumer Reports .
B,.H,
HAGGIN
WO excerpts from Berlioz’s “L’En-
fance du Christ’’—the lovely Adieu
des bergers a la Sainte Famille and
Repos de la Sainte Famille from Part 2
—were issued here on records many
years ago; and there was a Christmas
Day broadcast of several excerpts a few
years later; but there has been no con-
cert performance of the entire work in
New York that I have known about
before the recent one by the Little Or-
chestra Society, which at last provided
an opportunity to hear a score that
W. J. Turner regarded as Berlioz’s fin-
est. It was a performance in which, as
usual, the orchestra's playing under
Thomas Scherman’s direction was a
mere production of the notes, and in
which much of the solo singing—by
Martial Singher, baritone, and Mary
Davenport, mezzo-soprano—was not
very agreeable to the ear. But there were
also Leopold Simoneau, an excellent
tenor; Donald Gramm, whose fresh
bass voice was one of the most beautiful
I have heard in years; and William Jon-
son’s Choral Art Society, which pro-
duced sound of extraordinary transpar-
ency and loveliness. As for the music,
to someone listening with Turner's state-
ment in mind it was bewildering to hear
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the mellifluous nineteenth-century orato-
rio style in Part 1; but one heard the
highly individual operation of the Berlioz
mind in the overture and the familiar
vocal portions of Part 2; and its most
powerful manifestations came in Part 3,
in the passages concerned with Joseph's
anguished appeals for refuge and the
granting of refuge by the Ishmaclite.
Parts 2 and 3 certainly make “L’Enfance
du Christ” a remarkable and beautiful
work; but—recalling the marvels of the
Love Scene, Queen Mab, Juliet’'s Fu-
neral Procession, and Romeo in the
Vault of the Capulets in “Romeo and
Juliet” —I cannot agree with Turner that
“L’Enfance” is Berlioz’s finest score.
The Quartetto Italiano, at the
Y. M. H. A., played Boccherini’s Quar-
tet Opus 6 No. 1 in half-voice, so to
speak—with a delicacy of style and
sensitiveness of phrasing that employed
the finest gradations of its extraordinar-
ily blended tone. All this made for the
most remarkable quartet playing since
the first years of the Budapest Quartet,
and a perfect performance of Bocche-
rini's charming work; but the same
delicacy and sensitiveness in parts of
_ Beethoven's Opus 59 No. 3, and a by
no means robust treatment of other
parts, produced a less satisfying per-
formance of this piece.
With all the remarkable qualities of
the tone there was a dryness which |
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MAJESTIC THEATRE, 44th St., West of B’way
Evonings 8:30. Matinees Wed. & Sat., 2.30
ne
i,
tn es
i
ts
7 ee
vont ae 1 half-
voice Boccherini performance, but which
was unmistakable in the Beethoven;
and when my guest exclaimed: “You
know, it sounds like a different quartet
up here; in Town Hall the tone was
fuller and more luminous,” I had my
answer at last to the question that had
been raised in my mind by the deficien-
cies in tone of the Budapest Quartet at
the Y. The group has not been playing
as it used to; but the poorer tone has
been made to sound worse by the acous-
tic peculiarities of the Y. auditorium.
The New York City Ballet is now a
superb company; and its great Balan-
chine ballets are enough to make its
repertory quite the most distinguished
in the world. The company is a superb
one even without a Youskevitch, a La-
zovsky, a Kriza whom it needs, and
even with Laing whom it doesn't need
and Eglevsky whom it would be better
off without; the repertory is a distin-
guished one even with the inferior bal-
lets of other choreographers than Balan-
chine. So far from objecting to the
inferior ballets, 1 contend that these
other choreographers must be repre-
sented in the repertory, and by what
they produce. Not only that, but if
keeping the Balanchine works on view
for the small public which appreciates
“poetic suggestion through dancing”
depends on attracting to the box office
the larger public which goes for literal
representation of private neuroses and
crimes passionels and for corny cuteness
and comedy, I think the company is
right to attract the larger public in that
way. And I recognize a similar justifica-
tion for the engagement of popular
dancers like Eglevsky and Laing, but
contend only that the proper way to use
them is not to fit them into Balanchine
ballets which they spoil but to present
them in their specialties—Eglevsky in
virtuoso pas de deux, Laing in a suc-
cession of “Lilac Garden’’s
If such tactics with the general public
are necessary it is because there is no-
body writing for it today as Edwin
Denby wrote several years ago—nobody
to explain, for example, that “to recog-
nize poctic suggestion through dancing
one has to be susceptible to poetic
values and susceptible to dance values as
well... I find that a number of peo-
ple are, and that several dancers, for
example Miss Danilova and Miss Mar-
_ a Social Basis for Freedom,” is on the —
ie are c
Geis an | iat Sinead ni
which is the token of emotion in. rt.
Instead there are, among others, writers.
like the one in Theater Arts who wa
described to me as one of those for
whom modern dance expresses emotion:
whereas classical ballet is merely beaut
ful to the eye, and who was wn
having credited Balanchine only wil
superb craftsmanship, not with ; istic
creativeness. There are, that is, writer
who themselves lack the susceptibility to
poetic values and to dance values that
would enable them to recognize poetic
suggestion through dancing.
The others include John Martin of
the Times, whose present line with!
Balanchine is that of an admirer and
friend who can understand Balanchine's |
affection for “Apollo,” a “historical
milestone,” but must point out that it”
is “a very young and dated effort”
which will never be a popular ballet; or”
who regrets having to counsel Balan-
chine to consign the wonderful inven-
tion of “The Four Temperaments” to
oblivion for lack of the right music to
carry it, and to return as beautiful a
work as “The Fairy’s Kiss” to the store-
house until its technical problems are
solved; or who, conceding the beauty
of “Swan Lake,” must nevertheless ad-—
monish Balanchine steraly not to con-
cern himself again with such old chest-
nuts—which is as though a theater
company were admonished not to con-
cern itself with Shakespeare or Shaw. —
“As a friend, and for your own good,” —
says Mr. Martin to Balanchine, “I urge 4
you to cut your throat.” “4
CONTRIBUTORS
VINCENT BROME is the author of —
“H. G. Wells, A Biography.” ~ —
ERNEST JONES is a member of a
English Department of Queens College. —
M. R. WERNER is a journalist and
biographer. a
HELEN M. LYND, author of “Eng--—
land in the Eighteen-Eighties: Toward —
staff of Sarah Lawrence College. 4
Coming Soon in The Nation
“The Pattern of Responsibility”
Edited by McGeorge Bundy from the —
Record of Secretary Acheson
Reviewed by H. Stuart Hughes
The Nation o
if ca
ee
; a fiat sti
Relations
oving
‘Sirs: 1 think most Western news-
have neglected to emphasize the
that relations between India and
istan have improved in recent weeks.
e tension that existed between
9 nations during the summer, it is
ening to think that an era of good
ie ey be in the making. The fun-
ental kinship between India and
istan came to the surface, strangely
ugh, at the time of the assassination
Pakistan's Prime Minister, Liaquat
chan. The grief expressed by Indian
sts was genuine, and the better at-
phere it engendered has not been
ipated. It had the immediate good
ct of establishing Khwaja Nazimud-
1, Pakistan’s new Prime Minister, and
ulam Mohammed, the new Governor
neti in many Indian minds as ‘‘able
1 moderate” and striving for peace
ween India and Pakistan. New lead-
could not have got off to a better
at rt with usually hostile neighbors.
The first fact about Nazimuddin
hich an Indian mentions is that he is a
Benga That, for them, places him.
It is like saying Ambassador Chester
ywles is from Connecticut, which gives
ican an image of a tall, honest-
y Englander.
The general feeling is that Nazimud-
1's being from East Bengal may help
¢ some of the tensions within Pak-
_ East Bengal, that island of the
ki Bs tan nation which is separated by
)00 miles of Indian territory from the
ital at Karachi, holds 64 per cent of
kistan’s 76,000,000 people. With this
roportion of the population the Ben-
is believe they have not adequate
pres entation in the top government
s, Nazimuddin’s appointment is ex-
ted to allay that resentment.
Furthermore, because he is a more
uodox Moslem than was Liaquat,
zimuddin is expected to please the
i gior 1s minded in Pakistan, He made
pilgrimage to Mecca in 1936, which
es him the honorary title of ‘‘Al-haj.”.
m eee also pleases the educated
Jerns of Pakistan, for he has a “‘mod-
pt of the Islamic state and
have progressive ideas on such
as land reform,
eee ther Nazimud-
i .
Amer.r!
. con
€
din and the others who have taken
over the reins in Pakistan will be able
to improve Indo-Pakistan relations over
the long run—is considered in a spirit
of hopefulness. Nazimuddin’s efforts,
when he was Chief Minister of united
Bengal, to bring about harmony between
Moslems and Hindus are often recalled.
Also the ability to hold amicable talks
with India, displayed by Ghulam Mo-
hammed, the new Governor General,
when he was Finance Minister of
Pakistan is cited as an encouraging sign.
Some people here in Delhi even say
that Nazimuddin, lacking the drive of
Liaquat, will be a quieting influence on
the extremists in Pakistan; it might, of
course, work the other way—he might
be pushed by them. If he does control
the extremists, an atmosphere may be
created in which the “new approach”
Nehru has been talking of can be
worked out. The creation of such an
atmosphere, of course, cannot be one-
sided. The extremists in India would
have to be quicted at the same time, a
job which Nehru has been stressing con-
stantly.
Delhi,
India JEAN LYON
Reaction in New Zealand
Dear Sirs: Your readers may be inter-
ested to learn of a bill recently intro-
duced into the New Zealand House of
Representatives, bearing the title ‘Police
Offenses Amendment Bill,” which
makes it an offense to excite disaffection,
or to arouse hatred, or contempt against
H. M. Government of New Zealand, or
any other member of the Common-
wealth, or against the administration of
justice. Clause 5 of the bill makes it an
offense “to print, publish, sell, dis-
tribute, deliver, have for sale, or im-
port into New Zealand, or cause to be
imported any document or other mat-
ter having seditious intention or tend-
ency” and places the onus of proof on
the accused, presuming guilt if a docu-
ment loosely described by law as "'sedi-
tious” be found in a person’s possession.
Policemen have the right to seize any
documents, printing presses, or dupli-
cators and to arrest without warrant any-
one they believe to have broken the
statute. Bail is denied to the accused per-
son pending appeal. Clause 12 gives the
Crown the right to keep any seized
property even if no charge is made.
The right to strike is for all practical
purposes denied. The térm “strike”
includes a reduction in “normal output
or the normal rate.of work—the said act
being due to any combination, agree-
ment, common understanding, or con-
certed action, whether expressed or im-
plied, on the part of any workers, and
being intended or having a tendency to
interfere with the manufacture, produc-
tion, output, supply, delivery, or carriage
of goods, or articles, or the carriage of
persons. . . .’ Clause 15 forbids anyone
to “watch or beset any premises” or fol-
low any person with a view to “compel,
induce, or influence” him not to become
a blackleg. It also makes it an offense to
publish documents exposing any person
or class to hatred or contempt. There is
also a provision in the statute which out-
laws the displaying of banners, badges,
tc., deemed likely to “facilitate vic-
timization of any person or class of per-
son, or to boycotting any person or class.”
Not only is the burden of proving
innocence placed upon the accused, but
under the bill statutory time limits in
which charges can be made are abol-
ished. Clause 17 gives a police sergeant
the right to pass judgment on the like-
lihood of a person's guilt and makes it
an offense to disobey his orders regard-
less of whether or not they are just or
reasonable. Furthermore, a police ser-
geant has the right to forbid demon-
strations Of processions,
London, England TOM HILL
Mexico’s New White
Wealth
Dear Sirs: Recently, a new class of
haciendados has sprung up in Mexico
which has further widened the gap be-
tween rich and poor in a country of ex-
tremes, Chief among them are the cot-
ton millionaires who have blossomed in
Matamoros across the Texas border
from Brownsville. During the last dec-
ade the thirsty desert lands lying south
of Matamoros, irrigated from Rio
Grande projects, have burst forth with
a new white wealth—cotton. The new
millionaires, with the instincts and de-—
sires of pre-Civil War cotton planters,
have made the city’s El Jardin district
into a showplace of fine homes and
estates, At Nuevo Laredo, Chito Lon-
goria is building a palace with seven-
teen bathrooms, a swimming pool, a
47,
Oe ee ane
ee eae
| —s CLASSIFIED
five-car garage, and three bars, Longoria
and his brothers—associates of Clayton
and Company—own 10,000 acres of
choice Jand, and control banks, cotton-
seed mills, wholesale and retail stores,
and a score of other enterprises.
In contrast with this “new prosper-
ity,’ Mexico’s landless and impover-
ished agricultural workers, who still
comprise the great bulk of the popula-
tion, often receive no more than two
pesos (23 cents) a day; even in the
most prosperous regions farm wages are
LANGUAGES
RUSSIAN, group and individual instruc
tion. Anna S. Michouroff, 485 Central Park
West, New York. ACademy 2-4484.
PERSONALS
In the next issue of
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. Is Germany a nation of criminals?
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. Behind the Isracli sailor strike.
4. The revolt against Ben-Gurion.
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48
ane a ee
: oS a TT 9s
s
Geksattlg, toe. The landless arenes
sist on 1,100 calories of food a ay but
they hunger for land as well as food.
Forgotten are the principles of the revo-
lution, which promised the landless lib-
erty and land. Today the emphasis is on
industrialization, not land distribution.
In the six years of the Cardenas regime
more than 43,200,000 acres were dis-
tributed to the peasants, but since 1940
the new owners have had to struggle
against lawsuits and denunciations of
titles and much land has returned to the
big proprietors.
The peasants say that fiery Zapata
and wild Pancho Villa still live and can
be seen riding over the mesas. Some day,
they say, these heroes may return to
restore the land to them.
Mexico City FRANK KALMBACH
Loyalty Oath for Writers
Dear Sirs: 1 am an English writer visit-
ing this country as a guest of the United
States government to see America. One
of the first things 1 saw was Collier's
World War III issue. ...
Since loyalty oaths are the fashion,
isn't there one loyalty oath everybody
could take — self-administered — which
would bind oneself, in this time of un-
balance, not to write anything disloyal
to human interests? The editors of dol-
lar or pound journals might not under-
stand. But the writers they try to seduce
Ought to. If they are desperately short
of pounds or dollars it would be better
to sell their illustrious names to adver-
tisers of beer or cigarettes. ...
Philadelphia GEOFFREY GRIGSON
{[Mr. Grigson is on the staff of the
London Morning Post, literary adviser to
the B. B. C., a former editor of New
Verse, and author of a number of books
of poetry and criticism.]
An Error Cited...
Dear Sirs: The editors of Scholastic
Magazines have read with surprise the
article by Morris Mitchell entitled Fever
Spots in American Education, first of a
series on “The Battle for Free Schools,”
published in the October 27, 1951, issue
of The Nation.
Presumably the Nation article, a
ing as it does with very recent events
in Pasadena, Englewood, and similar
Situations, was intended to inform read-
ers of the present pressures on the
schools and the forces behind them.
The 1951 reader would have no idea,
however, that the incident referred to
involving Scholastic Magazines occurred
- New York
conditions have changed drastically sinc
then. :
The feature in question was an article
which appeared in the September, 1940,
issue of the American Legion Maga.
zine, entitled Treason in the Textbooks,
by Orland K. Armstrong, now a repre-
sentative in Congress from Missouri. In
addition to its generalized charges of
“subversive influences” in the schools,
it published a list of textbooks, maga-
zines, and pamphlets which, it alleged,
the Americanism Commission of the
American Legion bad found objection-
able. In addition to Scholastic Maga-
zines, the list included such books as
Carl Becker's “Modern History,”
Charles A. and Mary R. Beard’s
“United States History,” and “The
American Observer” and other publica-
tions of the Civic Education Service.
If this article was later republished in
pamphlet form without change and dis-
tributed by the American Legion and the
National Economic Council, we were
not aware of it. But we have in our
files a signed statement from Boyd B.
Stutler, then managing editor of the —
American Legion Magazine, which was —
given wide publicity at the time, and —
which reads in part as follows:
The American Legion Magazine ex-
presses its regret that Scholastic was in-
advertently included in the list of pub-
lications said to be objectionable for
school use, which appeared in connection
with the article entitled Treason in the
Textbooks, by Orland K. Armstrong. . . .
The editors of the American Legion
Magazine find nothing in the publication —
{Scholastic] which is un-American or
otherwise objectionable for school use. .
The Legion also found it necessary to
make public retractions to other pub-
lishers whose publications were listed.
How the careless handling of facts can
work to the detriment of innocent per-
sons is well illustrated by the fact that
as a result of the article in The Nation
we have already received a number of ;
inquiries about our “loss of ciraulation”’
brought about by an attack on us by the
American Legion.
KENNETH M. GOULD,
Editor-in-Chief, Scholastic Magazines
... Apologies Tendered
Dear Sirs: 1 can only offer my apologies —
to the editors of Scholastic Magazines
for the erroneous impression given.
Putney, Vt. § MORRIS R. MITCHELL
The NATION ©
f
iA
» +
Pee peat
ACROSS
1 Play with Bobbles? (6, 2, 6)
_8 Certainly not a transmitter. (12)
10 The owner of a crown of diamond
_ would be, (10)
11 See 4 down.
13 Solemn and cucurbitaceous. (6)
| again, with not enough B,. (8)
p> § 81st element. (8)
i 17°*See 23.
| 49 Were used to hold water once. (4)
|) 20 Certainly no lover of Albion. (10)
22 Collection of tales which makes Con-
servatives blow their fuses? (5, 7)
hae and 17. Implying a waiter gets his
_ directions confused? (2, 3, 9, 2, 4)
DOWN
See 4.
8 Logically should be hard, but actu-
.. ally soft drinks in England. (7, 5)
8 An entrant might have it firmly in
grasp. (10)
1, and 1 down, The answer seems
0 be John’s farewell at the exposi-
tion. (2, 4, 4, 8, 3, 6, 2)
: nis
of it.
az
ANUARY 12, 1952
ie
“e
#14 Sounds like juicy fruit now and
| Gave = sneezed, by the sound ~
ess
Puzzle No. 447
- BY FRANK W, LEWIS
aa
ae
i i ee ee ee
Cross the head of 8 up. (4)
Past masters? Quite the opposite!
(Some of their sales take quite a
peking!) (14)
9 Does he find fewer bumps on the 107
(12)
12 Provided by tires and tactical
planes. (3, 7)
15 If West is the dealer, the first card
is. (3, 5)
18 Shuts things up in churchyards?
(6)
21 This ruler sounds like he might
make work out of play. (4)
AD
SOLUTION TO PUZZLE No. 446
ACROSS :—1 FRESH AS A DAISY; 10 IN-
DEX; 11 TASTEBUDS; 12 BLOWPIPES; 13
DRIER; 14 KEY SIGNATURE; 19 A WORLD
OF GOOD; 22 ROCKS; 24 MONOGRAMS: 25
CURVATURE; 26 IMAGO; 27 CONFIDENCE
MAN.
DOWN :—2 RED DOG; 3 SEX APPHAL; 4
ANTIPASTO; 5 APSES; 6 AMEND; 7
STUDIOUS; 8 LIMBO; 9 USURPER: 15
GIGANTEAN; 16 ALONGSIDE: 17 CAPRICE;
18 CONCERTO; 20 CABANA; 21 ASCOT; 23
STAFF; 24 MOUND.
} Readers are invited to send for a free copy of Mr. Lewis's “ground rules.” Address
_ Fequests to Puzzle Dept., The Nation 20 Vesey Street, New York 7, New York.
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“Point Four and the Roosevelt Tradition”
Honorary Chairman: MRS. ELEANOR ROOSEVELT
Co-Chairmen: HELEN GAHAGAN DOUGLAS, BARTLEY C. CRUM
Speakers: SEN. HERBERT H. LEHMAN, WALTER P. REUTHER
Panel of Commentators: ELMER DAVIS, MARTIN AGRONSKY, ERIC SEVAREID,
JONATHAN BINGHAM, BARTLEY C. CRUM
Roosevelt’s Good Neighbor policy has
borne fruit in today’s Point Four con-
cept and ADA has therefore chosen it as
the theme of its National Roosevelt Day
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Day Dinners have been scheduled dur-
ing the latter half of January include:
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Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Providence, St.
Louis, South Bend, Terre Haute, and
Washington. Speakers include Secretary
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ators Paul Douglas, Hubert Humphrey,
and Brien McMahon; Leon Keyserling,
Murray Lincoln, Arthur Schlesinger Jr.,
and other outstanding liberals.
NATIONAL COMMITTEE FOR ROOSEVELT DAY
Co-Chairmen: Sen. HERBERT H. LEHMAN, ROBERT E. SHERWOOD
ta ee Fee a pet ais Baer —
a oe eh wo: "Ad ase z
PGeesbowcr, the Sitent Symbol—dn Editorial
January 19, 1952
7 ax Saeaadals New anc | Old J
Internal Confusion in Internal
BY NORMAN REDLICH
Granddaddy of the Tax Scandals
BY HARRY BARNARD
7
x
| Korea and Peace
Steps Lonard Unification
BY ARTHUR L. GREY, JR.
| %
Headache Powders: Use Your Head
BY LEON ARD ENGEL
ENTS A COPY ; EVERY WEEK SINCE 1865 - 7 DOLLARS A YEAR
eae --
<
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both of the Right and of the Left,
have always made special efforts
OC 0 e anc to curb the minds
. Those of us who care
freedom must do as much
ag J ~
our viewpoint before the
— ae
.
new generation. These considera-
tions recently led a liberal-minded
Chicago businessman to take
action.
| ({ He arranged with The Nation to
obtain a list of the valedictorians
in the high schools of his city. To
each of these honor students he
sent a year's subscription to The
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hae arship and as a stimulus to further
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[he Shape of Things
JE OBVIOUS RESULTS OF THE CHURCHILL
have been duly tabulated and added up: American
for British aluminum; agreements as to Britain's
onship with the future European army; American
ge that bomber bases in England will not be used
t the consent of both governments; a few others
h together imply more cooperation and less competi-
in various parts of the world, But the less obvious
Its, some not yet revealed and perhaps still only
formulated, are certainly more important and con-
ably more disturbing. The talks in Washington be-
a Acheson and Eden and the later secret discussion
g General Juin of France, General Sir William
Flim of Britain, and General Bradley indicate clearly
enough that new commitments are in the making in
regard to Asia. For one thing it is now accepted that
Japan will be pushed by the United States into diplo-
‘Matic relations and a separate peace treaty with Chiang
Kai-shek. Mr. Eden’s protest against this action, which
was initiated in violation of American promises during
Mr. Dulles’s recent Tokyo visit, failed to move Mr,
Acheson. As James Reston remarked in the New York
Times \ast Sunday, “In the last analysis the British felt
there was very little they could do, They could not break
with the United States on the issue. They needed the
financial and military help of the United States, so their
y .. . was to go along, even though they felt the
situation was fundamentally wrong.” What, if any,
economic or military guid pro quo Eden received is not
known. But the British undoubtedly pressed their claim
for greater aid in Burma and Malaya.
*
REGARDING INDO-CHINA THE PROSPECT IS
ill more obscure. The Churchill-Truman warning to
king that they were watching the military situation in
yutheast Asia and would not tolerate Communist expan-
on here, a warning more strongly phrased by Eden in
Columbia University speech, may imply an agree-
ent to intervene with arms if the Chinese send troops
to Indo-China. It has been interpreted this way by
veral well-informed Washington correspondents, No
preement, however, has been publicly announced,
ys
tcCnact!
SLUME 174 NEW YORK + SATURDAY + JANUARY 19, 1952
BeERICA’S LEADING LIBERAL WEEKLY SINCE 1865
NUMBER 3
although the United States has apparently promised Gen-
eral Juin naval and air support in case of a Chinese
invasion, and this, we all remembef, was the way the
whole thing started in Korea, Without any question the
Asian aspects of the recent Washington talks provide
hints of most serious developments ahead, and it is
essential that all the facts be revealed without delay so
that they.may be examined by the public and by Congress
before bigger and worse wars are launched.
+
PRESIDENT TRUMAN'S WITHDRAWAL OF THE
nomination of General Mark W. Clark as ambassador
to the Vatican State—ostensibly at the request of General
Clark—may satisfy those who disapproved of sending a
military man on such a mission, but it will not quiet the
storm of protest provoked by the original announcement,
As usual, Mr. Truman appears to have been moved by
political self-interest. The day before the nomination of
General Clark was withdrawn, Senator Tom Connally
voiced strong objections to it and implied that it could not
be confirmed. In addition to this important opposition, a
storm of protest has been beating on the White House
and on Congress. “Members of the Senate,” reported the
Wall Street Journal of January 8, “who must act on the
nomination, say they are still receiving a large volume
of mail on the Vatican issue—and nearly all of it against
the President's proposal. One Southern Democrat says
that out of a ‘trunkful of letters’... only three have
favored a United States ambassador to the Papal State.
Senators from other sections report overwhelming oppo-
sition to the nomination. ‘And the Protestants,’ says one
law-maker, ‘are demanding that it come to a vote so that
they can see exactly how every Senator stands on the
issue.’ ” For the time being the President has prevented
a record vote, but groups opposed to the appointment of
an ambassador should keep the pressure on until Mr.
Truman publicly disavows the project and formally re-
affirms the constitutional separation of church and state.
+
ATTORNEY GENERAL J. HOWARD McGRATH
was teetering on the end of a plank around the turn of
the year; today he is back in the President’s good graces. -
Not only has his continuance in office been confirmed,
f Lore — r Sige oN
: i r er aiad ’ a i ie , es 3 CMe Cs :
‘ ged ht As RNa an en
af but he has been assigned the task of cleaning up t
y "| scandals in which some at least of his own subordinates
Mh °e IN THIS ISSUE « are involved, What happened to bring about this happ ry
‘1 ending—for McGrath? Washington reporters have little —
1 EDITORIALS
doubt Mr. Truman had planned to jettison him. Accord- —
The Shape of Things ing to David Lawrence, writing in the New York”
’ Eisenhower: Silent Symbol Herald Tribune, the President actually approached four
ie men in his search for a new Attorney General. Three of. -
4 ARTICLES them refused, but the fourth, Justin Miller, executive
head of the National Association of Radio and Tele- ;
49
Vishinsky's Offer by J. A. del V. 52 i : "
Same Pill, Less Sugar by Keith Hutchison 53 vision Broadcasters and former Associate Justice of the.
New Phase in France by Alexander Werth 54 United States Court of Appeals, accepted after some —
Internal Confusion in Internal Revenue hesitation, On January 3 Mr. Truman missed a chance to’ —
by Norman Redlich 55 deny widespread reports of McGrath's departure, and —
a See a in tg Scandals ; the announcement of his successor appeared imminent, _
} eee ae ’ Next day, however, McGrath emerged from a Cabinet *
Korea: Steps Toward Unification s ; ‘| d tol th :
by Arthur L. Grey, Jr. 59 meeting wreathed in smiles and told reporters hat no
Headache Powders: Use Your Head change in his status was contemplated. According to
; by Leonard Engel 60 Robert S. Allen, he was saved by the intervention of
Se three friends—Senator Theodore Green, his political —
BOOKS AND THE ARTS godfather; Cardinal Spellman, who telephoned a plea
Rock A Poem by Kathleen Raine 62 from Tokyo; and Matt Connelly, Presidential secretary,
. | The Problem of Greece by Moses Hadas 62 who concerns himself particularly with affairs of the —
\ Mr. Brooks's History by Howard Doughty, Jr. 63 Roman Catholic church and is said to be close to Franco's ©
{ The Two Germanys by Philip E. Mosely 64 active Washington lobby. This story fits in with another
¢ The Lost European Culture by Felix Grendon 65 Washington rumor—that McGrath has been allowed to
qi pec gaia Saul it stay at the Department of Justice until he can resign
| ¥ . epee oo se Benen with dignity to take another post, that of ambassador to
Spain, which is likely to become vacant shortly as the
LETTERS TO THE EDITORS 68 : ; 3
result of the illness of the present incumbent, Stanton
ie» CROSSWORD PUZZLE No. 448 Griffis. +
by Frank W. Lewis opposite 68
i ys WITH THIS ISSUE WE BEGIN A SYMPOSIUM ON
1 a ; the long-range problems of peace in Korea. In view of
‘Mt ies and eet ee the continued deadlock in the cease-fire negotiations,
‘ ssociate Editor: Carey McWilliams . . : i
if acelin Filzsse Lierety Editor such a discussion may seem premature, pethaps over
ie J. Alvarez del Vayo Margaret Marshall optimistic, But we are convinced that an armistice will
Nie: Financial Editor: Keith Hutchison i i i
ie ¢ ” 1
les Disecat Joseuh Wood Krutch Music: B. H. Hagin eventually emerge from the talks and that it will bring
Ns Assistant Literary Editor; Caroline Whiting with it a flock of problems more important and far more
fa Assistant Editor: Charles R. Allen, Jr. difficult to resolve than those now being discussed at
Ne Con ee, eee Panmunjom. The authors contributing to the symposium
es Staff Contributors . *
‘a Kedvew Roth, Alexanter Werth, Howard K.Suith, Carolus have considered these problems with detachment and
Pd gene tee eg St realism and where possible have suggested workable
: Business Manager: Hugo Van Arx solutions. This week Arthur L. Grey, a, takes up the
fr Advertising Manager: Mary Simon question of Korean unification, In subsequent issues -
F Director of Nation Associates: Lillie Shultz Lawrence K. Rosinger will discuss the effect on Korea -
P ~ The Nation, published weekly and copyright, 1952, in the U. 8. A, of the Japanese treaty and the ge Pact; Walter Sulli- ;
re z, decd ges cs satiey 20 Vesey Street, New York 7, es van, New York Times correspondent in Korea in 1950, ?
ip end Circulation Repiesentative for Contmental Burner teens | Will describe the task of rebuilding and relief that will
ic - Subscription Prices: Domestic—One year $7; Two years $12; Three face the United Nations once the fighting ends; Yong- —
Re years $17, Additional postage per year: Foreign and Canadian $1, 3 =, 4 F . +o
s Change of Address: Three weeks’ notice is required for change of jeung Kim, director of the Korean Affairs Institute in |
ary , n 4 sie ° oe Y
: thenew. tte oo eet Washington, will try to anticipate the internal political |
ca
Nt ite Information to Libraries: The Nation is indexed in Readers’ Guide
rs to Periodical Literature, Book Review Digest, Index to Labor
Articles, Public Affairs Information Service, Dramatic Index,
50
difficulties that peace will bring in Korea; finally Owen |
Lattimore and W. McMahon Ball will comment on —
"
0
ation and an organization known as Valley
Foundation. Actually the Valley Forge Founda-
s an offspring of the Freedoms Foundation which
as set up some years ago for the apparently harmless
urpt jose of awarding cash ptizes annually to “Americans
ho speak up for freedom.” Its winners have included
ch freedom lovers as Westbrook Pegler and George
Soko y, a fact which in 1949 led the International
drotherhood of Paper Makers (A. F. of L.) to hand
yack to the Freedoms Foundation an award of $600 and
old medal. The Alert America exhibit tepresents
is referred to in Pentagon circles as a “new con-
—the partnership of civil defense and the military.
will visit the forty-eight states and over a hundred
ities. School children in particular will be encouraged to
Hiew the exhibit, which according to the advance billing
is so arranged that the effect is cumulative on the visi-
tor. As he passes through it he sees the destruction of a
ity, of crops . . . of life.” Whether the new concept of
linking military and civilians is a good one is certainly
pen to question, But in any case it does not excuse col-
aboration between the government and an outfit like
Freedoms Foundation and its dubious subsidiaries.
_ Eisenhower: Silent Symbol
NY uncertainty about General Eisenhower's politi-
cal affiliations and political ambitions has been
removed by his announcement that he would accept the
Republican nomination, In the phrase of Joseph Alsop,
it can now be said that the General is “an avowed, avail-
able, and firmly Republican” candidate for the Presi-
_ With Senator Taft virtually unopposed, the entry of
General Eisenhower in the Republican race might nor-
y be taken as a healthy political development. But
he General has made his announcement under circum-
stances that give his candidacy an abnormal significance.
We are disturbed by the manner of the announcement
and its reception, by the view that the General appar-
ently takes of his own position, by the extreme emphasis
b ing placed on “leadership,” and by the threat of
increased military influence in government.
Consider, first, the strange situation in which the
seneral’s candidacy puts the average voter. Eisenhower
is in Europe and if his statement is taken at face value
vill remain there until after the Republican convention.
Je does not intend to campaign. He does not intend to
liscuss the issues. He will enter no debates and appear
no platforms. There is a calculated aloofness about
is that cuts across the grain of the American political
=a As Max Lerner put it, the General’s duty to
ae. 1952:-
+
A
Mary
Pee gt =
join on the rar Civil Defense
Paris eae, ES Ce get PB ll Cee foe od
yo Me naire ater
a ee it i duty to run for Pani in July a
will be greater than his duty to NATO. It looks as”
though the General wanted the Presidency handed him
on a platter. This is certainly not flattering to the politi-
cal ego of the average American voter, and it is unfair
to the General’s Republican rivals. Even a talented de-
bater like Senator Taft will find it difficult to argue with
a Silent Symbol on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean,
Presumably Senator Taft and General Eisenhower
differ on foreign policy; on domestic questions we are
inclined to accept Mark Sullivan’s assurance that the
General is “staunchly Republican.” But if foreign policy
is the key issue in 1952, how can conflicting tendencies
within the Republican Party be clarified and appraised if
only Saltonstall can speak to Lodge and only Lodge can
speak to God? The necessity for debate is all the greater
because the differences between Taft and Eisenhower on
foreign policy are perhaps more a matter of timing and
geography than of substance, Both are proponents of
military containment, differing principally as to the scale
and speed of rearmament, the value of the United
Nations, and the respective importance of Europe and
the Far East. Behind Eisenhower are the so-called “Mor-
gan interests” that supported Willkie in 1940 and
Dewey in 1948, with their familiar emphasis on the
Atlantic and Europe; behind Taft are the corn-fed in-
dustrialists and financiers of the Middle West, who are
inclined toward an isolationist position but who never-
theless favor a strong policy in Asia along the lines of
the MacArthur recommendations, These divergent inter-
ests and emphases should be thoroughly explored; all too
little is known about them.
Despite the difficulties of debating with a Silent Sym-
bol, Senator Taft is a determined man and can be
counted on to challenge Eisenhower to take off his uni-
form and talk to the people. But assuming Taft can force
a debate, how much of a debate will it be? Under other
circumstances, it might be lively and enlightening; today
it can hardly be either. The manner in which the Eisen-
hower announcement was received implies a strong de-
termination to rule out any significant discussion of ©
foreign policy. The swift indorsement of Eisenhower
by newspapers like the New York Times and the Chi-
cago Sun-Times indicates how easily a frenzy of en-
thusiasm may be whipped up under cover of which the
only issue will be: are you for or against Eisenhower?
That liberals like Senator Douglas and Senator Morse
should be for Eisenhower along with diehard Dixiecrats
such as Alabama’s Tom Abernethy is a measure of the
neurotic need for a “leader” and a hint that the next
President may be chosen by “acclamation” rather than on
the merits of his candidacy as tested in a political fight.
The danger in this attempt to avoid a campaign on the
issues is increased by the very qualities that have made — -
aL
:
/ ‘
|
|
$$
a,
General Eisenhower a popular figure. If he had the
mannerisms and the arrogance of the stereotyped “man
on horseback,” in short if he were more like MacArthur,
one could safely assume that the American people would
‘recognize the type and act accordingly. But “Ike” is
from Kansas; he looks and talks and acts like a civilian
in uniform. The General should be aware that his sup-
porters are exploiting these qualities, Eisenhower is the
ideal candidate, writes Walter Lippmann, because he is
“enormously stronger with the voters than is the Repub-
lican Party.” In other words, Eisenhower's personal pop-
ularity can be used to bring to power a minority party
that has been discredited by past performance and is still
distrusted by the great mass of voters, Under the circum-
stances General Eisenhower's acquiescence in the type of
campaign that is shaping up—for which, indeed, he is
himself largely responsible—betrays a fundamental fail-
ure to understand the implications of democratic leader-
ship.
The possibility that political debate will be foreclosed
is further increased by the probable impact of Eisen-
hower's nomination on the two-party system. Though
the Republicans’ candidate, Eisenhower might well be
the Democrats’ as well, in fact if not in name. There is
already, as in 1948, a strong pro-Eisenhower sentiment
among many so-called “liberal” Democrats, and it can
be argued that his nomination would prevent a Dixie-
crat secession. The greater danger, of course, is that
Eisenhower will be the Democratic candidate not for-
mally but by default. If President Truman is nominated,
there can be no debate on foreign policy. Nor can there
be any real debate if the Democrats choose someone the
President approves. They might as well nominate Re-
publican Eisenhower as Democrat Vinson,
There is a final circumstance about the General's can-
didacy that we find even more disturbing than those
mentioned. Eisenhower is not only a general: he belongs
to the military, He was trained at West Point, and
his entire career, with the exception of the brief inter-
lude at Columbia University, has been spent in uniform.
He was a tactful commander of a coalition of armed
forces, but he has had no experience with political
patties or political administration. The Eisenhower jacket
may be less brassy than the gold braid on MacArthur's
cap, but it is still part of a uniform. Today the influence
of the military in government is perhaps greater than it
was at the end of World War II. General Eisenhower
er may not want to represent the Pentagon in the White
House, but how can he help it? The circumstances of the
times—the danger of war, the war economy, the vast
and growing network of alliances—tend to make any
President, even a civilian and a democrat, a tool of the
military. If there was reason, as we believed and stated,
to be concerned about the appointment of General
Marshall as Secretary of State, there is much more reason
b2
Siestbapetesiliied ee Seiad
et .
¥ 5 te oe ante oe PA at ea ra [y
ive ;
e. - ;
ae ae ee
+
to tie cuntagnad aback Wiss weed ce today of a regul
army officer in the White aes “eae tg |
tr « iatth Desprak intend to tant Oe known |
about General Eisenhower's position on foreign and do-—
mestic issues and discuss means by which the Democrats —
could organize to meet the threat which his candidacy pre- -
sents to the two-party system. But the political season is —
already well advanced, and action should be taken now. _
In our view every effort should be made to prevent a —
stampede for Eisenhower, The General should be asked
to resign his command immediately, return home, and _
start answering questions. Independent candidates —
should be entered in both major parties, for as many.
offices as possible; independent delegations should be —
entered in the Democratic primaries in as many states as
possible; and liberals and progressives should start to
caucus immediately on other ways of assuring voters a i
real choice in this most crucial election.
Vishinsky’s Offer
Paris, January 12
ODAY’S announcement by Soviet Foreign Minister
Vishinsky that Russia was now prepared to accept MS
as part of an atomic-control plan inspection on a “con- '
tinuing basis” not only represented an important conces-
sion; coupled with his retreat from Russia’s previous |
position that atomic weapons must be prohibited first
with international control to follow, it has presented the
Western Allies with a genuine challenge. How they will —
meet it is not yet certain, but the first reaction of the ©
Americans was to look for booby-traps. They professed —
to have spotted two questionable items: one, Vishinsky’s -
insistence that the control agency should “not be en- —
titled to interfere in the domestic affairs of states”; the ©
other, the possibility that his proposal was intended to
block the new Disarmament Commission, approved re
terday over strong Soviet opposition.
But it is clear that Vishinsky’s initiative will increase
the lead Russia has taken in the peace-propaganda bout
going on in the Assembly. In every committee the Soviet
delegates have been on the offensive, with the obvious
purpose of proving that, while some great powers look
for solutions in other quarters, Russia at least takes the
United Nations seriously.
Until Vishinsky’s intervention today, the outstanding
Soviet proposal was that calling for a special meeting of
the Security Council, to be attended by the Foreign Mine
isters, which should try to arrange a Korean truce and
also to reduce tension and establish friendly relations
among the powers. The Korean proposal was doomed f
from the start; but the idea of periodic meeti ngs I:
i
I
of the Security Council appealed to so many deleg
tions that after strong initial objections from
Americans it was ultimately amended to eliminate ref er
The N
°
Siz
s the Rthericans will permit an peel meeting of
Foreign Ministers even for general discussion of differ-
nces. But the fact that Vishinsky voted for the much-
mended resolution is taken as additional evidence that
ssia intends to back any move, however slight, toward
a talks on peace. And if a cease-fire should be
aged at Panmunjom before the end of the Assembly,
t! the e Soviet demand for a Security Council session would
2 overwhelming support.
"With the passage of time the contention that every-
thir ag proposed by the Russians must be rejected auto-
atically and entirely is losing force. Delegates are very
conscious that two years ago Secretary General Trygve
Lie recommended similar special meetings of the Se-
curity Council. They are conscious, too, that the conces-
sions offered by Vishinsky on disarmament, if they mean
what they appear to mean, greatly reduce the gap be-
tween the two rival plans and eliminate the most serious
points of difference. It will not be enough, in the view
of most people, merely to throw doubt on the sincerity
the Soviet offer; it should be examined on its merits
with an evident will to agree if agreement is possible.
Otherwise the setting up of the Disarmament Commis-
sion to work toward the “regulation, limitation, and bal-
nced reduction of all armed forces and all armaments”
will be proved an empty gesture. J. A. DEL V.
Same Pill, Less Sugar
* BY KEITH HUTCHISON
J HIS report to Congress on the state of the nation,
the President prescribed the same mixture as before
except that the bitter defense pill was to be larger and
ts sugar-coating thinner. He recognized that arms were
not the only protection against aggression but empha-
ized the building of military might and gave a minor
jle to the social and moral means of fortifying democ-
reform at home, economic development abroad.
There was little evidence in the speech that the Adminis-
tation had given heed to the authoritative and varied
Oices that have recently warned against putting too
many of our eggs too fast into military baskets lest we
ken Our economy and, even more, the economies of
ur allies.
I I found the message depressing, but I was not at all
rprised that the Stock Exchange regarded it as bullish
d turned strong the following morning. Quite cor-
ag the professional traders saw inflationary implica-
s in the President's words and therefore bought
yuities which, if not a perfect hedge against depreciating
a;
jar'y 19, 1952
é a
~~ —
ee 22
dolla
b
, are better han no sitelne at all, In the first place,
while details of spending were withheld for later mes-
sages, Mr. Truman appeared anxious to dispose of
rumots that he would hold down military appropriations.
“Our first job,” he said, “is to move ahead full steam
on the defense program. . . . This year I shall recom-
mend some increase in the size of the active force we
ate building, with particular emphasis on air power.
This means we shall have to continue large-scale pro-
duction of planes and other equipment for a longer
period of time then we had originally planned.” It would
appear that the Pentagon advocates of a 140-group air
force have triumphed.
While the military budget seems certain to grow
Jarger, there may be some trimming of civilian expendi-
ture. Mr, Truman repeated the aims of the Fair Deal—
conseryation, improved social security, better housing,
health and education, civil rights—but he was less
specific than in earlier years and he conceded that “we
cannot do all we want to do in times like these.” More-
over, defense priorities for materials seem likely to re-
duce the volume of social investment.
Only in two instances did the President urge definite
Congressional action which would increase non-defense
expenditure, Some effort, he said, should be made to
ease the pressure of living costs on those dependent on
fixed payments. Old-age and survivors’ insurance bene-
fits should be raised at least $5 a month above the pres-
ent average of $42; similar increases should be made in
veterans’ benefits and public-assistance grants. These pro-
posals will no doubt be attacked by advocates of blind
economy, but they represent elementary justice for the
most helpless victims of inflation,
The President's second request to Congress was of
more dubious nature. I cannot think that, at a time
when producers of food and fibers are enjoying boom-
ing prosperity, strengthening the farm price-support
system is imperative. At least any further underpinning
of price floors for agriculture ought to be accompanied
by the construction of solid ceilings over food prices.
However, while Mr. Truman pointed out that the
stabilization law was “shot full of holes’ and asked for
enactment of a stronger measure, he failed to mention
the gap opened at the behest of the farm bloc.
Mr. Truman declared that “we can control inflation
if we make up our minds to do it.” But it is doubtful
whether in an election year Congress is prepared to take
the painful steps necessary, and Mr, Truman’s speech
left the impression that he was not going to push it
very hard, True, he said that preserving the financial
strength of the government would mean high taxes over —
the next few years, but hie made no mention of the neces-
sity for a balanced budget, though possibly he will do
so in a future message.
Failing the strongest kind of lead from the White
53,
House, there seems not the remotest chance that Congress
will raise taxes again this year. Thus we face the
prospect of a growing deficit to swell the springs of pur-
chasing power in a period when the supply of many
kinds of consumer goods will be curtailed more drasti-
cally than had been expected a short time ago. Under
the circumstances the guarded hopes of economic equilib-
rium which I expressed in these pages two weeks ago
begin to appear decidedly over-optimistic.
INNew Phase in France
BY ALEXANDER WERTH
Paris, January 8
HE Pleven government, as has been expected for
some days, was defeated in the National Assembly
on Monday by 341 to 243 votes, all the Communists,
Gaullists, and Socialists, as well as a number of Radicals,
M. R. P.’s, and others voting against M. Pleven’s demand
for special powers in the reorganization of the French
failways. This was one of several fields in which the
Pleven government was secking authority from Parlia-
ment to put in force drastic financial and administrative
measures by decree. The resistance to legislation by fiat,
or what amounts to the same thing, is common in
French parliamentary history; and in this particular case
the Socialists and the left wing of the M, R. P.—not
to mention the Communists—feared that the Pleven
government, if given these special powers, would use
them to make inroads into the whole range of social
services.
But this is only one reason, the superficial one, why
the Pleven government fell. There are many deeper,
less obvious reasons. It is reported from Washington
that the American press is much relieved that Pleven
was not defeated on foreign policy, This satisfaction
may prove premature and shortsighted, There is a strong
feeling in parliamentary quarters that the Pleven gov-
ernment was profoundly representative of the phase of
history through which France passed in 1950 and 1951,
but that it had now somehow become an anachronism.
In this phase France was expected to assume that it was
the leading European nation of the Atlantic Pact and
that large-scale rearmament, in view of the danger of
a Russian invasion of Western Europe and German re-
armament, were essential. The tendency now is undoubt-
5 _ edly to seek other solutions. As Le Monde put it:
It is often assumed that a Cabinet crisis in France
merely means a slight reshuffle of seats. Governments
change, but the people remain the same. It is not cer-
tain that this is true at present. Not only are the
Gaullists proposing a new foreign policy, but among all
other non-Communist political groups in Parliament one
notices a development favorable to a revision of our
54
aeuteas comsnitmehts, in accordance with our P
physical possibilities. These tendencies, though sti “a
from precise, and still hard to locate ih rains
correspond to “Bevanism” in Britain. . . . Naturally,
it is no use expecting a radical change in our foreign
policy overnight. The “Bevanist” tendency is still rep-
resented by only a small minority in each group;
even so it already affects more than just a few iso-
lated individuals, as it did last year. The views of
Daladier on Indo-China, for instance, have undoubtedly
an influence on the rest of the Radicals, and there are
similar phenomena among the M. R. P's.
a
The paper goes on to say that the Gaullists and |
““Bevanites” see eye to eye when they criticize the’ —
Pleven government's excessive subservience to Washing-
ton, and both fear that Germany may be rearmed with-
out sufficient safeguards for France; they do not believe
much in a Soviet invasion, But here the similarity be-
tween the Gaullists and the French “Bevanites” stops.
For if the ‘‘Bevanites” would like to veto the rearma-
ment of Germany, cut down France's own military ex-
penditure, and start negotiating with Ho Chi Minh and
Mao, the Gaullists stand for a militarist policy in Europe
and a kind of MacArthurism in Indo-China.
Thus while there is little chance of the ‘“Bevanites”’
and the Gaullists finding enough common ground,
in either the domestic or the international field, to per-
mit them to form an alternative to the Pleven coalition,
the two together exercise enough influence to prevent
an exact repetition of the Pleven government, But
to bring about a government combination which will
be representative of the new mood in France will be
exceedingly difficult on the parliamentary plane, and
for this reason the crisis is expected to be a long one.
It may, at first, be solved by the formation of some kind
ot makeshift government, fairly similar to the last one—
probably with M. René Mayer as Foreign Minister in-
stead of M. Schuman. But the 243 deputies who sup-
ported Pleven, most of whom are bound, because of their
“central” position, to find a place in the mew majority, |
are extremely divided themselves. The greater part of
the M. R. P. want the Socialists in the next government
coalition—which would necessitate the adoption of a —
financial policy somewhat different from M. René ~
Mayer’s—while other M. R, P.’s and many Radicals ©
and right-wing conservatives favor, if only as an
“experiment,” the inclusion of some Gaullists. The |
peculiar feature of the present parliamentary situation in ~
France is that in each of the major parties except the.
Communists there are at least two tendencies pulling in —
different ways; in most parties there is now what, for —
lack of a better word, Le Monde described as a ‘“Bevan- —
ist” minority. Whatever the final outcome of the crisis,
the Pleven-Schuman eta, as we have known it these last ~
two years, is either over or is nearing its end.
—_— i. —_ a. oa =a
The Nation ©
Confusion
PYAHE subcommittee of the House Ways and Means
Committee headed by Representative Cecil R. King
f California has brought joy to the Republicans and
npuish to the Administration by its revelations of cor-
mption in the Internal Revenue Bureau. As a direct
esu t of the committee’s investigation, President Truman
recently announced that the bureau would be com-
letely reorganized and more revenue officials placed
nder civil service, But the scandals uncovered by the
King subcommittee strike at the heart of our tax-col-
ion system, and the problems raised will remain
us whether or not Congress approves the Prcsi-
ent’s plan. They will exist as long as personal judg-
jents determine how much money individuals and
orporations shall pay to the federal Treasury each year.
‘Taxes no longer have a direct and dreaded impact
only on the wealthy few. This year the federal tax
ystem will drain off approximately one-fourth of the
national income. Yet this vast collection process, which
garners over sixty billion dollars annually, is largely
yoluntary. The government could never enforce the
t fax laws if individuals and corporations should decide to
ignore them en masse. Weak governments have usually
discovered, as Nationalist China did, that the tax-col-
lection system falls apart if public confidence is forfeited,
And the quickest way to destroy confidence is to let
the public think that some persons, by bribing revenue
officials, are “getting away with something.”
With this fact lurking in the background, it is es-
ential that the agency responsible for administering the
tax-collection system should be a model of efficiency
and integrity. The Bureau of Internal Revenue, at least
in the last ten years, has deviated sharply from the
required standards. Its organization is antiquated, and
it is pitifully understaffed for the tremendous burden
Placed upon it by the revenue demands of the Second
World War and the present defense program. Fair-
minded observers would agree with President Truman
hat the majority of the bureau’s employees are honest,
but there has been enough dishonesty and inefficiency to
arouse distrust about many of its activities, An espe-
y unfortunate situation has developed in the offices
pf the sixty-four collectors of internal revenue. Although
echnically under the jurisdiction of the Commissioner,
eC
6
dy
4 7
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{
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,
YORMAN REDLICH discussed the proposed Constitutional
ndment limiting individual incom? taxes to 25 per cent
} 4 person's income in The Nation of October 20, 1951. He
$0 writes on tax matters for various law reviews,
uary 19, 1952
‘
-
”
in internal mevenue
BY NORMAN REDLICH
these collectors are direct appointees of the President
and enjoy a large measure of autonomy in their respective
districts. Many of their offices have been notoriously
inefficient. Only the pressure of the recent investigation,
for example, brought about a genuine effort by the
Third New York District to issue warrants for de-
linquent taxpayers. The collectors’ offices are supposed
to audit returns under $8,000, but in many districts
there is no auditing at all. John B, Dunlap, the present
Commissioner, pointed out recently that only fifteen of
the sixty-four collectors are career men and that twenty
of them have outside business interests.
If all taxes were automatically computed and deducted
from income like pay-roll taxes, corrupt officials would
have a narrow field of operation, Unfortunately, prepa-
ration of a tax return by business men, corporations,
executives, professional men, and those who are self-
employed in various capacities is not a cut-and-dried
affair. In a perfectly legal and aboveboard manner ac-
countants and tax lawyers are constantly advising clients
on ways to minimize their taxes, The Kiplinger Wash-
ington Agency, for example, in its tax letter of Decem-
ber 29, 1951, presented a detailed analysis of the use
of charitable foundations as a device for passing corpo-
rate stock from generation to generation without paying
an estate tax. Of course, beyond the accepted methods of
tax saving hies the area of fraud. A business man may
try to deduct $2,500 for “entertainment of customers”
when actually he bought his wife a mink coat. A doctor
may try to conceal part of the cash he receives for house
calls. A merchant may take a few dollars out of the cash
register cach night and charge it to “petty cash.”
Returns in which the taxpayer has consciously sought
to minimize taxes by cither honest or dishonest means,
and usually with the assistance of experts, offer tempting
opportunities to venal officials. And these opportunities
have been multiplied by lax administrative practices. For
example, the collectors of internal revenue hand on re-
turns of over $8,000 to the internal-revenue agents for
auditing; the collectors audit those under $8,000. Often
the receipt of many thousands and eyen millions in tax
dollars hinges on an agent's decision to allow or disallow
a deduction. It is at this point that smart accountants and
lawyers, representing wealthy clients, come face to face
with agents whose incomes are smal] and whose scruples
are flexible. In thousands of instances, for a few hundred
or a thousand dollars or even for friendship or a minor
favor, an agent will decide a close question in favor of
a taxpayer; these transactions rather than the pub:
55
%
\
i,
2 “ 2’
licized $500,000 shake-downs constitute the typical cor-
ruption in the tax service, The King subcommittee is
aware that this type of corruption, because it is more
widespread, is even more dangerous than the corruption
in high places. Unfortunately, it is extremely difficult to
uncover.
The prosecution of fraud cases also offers opportuni-
ties for shake-downs and fixes. Between the time a tax-
fraud case is first turned over to the special agent's office
and the time prosecution is started by the Assistant Attor-
ney General in charge of such cases, charges can be
dropped at any one of seventeen points along the line.
Tax evaders anxious to stay out of jail can dangle attrac-
tive bait before the eyes of officials who have dis-
cretionary power to stay prosecution, Corrupt officials
have been assisted by the bureau's practice of permitting
a prosecution for fraud to be discontinued if a taxpayer's
health or sanity would be impaired by a trial. The in-
vestigations of the King subcommittee have made it plain
that under the direction of T. Lamar Caudle the Tax
Division of the Department of Justice did not prosecute
fraud cases solely on the basis of apparent guilt.
for, Gs an administrative problem as complex as this,
a Congressional committee of inquiry can obtain
only certain limited results. The King subcommittee has
neither the money nor the personnel to conduct a full-
scale investigation of the Bureau of Internal Revenue. Its
chief function is rather to cast a spotlight in different
directions, awakening the public to the problems and
leaving corrective measures to the Administration.
While the exposure of deals between local agents and
accountants or lawyers has been of great interest, the
more sensational revelations of the corruption of high
officials have grabbed the headlines. These headlines may
have placed an unfair amount of the blame on the
- shoulders of the Truman Administration, but they have
already resulted in some important changes in the bureau.
Commissioner Dunlap has replaced Commissioner
Schoeneman, a notable improvement. The chief counsel
has resigned. A new assistant commissioner, a new
head of the alcohol tax unit, and a new Assistant Attor-
ney General in charge of the Tax Division of the
Department of Justice have been appointed. Tax-fraud
cated hierarchy in the Internal Revenue Bureau. New
_ collectors have been named in New York, Boston, and
- St. Louis.
_ Commissioner Dunlap has also organized an inspec-
tion service which is conducting its own investigation
of dishonest practices in the bureau. Half the bureau’s
employees haye filled out forms which detail their prop-
etty holdings and net worth. Of course, an official dis-
honest enough to take a bribe will be dishonest enough _
56
bureau, Twenty-five district commissioners will replace +
the present loose network of collectors, agents, and spe-
cial agents. The district commissioners will be under*
civil service and forbidden to have outside employ- |
ment or business interests, Abolition of the politically
appointed collectors is a big step forward; civil-service
career men are far less susceptible to the pressure of |
people with “influence.”
Apart from these immediate gains, the current inves-
tigation has unquestionably achieved some important
long-range results. The public has been made awate ofa
deplorable situation. For some time, at least, revenue 4
agents, tax accountants, and taxpayers will be on their
good behavior. Fear may not be the most desirable |
method of securing compliance with the law, but it is
often an effective one. As more disclosures are made by ~
the King subcommittee, the public can look forward to
still greater efforts by the Administration to clean house.
However, the President’s choice of Attorney General
McGrath to conduct an investigation of the bureau is
not likely to inspire confidence, in view of the justified [}*
charges leveled by the King subcommittee at McGrath's 7
own department. — 3 2
Congress will be asked to authorize an expanded staff *
for the overworked bureau and to increase salaries of
field officials. The subcommittee itself, in a report to be
released in the spring, will undoubtedly come up with 4
some excellent suggestions for improving administrative ~
and civil procedures. It will also recommend stricter reg- ,
ulation of federal tax practice in order to keep uncerti- ©
fied accountants, so-called ‘'tax experts,” and influence —
peddlers from negotiating with revenue officials. The —
committee has found that lawyers as a group are guilty
of fewer dishonest acts than other tax practitioners,
But even if all these corrective steps are taken and the —
pet woul: Saal
forms may reveal som,
unexplained acc m: u-
lations of wealth by
men earning small sal
aries. And the ne
sity of filling out these
forms may act as a de-
terrent against bribe=
taking in the future.
Perhaps the most
tangible result of the
committee's work to
date has been Presi-
dent Truman’s reor-
ganization plan. The |
new inspection service ,
will be made a pet- *
manent part of the +
Representative King
ie
The Neca y ;
S moditi He 2 and illest men of means will still
fe er bribes which some officials will accept. The im-
already made and those in prospect will nar-
w but not eliminate the problem.
Es I is unfortunate that the subcommitiee’s disclosures
ave provided some unearned political ammunition for
t e Republicans, While the Administration will say that
he changes it has instituted have solved the problem,
the Republicans will insist that the only hope for greater
y lies in a Republican victory in November.
Neither claim will be true. So long as revenue officials
anddaddy of the
fovemer
JLICS
ae!
HE current Washington production, “Tax Scandals
of 1951” —and presumably of 1952— is but a new
version of the original show that reached the stage on
Capitol Hill in 1924. The leading actors in this grand-
daddy of ‘Tax Scandals” were President Calvin Coolidge
and Secretary of the Treasury Andrew Mellon; Senator
James Couzens of Michigan was the producer. The piece
was a gfeat hit and ran for years.
Attracted to every controversy, especially if it gave off
_ even a slight odor of graft, political favoritism, or any
other governmental wrongdoing, Senator Couzens was
drawn inevitably into an investigation of tax collection.
Having amassed forty million dollars by showing Henry
Ford how to run an automobile company in a business-
like way, he thought every other multimillionaire ought
to be as honest as he was. And probably also because of
his own millions, he had mot an iota of awe for other
~multimillionaires, not even for Mr. Mellon, “the great-
“est eectetaty of the Treasury since Alexander Hamil-
‘ae ton.’
. Secretary Mellon was putting through Congress the
tax program described as the Mellon Plan for Assuring
“Permanent Prosperity. Its nub was the reduction of
World War I surtaxes on large incomes. Quite persua-
‘sively Mellon argued that if big corporations had their
_ taxes reduced, they would put the money back into their
business, and everybody would benefit. A few progres-
ives challenged this plan, but the opposition got little
attention until Senator Couzens opened up against it.
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HAR RY BARNARD, a Chicago newspaperman, is the
author of “Eagle Forgotten,” alife of John Peter Altgeld. He
4s working on a biography of James Couzens.
Vs
anuary 19, 1952
or withhold favors at Weir will the possibility
= of aati; will exist. This fact cannot be used as an
argument for lower taxes, for a large and complex
revenue system is now an essential part of our national
existence. Instead, the public must insist that vigorous
and non-partisan investigation be carried on constantly
by the new inspection service of the bureau and periodi-
cally by Congressional groups like the King subcommit-
tee. Corruption in tax-gathering can never be entirely
eliminated from a tax system as extensive as ours. But it
can be minimized, and certainly it should not be en-.
couraged by inefficient organization, careless administra-
tive practices, Jax enforcement of the law, or patronage
politics,
Tax Scandals
BY HARRY BARNARD
Couzens had written a letter to Secretary Mellon asking
him for the facts with which he backed his tax theory.
Mellon considered this an affront and sent Senator
Couzens a reply which in effect told him to mind his
own business and to let Alexander Hamilton’s successor
handle such complicated matters as taxation, The bel-
ligerent Senator from Michigan let out a rejoinder
foreshadowing an atomic explosion. Mr. Mellon, not as
meek as he looked, replied in the same style, implying
that Senator Couzens was not only a dolt in financial mat-
ters, in spite of his accomplishments with Henry Ford,
but also a tax slacker, since he had admittedly invested
much of his forty million in government securities,
That did it, On February 21, 1924, Couzens presented.
to the Senate a resolution for a committee to investigate
the Bureau of Internal Revenue, which then as now was
under the jurisdiction of the Secretary of the Treasury.
The bureau had not been investigated by Congress since
the income tax had gone into effect eleven years earlier,
Though controlled by the Republicans, the startled Sen-
ate passed the resolution. When the Senators recovered,
they tried to remedy matters by denying Couzens the
chairmanship of the investigating committee, which by
precedent he should have had, and giving it to faithful
old Jim Watson of Indiana. The committee was further
loaded with good friends of Mr. Mellon, but Couzens
insisted on a real investigation and stole the show. The
first thing he did was to subpoena from the Bureau of —
Internal Revenue its top-secret files on all the corpora-
tions in which Mr. Mellon owned a substantial interest—
a sizable file indeed. Next he retained as counsel for the
committee the famous prosecutor of the San Francisco
“graft” cases, Francis J. Heney. It did not bother
Pog Poeen ee, ey Sr Leas Py a
ut
Couzens that his Republican colleagues had intentionally —
omitted from the resolution specific authorization for
counsel. He got around this impediment by paying Mr.
Heney's fee out of his own pocket.
OW came the comic relief. Jim Watson rushed to
Secretary Mellon, and Mellon rushed to President
Coolidge. Among them they cooked up two blister-
ing letters. One from Mr. Mellon to Mr. Coolidge in-
formed the President that if the wealthy Senator Couzens
were permitted to pay for legal counsel for an investigat-
ing committee, the Constitution would be subverted, the
Republic endingered, and, worse yet, Mr. Mellon might
be forced to resign in protest. A letter from President
Coolidge to the Senate touched off a beautiful to-do in
that body. Even Senators as conservative as Carter Glass
denounced the President, declaring that his attack
upon Senator Couzens and the committee was an at-
tack upon the Senate itself; it was comparable, said
Senator Tom Walsh, to the treatment of the English
Parliament by the Stuarts and Tudors, Senatorial in-
dignation over Coolidge’s tactics was so great that the
Couzens committee was again given the green, light,
this time with authority to hire a lawyer.
The interesting reports which Senator Couzens now
sent regularly to the Senate showed that Mr. Mellon's
Bureau of Internal Revenue had secretly granted rebates
_ and refunds on their income taxes amounting to millions
of dollars to a large number of corporations, including
several controlled by Mr. Mellon. In one report Senator
Couzens estimated that these secret refunds totaled well
over $600,000,000. Among the corporations which bene-
fited were the Aluminum Corporation of America (Mel-
lon), $15,589,614; United States Steel, $55,063,312;
Bethlehem Steel, $22,103,942; duPont, $15,369,123;
Federal Ship Building, $19,849,786; National Aniline
Chemical, $9,912,140; and Gulf Oil (Mellon),
$3,378,000. Other beneficiaries included William Ran-
dolph Hearst, whose papers soon would be demanding a
national sales tax, and Colonel William Boyce Thomp-
son, an industrialist who had served as treasurer of
__ the National Republican Committee. °
Couzens was subjected to a great deal of criticism
for failing to show that these refunds were illegal. In
_ another report he answered that this was precisely the
__ point—these internal-revenue secret dealings were legal,
but the tax money was being shoveled back to the corpo-
gations without the public knowing anything about it.
5 _ At the same time he insisted that under any fair system
of taxation many of these corporations would not be
entitled to such refunds, that they ought, in fact, to
be taxed more heavily, and he urged that the laws be
changed. He also declared that the Secretary of the
Treasury, even if his name was Mellon, should not have
the exclusive say on tax policy; this was something
38
3 ch Co ong ‘x ete
Theteons ix i 2 sae >
Joint Committee on Internal Revenue, with a f cman )
staff of experts, and the recommendation was adopted
Today one must wonder what has happened to thi
committee, :
The curtain then went up on the grand climax of
Couzens’s “Tax Scandals of 1924." Mr. Mellon was so
outraged by the effrontery of the Michigan Senator th t
he struck back at him with a fury that eventuated in the
most celebrated tax case of all time up to then.
Back in 1919 Henry Ford had bought out all the
other stockholders in the Ford Motor Company, —
ing Couzens, paying Couzens alone thirty million dolla
for his shares, Couzens paid in income tax on the wale
action approximately nine million dollars, after having
checked with the incumbent Commissioner of Internal
Revenue, Dan Roper, as to the amount that he owed. —
When Henry Ford, around 1924, began talking of cun-
ning for the Presidency, somebody sent to Jim Watson a |
memorandum asserting that the Ford stockholders had —
not paid enough income taxes. The Bureau of Internal |
Revenue investigated the matter thoroughly on several |
occasions and rejected the allegation. Now this old
memorandum was dug up from the bowels of the
bureau, and on the basis of it Mr. Mellon dispatched the -
Commissioner of Internal Revenue to Couzens in the
Senate chamber with a notice that he was being cited —
for income-tax delinquency to the tune of ten million —
dollars,
“Sue and be damned!" Couzens told the Ciciaigea
sioner, then a gentleman named Blair. The result was a
giant-size case before the United States Board of Tax
Appeals which went on, concurrently with Couzens'’s in- _
vestigation of taxes, for almost three years. In the end —
Couzens not only won a victory over the Bureau of
Internal Revenue but showed that he had overpaid his —
taxes by more than $900,000, which the government now —
had to refund!
It is clear from this recapitulation of the “Tax Scandals ~ q
of 1924” that the 1951 version is pretty weak stuff and
that Republicans as well as Democrats have been in- —
volved in corruption from time to time. The characters _
in the current show seem small potatoes—rotten as some |
of them probably are. If Congress could produce someone —
like the belligerent, progressive Couzens, with the —
temerity to dig into the files of the really big taxpayers ~
instead of into the affairs of little people linked mainly —
with mink coats, we might get a performance that would -
make history. The investigators, of course, would have —
to be interested less in newspaper headlines or am- —
munition for a coming political campaign than in —
penetrating to the heart of what political analysts teentld 3
James Madison to Charles A. Beard have called a basic _
problem of government—who pays what taxes?
The Natio:
gress should
COLIN i
“ip pass
{
|
f
ri
4
JHE fundamental issue of the Korean problem is the
J political unification of this artificially divided coun-
ty. Unless it is resolved, there is little possibility that
_ ing peace will be achieved.
Although the armistice talks at Panmunjom have been
fn erned entirely with military matters, they have great
0 ting upon the unification question. In the first place,
mese talks opened channels for negotiation on the
Korean situation which had been blocked since the dis-
solution of the U. SU. S. S. R. Joint Commission in
1947. Secondly, agreement on an armistice—which still
ap pears possible despite the wrangling—should en-
courage attempts to settle political matters as well.
Fi finally, should the proposal for neutral participation in
oe
the enforcement of the Panmunjom provisions be ac-
cepted, it would be an important precedent for genuinely
international settlement of the Korean problem,
_ Korea's history and geographical position decree for it
; , role of absolute neutrality in international affairs. The
first action of the United States and China in coming
discussions of the future of Korea should be recognition
of this fact, So long as one power has a strategic advan-
tage in Korea, no agreement on unification will be
reached, Direct negotiations with China by the United
_ States, either acting for itself or for a combination led by
ae would just as surely fail to produce a unified Korean
vernment as did United States negotiations with
Russia in 1946 and 1947. Each side would still feel that
‘it was in ifs interest to reject any settlement which did
ot give the balance of power to the Korean group it was
eady supporting.
_ Assuredly the role of the Korean people in the unifica-
tion process should be a large one. The present situation
is a direct result of too much outside interference in the
country’s affairs. The capacity of the Koreans to govern
themselves has been severely maligned during the past
few years, much as it was earlier by Japan. Actually the
‘Koreans displayed a good deal of skill in self-govern-
ment when they had the opportunity immediately follow-
ing the Japanese surrender in 1945. Before the arrival of
the Russian and American occupation forces, the Japa-
ese authorities acceded to the demands for governmen-
ARTHUR L. GREY, JR., a writer on Far Eastern affairs,
collaborated with the late George M.-McCune on the widely
4 “Korea Today.” This is the first of a series of articles
he problem of peace in Korea by a number of experts
the Far East. The second, by Lawrence K. Rosinger, will
)pear next week,
ec)
muary 19, 1952
ee
f sare) x ~
: pak A
BY ARTHUR L. GREY, JR,
tal powers made by the new “People’s Republic,” a
representative body of more than forty Korean political
groups of all shades which emerged from the under-
ground on V-J Day. The People’s Republic was in the
main left of center. Not until the extreme rightist groups
which now dominate the South Korean government
withdrew from it and set out to destroy it, was it to
a significant degree controlled by Communists. While
it cannot be assumed that the Korean people have been
unaffected by the pressures to which they have been
so long subjected, it is hardly plausible that a country
which so recently contained a large measure of moderate
leadership is now fairly represented by Communists in
the North and venal reactionaries in the South.
FIRST concrete step toward unification could be
A the formation of a national government with
limited powers but responsible for the boundary line cre-
ated by the cease-fire, the establishment of a uniform cur-
rency, and the removal of other obstacles to freedom of
movement and commercial relations between the two
areas. In this way the difficult issue of the dissolution of
the present northern and southern governments would
not have to be faced immediately,
The impossibility of agreement between the United
States and the Communists on how elections should
be conducted precludes the selection of the over-all
national government by vote of the people. Therefore,
such a government should be set up by an interna-
tional agency created through an accord among the
belligerents, and its members should be appointed on
as widely representative a basis as possible. When, after
a period of time, the new government had assumed most
of the responsibilities of sovereignty, the international
agency should consider ordering a national election, The
important thing from the standpoint of the agency
would not be the internal government but the mainte-
nance of Korean neutrality.
Seemingly, it was for discharging just such responsi-
bilities that the United Nations was created. But the
U. N. agencies established for dealing with the Korean
dispute are incapable of mediating it. One of the great
weaknesses of the U. N. in the present situation is that
Asian countries like Pakistan, India, Burma, Indonesia,
and the Philippines have each only as many votes in the
General Assembly as, for example, any one of the six
Central American countries. Yet all the latter together
have a population only one-half that of Burma, the least
populous of these Asian states. The result has been that
ae) ; "ig J os , he - 4 “¢
2 ‘ ; = , ' »y . ¥
the U. N. has become too closely identified with the _ viction that a resum ss
_ United States in Korea and is unable to play an inde- tle in the way of deciaiee’ ‘resu be ‘hus instead of
pendent role. The establishment of a new agency which tating agreement, the armistice may only increase
is acceptable to both sides is therefore necessary. reluctance of one or both sides to make the compre
In the meantime, non-military U. N. agencies now in _ mises necessary for the realization of Korean unification
_____ Korea should be assuming greater responsibilities. These One of the difficulties which we may hope ie
i are the United Nations Commission for the Unification overcome by reduced direct American participation is the
ore and Rehabilitation of Korea (UNCURK), which suc- present inelastic attitude of Congress. There is ever
| __ ceeded the U. N. Commission on Korea in 1950, and _— danger that the din of Senatorial tocsins would frighten
| ‘the United Nations Korean Reconstruction Agency American negotiators from agreeing to the slightest de-
(UNKRA) established a short while later. Neither is parture from the status quo. The possibility that China
operating effectively, either to relieve the deplorable and Russia may feel that a constructive approach is now,
He economic conditions in South Korea or to prepare the —_ expedient must not be dismissed, In any case, the cha nce
"area for becoming part of a unified Korean state. Ameri- of a negotiated settlement should not be sacrificed to:
n can policy on economic assistance has followed the same _ useless recriminations and justifications for continued
disheartening course during the fighting that it did dur- _ unilateral action. .
| ing the occupation period four and five years ago, The war has reduced Korea to a condition in which i P
affording only militarily administered relief “for the is of very little value to anyone. There have been an esti
prevention of disease, starvation, and unrest among the __ mated five million casualties out of a total population of
civilian population.” UNKRA, which derives the bulk _ thirty million at the beginning of the war. Millions of
of its funds from the United States, has been unable to —_— people are homeless, Most of the factories are leveled;
start even a small program for repairing some of the schools are either wrecked or have been requisitioned by
eight billion dollars’ worth of war damage in South _ the military; and agricultural production, which was not
Korea. adequate before, has fallen by nearly a third, If these
No doubt the willingness of both sides to continue the —faets mean anything, they call for imaginative coopera-
talks at Panmunjom has been prompted by their con- __ tion to rescue Korea from chaos.
Headache Ponders: Use Your Head
BY LEONARD ENGEL
° WO out of three Americans are said to get head- _in ordinary headaches and in migraine. Bye strain and
: aches a dozen times a year or more, and 10,000,000 poor posture can bring on a headache, and so can men-
to suffer from chronic headaches, often of the severest _ strual difficulties and constipation. Colds, fever, sinusitis,
kind, Whatever the validity of these figures, the drug in- _—_ and neufalgia are commonly accompanied by an aching 7
dustry finds our aching heads a good thing, worth almost _ head. And, of course, a headache may be the price of ©
he $100,000,000 a year in sales; headache remedies are what copy-writers like to call “over-indulgence.”
second only to laxatives among over-the-counter (no The best-known, most widely used medicine for occa-
.__ prescription required) drugs. Unfortunately, many of sional headaches and other minor pains is aspirin; yet —
_ the headache preparations on the market are far from in- few people are aware of the most important fact about
_ frocuous, Many more are unscrupulously promoted, and _ it. This is simply that aspirin is aspirin, no matter what ~
most are ovetpriced. the ads may say. The next time you shop for aspirin, ask
th _ Needless to say, the right way to deal with head- for it without specifying the brand. If the clerk is rea-
_ aches, especially if they occur frequently, is to find sonably honest, he will offer you a choice of half a dozen »
and treat the cause—a job for a physician. Headachesmay _ brands ranging in price from 20 to 85 cents for a bottle”
_ bea sign of such serious disorders as the malignant type — of 100 tablets, and when you ask what’s the difference, —
e of high blood pressure, eclampsia (toxemia of preg- he will reply “none whatever.” What he says is literal] yi
Ns nancy), brain tumor, meningitis, encephalitis, and head _ true. Aspirin is an “official” drug, that is, it is listed in
_ injury. They may also have an infinity of other causes. the United States Pharmacopeia. Under the Food, Drug, —
_ Emotional tension and allergy are often involved, both and Cosmetic Act of 1938 drugs so listed, or drugs with -
re similar names, must conform to the Pharmacopeia stand-
Ave os x LEONARD ENGEL is a writer on scientific subjects whose ard, All brands of aspirin, in other words, must be a an d
articles appear frequently in The Nation. | are the same... a
60 The Nation
¢ 1 OL iii a5 ;
ies, Dow and
Os manufacturers” merely buy the
_ bulk from one or the other, sometimes both,
into tablets, and bottle it. There is nothing un-
ethical in this, but it shows how ridiculous is the claim
f high-priced brands to special merits.
Aspirin is one of the safest drugs known, although
urge doses may interfere with the coagulation mecha-
uism of the blood, and a few individuals get a rash if
hey take any aspirin at all. On the other hand, it pro-
vides only a modest amount of relief. When something
more potent is needed, physicians usually prefer a prepa-
tation known as APC or AAC compound, a mixture of
aspi in, caffeine, and a coal-tar derivative named phenac-
etin or acetophenitidin. APC is a standard preparation,
available under many different brand names—such as
Empirin and Anacin. Being more potent than aspirin,
AP ns are not so safe, though they are less
dar ingerous than many other headache concoctions cur-
ren ly offered the public. Directions on the label should
¢ followed carefully,
Botany headache remedies are based on acetanilid or
antipyrine, two coal-tar derivatives discovered in Ger-
‘Many sixty or seventy years ago, At about the same
time the Germans discovered two other coal-tar products,
_aminopyrine and cincophen, which were used as pain-
killers for several decades. Though harmless enough
in small, occasional doses, they were highly toxic when
| taken over a long period or in large amounts. Both were
finally eliminated from over-the-counter drugs. Acetani-
lid and antipyrine are not much safer but are still in
use. If taken too frequently or in too large quantities,
they can lead to digestive and skin disorders and even
to more serjous ailments and death.
JN ANOTHER dangerous group of drugs found in
i many headache remedies are sodium, potassium, and
monium bromides. The bromides were formerly used
i 1 epilepsy—they have been superseded by far more ef-
ective agents—and are still prescribed occasionally as
sedatives. If taken too often they tend to cause rather than
felieve headaches, leading the user to take ever larger
doses. The result may be addiction, skin eruptions,
igestive disturbances, or mental derangement—ending
serhaps in delirium, coma, and death.
About a dozen years ago the Food and Drug Admin-
tration seized shipments of Bromo-Seltzer, an acetani-
d-bromide headache remedy put out by the Emerson
ug Company of Baltimore, Emerson indignantly de-
d that its product was unsafe, but the F. D, A.
yn in court, and Emerson was compelled to cut the
Mtities of acetanilid and bromides in Bromo-Seltzer
0 a. a strong warning on the label pointing out,
other things, that Bromo-Seltzer is “not for use
E 19, 1952
a eee MMe
having Eoney Oa eae organic too Re i
vised by physician.” Bromo-Seltzer is now probably
; safe enough for occasional use, provided the label warn-
ing is kept in mind. Not all who use the drug, though,
see the warning, since Bromo-Seltzer is dispensed at
soda fountains. To reach all users, a warning should
be incorporated in the ads. Drug advertising, however,
is within the jurisdiction of the Federal Trade Commis-
sion rather than the F. D, A., thanks to the efforts of the
drug lobby when the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act was
debated.
During the war the F. T. C. filed complaints against
five manufacturers of headache remedies, charging them
with misrepresenting in their ads not only the merits but
the safety of their products, “Respondent’s advertise-
ments,” the F. T, C. declared in one complaint, “contain
no warning or statement revealing the potential danger
of the excessive use of its preparation with respect to
either the dosage or frequency of use, and such failure
may lead the public to believe that the preparation may
be safely taken in such amounts and with such frequency
as may be necessary to accomplish the represented and
desired results.” None of the five pointed out, the com-
mission added, that their preparations were particularly
dangerous for children, One of the five was Emerson.
The other four and their products were the BC Remedy
Company (BC Headache Powders, containing acetanilid
and bromides), Stanback Company (Stanback Headache
Powders, acetanilid and bromides), Capudine Chemical
Company (Hick’s Capudine, antipyrine and potassium
bromide), and Miles Laboratories (Dr, Miles’ Nervine,
a triple bromide preparation, and Dr, Miles’ Anti-Pain
Pills, containing acetanilid),
After lengthy hearings the F, T. C. told BC and Stan-
back in 1946 that their ads would have to mention the
acetanilid and bromides in their products, Both com-
panies elected instead to eliminate the two ingredients
from their formulas, and agreed further that the F, T, C,
could issue cease-and-desist orders without new hearings
if either were ever used again,
Hearings in the other cases dragged on until last year.
Then, just as they were to go to trial examiners for deci-
sion, the F. T. C. turned around and settled them by
stipulation (agreement with the defendants). None was
compelled to make any vital disclosures in its ads. Emer-
son and Capudine were merely required to make minor
changes in their claims and to include in their ads the
innocuous phrase, “Follow the label—avoid excessive
use.” Miles, which had delayed the proceedings with a
court suit contending that the F. D, A., not the F. T. C,,
had jurisdiction over drug ads, had to use the same
phrase. In recent ads that I have seen, this cautionary
statement is well buried in the text.
It still seems to be all right to pass on to the ultimate
consumer the headache over headache remedies.
61
wee % , Ate tes
Al
fre
i +
\ ~
aot ROCK
he be : .
mit There is stone in me that knows stone,
pa Substance of rock that remembers the unending unending
t } ; . . .
f )) Si Simplicity of rest
i While scorching suns and ice-ages
Pass over rock face swiftly as days.
; In the Jongest time of all come the rock's changes,
rs Slowest of rhythms, the pulsations
} That raise from the planet's core the mountain ranges
And weather them down to sand on the sea’s floor.
Endures in me record of rock's duration.
My ephemeral substance lay in the veins of the earth from the beginning,
sy Patient for its release, not questioning
When, when will come the flowering, the flowing,
The pulsing, the awakening, the taking wing,
The long longed-for night of the bridegroom's coming.
There is stone in me that knows stone
4 Whose sole state is stasis,
ie While the slow cycle of the stars whirls a world of rock
Through light-years where in nightmare I fall crying
“Must I travel fathomless distance for ever and ever?”
All that is in me on the rock replies,
“For ever, if it must be; be, and be still, endure.”
KATHLEEN RAINE
solved, must continue to necessitate it—
but has only maintained im power an
utterly selfish and corrupt clique indif-
ferent to their country’s welfare, quick
to use terrorism, and certain to fall as
soon as American financial and military
support is withdrawn. We have made
substantial contributions in improving
communications, controlling malaria,
keeping starving people alive, and in-
sisting upon Liberal Party representa-
tion in the government, but these
ameliorations leave Greece’s desperate
social and economic unbalance virtually
untouched; because our policy has never
envisaged the rectification of this unbal-
ance it has been doomed from the start
and cannot secure even the strategic
The Problem of Greece
GREECE: AMERICAN DILEMMA
AND OPPORTUNITY. By L. S.
Stavrianos. Henry Regnery Company.
$3.25.
ERPLEXED Americans can find no
4 better paradigm by which to assess
_ their responsibilities and interests in
areas under American influence than
_ the experience of Greece. Modern like
ancient Greece provides an ideal labora-
_ tory specimen; volume is limited, con-
_ tributory factors are susceptible of
isolation and scrutiny, and remoteness
' : facilitates objectivity. Hence if the di-
- Stavrianos’s title are valid for Greece,
he Apia and program he offers may
the administrative machinery have re-
mained firmly in the same rightist
3 hands in which the British placed them
ring. Our intervention has done noth-
ing to solve the problems which neces- _ political leadership, even with a Liberal
Party facade, is utterly incapable of
- BOOKS a and i | 1 f
goal which is its object. The army and -
at the end of the war, and the present —
initiating the thoroughgoing reforms es
sential for reorganizing the count
economy and exploiting its resources $0
as to employ its surplus population and
raise the shockingly low standard of my
ing. Rehabilitation of war damage is
not enough. Greece's economic and § :
cial ill health was chronic long befe
the war, and led to the harsh dictator-
ship of Metaxas in 1936, During th e
war the leftist resistance movement
called E. A. M. gave the parts of Greece ©
it controlled, according to E, A, M.’
friends, the most efficient and equitable
government they had ever enjoyed; and
the disappointment of the high hopes
raised by it, the intensification of the
economic stringency occasioned by the —
loss of foreign markets for Greek to-
bacco and other meager exports, and
the reversion to a government very like
that of Metaxas in political coloring —
and techniques have brought the —
chronic malady to a critical point. No
government which does not attack the
ills at their root can survive without re-
pression, and no repression can succeed”
without outside support. —’
Why have we committed our mis- —
takes? Perhaps the most useful aspect 4
of Stavrianos’s book is his account of —
how, step by step, our policy came tobe
what it is, so that if we refuse to believe 4
that our officials have been blind we —
need not assume that our policy has
been wise. If there is a villain in the
piece it is Winston Churchill, who set —
the policy of using only the extreme
right, even before liberation, and_of
thwarting every honest effort put forth —
by moderates. Churchill’s policy was
continued, without perceptible change
by the Labor government, until, in Feb- —
ruary, 1947, the British acknowledged
their failure and withdrew from Greece. .
To keep Greece from falling into the —
Soviet orbit the vacuum had to be filled, —
but America Jost its unique epportinty
for making a thorough house-cleaning ©
the condition of its support, and instead,
by the terms of the Truman Doctrine, 4
actually outbid British ee =
The civil war which followed must be |
The NasION
nd their determination too great
their movement to be ascribed to a
d rd core of Communists inspired from
road. Formidable resistance flared up
; in the traditionally conservative
eloponnese, which had no contact
PComrinnrnist regimes to the north
reece, large sections of the regular
yreek army refused to fight against
weit brethren and were interned, and
1c ugh the insurgents undoubtedly re-
ed assistance from the north, the
sree! ent had to use far larger
s and far more lavish equipment
5 fpsbdue its rebels than the Germans
aad used to curb the E. A. M. resistance
g the war.
The accuracy of Stavrianos’s estimate
of the past is vouched for both by his
meticulous documentation and by the
tual course of events. The one crucial
stion upon which opinions must al-
ways differ is the extent to which
#. A. M. was committed to world com-
Munism, and hence the degree of like-
| lihood that if it were not suppressed it
yould bring Greece into the Russian
. orbit. The best objective evidence of
EB. A. M's good faith is its conduct
_ before the bloody civil war of Decem-
ber, 1944. It welcomed the token British
| force, retired from Athens, and actually
began demobilization, until it was
oved to resistance by outrageous prov-
ocation. But even if the Communist core
E, A. M. were committed to the
ian program, it remains true that
a could- have been countered more
effectively by using their rivals of the
st and democratic parties than by
lying on their polar opposites.
It is in its optimism for the future
that Stavrianos’s book may arouse
greater skepticism. His solution is that
encourage a truly centrist govern-
ment, free it from the hamstringing in-
bus of rightist army and administra-
ve direction, and give our full support
) a program of fundamental reform.
such a program had been adopted
om the start, civil war—which
avtianos thinks is otherwise bound to
uf—would have been averted, Greece
iid have been made into a model
vit of democracy in action, and at
ss cost than the two billions we
ent we should have had reliable
ary 19, 1952
Dp...
Ru
rm «
bors a su sullen ae ee
that speaks ‘of the American “occupa-
tion.”
Greece’s economy can indubitably be
greatly improved, and numberless com-
missions of experts have projected
programs for fuller exploitation of
its resources, but it is hard to see how
Greece could ever approach the satel-
lites’ rich agricultural and mineral
potential. The problem of finding new
political leadership seems no less diffi-
cult, The polarization instigated by
both right and left and crystallized by
British and American policy has left the
center bare. The “‘liberal’” panties of to-
day are indistinguishable from the right;
the meaninglessness of labels is now il-
lustrated by the fact that Papagos’can be
heralded as a liberal. We should have
resolutely to face the cries of “Com-
munist’’ that would greet the newcomers
we would countenance and the measures
they would introduce. These measures
might indeed emulate some of those
taken in the Soviet satellites to the
north, but unless we blunder Greece will
not itself veer over to Russia, Greek
national pride is too strong, and even
its doctrinaire Communists have been
twice disillusioned by Stalin—when for
his own ends he surrendered them to
Churchill, and when for his own ends
he forbade their necessary contacts with
Tito during the civil war of- 1948.
But all difficulties must be faced.
Our present approach, deriving from the
traditions of the British Foreign Office
which the British have themselves
abandoned, has been proved futile; the
social and economic situation in Greece
is explosive and gathering steam; we
may still, and therefore we must, chan-
nel the forces of change in a direction
profitable to ourselves as well as to
Greece and the world. Stavrianos’s
expert knowledge and patent sincerity
command respect. If he makes no secret
of his partisanship, he offers justification
for it that is always plausible and at
most points convincing. Because of its
geographical position the problem of
Greece possesses very great importance
for us in itself, and perhaps equally
great importance as a pattern for our
policy in other areas; a thoughtfully pre-
sented view which differs from that
upon which our present policy is based
deserves attention.
MOSES HADAS
so
Mr. Brooks’s History
THE CONFIDENT YEARS: 1885+
1915, By Van Wyck Brooks. E, P.
Dutton and Company. $6.
HE CONFIDENT YEARS” brings
to a close Mr. Brooks’s five-volume
“history of the writer in America.” The
virtues and shortcomings of Mr.
Brooks’s method have by now been
thoroughly canvassed, and “The Con-
fident Years” provokes no novel reflec-
tions on that score. The same skill in
evocation recreates the latter-day milieux
of American literary life—the physical
and social scene, the components of the
intellectual climate—as freshly as for
the earlier years; it is an art which, as
Mr. Brooks notes with allowable asper-
ity, “critics who totally lack it have
always disparaged.” The same sense of
discovery, or of sharing one’s own dis-
coveries, is aroused as Mr. Brooks’s sen-
sibility responds to the particular note
of some half-forgotten book of minor
worth or a minor genre and sketches its
claims on us. And the same evasion,
finally, of literature in its major aspects,
of the work of literature as an autono-
mous entity, disappoints the expecta-
tions which these artfully composed
backgrounds, these passing felicities of
appreciation, awaken in us. As in the
other volumes the most successfully pre-
TT
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63
sented figures are those of lesser writers
or writers of only quasi-literary interest
—the chapters of “The Confident
Years” which seem best to encompass
their subjects are on O, Henry and H. L.
Mencken—and the implied claim for
_ American accomplishment never quite
| _ xealizes itself by bringing into focus the
& end product, the achieved work of art,
e * by which the claim stands or falls. It
| would be grossly unjust to Mr, Brooks’s
I * series to say that it is an admirably ar-
| i ranged museum of Americana; yet it
J _ too often comes too close to being just
BD A that.
eile What Mr. Brooks intends the series
i e to be is disclosed in the last chapter of
‘ohn “confident years,’
“The Confident Years.” This Forward
Glance is an affirmation of American
literature as an expression of the En-
lightenment, a restatement, developed
with less intemperance of manner and
_ greater dialectical skill, of Mr. Brooks's
old case against T. S. Eliot and the pre-
vailing alienation of the literary mind
from the set of ideas at the core of the
American experience. In the dialectics
of debate Mr. Brooks thrusts shrewdly
enough, as I have said, at the paradoxes
of Eliot's position, and he is on firm-
enough ground, one feels, in the suppo-
sition underlying his argument that the
present crisis of the Enlightenment is a
crisis of growing pains and not of
senility—the more severe in America in
so far as America has given itself more
wholly than Europe to the chiliastic be-
liefs that the Enlightenment, like early
Christianity, is in the process of slough-
ing off.
But Mr. Eliot as an ideologue is after
all not very difficult to dispose of, and
shrewdly and tellingly as Mr. Brooks at
times puts his case against the defectors
from the liberal-democratic tradition,-
his own relationship to that tradition is
hardly a forceful or compelling one. In
a Be the end, in fact, his attitude seems to be
____ that of rather thin nostalgia for the
the
’ in short, of his own
"pre-World War I youth: “If the abcess
brave days of “Jean Christophe,”
ed
za; of the world-war time were to break in
a world-peace instead of in world-de-
struction,” he writes, “what shouts of
jubilation then would rise from a renas-
cent world.” This mood is as little rele-
‘vant in a central way to a revaluation of
the liberal-democratic tradition as Mr.
Eliot’s prescription of a Coleridgean
64
—
=.)
dl ng * wat Te y
Sele aes
“dlerisy” and, if ee pat B 30, Pe aa t, the traditi
good deal less amasing. As a piece of
cukural history Mr. Brooks's series is in
its way a unique achievement, but as an
interpretation, of American literature
and of the American mind this closing
volume sharpens one’s sense of its short-
comings. HOWARD DOUGHTY, JR.
The Two Germanys
THE EASTERN ZONE AND SOVIET
POLICY IN GERMANY, 1945-
1950. By J. P. Nettl. Oxford Univer-
sity Press. $5.50.
OUR GERMAN POLICY: PROPA-
GANDA AND CULTURE. By A\-
bert Norman. Vantage Press. $2.50.
DER the flood of news reports
and arguments about the West
German Republic, now courted as an
ally in the defense of Western Europe,
it is easy to forget that Germany is not
one, but two, and that the other, Soviet-
controlled Germany is at one and the
same time a pawn of Soviet policy and
a quarrclsome Siamese twin of the
Adenauer republic. As the two republics
gtapple with each for leadership of the
frustrated urge to national unity, their
struggle is a reminder that Germany
again has a potential freedom of choice
between two basic orientations and that
coexistence of two worlds means a pro-
longed coexistence of two mutually hos-
tile and rival Germanys.
The nature and potential of that
“other” Germany have been clarified by
J. P. Nettl's thoughtful and well-docu-
mented study, the best available. Avoid-
ing dramatic conclusions and, indeed,
clinging to a somewhat drab style of
understatement, Nett] implicitly warns
Western students and planners of pol-
icy against regarding the East German
“people’s republic” as a negligible or
non-existent factor. And while he
throws much new light on the basic
contradictions in Soviet policy, his
analysis also carries with it a caution
against the over-facile assumption that —
the Russians may somehow be jockeyed
into giving up their domination over
their third of Germany.
What are the plus signs, in power
terms, for Soviet policy in East Ger-
many? By a drastic land. reform, car-
ried out while the Germans were com-
pletely disorganized and benumbed by
If East Germany Sense far behind ¢
western republic in recovering produ 2
tion and living standards after 1948,
it also avoided the extremes of economic
despair through which the West Ger-
mans passed between the defeat and
1948. The East German transition from”
one totalitarian system to another was, —
unfortunately, less painful in some re-
spects than the far greater change to a’
widening range of democratic choices
and responsibilities in the western zones.”
In Nettl’s opinion this relentless erec-
tion of a new totalitarian regime was
based on a carefully predetermined
Soviet plan of action. However, from —
his own evidences of conflicting Soviet
aims and interests # can be argued with ©
considerable force that the outward ap-
pearances of careful planning may derive
from the fact that, when confronted ~
with choices to be made, Soviet policy- |
makers were conditioned to make de- —
cisions which copied or reinforced that
system of power which was familiar to —
them. For example, Nett! documents in
considerable detail the difficulties which
faced the Soviet leaders in deciding
between removing capital equipment and,
taking larger reparations out of cur- —
rent production, between extending
direct Soviet ownership of industry and
manipulating the terms of trade. If the
Soviet representatives had been operat-
ing on a longer-range plan, they would
have found many advantages in post-
poning the fusion of the Communist and
Social Democratic parties, as occurred in ~
Poland and Hungary. }
Nettl’s carefully buttressed condu-
sions, which have to be mined out of —
the context by the reader, are important. —
The Soviet government has acquired a |
valuable colony in East Germany and
will not abandon its prize except to —
grasp at the even greater resources of —
West Germany. Moreover, despite re- |
movals which total some 20 per cent of“
the total product, the Soviet authorities _
can bring about a gradual improvement”
in that sector which serves the German —
population, so that the West cannot 3
rely in perpetuity on the superior at-
tractiveness of its living standards, Con- ‘
trary to a widespread assumption, both —
East and West Germany have adjusted —
their economies quite well to getting
The NATION
a ia = ¢
wT
4a stooge party which would disin-
ate under conditions of genuine po-
freedom. On balance the Soviet
one makes important contributions to
he economy of the Soviet sphere and
ovides a potent but not decisive lever-
he in the politics of Germany as a
a
whole.
“Our German Policy: Propaganda and
Culture,” by Albert Norman, is a brief
account, by an interested and observant
staff member, of the efforts of the
American occupation authorities, in
1945-46, to promote the growth of dem-
ocratically oriented press, publishing,
adio, motion-picture, and theater serv-
ices in their zone. It gives credit for
many sensible constructive steps which
were taken by the improvised adminis-
trators of the occupation, and makes
clear the confusion of purposes with
vhich the United States approached the
‘task of German reconstruction. While
Norman barely touches on the basic
tion of whether “democratization”
can be injected from without or merely
encouraged to grow from within, he
_ has given a frank and modest picture of
the problems which faced the occupiers
in the fields of education and in-
formation. PHILIP EZ, MOSELY
The Lost European Culture
as
THE LOST LIBRARY. The Autobiog-
_ faphy of a Culture. By Walter Mch-
fing. Translated by Richard and Clara
_ Winston. The Bobbs-Merrill Com-
| pany. $3.50.
NCE upon a time Walter Mehring,
a German poet and novelist now
living in New York, owned a library,
bequeathed by his father and enriched
by himself. In those happy, far-off days
he Kings of Steel and Oil still gave
ulture a pat on the back now and then.
nd a man might boldly carry a book
own Fifth Avenue or Piccadilly with-
it people looking askance at him as at
half-alive fossil or a ghost-writer on
$ las legs. Then the World Series of
oe. Hitler emerged, and as Mr.
ing sees it, the Kremlin brought
rw 1 its mailed fist and hobnailed boots
‘ “a nat was left of the Four Freedoms,
nuary 19, 1952
a ‘
+ ee
“when the Nazis ee him from his
library and hunted him from pillar to
post.
We first meet him during his Vien-
nese exile, just as his boxes of books
are miraculously restored to him. His
“lost library” is clearly a choice cross-
section of the standard bibliothéque of
the European cultured classes before
1933. As he unpacks his precious vol-
umes one by-one, he gives free rein to
nostalgic memories suggested by the
work and author in question, not to
mention related works, coteries, critics,
traditions, and movements up and down
the centuries. Thus we learn that Mr.
Mehring has been a prodigious reader
of everything censored and uncensored
in Western prose or verse, and that he
has something pointed or piquant to say
about all the famous authors from
Goethe to Thomas Mann and about all
the infamous authors from the Marquis
de Sade to James Joyce, At times ‘The
Lost Library’’ is in danger of becoming
a “Who's Who” of the world’s litera-
ture. But the author regales us with
such a brilliant flow of anecdotes, com-
ment, satire, mockery, and acute ob-
servation that we are hugely entertained,
even to the point of forgetting that his
reminiscences are held together by the
theme of “Alas, poor Yorick!" The lost
Bie
é Mian & beens a Teas of the lost
Woe:
European culture which Mr. Mehring
dearly loves and which he fears will
soon be as dead as Newton's recti-
linear universe.
In spite of its vein of pessimism,
“The Lost Library” is a witty, enter-
taining, and instructive book. The au-
thor has had the good fortune to get
two excellent translators to introduce
his first prose work to the Americag
public. FELIX GRENDON
. MANNY;
Fils |. reece
IRACLE IN MILAN.” A senten-
tious documentary fable about
loving that neighbor, set in a hobo
jungle beside the Milan railroad tracks;
a grubby, inventive “My Man Godfrey”
that came to America late in the year
but walked away with most of the best-
foreign-film awards and will doubtless
delight every filmgoer who seriously be-
lieves he loves his fellow-men. It is a
De Sica treatment of a Zavattini novel,
featuring Francesco Golisano—a grin-
ning, bull-like mixture of Burt Lan-
caster and Mussolini—as a naive orphan
who turns his shanty town into a haven
of fine emotions, simple pleasures, and
modest comforts. Highly unenjoyable
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1/19/52
65
Fe ee Se an
for its moronically 0.
mime and symbolism, its fragmented
and ragged structure, its exhaustive senti-
mentality: to wit, the forlorn thread of
a dirt road (loneliness); marble-walled
interiors (the idle rich); fried eggs
(what the poor dream about); the fal-
setto operatic voice (art is pompous and
pansy-like); high hats and mink coats;
little capitalists being chased down the
street by angry mobs; _buttocks-rich
shots of pseudo-Grecian statues; bums
kissing bums; people counting (charm-
ingly) on their fingers; white flags of
_ Surrender; sunsets; parades; angels.
Though it has been called “the freshest
movie in years’—by those who very
likely applied the same phrase twenty
years ago to the René Clair films which
served as prototype (in the matter of
high hats being blown across a Jot, for
instance)—"‘Milan” really burglarizes
the repertoire of those suave, altruistic
C-men (Cartier-Bresson, Chaplin, Clair,
Capra) who treat the spectator as a
child to be guided, taught, and disci-
plined.
“Rashomon.” A torpid, stylish Japa-
nese study in human frailty, like nothing
so much as a tiny aquarium in which a
few fish and a lot of plants have deli-
cately been tinkered with by someone
raised in Western art-cinema theaters
and art galleries. Five characters, two
unfrequented real-life sets—a ruined
temple and a forest—and a script which
is probably the first to describe a high-
ly contrived sword-fight-and-seduction
through the biased eyes of four dif-
ferent people. The villain is a conceited,
slothful, bug-ridden bandit (Toshiro
_ Mifune)—a type now familiar in Holly-
wood adventure-comedies about Mexico
_ —who has a hard time pulling himself
away from a good nap to ravish the
_ wife of a traveling samurai. Makes its
play for posterity with such carefully
engineered actions as one in which the
_ dozing barbarian scratches his crotch
_ while the sword across his knees some-
how rises (Maya Deren-fashion) as
though it had just had a big meal of
_ sex hormones. ‘‘Rashomon’”’ is supposed
to get down to the bedrock of such
emotions as lust, fear, and selfishness,
but actually it is a smooth and some-
_ what empty film whose most tiresome
__ aspect is the slow, complacent, Louvre-
conscious, waiting-fo--prizes attitude of
everyone who worked on it.
peneeihes pikes”
a ae ee eee 7
aa = / ay 4
company (Granger, Andrews, McGui
Keith, etc.) drafted away irom their
side of the railroad tracks—the other
side from De Sica’s—for the duration of
the cold war. Written by New Yorker
writers Irwin Shaw and John Cheever.
Much too talkative and taken up with
the sad departures of drafted men;
nothing more momentous in it than
Mildred Natwick sweeping all her
pseudo-hero husband's war mementoes
off the wall. Yet good—as all Goldwyh’s
soap-operas are—for its sad, cautious
desire to get at the haggard side of
Americans by being exactly right about
the stained wall-paper around picture
frames, the sexless bathrobe of Mrs.
Suburbia, the sullen pooped-out ex-
pression on her face, the chenille His-
Her towels in the bathroom, and the
fact that most of the conyersation con-
“What'll it be?”
. . . I want to say hello to George
Kress. . . . Why, I'm making you rich;
what're you complaining of? . . . Oh,
wait a minute.... Why doesn’t Landrum
mind his own business? . . . How are
things in Washington ? Scary,” Not even
Goldwyn can keep Farley Granger from
his obsequious, frightened, liver-lipped
manipulation of a smile or a drag on a
cigarette, but the others almost break
your heart with their pinched-faced
“bravery,” their frozen pantomime, their
ability to talk without opening their
mouths.
“Behave Yourself.” A tasteless, pace-
less, surprisingly good farce, spoofing
the “Thin Man” idea of having cops,
robbers, a dog, a mother-in-law, keep a
young married couple (Granger again,
with Shelley Winters) from going to
bed together. Crammed with ultra-mod-
ern buildings, furniture, statues; shot
mostly through leaves and incidental
bric-a-brac. Cameraman James Wong
Howe, usually an earnest documentarist,
shoots a crucial murder here as if he'd
been bribed by Florence Knoll, The
humor is either strictly from Minsky
or tied up with the décor, or both
(as when the dog finds himself in a
jungle of plastic mannikin legs). Best
funny moment of many months is pro-
vided by the scene in which a silly egg-
skulled cockney gangster (with a bul-
Jet wound in his forehead that may
have been painted by Pierro della
Francesca) slides down like a well-
sists of tired nothings:
eet Te re
“y W D You.” ine Gol« wyn stock Ol
J ae ba, Oroor = ta fs
- thing—Mitchum, 5 nd toda
most-talked-of subject matter. But
came out a junky, impossible bore. —
“Another Man’ Poison.” The eleva+
tion to co-stardom (with wife Bette
Davis) of the over-energetic Gary Mer
rill in a psychotic melodrama that lef
me limp, incredulous, and baffled.
“Westward the Women.” Two hun-
dred women and Robert Taylor. This
is a Western?
B. Ho
HAGGIN:
pe
es superb Purcell Fantasias in three, -
four, and five parts are played well ©
by the London String Trio and Aeolian *
Quartet (Allegro), but with more ani- |
mation and more finesse in spite of the’ —
fuller sonority by a small Viennese string
orchestra under Litschaeur (Vanguard),
The Viennese performances are better ©
reproduced, except for the coarse bril-
liance of the violins on the side with —
the five-part and the first six four-part —
Fantasias; and some of the Allegro ©
performances are too low in pitch. The |
Vanguard records offer also two fine |
Purcell Chaconnes and an effective per-
formance of one of Beethoven's least —
accessible works, the Grand Fugue
133:
One of the accessible great works of
his last period, the Quartet Opus 132,
is given a performance by the Paganini
Quartet that is in every respect first-rate
(RCA Victor). ;
First-rate in most respects is the play-
ing of the New Music Quartet in
Becthoven’s Opus 59 No. 3 (Bartok);
but it has an excessive nervous tension —
which is disturbing even when it doesn’t
convert sforzatos into explosions; and —
the finale suffers from an attempt to-
play it in the impossibly fast tempo set
by Beethoven’s metronome-marking, ‘
From an accompanying note about the
failure to obey Beethoven’s metronome- *
markings and the resulting falsification —
of the music one would think it had
amounted to allegros being played largo; ,
when in fact it has amounted only to
reducing them to allegros which permit
the clear articulation of the music nec-
The Nation”
v =e
5 re
‘Sian
“a
»
.
110 S cs G “Opus 14 No, 1. With
2 redu = the sound is brash in
iew record I cannot say.
[wo engaging early works of
: t the String Trio Opus 9
re ‘aid Serenade Opus 8, are played
autifully by the Pasquier Trio; but
et n with minimum treble the recorded
gund is not beautiful (Allegro).
Beethoven’s inconsequential Trio
pus 11 for clarinet, cello and piano
ts from Reginald Kell, Frank Miller,
id Mieczyslaw Horszowski a fine en-
mble performance which Mozart's
to K.498 for clarinet, viola, and
iano does not get from Kell, Lillian
Fuchs, and Horszowski on the same
ecord (Decca); and my guess is that
is Miller who restrains Kell, stimulates
ki, and integrates the playing
Df the three in the Beethoven piece.
Th: guess is based on all the playing
I have heard Miller do, which has led
me to the opinion that he is one of the
teats among the ensemble musicians of
today. His tone hasn't the rich sensuous
beauty of Leonard Rose's, but has a
tensile strength which makes possible
| the exciting continuity in a sustained
legato phrase, and even in a series of
lucked bass notes; with this continuous
ife there is,also extraordinary refine-
ment and elegance of style; and in ad-
dition to everything else there is the
feeling for ensemble performance that
seems to carry other musicians with it.
The Beethoven piece is excellently re-
Produced; the Mozart is not; surfaces
are gritty.
_ Another of the superb Budapest
Quartet performances of the period
when Roisman was in good form and
Alexander Schneider was second violin
—this one of Schubert's great Quintet
Opus 163, with Benar Heifetz playing
scond cello—has been issued on LP
‘Columbia), its sound now free of the
of the 78 rpm version, and
holly agreeable even without the
armth and radiance of the Victor ré-
ding of Beethoven's Opus 132.
The sound is in fact more agreeable
a that of the beautiful performance
Schumann's Piano Quintet recorded
mary 19, 1952
We ea
al
a
thoven,
O| OW
7 o|
a
erec
utzon (Columbia), has an ex-
es cenincly sharp distinctness that sharpens
the edge on Roisman’s tone.
C. P. E. Bach’s Chromatic Fantasy for
harpsichord is interesting, but his Trio
in B flat and W. F. Bach’s Sonata in F
are not; the performances by Lois
Schaefer, flute, Robert Brink, violin, and
Daniel Pinkham, harpsichord, are good
(Allegro).
I would skip the Loewenguth Quar-
tet’s coarse-grained performance of
Mozart's K.457 (Decca), and the
Aeolian Quartet’s pedestrian perform-
ances of K.575 and 590 (Allegro).
As the first volume in its Archives of
Recorded Music UNESCO has issued
“L’Oeuvre de Frédéric Chopin” (Paris:
Editions de La Revue Disques),
compilation without evaluation, under
the direction of Armand Panigel, of all
the recordings of Chopin's works, in-
cluding those no longer available.
On the other hand the Music Library
Association (c/o Music Division, Lib-
rary of Congress) has assembled from
the December 1948 to September 1950
issues of its quarterly magazine, Notes,
the summaries of record reviews by
Kurtz Myers, and published them as
“Cumulated Index of Record Reviews.”
I would say a considerable number of
the evaluations aren't worth anyone's
attention; and the summarizing is done
with a few symbols that are not always
adequate.
Otto Erich Deutsch, who assembled
all the available documentary material
on Schubert in “The Schubert Reader,”
has issued an equally valuable “Schubert
Thematic Catalogue” (Norton; $8.50),
listing and dating the works in chrono-
logical order, with single-stave incipits,
information about manuscripts and edi-
tions, and so on. I find inadequacies and
inconsistencies in the incipits; but they
don’t amount to a major defect.
R. D. Darrell, who compiled the first
“Gramophone Shop Encyclopedia of
Recorded Music,” has now produced
“Schirmer’s Guide to Books on Music
We eee ee Pre
4 r roe, ¢
Olaidr Meusiotang’” ($6), aby excellent
volume of the same kind—one which
answers the question whether a bock
exists, but not the question whether it is
worth reading.
CONTRIBUTORS
KATHLEEN RAINE is an English
poet now in this country under the
auspices of the Poetry Circle of the
Y. M.-W. H. A.
MOSES HADAS, associate professor of
Greek and Latin at Columbia University,
served during the war as analyst of
Greek political developments for the
OSS.
HOWARD DOUGHTY, JR., is at
work on a biography of Francis Park-
man,
PHILIP E. MOSELY is professor of
international relations at Columbia Uni-
versity.
FELIX GRENDON, novelist and critic,
is the author of ‘““No Other Caesar,”
WHAT'S THE SCORE?
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Reeltal Mgt. Henry Colbert.
67
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Witch-Hunt Victim
Dear Sirs: 1 am one of the many victims
of the current loyalty purge who will
receive no hearing except that which
you can provide for me by publishing
this letter. I am a_tenth-generation
American whose Puritan ancestors fled
from England in 1635 because they dis-
sented from the state religion of that
country. I am also an economist who
received an unusually costly education,
including ‘five years of full-time post-
graduate university work, and was later
awarded a two-year post-doctoral Car-
negie fellowship at Columbia University.
Since then my life has been devoted to
university teaching, government work,
and writing. In 1948, at the age of
forty-four and after eight years of fed-
cral employment, | retired from a
$10,000 position to devote my full time
to writing a book on price theory,
now almost completed. When I re-
turned to Washington a few months
ago to seck reemployment with the
government, I was denied a position,
not on the ground of reasonable doubt as
to my loyalty but, literally, on the ground
that there was a reasonable doubt as to
whether there was a veasonable doubt
as to my loyalty. In other words, the
loyalty probers of the agency where
YT found an opening (OPS) could not
make up their minds in two months’
time, and my prospective chief had to
hire someone else because he could wait
no longer. This experience will, of
course, make it extremely difficult if not
impossible for me ever to secure another
federal position, and universities will be
equally reluctant to employ a person of
doubtful loyalty. There is almost no-
where else for an economist with my
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experience to work. Such penalties are
imposed every day of the week upon
American citizens who have no hearing
and no recourse. I cannot even appeal to
the review procedures of the Civil Serv-
ice Commission, for no appealable de-
cision on my loyalty has been reached.
So far my case is typical of thousands
of others, most of which are not even
listed in the official statistics on the
number of persons suspended or dis-
charged on loyalty grounds (I was not
suspended or discharged). I would like
to.add some information as to my politi-
cal beliefs, perhaps the real grounds for
the charges of disloyalty. For thirty years
I have been a democratic Fabian So-
cialist. Like many Republicans and pro-
fessors of social science, I believe our
country, like Western Europe, is moving
slowly but steadily towards democratic
socialism. Unlike the Republicans, I ap-
prove of this trend.
Since I am a F ‘abian Socialist and con-
sider the American Socialist Party inef-
fective, I have actively worked and
campaigned for the Democratic Party,
when not in federal employment, since
1933. In 1934 1 was a leader in my
home city in the Democratic campaign
of that year and was elected a member
of the Los Angeles County Democratic
Central Committee. In 1938 I managed
the primary Congressional campaign in
Pasadena for an able Democratic state
assemblyman, Elmer Lore. In 1940 I was
the official Pasadena Roosevelt-Wallace
campaign manager. To these and other
Democratic Party campaigns I gave
hundreds of dollars and devoted hun-
dreds of days of time, including weeks
of door-to-door bell ringing. In 1944,
when I was a federal employee, my
mother was a delegate to the National
Democratic Convention, where she voted
for Harry Truman. I myself am a warm
admirer of our President, and shall
vote for him again regardless of the
outcome of my case. 1 blame Republican
McCarthyism, not Troman, for the
great injustice to most of those charged
with disloyalty.
There are other pertinent facts in my
case which any fair-minded judge or
jury would consider. The four books _
I have had published on economic and
social theory during the past twenty
years all contain clear evidence that I
am not a Communist. One of them,
called “Total War’ (1943), is, in my
humble opinion, the best available guide
to the all-out economic mobilizatic
which would be required in a war with
Soviet Russia. =
While I have of course been given P
no hearing, or even an interview, on
the charges against me, I have heard in—
a round-about way of one, and only one, ©
charge—namely, that I traveled to Rus- i
sia in 1939 with a group of Communist _
sympathizers. Actually, 1 have never ,
been to Russia, a fact ] regret rather than ~
feel proud of. In 1939 I hoped to go, =
and made all arrangements, but changed —
my mind. The record of the passport and —
visa granted me in 1939 is presumably
the evidence on which I am accused of j
the serious offense of desiring to see
for myself how communism works in :
Russia. I remember nothing concerning — |
the Intourist tour ] planned to take, but
this may of course have included Soviet ©
sympathizers. The only other possible |
basis for charges that I am a Communist + —
is that I once (1935) learned to read
Russian, read some Communist books
and magazines, and attended meetings
addressed by Communist speakers. As a
life-long student I regret that I did i
so little of this, for science requires the
study of arguments and evidence on
both sides of every issue. Nine out of
ten American writers on Soviet Russia
simply don’t know what they are talking _
about, and I fear I still belong in this
group. To regard study of communism
as evidence of Communist sympathies is
one of the crudest errors of our loyalty
probers, an error which may result in
disastrous ignorance of our enemy in
World War HI and even help to
bring about this war.
I am in a position to reveal the ques- “ff;
tioning of my Joyalty and the damning
facts upon which it may be based only
because I have a small private income.
The vast majority of those who have
been similarly treated dare not reveal
their misfortune because this would
make future employment still more un-
certain. I speak, therefore, for thousands
who are voiceless. For them more than
for myself I protest against the vicious —
practice of questioning a man’s loyalty. —
and denying him federal employment —
without a hearing and on such grounds *
as former study of communism or Soviet —
Russia, the malicious testimony of dis-
charged servants, and the intolerance of —
some religious and political opponents. —
BURNHAM P. BECKWITH
Pasadena, Cal. ‘
«|
;
is
‘oe Go — > +ana
The NATION ©
SeGeea
% ei
tm 1
‘rth
rt ee a
‘
5
‘
P
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ACROSS
1 What subs used to make clean
habits. (8)
5 Shock absorber. (6)
9 Frequently this is 14 down. (7)
10 Proving the possibility of finding a
tender-hearted radical is purely
relative! (7)
11 Did this get under the old woods-
man’s skin? Quite the opposite! (7)
12 Compound the price of eggs? (7)
13 Do coach stands furnish drink and
something to settle the stomach?
(6, 3, 4)
45 Would this illustrate a non-partisan
* angle? (7, 6)
21 A leaning towards a certain record-
ing?
22 One who steers steers? (3, 4)
23 A mule is usually so clean. (7)
24 Wifely. (7)
25 Weak. (6)
26 a make us attest enactments.
:
DOWN
1 Ypres to the doughboy suggests a
couple of blades swinging in the
dampness. (6)
2 One of these is fine for the forts
wall brackets. (7)
8 Too much of this and you- sound
rather shaky. (7)
-% >
oY FRANK W. LEWIS
Began s
Beet | ae |
a
ere
tees
eee | ee ee
Readers are Invited to send for a free copy of Mr, Lewis's “ground rules.” Address
requests to Puzzle Dept., The Natlon 20 Vesey Street, New York 7, New York.
wy
zzle No. 448
| ae
78
pel || ae
em
P| ee
4 You'd have chills and fever with it,
yet still might feel swell! (7, 6)
6 Is atonal music, if you pay no at-
tention to it? (7)
7 A rag for making a hodgepodge of a
hodgepodge. (7)
8 Arbor vitae. (3, 5)
0 Do they pay it in their spring, in
the spring? (8, 5
14 This might rather dull, yet is
supposed to have a point. (2, 3, 3)
16 Women’s hair might be, both before
and after trimming. (7)
17 one which is comparatively
25. )
18 x isn’t old wine for the navy town.
7)
19 He’s quite practical concerning the
head of 21. (7)
20 In England they couldn’t be con-
sidered minor subjects! (6)
*e@eee
SOLUTION TO PUZZLE No, 447
ACROSS :—1 COMEDY OF ERRORS: 8 NON-
CONDUCTOR; 10 HARDHBADED: 13 MEL-
ONS; 14 BERIBERI; 16 THALLIUM; 19
EWER; 20 ANGLOPHOBE; 22 SHORT
STORIES; 23 and 17 HH WHO HESITATES
IS LOST.
DOWN:—3 MINERAL WATER; 3 DOOR
HANDLE; 4, 11 and 1 down OH DEAR!
WHAT CAN THE MATTER BE?; 5 ES-
CHEWED; 6 ROOD; 7 POSTMISTRESSHES;:
9 PHRENOLOGIST; 12 AIR SUPPORT; 15
DUE NORTH; 18 CLOSES; 21 SHAH.
RIDGEFIELD, CONN.
Phone 6-7000
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modern manner. Winter activ-
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Dancing, TV, recordings, fire-
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50 MILES TO FOREST HOUSE
Near enough for easy travel, far enough for an
unforgettable vacation. Forest House achieves
new levels of gay relaxation in inspiring sur-
roundings, Superb food, fine accommodations,
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FOREST House
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WILL someone brush away the cobwebs
and brighten a young woman's life with an
interesting correspondence, Box 245, ¢/o
The Nation,
exit loneliness
Bomewhere there is someone ’
You would like to know,
Somewhere there is someone
who would like to know you,
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UNITED STATES
SAVINGS BONDS
WARY 19, 1952
Printed ia the U. 8. A. by SrzinBeno Press, Inc., Morgan & Johnson Avot., Brooklyn 6, N. Y. EGE Bo 178
iy Paes
%
— SR PO Te ee
ee
Yee x > se
a mi
—
6 <<
Dear Howard: ;
I have just finished SPARTACUS. It’s a terrifie book, the best you ve aune, in my
opinion. A true symbol of the world toiler now and in all past times. All the while I read
it I kept seeing contemporary figures, modern Cicerds, ward heelers in Washington, the
cities of today and the servile revolt of the present period now on a world scale.
I feel that this is the book of yours most durable and with most universal appeal,
because it can be read anywhere and fit any of the countries of the epoch of imperialism.
Also I think you've done a radiant job of using the materials that have come down to
us on Spartacus. Of using the actual materials and actual characters of the period and
making them understandable in terms of both then and now. Your handling of Negro and
Jewish and Nordie white symbolization was beautifully done, pertinent not only for the
osophic bull’s-eye of life itself.
American scene but having worldwide color-national connotations.
This is a book I chewed up clause by clause, like @ meal. It has to be read that way
to get its full historic and contemporary meaning.
I feel sure that the world’s progressives will, with time, regard this story as the one
most symbolical of the long struggle of labor. Jt has beauty, mature style, and hits the phil-
I would take heart, if I were you, in the knowledge of having done an enduring and
highly symbolical work of art, and the way in which you have struck out, in publishing
SPARTACUS yourself, is an act itself of a literary Spartacus,
May I express my admiration.
tir above is a letter from a friend of
mine, a fine and brave writer in his own
right. You can understand that I read his
Jetter with great pride and considerable hap-
piness. And here, briefly, is the story of the
book he refers to:
The book was written—with some gaps and
diversions—over a period of a year and a half.
It was finished in June of 1951, and submitted
in the same month to my regular publisher,
Little, Brown and Company. The editor-in-
chief, Angus Cameron, read the manuscript
immediately, and wrote to me:
“It is a novel we ean publish with pride
and with the gamble that it will do better
than The Proud and the Free. .. . I congrat-
ulate you.”
He told me a few days later that the edi-
torial staff agreed with him, and that in his
opinion, I had written my best book. He told
me that Little, Brown and Company would
publish it.
But a month later, I learned that Mr. Cam-
eron had been forced to resign from Little,
Brown and Company. I also learned that they
would not publish Spartacus.
Whereupon, I submitted the manuscript to
six other publishers; not to every publisher,
but to six others. After all, it was not a first
novel. Nineteen years ago, I had published
my first; this was my twelfth.
Three of the publishers would not even
read the manuscript. Three rejected it flatly.
This I considered sufficient indication of how
the wind blew, and rather than spend the
next five years in endless submissions. I de-
cided to publish it myself.
I had no money with which to publish a
book, but I had friends and I knew that over
ten million people in America had read my
books. I wrote to these friends. I asked them
to buy in advance, sight unseen, a novel
called Spartacus, which I would publish if
and when enough of them sent me five dol-
lars for a subscription to it. It was a strange
offer on my part, and I got a strange response.
HOWARD FAST
Box 171, Planetarium Station
Sincerely,
Earl Conrad.
Over fifteen hundred people sent me five
dollar bills and checks. Not only did I receive
enough money to send them copies of the
five-dollar edition, but their faith and their
kindness made it possible for me to publish
a cheap edition for mass distribution.
I am not good at writing advertising, nor
do I think I can hire anyone to write the sort
of advertising I need. What Earl Conrad says
about my book is important because it comes
out of his own experience and struggle—and
I think little that does not come out of such
a source can have real importance in telling
anyone else about a book. I know a woman
who works very hard and who has worked
very hard for most of her life, and who has
had to face ‘the stubborn and bitter things of
hfe most directly and unequivocally. A few
pe ago I received a letter from her which
said:
It is 12 midnight Sunday night and
I have finished reading SPARTACUS. It
has left me with a wonderful feeling of
the wholeness and rightness of the simple
things that I love and of the eomplete
justness of fighting for the 20th Century
freedom you and I are aspiring to.
I haven't the ability to criticize your
book in a literary fashion. All I know ig
that I love what you have written, I love
how you have written it, and love what it
will aecomplish in bringing us nearer to
that world of peace and equality of man
that Spartacus and men of similar mold
have endeavored to bring about. ;
I do not think that more than this could
be said or should be said. My problem now
is to find out whether people will go out of
their way to buy and read this book. I am
asking you to do so, to write me at Box 171,
Planetarium Station, New York 24, N. Y.,
and send me $2.50 in cash, money order or
check, for a copy of Spartacus. The book will
be sent to you immediately.
New York 24, N. Y.
Advertisement
Bo eee
csi Dour Is Available—An Editorial
January 26, 1952
/ U. MT.
Jational Need or Booby Trap?
SENATOR WAYNE MORSE
VS.
_ SENATOR EDWIN C. JOHNSON
=
>
“Act IL in Asia: Indo-China
| e French Must Choose - - Alexander Werth
| Vietnamese Speaks - - - [ Albarez del Vayo
. iat Q's Oe a Andrew Roth
>
( a,
“WCENTS A COPY - EVERY WEEK SINCE 1865 * 7 DOLLARS A YEAR _
The Passing of Litvinov-J A del Vayo
Nation
January a 1952
THE VATICAN
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BY MARK DE WOLFE HOWB
T
Lesson of the Past
BY JOSEPH L BLAU
The Vatican’s Global Strategy
BY MARCUS CATO
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1/26/52
VOLUME 174
be Shape of Things
"HE PRESIDENT’S ECONOMIC REPORT TO
or 4 added little really new although it elaborated
y of the points made in his State of the Union Mes-
>. Again Mr. Truman emphasized the “great gains
in 2 our basic economic strength,” gains which, assuming
military security has been achieved and peace thereby
preserved, would make possible “a material well-being
ever known before.” This promise of jam tomorrow was
presented as compensation for a cut in butter today which
need not be very severe. Combating the arguments of
hose who have questioned our ability to carry the load
of rearmament, the report pointed out that in terms of
1951 dollars the growth of production goods and services
since 1947 exceeded the total cost of the national-security
program last year. Since a further 5 per cent increase in
mational output is a reasonable expectation in 1952, we
_ should be able to cover the contemplated large additions
to the defense program while maintaining at least 1947
i living standards. The implication of all this is that a
I pay-as-we-go policy, which the President urged strongly
last year, would be feasible without undue sacrifice. Un-
fortunately, Mr. Truman now seems to have abandoned
this objective. Facing a prospective deficit of $16,000,-
000,000 in 1952-53, he is asking Congress for additional
I, fevenue amounting to only $5,000,000,000, and cven
this modest request is couched in terms that suggest he is
resigned to a refusal. The almost certain consequence,
) as Keith Hutchison pointed out last week, is increased
inflationary pressure, which, even if held to manageable
proportions, must mean serious maladjustments of the
economy and much greater inequalities of sacrifice than
‘ould be necessary if the Administration and the Con-
press united in balancing the budget.
+
MR. CHURCHILL'S ADDRESS TO CONGRESS WAS
adoubtedly a succes d’estime; it is less sure whether, to
oe Lawrence's phrase, “he made a sale.” Sena-
and Representatives of all shades of opinion praised
Pe
%
peech as a performance, but many seem to have
eel led themselves against being persuaded by it. When
Prime Minister's words confirmed their own convic-
1s a instance, his appeal to the United States to
€ B semnic supremacy—they drew loud cheers;
Bins »
NEW YORK + SATURDAY «+ JANUARY 26, 1952
AMERICA’S LEADING LIBERAL WEEKLY SINCE 1865
NuMBER 4
but an expressive silence greeted his suggestion of
stronger American support for Britain in Egypt. From
the British point of view Mr, Churchill’s visit to Wash-
ington has, perhaps, achieved one of its major ob-
jectives—an improvement in the atmosphere—and one
of its secondary purposes—an increase in steel shipments
to Britain; but taken as a whole it appears to have been
a limited success. On his return home, Mr. Churchill
is certain to be criticized for giving away too much for too
little, Already upset by the way Washington has exerted
pressure on the Japanese government to agree to a treaty
with the Chinese Nationalists—a move with dangerous
economic and political implications—Britons are defi- |
nitely alarmed by the Prime Minister's expression of sup-
port for Washington's Formosa policy and his implied
promise to back up an extension of the Korean war if the
armistice talks break down, The advantages of “increas-
ing harmony” between British and American policy in the
Far East are well understood in England but whole-
hearted unison with the American orchestra will be dif-
ficult to achieve until its brass sections are toned down,
ae
IF GENERAL EISENHOWER WAS SKEPTICAL
about President Truman's warning that a political carcer
would expose him to rotten eggs, tomatoes, and dirt, he
now has had a first taste of what it means to enter the
Presidential sweepstakes. The Taft forces are out to get
the Republican nomination by fair means or foul. Ac-
cording to David Ingalls, Taft's spokesman at the San —
Francisco meeting of the Republican National Commit-
tee, Eisenhower is merely a “good-looking mortician”
who if nominated would preside over the Grand Old
Party’s last rites. The ruthlessness and venom with which .
Taft's champions flailed out at Eisenhower won some
sympathy at San Francisco for the General’s spokesman,
Senator Lodge. A little earlier, similar tactics had drawn
from Governor Warren of California a warning that
those who live by the sword eventually die by the sword.
But none of this means that Taft’s blitz will not work. If —
Eisenhower refuses to take off his uniform and come
home to campaign before the Republican convention —
next July 7, Taft will be the only potential winner who
can give authoritative promises to Republican politicians
hungry for patronage, the only front-running candidate _
who can make solid deals and change his tactics from day _ i |
EDITORIALS
The Shape of Things
Honoring ‘'President’’ Tubman
Justice Douglas Is Available
ARTICLES
Universal Military Training:
National Need by Wayne Morse
Booby Trap by Edwin C. Johnson
Indo-China: The French Must Choose
by Alexander Werth
Indo-China: A Vietnamese Speaks
by J. Alvarez del Vayo
Chiang’s Guerrillas by Andrew Roth
Sprague—Conscience of Oregon
by Richard Neuberger
_ Korea and the “New” Japan
by Lawrence K. Rosinger
BOOKS AND THE ARTS
Henry Adams: The Mind and the Man
by Elizabeth Stevenson
Acheson Defended by H. Stuart Hughes
Coaches and Coronets by Robert Phelps
Year's End by Ernest Jones
A Precious Brew by Hilary Conroy
Books in Brief
Drama by Joseph Wood Krutch
Music by B. H. Haggin
LETTERS TO THE EDITORS
- CROSSWORD PUZZLE No. 449
by Frank W. Lewis
Copy Editor: Gladys Whiteside
Staff Contributors
the new.
| ¢ IN THIS ISSUE
Business Manager: Hugo Van Arx
Advertising Manager: Maty Simon
Director of Nation Associates: Lillie Shultz
e
69
72?
/
82
85
95
opposite 96
Editor and Publisher: Freda Kirchwey
Associate Editor: Carey McWilliams
Foreign Editor Literary Editor
J. Alvarez del Vayo Margaret Marshall
Financial Editor: Keith Hutchison
Drama: Joseph Wood Krutch Masic: B. H. Haggin
Assistant Literary Editor: Caroline Whiting
Assistant Editor: Charles R. Allen, Jr.
Andrew Roth, Alexander Werth, Howard K. Smith, Carolus
The Nation, published weekly and copyright, 1952, in the U. S. A.
by The Nation Associates, Inc., 20 Vesey Street, New York 7, N.Y,
Entered as second-class matter, December 13, 1879, at the Post Office
of New York, N. Y., under the act_of March 3, 1879. Advertising
_ and Circulation Representative for Continental Europe: Publicitas.
Subscription Prices: Domestic—One year $7; Two years $12; Three
years $17. Additional postage per year: Foreign and Canadian $1.
Change of Address: Three weeks’ notice is required for change of
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Information to Libraries: The Nation is indexed in Readers’ Guide
to Periodical Literature, Book Review Digest, Index to Labor
Articles, Public Affairs Information Service, Dramatic Index, *
Jersey, which The Nation first brought to national at-
Pi
7) MSRM ge? Gs Sty ee
relay, “eit aclagibaltg fas ready been shown b
readiness to reverse himself on a’ medical-education bill
after protests from American Medical Associatior -
ists, and vote against a measure he had previous. y
indorsed. *
AN EISENHOWER SUPPORTER SIGHED W
relief after the San Francisco meeting had ended and
somberly suggested to reporters that “for amateurs” the ©
General's group had “done all right.” What he meant, —
presumably, is that the Eisenhower battalions had,’
escaped encirclement, at least for the moment, by Taft's
heavy columns. But Eisenhower's candidacy is not aided,-
among independents, by the ponderous efforts of Arthur —
Krock, in the New York Times, to prove that the people _
really know all they need to know about the General’s —
views on domestic policy—and that these views, if we ;
understand what Krock is talking about, are consider- —
ably to the right of Robert Alphonso Taft's,
+
.
TWO OFFICIAL DECISIONS HANDED DOWN |
recently in Germany have an ominous ring. In one case |
three Jewish merchants of Polish nationality had been |
brought before a Berlin city court. The details of the 1
case are of no interest, but the following statement in |
the sentence is worth recording. “The three defendants : /
are Jewish merchants of Polish nationality... . One of ©
the aggravating circumstances against the defendants is —
the fact that they are foreigners, As such they enjoy -
the hospitality of Berlin and they have badly abused —
it... . Also to be considered aggravating is the fact that —
the defendants are Jews.” In the second case the widow ~
of Colonel Count Marogna-Redwitz was informed by
the Bureau of Finance in Munich that her pension was to
be stopped because her husband had been sentenced to
death for high treason—the Colonel had been involved .
in the unsuccessful attempt to overthrow Hitler in July,
1944, This is apparently still considered a major crime
by German justice in the year 1952, Those who tfe-
member the anti-democratic decisions of German courts
and administrative authorities under the Weirnar Repub-
lic will surely feel: this is where we came in.
“OF
THE SCHOOL FIGHT IN ENGLEWOOD, NEW_
tention (Our Town in Turmoil, June 16, 1951), has,
flared up again. At the beginning of the new year the
Board of Education apparently felt that it would be ex-
pedient to yield a point to those who have been con-
ducting a bitter campaign against the public schools
the community, Before recommending a textbook
supplementary book for general use, the superintende
must now require the teacher who is to use the book,
a committee of teachers, to certify in writing that
The
; principles of govern-
3 d by the Constinitiea of the United States
constitution of the State of New Jersey, and
x that it does not advocate a principle or doctrine
cal to the American system of free enterprise.”
: e ew Jersey State Federation of Teachers, affiliated
a the American Federation of Teachers, has properly
ected to this new burden placed upon teachers in a
ie of general fear and uncertainty. The regulation is
aimed, of course; at preventing the intrusion of an
n philosophy or ideology; its sponsors know perfectly
I that no revolutionary doctrines are being taught in
e schools of Englewood, New Jersey—one of Amer-
's wealthiest suburbs. Its purpose is doubtless to ap-
se the reactionary minority. But the inevitable effect
the regulation will be to intimidate teachers in the
rcise of their professional judgment, since their
mure can be threatened by the charges of bigots that
terials they have certified do in fact advocate a doc-
ne “inimical to the American system of free enter-
se. And just how is this phrase, we wonder, to be
fined ? *
dE REAPPEARANCE OF MUSSOLINI’S FAMOUS
per, Ii Popolo d'Italia, has aroused a good deal of sur-
tise and indignation among those who still refuse to
imit the resurgence of Italian fascism. The event, how-
ver, is only the most striking of a number of similar
Bppesiags in recent days. The list of journalists who
yere practicing Fascists in the Mussolini era is already
long one . Messaggero, Rome’s most popular daily, is
ded by Mario Missiroli, one of fascism’s so-called in-
lectua leaders, the author of “L'Uomo Mussolini,”
minor “Mein Kampf.” On La Stampa are the Fascist
urnalists Giullio de Benedetti and Paolo Monelli.
ignoretti is editor of Roma, an important Naples daily.
ef newspapers and magazines, the press services, and
e' radio stations employ dozens of former Fascists. it is
ardly too much to say that outside the small and finan-
ally weak left and liberal papers, the best journalistic
ums in Italy today drop into the hats of those who can
ove an impeccable pro-Fascist past. It did not take
in +
:
Y THE DAY MRS. HARRIET MOORE DIED IN
s, Florida—just a week after her husband Harry
ate, State N. A. A. C. P. leader, was murdered by a
ib placed in their home—a series of four weekly
a wide radio broadcasts entitled “Florida Speaks’’
Jaunched over the far-flung Liberty network “to
ie people throughout the country get the true
: of conditions down here.” (For background
e Liberty network see The Nation for Novem-
, 1951, page 370.) Significantly, the programs
Siicinate from Station WLBE in Leesburg in Lal:e o
County, where Sheriff Willis McCall recently shot dowa
two handcuffed Negro prisoners, Samuel Shepherd and
Walter Lee Irvin, killing the former and seriously
wounding the latter, The “Florida Speaks’’ series, ac-
cording to Wendy Husebo, co-owner of WLBE, will an-
swer “the many unfavorable stories and comments of ©
Northern newspapers and radio stations.” Speakers will
include Doyle Carlton, president of the state chamber
of commerce, Karl Lehman, secretary of the Lake
County chamber, and W. E. Debman, author of the re-
cent novel “Weep No More My Lady.” Mrs. Moore
can no longer weep or speak, but her daughter Rosalea,
who narrowly escaped the blast, or Walter Irvin, who
managed to cling to life by playing dead, could say a
few words about conditions in Florida too.
+
AMONG ARAB NATIONALIST MOVEMENTS
none has been more responsible and moderate than the
Tunisian movement, and no nationalist leader more emi-
nent and admired than Habib Bourguiba, head of the
Neodestour Party. Ever since the end of the war Bour-
guiba and his followers have engaged in negotiations,
punctuated by strikes, in an effort to win, not independ-
ence, but autonomy within the French Union. Early last
year an agreement was reached in principle but never
carried into effect. France has insisted that the
European minority in Tunisia—some 300,000, half of
them French—shall have as many seats in the Assembly
as the 3,500,000 Tunisians. This the Bey has refused,
under firm pressure from the nationalists, and in the
middle of January he dispatched an appeal to the United
Nations for intervention by the Security Council. The
consequences could have been foreseen by anyone famil-
iat with the old, ugly pattern of colonialism on the de-
fensive. Invoking the state of siege proclaimed in 1939
and never rescinded, the French police ordered the disso-
lution of the Neodestour Party, denied it a meeting hall,
and then, without warning, in true totalitarian style,
seized M. Bourguiba and four of his lieutenants in their
homes before dawn and carried them away to unknows
places of detention, 4
HOW RECKLESS AND PROVOCATIVE THIS
action was will be shown in the days ahead. Bourguiba
and his followers are not even charged with.a crime. The
arrests are described as a “measure of removal” to end
the “systematic agitation” of the nationalist leaders. If
they serve any such purpose it will be a modern miracle.
A contrary result is far more probable. In Tunisia resent-
ment and nationalist excitement will rise, hope of a
settlement by negotiation will disappear, and the fever |
will spread across the borders. In the United Nations the
Arab countries will class France with Britain as an overt
Th
er se
a
Pe, ee age
enemy, and the United States will be caught in a new
dilemma: how to support French control of an area es-
sential to Western defense plans without totally and
fatally alienating the Arabs. In this situation only the
Russians can afford to smile,
mo»
IN OUR OPINION JOE LOUIS, FORMER WORLD
heavyweight champion, lost one of the most important
fights of his life when he decided to play in the San
Diego open golf tournament despite the acknowledged
color-line barring of another Negro, Bill Spiller. When
the Professional Golf Association—sponsor of the event
—announced that all non-Caucasians were to be barred
from membership, Louis lashed out at such “Hitler
like” action and said that he would enter the tournament.
Eventually he did, but on-a technicality: he is an ama-
teur. Horton Smith, president of the P. G. A., explained
that “Joe Louis, as an amateur with a Number 2 handi-
cap, will be permitted to play under the United States
Golf Association rules,” Spiller, he added, since he is a
professional, must abide by the P. G. A. rules, In refer-
ring to his decision to play Louis said that “you crawl
before you walk.” He seemed satisfied that the affair
“had brought the matter before the public . . . and now
it is up to the P. G. A. and the newspapers to see that
the situation is cleared up.” It was an obscure loophole
in the P. G. A. rules through which Joe Louis “crawled.”
If the ex-champion will stay in his “biggest fight” to
the end he will apply for entry into other P. G. A.-spon-
sored tournaments and insist that Negro professionals be
allowed to participate also.
Honoring “President” Tubman
RESIDENT TRUMAN sent a delegation of four
distinguished Americans—Ambassador Edward R.
Dudley, Major General James S. Stowell, Mrs. Mary
McLeod Bethune, and Carl Murphy, editor of the Afro-
American of Baltimore—to represent him at the in-
auguration of President W. V. S. Tubman for a second
eight-year term as President of Liberia. One can only
hope that the members of this delegation were unaware
of the circumstances under which President Tubman
was reelected; but Mr. Truman must have known the
facts.
When W, V. S. Tubman was first elected in 1942,
the Liberian constitution stipulated that the President
could not be reelected. Tubman began his administra-
tion by issuing various enlightened edicts and sponsor-
ing a number of important amendments to the consti-
tution. For example, the franchise was extended to the
aborigines, who form over 90 per cent of the population.
Since Liberia was founded, the country has been ruri by
the Americo-Liberian minority—descendants of freed
72
slaves from the United States—with a ruthlessness that
would incite the envy of any ruling class in Africa, As —
recently as 1930 Americo-Liberians were shipping natives —
to the slave markets of Fernando Po. To give the vote
to the masses seemed to be a bold step forward. Another |
amendment sponsored by Tubman permitted the Presi-
dent to be reelected for a second eight-year term,
The test of Tubman’s “reforms” came in the election 4
of May, 1951-(see editorial comment, The Nation, May’ |
5, June 9, 1951). A new party, which included both’
aborigines and Americo-Liberians, selected as its can- |
didate Dihdwo Twe, a full-blooded aborigine of the
Kru tribe who had been educated in this country. It was
Twe who in 1930 first brought to light the facts of
Liberia's slave trade and forced an official investigation.!
His efforts won him international fame but hardly added,
to his popularity among Liberia's ruling class, As a result
of the investigation, and of ensuing action by the League’
of Nations, C. D. B. King, who was President at the.
time, was forced to resign, He is today Liberia's am;
bassador in Washington.
From the outset Twe had great difficulty in qualifying
as a Presidential candidate. Tubman claims that Twe’'s!
party did not file in time; Twe claims that the govern-}
ment’s constant interference made it impossible for his
supporters to obtain signatures to petitions. A month be-
fore the election Twe and his coworkers filed a statement
with Tubman citing various acts of harassment, violence,
and terror, and asking for an extension of time. The
request went unanswered. Whatever the merits of these
conflicting assertions, it is a fact that the ballot, in true
totalitarian style, gave the name of only one candidate,
Tubman, who was reelected without a dissenting vote.
Soldiers armed with machine-guns were present at the
polling places to arrest any voter bold enough to write
in another name,
After the election an indictment was returned against.
Twe and eighty-six of his followers, charging them with
sedition. This outrageous act caused scarcely a ripple in F*
the world press. Indeed, as long as Liberia remains a
museum piece among the nations, of no appreciable i in-
terest to anyone, it will be difficult to focus attention on
happenings there. Twe promptly, and wisely, fled to the FF
high bush, where Kru tribesmen hid him while soldiers
and government-recruited witch-doctors scoured the
country with instructions to bring him in dead or alive.
Eventually he escaped by canoe, after two days and nights
on the open sea, to a nearby European colony, where he?
now lives in hiding.
The State Department and the United Nations havel
refused to intervene or make any representations to
the government on the ground that the dispute is anjg%™
internal matter. This excuse has a hollow ring in view of Mm
the protests and censutes distributed to similar offenders§? A
who happen to fall within the Soviet orbit instead off*)
The Nation}
ee
e ae
Me
nf Se ig
as ‘cooperated i in a Point Four
yt Liberia which promises to be quite success-
4 too, Liberia is a member of the United
ions where a vote is a vote. But whatever the reasons
ne failure of the State Department to act, this country
s not need to honor men who have no better title to
gh th public office than Tubman’s to the Presidency of
— 2
JET)
-
as
Justice Douglas 1s Available
\RTHUR KROCK to the contrary notwithstanding,
\ The Nation is convinced that Justice William O.
Ouglas is “available” for the Democratic nomination
is year. Mr. Krock’s story in the New York Times of
puaty 14 that Justice Douglas had eliminated himself
ym consideration for the nomination was one of those
political exclusives for which Mr. Krock is noted
ad which must be scrutinized with great care.
hfee interpretations of the story are current. One is
President Truman or some member of the White
e staff “leaked” the story to Mr. Krock to dis-
D urage those Democrats who think of Justice Douglas
| the real heir to the Roosevelt tradition. Another as-
s that Justice Douglas and Mr. Krock are good
tiends although they do not see eye to eye politically; in
NMMact, it has been suggested that Justice Douglas is the
c. E named “Northern Democrat’ who was the source of
Mr. Krock’s report of last November 7 that President
| Truman had offered to support General Eisenhower for
| he Democratic nomination. This interpretation implies
| at the story ,was a curious political strategem: the an-
yuncement that Justice Douglas was not “available” was
| apposed to stimulate a demand for him.
In our view the story and its timing were part of a
ipian to prevent a movement in favor of Justice Douglas.
MConfronted with the published fact that he had sent
f tesident Truman a note last August stating that he was
ot and would not be a candidate, Justice Douglas could
pod to do what in fact he did—'reiterate his
ision.” The timing of the story is important. It ap-
eared on the day after the New York Times Magazine
ad printed an article by Justice Douglas, The Black
lence of Fear, which is by all odds the strongest, most
joughtful, and most carefully considered statement he
as made on current issues. Referring to the article, Mr.
fock wrote: “. . . [Justice Douglas's] attribution of re-
jonsibility to the ‘military’ mind of what he termed
EPs ilous ascendancy of an orthodox and fatal atti-
e toward Asia was taken by some as a challenge to
ose Democrats who hoped to nominate General of the
y Dwight D, Eisenhower in place of Mr. Truman.
f Administration politicians who don’t believe the Presi-
ne will run again, and were thinking of Justice Douglas
Mary 26, 1952
ad
7 <—
iY Py td
4 3 Sie ee Ce we + Ne” ee rane
RSME RY oer at aie tee
ES Meet ee TS ‘ Leet a
: A
a we ae
as his s successor, pa te a and developed a oan
‘over this article, the news of his August letter from India
{to the President] should restore their political health.”
Other politicians, too, might want reassurance on this
subject. Indeed, everyone supporting General Eisen-
hower, including Mr. Krock’s employer, the New York
Times, must have appreciated the kindness of whoever it
was in the President’s entourage that released, just at this
time, a letter which Justice Douglas had written the
President last summer,
Despite the letter, we are convinced that Justice Doug-
las is available for the Democratic nomination. We be-
lieve that he has given every possible indication com-
patible with his office that he is available. Apart from
this, the American people can demand that any individual
be a candidate, and if enough of them join in the de-
mand, the chances are excellent that he will yield. The
moral pressure that can be brought to bear is truly ir-
resistible.
To repeat what we said last week, if there was ever
an election that called for a great debate on foreign pol-
icy it is this one, General Eisenhower has been in Europe
a year. During that year it has become clear that the em-
phasis in American policy has shifted from economic re-
construction and development to military containment.
Justice Douglas is as much a symbol of the former as
General Eisenhower is of the latter. If these two men
were the opposing candidates, the people would have a
real choice. An attempt is being made to take Justice
Douglas out of the struggle not because he might win
the Democratic nomination but because a pro-Douglas
movement could endanger the plans of those who want
to preclude all debate on foreign policy in the coming
campaign. Just how far the-pre-Eisenhower forces are
willing to go in an effort to avoid a real debate is sug-
gested by Walter Lippmann’s surprising statement in the
New York Herald Tribune of January 15 that it is really
quite unimportant what General Eisenhower says about
Major issues, so “synthetic and contrived” are most politi-
cal declarations. We too place only limited credence in
speeches and platforms, but we have faith in the educa-
tional value of a political campaign in which the big
issues are fully discussed by the candidates.
The notion that it is proper for a military commander
cn active duty to become a silent candidate for the Presi-
dency but improper for a Justice of the Supreme Court
to be considered by the people must be demolished. To
help along the good work, we are going to start “leaking”
stories ourselves. In the best Krock tradition, then, we
can report that “it become known this week” that Jus-
tice Douglas could be induced to make himself available
as a candidate for the Presidency if enough people wanted
him—and our mail indicates that a large number do. The
people who feel this way should resolutely reject the
myths of his unavailability and start talking about him.
73
» Ae o)
i o~ - ee ss
ie te é
¥ i [Ar oa »
r
Bi NATIONAL NEED
es aes BY WAYNE MORSE
i
| United States Senator from Oregon
‘ NE of the first items of business to be taken up by
i the Armed Services Committee in this second ses-
; sion of the Eighty-second Congress will be the recommen-
dations of the National Security Training Commission for
a program of universal military training. Last year the
Congress approved the principle of universal military
training; the questions now are how and when we shall
translate that far-reaching decision
t gram. Although the legislation adopted in June, 1951,
tie would seem to have
| coming to my desk indicates that many peop!
Congress should reexamine the need for a U. M. T.
program. I think the reasons for universal military train-
ing are as compelling now as they were six months
ago, and it is my hope that with a minimum of delay
Congress will approve the broad outline of the program
recommended by the National Security Training Com-
, mission—a program which is designed to organize the
defenses of the nation so that they can be supported in
tf the indefinite period of danger facing us without
jeopardizing our economy or impairing the structure of
our democratic society.
National defense rests, in the last analysis, on trained
; man-power. The public must realize this, and understand
Ni that the concept of a
ares “push-button’’ war is
an illusion. No re-
sponsible military or
political leader can
give our people as-
surance that, should
world events force us
into all-out war, we
would have time to
train the mecessary
forces before hostili-
ties began. Swift mo-
bilization will be re-
quired, and unless
we maintain enormous
standing armies, which
might well cripple
our economy, the only
way in which we can be prepared to meet an attack is
by having a reservoir of militarily trained citizens. That
Somers is the fundamental reason for a U. M, T. program,
pray coupled with a sound reserve structure.
Ps ss x
LA
into a positive pro-
determined the basic issue, the mail
cS believe
Senator Wayne Morse
74
ee ee Cae ae
Universal Military T: cates” a
re
ae whom
“, ia
x > P|
m jek a i Sve wa n -
A ae
Sie Tae ap Sn
i se * Ria iee 1
The hopes of dictators for world domination have al-
ways been nourished by the conviction that democracies,
with their deep-seated suspicion of large standing forces,
will permit their defenses to deteriorate during periods of |
relative calm. Had we adopted a system of universal
military training following the end of World War II
instead of demobilizing at breakneck speed, we certainly
would have avoided a substantial part of the costs of
our recent and projected defense build-up. Moreover, it ©
is not unlikely that the aggressors in Korea were en-
couraged to launch their attack by the knowledge that the
military defenses of the United States had been allowed |
to dwindle to a fraction of the forces available at the end =
of hostilities in 1945. ,
A U. M. T. program will insure that the burdens of
defense are shared by all, in the democratic way. When ~
the attack came in Korea, we found ourselves compelled
to rely primarily on reservists and members of the |
National Guard for trained replacements. Thousands of ,
these had served in World War II, and it is grossly |
inequitable that they should now be undergoing a second
major disruption in their lives and careers as the direct
result of our shortsighted policy in not preparing younger _
men to answer the call. In the long-term crisis that con-
fronts us—and the situation is of such gravity and un- §
predictability that, in the words of General Marshall _
before the Senate Armed Services Committee last Janu- |
ary, we must be prepared for effective action “whether
the challenge comes with the speed of sound or is |
delayed for a lifetime"—we must be capable of respond- J,
ing to periodic military alarms, including all-out war if
necessary, in a manner that will least injure our social —
and economic structure. The tragic experience of the
past year and a half, when necessity required the large-
scale recall of veteran reservists, is to my mind ample
testimony to the need for U. M. T. and a reinvigos
reserve program.
Prompt approval of a U. M. T. program is essential |
for another important reason, It makes explicit the ulti- fF
mate duty of citizenship, which has always been implied
—the duty to bear arms in defense of the nation. In the
past, owing to the unrealistic policy of unpreparedness, J
the youth of every generation of Americans have gone .
to wat psychologically and physically unprepared. :
Thousands of needless casualties have occurred because
young men have been denied the military training which |
would give them a better chance to survive in battle. J
It is only fair that before they are committed to combat |
these young men should be prepared in military skills
and mental outlook to discharge their oe
citizenship.
t mean that ¥ we oy abandon efforts to achieve
| an honorable and peaceful settlement of the causes of
IR or tension. We must continue those efforts. But it
as painfully plain to me that we cannot expect to
ie the threat to our free society by neglecting our
y defenses or hopefully assuming that a policy of
mpreparedness will induce the Kremlin to abandon its
bjective of a world subservient to it.
‘Realism requires that the free world be prepared to
defend its freedom, and a universal-military-training
rogram is an essential step toward that goal.
BOOBY TRAP
BY EDWIN C. JOHNSON
United States Senator from Colorado
TVERY major country that has utilized universal
military training has reaped a harvest of poverty
nd national impotence. Look at Germany, Japan, and
France, U. M. T., because it has been oversold by the
military, creates a Maginot Line complex. Even the mem-
ders of the National Security Training Commission in
their recent report to the Congress recognize this fact
when they state: ‘We emphasize that U. M. T....
be dangerous if U. M. T. were, for example, to become
an excuse for the precipitate reduction of our standing
forces.”
_ The present U. M. T. plan provides for a six months
ti painiog period and seven and a half years “on call’’
he military reserve. General Hershey accurately describes
t his resetve Obligation as a mortgage on a boy’s life.
During those extremely important seven and a half years
boy's soul is not his own. That “on call”
ollow him everywhere with its threat of fouling up any
Nyplan he may have for his life.
4 Under the present Selective Service Act draftees can
e forced into the reserves after their regular two-year
erm is over; that is, they are drafted for two years but
3 must serve six years in the reserves, whereas service in
: the reserves was formerly voluntary. But the present
Selective Service Act expires in 1954; it is not yet a
bermanent part of the security program of the govern-
ment. U. M. T., on the other hand, has been justi-
d by the Pentagon as part of the permanent policy
f the government in war or peace. It would thus give
) the President an enormous reserve, on a compulsory
asis, which could be called into service without a
claration of war by Congress.
E ety boy should grow up to be what he wants to be.
pbme will want to be soldiers; others sailors, teachers,
yyets, writers, bankers, mechanics, farmers, or mer-
ants. Congress does not have enough wisdom to inter-
a jaa the development of careers, We must cling
ary 26, 1952
7 ,
could
shadow will
/
to “freedom of choice”
sive, technical educa-
if we would have a
happy, progressive,
successful society.
How can a boy as-
sume the responsibili-
ties of a family, the
purchase of a home,
an investment in busi-
ness, a heavy indebt-
edness which - would
work out with care-
ful nursing, when he
lives under the shad-
ow of U. M. T. for
seven and a half
years? The young man
who wants an expen-
tion may well hesitate
to start his course be- §
cause of his uncertain-
ty about the future.
The boy who wants to
marry and get a job may hesitate for the same reason.
In the early days of the emergency in Korea the
ptofessional proponents of U. M. T. played a clever
game. The Selective Service Act of 1948 was about to
expire, Renewal legislation was prepared in the Pen-
tagon. But when it was submitted to Congress, U. M, T.
had been incorporated in it. Congress was prepared to
reenact Selective Service but was not willing—at least
the House was not willing—to take U. M. T. also, So
a compromise was worked out under which a new
Selective Service Act was passed with a provision that
a commission should be appointed to study U. M. T.
The appointment of the commission implied that Con-
gress had somehow approved U. M. T., in principle.
This was not the fact. In any case the report of the
commission, dated October 29, 1951, is now before the
Congress. In the spring of 1951 the United States was
caught in an emergency, Selective Service was necessary.
It was democratic. It had proved its effectiveness. But the
professional militarists, under cover of the emergency,
managed to advance the cause of U. M. T. by the pro-
vision for appointment of the commission.
U. M. T. is in direct conflict with the fundamental
ptinciples on which this country was founded, It prosti-
tutes the principle of free choice and free enterprise that
has given the American nation the strength to grow to its
present unchallenged power. No matter how one en-
deavors to dress up this vicious proposal, no matter
what fanciful language is employed, under U. M. T.
every young man becomes the plaything of the President
for eight years. All individual choice and all considera-
75,
Brande!
Senator Edwin C. Johnson
1d Se Seon
7 ater
* aa
a
- Pi
~
tion of the eas pale of eee: a are
a effectively suppressed. Oh, I know the shouts are going
up: “The routine of the boys will only be delayed
slightly, and aftet#he short period of training they will
be permitted to pursue their lives in their own way”;
but that is a lie.
The so-called training period is not important; the
six months will pass quickly. It may do the boy little or
eh no harm, From his standpoint, it may be of some indirect
benefit. But it cannot add one iota to the nation’s mili-
_ tary strength. Ten years ago General Marshall told the
Senate Military Affairs Committee that a soldier re-
_ quired eighteen months of intensive training, with fifteen
months the absolute minimum, New weapons, new mili-
tary concepts, and new military techniques of every de-
'___ scription require time to master, War is becoming more
We ibe specialized, and it requires specialists to manage its
complexities. One does not become a specialist in any
line in six months. But the six months are only the
window dressing on this U. M. T. proposal, The big
thing is the seven and a half years “on call.” The six
‘months’ training is merely to fool parents, who naturally
- want to believe that the training their boy receives may
save his life. It is a booby trap for parents. How the mili-
tary can keep a straight face when they talk about the six
months of training is beyond me, They throw in six
te.
; Parts, January 17
HE decision to hold the three-power conference on
Indo-China in Washington was taken, it has been
learned, as the result of a secret communication from
; _M. Pleven to the United States ambassador in Paris.
French intelligence, M. Pleven said, had acquired a great
deal of information showing that the Chinese Com-
- munists had “aggressive intentions” toward Indo-China.
According to France-Soir, M. Pleven hoped through this
communication both to speed up American deliveries to
_ Indo-China and to alert Allied opinion in favor of or-
- ganizing common defense in Southeast Asia. Although
it has been decided to hold a three-power military con-
ference, the British, France-Soir declares, are taking
the French “disclosures” with a grain of salt, and the
aye present circumstances intervene actively in Indo-China.
Tt is curious that the Pleven démarche to the United
_ States ambassador should have been made when it was;
_ ALEXANDER WERTH is The Nation's correspondent jn
ae “France.
os 76
i Jo-China: The > French Must Choose
> del
ie op ¥y
Tae: the years the nat people of a
versal military training have resorted to every conceiv-
able trick to clothe this totalitarian device in the uae 2
military preparedness and thus make it acceptable to the’
American people. By using the scare technique they have ©
induced many sincere and patriotic folk to enlist in the.
cause. Heretofore the American people have recog:
nized U. M. T. for what it is—peace-time conscription,
plan to Prussianize American youth, a scheme to destroy.
that rich heritage of energy and ingenuity which is the —
peculiar quality of free men. Panicky citizens who have”
pledged their undying support to the free-enterprise sys-
tem now seem ready to deny it to American youth, Con-—
fused, frustrated, and hysterical, they now seem teady to
abandon their long struggle against militarism.
I submit that the present Selective Service Act is ealigst
adequate for obtaining and training the man-power for |
the defense of this country. Morcover, I want to make
it crystal clear that I am in favor of using the draft act «
whenever and as long as the conditions warrant draft-
ing American youth for military service. There is nothing ©
beneficial to national defense which we might do under
universal military training that cannot be done under the #
Selective Service law.
BY ALEXANDER WERTH >
one detects a strange coincidence with the beginning -
of the full-dress debate on Indo-China in the National |
Assembly, Was not the “warning” to the United States
about the Chinese menace calculated to produce some ~
new “element” which would help France to find a way
out of the Indo-Chinese tangle? M. Pleven must have 7
known what the debate on “Indo- China was going to —
reveal—a practically universal conviction that France
simply could not afford to continue the war on ns
present basis. In 1952 the war will cost between one- ff
sixth and one-seventh of the entire budget. This over- ff
whelming financial argument was reinforced by the clear ‘|
necessity of “making a choice’; it was beyond France's’ |
financial means and military capacity to pursue the war |
in Indo-China and at the same time build up the large’
army in Europe which alone would enable it to pull its |
weight in the future organization of Western defense.
At the end of the three-day debate, it is true, the
National Assembly passed by a large majority the ap- |
proptiation of 326 billion francs for the land forces —
in Indo-China during the current year, but this sum diate: if
at Pe cs sn Fa
ia
the French army in Indo-China Goald not be
and dry without money or equipment.
¥ TEWS which a year ago would have been considered
Y “defeatist,” or “unfriendly to France’’—some arti-
le son the subject printed in this journal were so de-
ibed at the time—were openly expressed in certain
juite unexpected quarters; and these remarks corre-
ponded to the general mood much more closely than
lid official utterances. M. Mendés-France, the most “‘un-
orthodox” of the Radicals, once again dwelt on the rela-
re backwardness of the French economy, which made
t utterly impossible for France to build up an army in
Europe and at the same time carry on the war in Indo-
China. If it persisted in this effort, he said, it would
nge into the most disastrous inflation.
I am asking for a change of policy in Indo-China. 1
have never advocated capitulation, but I have asked
and am still asking that every avenue be explored for
an agreement with Vietminh. I am told one cannot
A negotiate with Communists, with Moscow agents. But
what else are the Americans doing in Korea? . . . Our
Ministers now vaguely talk about “internationalizing the
_ conflict” or about entering upon multilateral conversa-
tions—which simply means we shall lose what trumps
we still have. . . . But the main point is this: as long
as we go on losing all these officers and men in Indo-
China, as long as we go on spending 500 billion francs
_ a year, we shall have no army in Europe, and only
500 billion francs’ worth of inflation, poverty, and fuel
for Commynist propaganda.
_ More surprising was the condemnation of the Indo-
Chinese war by another Radical leader, M. Daladier, who
argued that as long as 7,000 French officers, 32,000
.c.0.'s, and 134,000 professional soldiers were
|) “marooned” in Indo-China, France would be hope-
lessly outnumbered in its North African possessions. It
asking for trouble. It was, in fact, inviting the
nited States to build up Germany as the greatest mili-
y power in Europe. M. Daladier did not think it
possible to negotiate with Vietnam and did not much
believe in the possibility of “internationalizing the con-
flict,” but he wanted the United Nations to negotiate a
truce, to be followed by a referendum in each province
in which the people of Vietnam “would freely choose
the regime they desire.” Whether M. Daladier meant
= France should withdraw: completely from Indo-
a if the people so chose or should maintain a few
ongholds in the country, whatever the results of the
ferendum, he did not make clear. But perhaps it was
mat er of minor importance to him; what obviously
Was worrying him most was German rearmament.
Jd
muar'y 26, 1952
_ Two other Gpestccs ena be quoted—those of M.
Costes-Floret of the M. R. P. and of M, Palewski of the .
Gaullists. The former seemed to believe in a “deal” with
Peking. Though he was less explicit than at the M. R. P.
congress at Lyon last summer, where he proposed a
“trade” by which the U. N. would admit both the Bao
Dai regime and the Peking government, he still thought
France could gain something from an “international set-
tlement” in the Far East covering Korea, China, and
Indo-China. The two great weaknesses of his argument °
were of course that the Bao Dai regime, like the Bao Dai
army, is little more than a myth, and that no one in
Washington in a Presidential year would be likely even
to consider the admission of Peking into the U. N.
M. Palewski advocated ‘‘internationalizing” not the
peace but the war, demanding that Britain and America
take an active part in it, if only with their navies and
air forces. This might have sounded a little more con-
vincing but for a striking remark made by a Socialist
Deputy, Gaston Deferre, who
Britain could give France in Indo-China, he replied,
“England did well to get out of India.” It was a good
story, and perhaps true. In any case, it had a dampening
effect on M. Palewski’s crusading zeal.
HE most curious thing about M. Pleven’s rather ill-
_tempered comments on Indo-China was that they
showed no real attempt to answer his critics’ two major
arguments—that the war was ruining the French econ-
omy, and that it was reducing France's political and mili-
tary weight in Europe. The most that could be read into
his speech was that he might conceivably agree to
“negotiate with Peking,” whatever that meant. He
claimed that the French forces had done a magnificent
job in Indo-China in the past year, that they were getting
stronger every day (in the same breath he said Viet-
minh, “actively supported by the Chinese,” was also
getting stronger), and that in a year or eighteen months
from now France could reach a settlement ‘from posi-
tions of strength.” His glowing account of the Bao Dai
army was later debunked by one speaker after another.
His warm tribute to the help received from the United
States was not impressive, since it is common knowledge
that this help has been far below the expectations enter-
tained by the French during the visit to Washington last
summer of De Lattre, who for a few short days was
written up in the press as “the French MacArthur.”
In a series of well-informed articles in the Observateur
Claude Bourdet sharply criticizes the “official euphoria”
displayed by the government; he says that Vietminh is
receiving very substantial American equipment from
China and has also been buying from the Bao Dai crowd,
and that its anti-aircraft batteries are particularly effective.
Vietminh has chosen to wage a war of attrition rather —
Th
asserted that when
Churchill was last in Paris and was asked what help
nk
ere r
om
eal
oe
.
.
]
|
ioe ai tel
na «nr AT oe
a arena ancien renimeetmentncns
»
$. . a , Pe xe es v4 ~
than embark on an all-out offensive because the French
are being worn down more rapidly than they—the French
_ casualty figures which he gives are much higher than the
: official ones, Bourdet also cites some unsavory examples
of the friction existing between the French and the Bao
Daists, and of the financial scandals reported at Hanoi
_ and Saigon, Indeed, he believes there might be less re-
sistance in Paris to terminating the war in Indo-China
| _ if there were not so many rackets in Indo-China—notably
| _—_——s the: piastre racket, based on the two exchange rates—ia
. which not only numerous individuals in Paris but whole
political groups in France are keenly interested.
. A still more serious allegation made by Bourdet is
| —-__ that Washington is not really interested in sceing a
large French army in Europe. In fact, it may welcome
the absence of such an army as an additional ex-
oe ee ta ete et eee
See
—e
Paris, January 15
EW people in America realize what a headache the
Indo-Chinese struggle is for the French. It not
only threatens France with bankruptcy but it makes
little sense from the viewpoint of European security.
The officers who constitute the cadres of the French
atmy in Indo-China amount to as many as will be re-
quired for the ten divisions France has promised to con-
tribute to NATO. Small wonder, then, that the dis-
tinguished economic expert, Pierre Mendés-France, Rad-
ical Deputy and French delegate to the International
Monetary Fund, should have proposed that the govern-
ment open talks with the Ho Chi Minh regime. Even bet-
& ter evidence that the French would like a settlement is
| _ to be found in the statement by Foreign Minister
Schuman that France “would not refuse an accord which
would put an end to that conflict under conditions which
would be honorable,” and in the decision to send a
_ Parliamentary mission to Indo-China to study the situa-
___ tion in all its aspects.
__ Today itis not so much the French who must be con-
____-vinced of the desirability of a settlement in Indo-China
as official Washington. Above all, Western opinion needs
-___ to be informed on the real issues in Indo-China. Unlike
the Indonesian Republic, which was in a position to wage
an excellent public-relations campaign in the United
States, the Vietnam Republic is little known, Recently I
had a chance to talk about the war in Indo-China with
a remarkable Vietminh leader, educated in England, ac-
tively associated with Ho Chi Minh, and now in Geneva
cf _____ for several months’ study of the specialized agencies of
ss the U.N. He prefers, on account of his position, to re-
—78
, .s
a ei. a ht. ao
pe) eer ne ie ‘
dw
Indo-China: A Vietnamese Speaks
‘
cuse fo Koi ng ahes th the re carms mamen ol f Germa
mh more “reliable” rae At the same tim > W:
ington likes to see France keeping Indo-China warm—
just in case, This, Bourdet argues, may be the chief
reason for the government's “unimaginative” policy.
Is it mot also one of the reasons why the Pleven —
course is nearing its end, why it will be replaced either —
by a more determined “war policy’ in Indo-China \—
here the American Republicans and De Gaulle may find
some common ground—or by a more determined peace’ }
policy? For better or worse, there is a noticeable break
away everywhere in Europe from the Truman-Acheson- —
Eisenhower conceptions. In the main, neither Britain
nor France believes any longer in a Russian invasion, in :
the urgent need to rearm Germany, or in the advantages <
of “no East-West trade.”
os
BY J. ALVAREZ DEL VAYO—
main anonymous, but I can vouch for the fact that he +
speaks with authority. The following report of what
he had to say in answer to a series of questions from
me throws light on the situation in Indo-China,
“Since arriving in Eurcpe I have read and heard the
most fantastic things about the Vietnam Republic, Most —
of the people who condemn us as a collectién of Com-
munists ignore both the origin of our fight and —
our purposes. From the very beginning of the Japa-
nese occupation of Indo-China there was a resistance —
movement which included nationalists of every tendency, —
As Japanese strength was reduced by the American offen-
sive, we were able to establish several liberation zones
in the mountains of northern Indo-China, and when |
Japan finally collapsed, the resistance movement, under
Vietminh direction, seized power in Hanoi and thus the —
Democratic Republic of Vietnam was born. 4
“People here talk as if there were two real govern- #
ments, ours and one headed by the Emperor, Bao Dai, —
But Bao Dai is no ruler. He exists only because the ;
French colonialists forced the hand of the French ¢
government, whose more intelligent members wanted a _
settlement with us. The only juridical claim Bao Dai
can put forward is the false theory about his abdication. . .
It is suggested ‘that since his abdication was brought —
about by force, it has no legal validity and he is there- —
fore the legitimate ruler of Vietnam, The answer to ;
that argument can be found in the language of his ab- —
dication itself. Nowhere does it indicate pressure but :
rather a dignified readiness to make all sacrifices bene-
ficial to the nation. d
“We are not fighting Bao Dai and we are not even |
g our destruction by force had really wanted to
le to terms with us, we would not be fighting the
nialists either. We are fighting only those who seek
fuse or violence to reestablish their domination.
“Vietnam is not a one-party state, as is so widely as-
med. Its government is chosen through popular elec-
ns. The constitution is republican, non-socialist. The
fliament is intrusted with the supreme powers of
> Republic. The President of Vietnam resembles the
ssident of the United States much more than the
ench President. But he differs in that he is elected by
e Parliament from among its members. He chooses
e Prime Minister from the Parliament.
“An important feature of the Victnam constitution,
mfirming its democratic structure, is the provision
eating the Permanent Committee of the People’s
, composed of the president and the vice-
resident of the Assembly along with twelve permanent
id three alternate members elected by the Assembly.
penis way parliamentary control is assured in any
ergency. For instance, as a consequence of the war
1¢ National Assembly elected in January, 1946, is today
rae d, but its Permanent Committee follows the
Overnment everywhere and is always consulted before
my important decree is issued. Of the twenty-seven
dosts in the government, six are held by Commuv-
ts, two by Socialists, four by Democrats, one by a
of the Revolutionary League, one by a member
f the Nationalist Party, the others being distributed
nong independents or representatives of religious
oups (two Roman Catholics and one Buddhist). One
ust remember that one of the first decrees of the gov-
mment proclaimed freedom of faith, fixing as national
sti als both Buddha's and Christ's birthdays. In spite
heavy pressure from the Vatican we have many good
atholics on our side. They know that they have not
sn and will not be molested in their belief.
“The chief ‘item in the government's broad program
agrarian reform. The Western powers don’t under-
and the feeling of Asia about this. Take Korea. The
‘ongest weapon of the North Koreans and Chinese is
tthe Russian planes you hear so much about; it is
= support of the peasants.
"In Indo-China it is exactly the same. “To gain the
asantry is the way to become Emperor,’ said Mencius,
¢ Chinese sage. Vietnam has followed this maxim.
s constitute the great majority Of the population.
the strictest democratic conception they ought to re-
ive, and have received, the most attention. From the
ee as has taken various measures to improve
ot. Every citizen over eighteen years who asks for it
sives seven acres of land belonging to the state,
| E / 26, 1952,
Saas -_ 2
a x
+5 eo
TiiamMen
; ACTIDE
hey had behaved differently and instead of
+ Ben
Bt de : gia / Ww ) nike iat to till her After two years the
land becomes his property. The Republic has also dis-
tributed land belonging to French colonialists and
Vietnamese traitors. To help the peasants overcome
many difficulties of cultivation, the government is
granting them ever-increasing financial assistance.
Finally the government is encouraging the bién dién
movement promoted by certain rich patriots. This move-
ment consists of a kind of emulation among landlords
to put their rice fields wholly or partially, temporarily
or permanently, at the disposition of a local com-
munity, a fighting group, or the nation itself. Coopera-
tives and the labor-exchange associations—of which
there are already nearly 20,000—make it possible for
peasants to exchange their agricultural experience and
help one another in working the land.
“As for the war, the outlook is not bad. From the
start our strategy has been geared to a protracted war,
not to an effort to achieve a quick solution. Time is work-
ing for us.. The war is a terrible burden, but it is
still worse for the French, who are obliged to main-
tain an expeditionary army. Besides, you cannot separate
the destiny of Indo-China from the destiny of all Asia,
and in Asia the liberation movements are bound to
win, sooner or later. General de Gaulle said the other
day in Paris: ‘One does not make war with the
Pentagon and the initials [he was referring to SHAPE}
but with the soul and the blood of the people.’ Well,
he is a reactionary, and if he should come to power he
would also fight us, but there is a lot of truth in what
he said. You have an example in Malaya, where not
more than 10,000 natives, very badly equipped, have for
years engaged some 30,000 trained British troops,
armed with modern weapons. Our material resources
may be smaller, but owing to special circumstances in
Indo-China, France's energy and vitality are ebbing while
our army and people are each day stronger and more
united, The enemy must abandon many a base and re-
treat to the big towns; we can fight everywhere.
“A negotiated agreement with the French is still
possible. France today has relatively few political or eco-
nomic interests in Indo-China. It remains for reasons of
ptestige. There are people in France, even in conserva-
tive circles, who realize the war is a disaster and who
see clearly the weakness and vacillation of Bao Dai.
But whether such people will be heeded at this stage
seems doubtful, It has been suggested that the U. N.
should decide the Indo-Chinese dispute. But interna-
tional action means intervention by the United States
and Great Britain conceived in terms of the global
strategy of the Western coalition. This ignores the fact —
that the Vietnam problem is only part of the crisis of
colonialism, and of the resurgence of Asia.
“We are accused of receiving military aid from Com-
munist China, but if we are receiving any aid—lI say 7f—
79
France to liquidate us. The whole discussion of the
threat of ‘Communist expansion’ seems rather beside
the point in Asia, where the one vital business is the
effort of the rural masses—half the world’s popula-
Chiang’s Guerrillas
London, January 15
MERICAN policy toward Communist China may
Aitinee on the fate of 4,000 malaria-ridden Kuo-
mintang Chinese guerrillas holed up in the mountainous
jungles of the Shan states of northeastern Burma. Their
veteran commander, General Li Mi, recently made a
secret trip to Formosa, via Bangkok and Hongkong,
_ to get supplies and reinforcements, Adequate food,
arms, and medical supplies—which must be shipped
through Bangkok—can only be provided with open
American help, To focus attention on this impending
American decision, Peking and Moscow have been pub-
lishing ridiculously exaggerated accounts of United
States activities. “The American command,” Soviet
_ Foreign Minister Vishinsky declared in the U. N. Gen-
eral Assembly on January 3, “is busy transferring
Kuomintang troops from Formosa to Siam and Western
Burma. It is preparing large-scale military operations on
the borders of the Chinese People’s Republic.”
Released as Mr. Churchill’s ship was approaching New
- York, the Vishinsky blast seemed a rather obvious at-
tempt to dramatize the differences among the non-Com-
munist countries in their relations with China. One of
the most difficult assignments the Churchill-Eden team
undertook was to persuade Washington to “freeze” the
situation in Asia on the thin chance that it might aban-
don the Formosa regime after the November elections.
_ By drawing attention to the Kuomintang guerrillas in
_ Burma, Peking and Moscow hope to emphasize not only
the gulf between the British government and the
Truman-Acheson “moderates” in Washington but the
unbridgeable chasm separating British opinion in general
from the MacArthurite strategists who want to keep the
Communists “off balance” by sponsoring Kuomintang
ids on mainland China, Although Li Mi’s troops have
been described by the Manchester Guardian as “the only
Kuomintang guerrilla force to achieve any substantial
“success,” they are more likely to win victories in Wash-
ington than in Yunnan,
Li Mi is a veteran Kuomintang general who managed
ANDREW ROTH is a staff contributor now writing from
London.
80
- Asia. He not only received support from pto-Kuomin-—
ers
it t would hatdly toabch the aid the United States i is giving | Pa tio
ign.
ae
bind
0 on!
deo which Ber a are tee si this Joo
complished we are not likely to worry too much af at
‘accusations’ of the sort you hear from our ae
~
i
BY ANDREW ROTH
to escape through the Communist lines after his troops
had been smashed in a decisive battle along the eastern
section of the Lunghai Railway in 1948. He came into
the news when the Kuomintang appointed him governor
of his native Yunnan and commander of its remaining
troops, after its long-time governor, Lu Han, went over «
to the Communists. In January, 1950, the Kuomintang’s |
last armies on the mainland, the 26th and the 8th, were :
routed by the Communists in southern Yunnan, Abo
10,000 troops from these units and the 93d division were 7
pushed back toward the high passes linking Yunnan and
northern Burma,
Beginning in March, 1950, the infiltratioulie 0 Sb
Nationalist soldiers in civilian dress became a source of
severe embarrassment to the struggling Union of Burma
government, whose small, over-extended army could
barely hold Burma’s major cities and main roads, The
northern command could spare only a couple of regi-
ments to police the mountainous border. Thus, while ©
some Kuomintang troops were disarmed and imprisoned -
and a few were killed, most of them crossed the border
into the eastern Shan province of Kengtung, where
many Chinese refugees had settled as farmers duchies
World War IT.
The bulk of these troops entered between May and
June, 1950, just when Burma and Communist China
decided to exchange recognition. In order to show its |
honorable intentions toward the Peking regime, the
Burmese government flew two regiments into Kengtung |
and attacked the Kuomintang troops. They took some’ |
prisoners, but most of the Chinese escaped.
That General Li Mi could survive and be reinforced |
during the next year provides an interesting insight into.
the shifting network of forces operating in Southeast
tang elements among the local Chinese and from prot
Kuomintang Chinese throughout Southeast Asia, but with —
typical Chinese dexterity established relations with some |
of the autonomous feudal Shan chieftains, who value do
his aid in local rivalries. The Burmese government, lack-
in battle, tried diplomacy. It first exolanes to the Pe
government its military inability to expel the Ke mir
minta ang regime to peabdea fics: At the same
> Burma complained to the Siamese government that
gun-running was going on across Siam’s borders. It be-
came clear that the Siamese government, which had
become increasingly pro-American and anti-Communist
after it received a $10,000,000 grant in 1950—it was
the first Asian country to send troops to Korea—was
placing no restrictions on the activities of Li Mi and his
agents and was even allowing him to establish a sort of
headquarters in Bangkok. Since Siam also winks at
i Mi’s use of the overland route, supplies can now
be shipped to him at Bangkok, sent to the railhead at
Chiengmai, and then’ taken by mule track into Burma.
The only question is how much direct support the United
States has given to this operation. The Burmese have
heard planes dropping supplies in the Kengtung area
but not been able to learn their nationality.
_ Last summer news agencies carried the story that
three columns of General Li Mi’s guerrillas, allegedly
totaling about 10,000 men, had thrust sixty-five miles
into Yunnan from Burma. From Formosa came the wild
report that the General had seized one-third of Yunnan.
But in August the guerrillas began to filter back into
| comparatively hospitable Burma, having lost half their
| effectives in combat with the Communist forces in
Yunnan. General Li Mi’s only consolation was that the
| Chiang government’s propaganda had given a temporary
shot in the arm to the remaining guerrilla bands in main-
_ land China, fast evaporating as a result of the determined
| efforts of the Chinese Communists to extirpate “counter-
evolutionaries.” As the “open season” approached with
the end of the rains in December, it became necessary to
‘teplenish Li Mi’s supplies if his force was not to dis-
integrate.
HEN it leaked out that General Li had passed
through Hongkong on Christmas Eve on his way
to Formosa, Communist China made wild charges about
a plot to attack its southwestern borders. These charges
were repeated by Vishinsky in a somewhat garbled form
ip Paris. The Peking New China News Agency listed
he flights between Formosa and Bangkok of General
Lawton Coilins, United States Chief of Staff, and
other American and Kuomintang Chinese officials and
came to an unproved conclusion: “All these activities
indicate that under the sponsorship of the United States
@ mew conspiracy is hatching between the reactionary au-
thorities of Thailand and the Chiang gang in Taiwan.”
The Agency claimed “‘inside information” concerning
a November 13 conference at which Major General
William Chase, head of the United States Military As-
istance Advisory Groups in Formosa, had said: “Be-
fause, at one time, the Burmese government felt uneasy
a Su
nuary 26, 1952
sa i \. =
t the ipamnintaas remnant troops concentrating in
"the northern part of the territory of Burma, the work of
reinforcing the bandit Kuomintang troops had to be
suspended for a while. Since the government and pub-
lic opinion of Burma have relaxed their attention on
this matter, Washington circles consider that the plans
for transporting the bandit troops to this area must be
fulfilled in the immediate future.” The report added that
the Seventh Fleet was to transport 70,000 Kuomintang
troops to Bangkok before the end of 1951.
Peking can scarcely imagine that 70,000-troops could
be shipped through Bangkok without anyone noticing
them. And it probably knows how small a threat Li Mi’s
guerrillas constitute from a military standpoint. But it
may well have wanted to nudge Burma into taking ac-
tion against the Kuomintang troops using Burmese ters
ritory as a base. Above all, the Chinese, like the Rus-
sians, have hoped to divide the United States and its
allies over the question of China. British diplomats were
overjoyed when the Truman-Acheson “moderates”
routed General MacArthur and his supporters. But they
have been concerned at the tendency of the Washington
Administration to take over, bit by bit, the policy of the
MacArthurites with regard to China. As long ago as
April 14 a “Voice of America” broadcast from Washing-
ton said: “It is one of the openest secrets here that both
British and American agents have maintained contact
with resistance forces in South China from the first days
and that aid to such forces has been flowing by various
channels for many months.” Kenneth Younger, Britain’s
Under Secretary for Foreign Affairs, expressed “dismay”
at the allegation, denying there was any truth in it “as
far as the United Kingdom is concerned.”
The broadcast, however, was never disavowed by the
State Department, and its consistency with American
policy was indicated by Assistant Secretary of State
Bean Rusk in a speech delivered on May 18 implying
United States support for rebels against the Peking
regime, Although Mr. Rusk was chided for overstating
the American position, a high State Department official
explained American intentions in not dissimilar terms to
Sebastian Haffner, then Washington correspondent of the
London Observer. “America intends, in fact,”’ he said
“to continue a wait-and-see policy toward the Chinese
mainland, watching developments and reserving the
right to give diplomatic and material support to any local
or national government which might develop out of the
present resistance and guerrilla movements.”
Under the terms of Jast autumn’s Mutual Security Act
the United States was converted from a protector of
the Formosa regime to an active ally. The 1952 Mutual —
Security program grants to Formosa $300,000,000—a
third of the whole Asia allotment—mostly to modernize —
Chiang’s twenty-five divisions. The implications were _ : |
spelled out in the recent New York statement of Major
General Chase, who described the United States and the
Chiang regime as “equal partners, in the fight against
the evil of communism.” This was the first mention of
the possibility of American and Kuomintang forces werk-
ing together outside Formosa. It is clear that General
Chase conceives the ultimate objective of his mission
to be the overthrow of the Communist government at
Peking. But how much can such an objective be furthered
by sending aid to inaccessible Kuomintang guerrillas
based in a friendly state (Burma) which recognizes the
Peking government?
This is not the only political embarrassment that
America’s almost solitary support of the Chiang regime
has produced. Thomas J. Hamilton, the New York
Times United Nations correspondent, has disclosed that
__ the United States delegation in Paris is feverishly seeking
a way to deal with the situation which would arise if
the Korean war were to end completely and formally.
For peace in Korea would remove the rather thin pretext
under which the United States Seventh Fleet is guarding
Formosa to protect Korea's “‘flank.’’ If the Korean fight-
ing ends formally and the Chinese Communists then at-
tack Formosa, American participation on Chiang’s side
would be open unilateral intervention in China’s civil
war, and would not have United Nations’ support or
authorization.
Ss yprague—Conscience of Oregon
IO a rk ee ; “
For such a move the Un ied ‘Seley eed dd probabl
not win the backing of Britain or France. The Am) neti reat
delegation, therefore, according to this usually well-
informed source, is seeking to have the United Nations
establish a trusteeship over Formosa, thus providing a
United Nations cover for American naval action to pro--
tect Formosa from Communist landing forces. But if this ©
were done it would be difficult for even the pro-American”
majority in the United Nations to continue to support —
Chiang Kai-shek’s regime. Certainly a United Nations
trusteeship could not permit Formosan aid to main-.
land raids like those of General Li Mi. This predicament
may explain why a section of the United States delega-*
tion is reported to be opposed to any formal peace in —
Korea except under the currently impossible condition
of a united non-Communist state,
American sympathy for General Li Mi’s, guerrillas
contrasts with Britain’s recently renewed acknowledg- |
ment that the Peking regime cannot be replaced in the
near future, certainly not by the Kuomintang. The British —
know that the Truman Administration could not, even «
if it wanted to, abandon Formosa in an election year. —
But if General Li Mi is going to “needle” the Chinese
Communists by raids into Yunnan, the Foreign Office
would certainly prefer to have no label showing that the
needle was “Made in the U. S. A.”
Salem, Oregon
REGON is the most solidly Republican of all the
Western states. This Republicanism is in the
blood, and not even a 40 per cent population increase
since 1940 has been able to dilute it. Only Oregon, in
company with steadfast Maine and Vermont, never
elected a Democratic United States Senator throughout
Franklin D. Roosevelt's long tenure in the White
House. Yet despite its faithfulness to the G, O. P., Ore-
gon is the single state of the Pacific seaboard which has
not enacted a loyalty oath or similar test legislation.
Although the witch-hunting hysteria has been particu-
; larly virulent along the West Coast, in Oregon a person
applying for a position of public trust still need swear
only the time-honored allegiance to the constitutions of
[-3 on the state and nation,
This happy state of affairs is due in the main to the
influence of one man, ex-Governor Charles A. Sprague,
RICHARD L, NEUBERGER, well-known journalist and
member of the Oregon state senate, was one of the five
ne ee Senators who voted against the teacher’s-oath bill.
92
BY RICHARD L. NEUBERGER
publisher of the Oregon Daily Statesman in Salem. Per-
haps because he was born in Kansas, Sprague’s admirers
compare him to the late William Allen White of the
Emporia Gazette. Sprague is a Republican who has —
abandoned—as White did—his party’s predominant iso- _
lationism to support the foreign policy of the Demo- —
cratic Administration. Like White a tireless defender of —
civil liberties, Sprague recently rebuked his party for —
inviting Senator Joe McCarthy to speak in Oregon, “If —
the Republican Party is to indorse McCarthyism,” said —
this lifelong regular Republican, “it deserves to be laid —
in a grave both wide and deep. And to win the Presi- 4
dency by condoning McCarthy’s tactics would be to”
obtain office under false pretenses.” %
But Sprague ‘salts such forthright opinions as these *
with an old-fashioned economic conservatism which —
makes him mistrustful of federal spending, of exotic
figures in high office, and of concentrations of power in |
either corporations or trade unions, Only recently he
criticized utility companies and public-power districts
alike for waiting for the government to build dams — :
actoss the Northwest's swift rivers instead of es they
cs rik bel ‘pork-barrel projects.
pact on the everyday affairs of the state far transcends
‘that of Senator Wayne L. Morse, whom Sprague sus-
tains against a host of reactionary foes. People in many
parts of the Northwest subscribe to the Statesman in
order to read the front-page column which the ex-Gov-
‘ernor writes daily under the title “It Seems to Me.”
“When the Chicago Tribune tried to read Morse out of
the Republican Party last November, Sprague immedi-
ately came to the Senator’s defense. “Morse is a party
“maverick, to be sure,” he wrote. “But in my judgment he
‘is a better Republican than Colonel Robert R. McCor-
mick. The McCormick brand of Republicanism finds
pression in blind isclationism, jp distortion of facts,
and in character assassination after the manner of
enator McCarthy.”
Sprague intrudes himself boldly into the local issues
at rock Oregon, a field in which Morse always has
‘been extremely cautious. When a Republican state liquor
commissioner took a trip at the expense of the Seagram
‘distillery, Sprague at once insisted that he resign, al-
‘though some Oregon papers which had been indignant
_ about similar transgressions by the Democrats in Wash-
| ington, D. C., kept silent. Sprague also has hammered
| constantly at the legalized pari-mutuel racing that makes
| a folly of police efforts to restrict less lucrative gambling.
iY .
Hb
|
F THE Republicans look westward for a Vice-Presi-
; i dential nominee, as they may have to do if Taft
| Ohio or Eisenhower of New York becomes their
Presidential’ candidate, they could do worse than pick
this sixty-four-year-old publisher, often called “the con-
ience of Oregon.” Probably few men would make a
a appeal to the independent voters whom the
. O. P. must annex if it is not to be a permanent
r aba party. Young Republicans soon may circulate
) petitions to put Sprague on the 1952 primary ballot as
| the D bciscticiary of the state’s convention votes for second
place on the national ticket.
. A strong religious and moral strain in Sprague often
determines his stand. He neither drinks nor smokes, and
his paper accepts no advertisements for hard liquor, An
Dfficial of the Presbyterian church in the United States,
¢ has cited Scripture against local corruption when
oth er leading Oregon Republicans were looking the other
yay in embarrassment.
Yet Sprague is rarely doctrinaire. He asserted that
faft can’t have intelligence and integrity and have
mck with McCarthyism,” but he refused to become dis-
atbed when adversaries of McCarthy were unable to
acP Signatures in Madison, Wisconsin, to a peti-
pies the Declaration of Independence. He
y 26, (1952
Po rin
way of opposing a
| Sprague i is Oregon’s most influential citizen. His im- |
sinister thing like Mc-
Carthyism. “The right
to petition is guaran-
teed in our Constitu-
tion, and that implies
also the right not to
petition,” he wrote in
his column -in the
Statesman. “If 111
people refused to sign
the reporter's petition,
such was their privi-
lege. That they can do
so with impunity is
still one of the bene-
fits of our system.”
For Sprague, Ver-
mont is a political
ideal. “I favor,” he says, “sound, honest Republicanism
which doesn’t let people get pushed around.” In his view
this is epitomized by such individuals as Senator George
Aiken, former Senator Warren Austin, the U. N. dele-
gate, and former Governor Ernest W. Gibson. Indeed,
Alvin Katz
Charles A. Sprague
Sprague fought with such ardor against the teacher's oath
because he felt its passage in the legislature would chal-
lenge his boast that Oregon is “the Vermont of the
West,” a citadel of tolerance and stability.
The bill for a teacher's oath sailed through the
state Senate by a vote of twenty-five to five. The ex-
pected Democratic opposition to it collapsed under
ptessure from a‘ veterans’ lobby; Democrats contributed
some of the most raucous speeches in favor of the meas-
ure. The next morning members of the House of Repre-
sentatives found a nervous, angular man with sparse hair
and rimless glasses pacing the marble corridors like a
panther. One by one, the ex-Governor pulled aside legis-
lators who were his friends or acquaintances, “Oregon
has not surrendered to hysteria, as have our neighbors
in Washington and California,” he told these men,
“Let's not run down the flag now, Communists can be
rooted out of the schools by positive action on each case
as genuine proof develops. To subject all teachers to an
invasion of their personal and academic freedom would
be burning down the house to roast the pig.”
And in “It Seems to Me” Sprague added, “Legisla-
tion like this is a product of fear. I have more confidence
in the good sense of the teachers of Oregon and in their
loyalty than to think we have to challenge them. Thete
is no public demand for the bill. There is no situation in _
our schools which calls for this as a bar to employment _
of Communist teachers. The House should keep its feet. es |
on the ground and defeat this bill.” The House took =
Sprague’s advice. The oath bill died in the lower cham-
83
,
* PE
he
Tee
~
a et See
-,
a eh ae
f we datas
ber. More than one legislator, just setting out on the
rough road of politics, was surprised and flattered to be
approached personally by a famous editor and former
governor, Several college professors told their classes,
half in jest, half seriously, that the events at Salem had
knocked into the discard their belief that certain histori-
cal developments are inevitable, regardless of the efforts
of individuals. There seemed to be no doubt that Ore-
gon would have enacted an oath bill had not one par-
ticular man been on the scene.
Sprague’s choice for President of the United States
would probably be Paul G. Hoffman, the president of the
Ford Foundation. Perhaps because of his intense interest
cr ie. “in the oath fight, he was profoundly impressed by Hoff-
man’s speech on liberty and tolerance at Freedom House
a few months ago. His next preference is Eisenhower—
with some reservations. He would like to know a good
deal more about Ike's views on important domestic prob-
lems. He favors Eisenhower because’
would be a renunciation of McCarthyism
Arthurism.” Sprague once gave this friendly warning to
the General: “We may expect that if Eisenhower does
say he will accept the Republican nomination he will
immediately become the target of the pro-Formosa, pro-
Chiang, anti-British, anti-Europe entourage whose white
knight is Senator Robert A. Taft.”
“his nomination
and Mac-
PRAGUE was governor of Oregon from 1939 to
S 1943. One of the conspicuous achievements of his
administration was the passage of a forestry code in this
lumber-producing state. Bills enacted under Sprague’s
leadership provided that timber operators must leave a
certain number of seed trees per acre and that pines of
less than a certain circumference could not be felled.
Only recently this pioneering legislation has been praised
in a significant new book, “American Forest Policy,” by
Luther Halsey Gulick.
William Allen White wrote in his autobiography that
he was strengthened in “the gymnasium of the woods
and field and water.” Sprague was trained in the same
environment, and perhaps more ruggedly than was pos-
sible in level Kansas. Most of the peaks of the Pacific
Northwest have felt his crampons. Even the 14,000-foot
Mount Rainier is among his conquests. Thirty-six miles
_ from the capital city of Oregon, Sprague and his wife
own a chalet-like cabin on the Little North Fork of the
_ Santiam River. They built it in 1945 on public land
leased from the Department of the Interior. Sprague
chops the wood for the fireplace and takes meditative
hikes through the fir forests. He reads avidly, his regular
fare consisting of Time, the Saturday Evening Post, The
Pen Nation, Reader's Digest, the New York Times Maga-
zine, Harper's, U. S. News, and Scientific American.
Sprague also is a reader of the Congressiondl Record,
where he finds, he says, many “unwritten stories.” He
84
4's
oo > (3
¥ ra
a i
7 __ roa 2 i Wy es
To i ew ie ne $
é aa 4 a = . + re «eb. ah an tei 4 ce Fe ss
esses th being in pohuCcsS Was sO engrossing |
. 2 a Som
game that I seldom got into the books or magazines that
I needed to make me a well-informed person.” And he
adds that this may be one of the things wrong with |
American political life today. “Many of the participants
become obsessed with rival personalities and with politi- ,
cal animosities. As a result they lose sight of the tre-—
mendous impact on mankind of the decisions which they *
perforce must make.”
Sprague’s newspaper- is partisan. But when he moves *
from candidates to issues, his party tie shackles him only’
slightly. No paper in the West encouraged Truman more
consistently on the entire MacArthur question than the
Statesman, Of MacArthur's recent public addresses
Sprague has written, ‘His innuendoes are evidence more
of the warping of his own mind than of Truman's :
malfeasance.”
Perhaps because he is comparatively unfettered,
Sprague occasionally ends up to the left of the Adminis-
tration in Washington, which of course has its own *
groove. He has been chairman of an advisory commis- ~
sion on the administration of extremely valuable federal
timber tracts in southwestern Oregon, part of an aban-
doned railroad land grant. A few months ago certain
lange and influential lumber companies forced the
retirement of the regional director, a young economist
named Daniel L. Goldy. Sprague championed Goldy |
and criticized the Interior Department for succumbing
to the companies’ pressure.
Sprague would probably return to public life only
with considerable reluctance. He relishes the freedom of —
being a private citizen, He types his own letters, rarely
making use of one of the Sta@esman’s stenographers.
When some Catholics canceled their subscriptions be-
cause the paper published news stories and photographs “
of Paul Blanshard speaking at a Catholic school in
Mount Angel, Oregon, Sprague took the calls himself ~
and patiently explained that it was the policy of the ~
Statesman to print all the news without exception.
A religious man himself, particularly in a philosophi-
cal sense, he feels that disregard of spiritual values has
led to a worship of money in the nation. Last Easter he -
devoted his column to Joseph of Arimathea, who asked
Pilate for the body of Jesus. Sprague’s own desire to be —
a free spirit and to decide great questions without fear
or prejudice shone through the piece. “Most of us,” he
said, “are prisoners of our class, our creed, our associa- %
tions. We tend 'to conform, adapting ourselves to what."
ever level_we move in. Joseph was one of those rare
souls who refused to be such a prisoner. The instinct off
human charity broke through the restraints of narrow —
sectarianism. We might almost say that this Joseph was —
the first Christian, In a Christendom riven by multi- 3
tudinous and contentious sects he thas left too few |
descendants,”
: The NATION
hs Mepthee
Ap eee
HEN the Japanese peace treaty was signed in
San Francisco on September 8, some commenta-
tors seemed to feel that the pact might affect the Korean
_ situation to the advantage of the United Nations, at least
ps ychologically. Today, more than four months later, the
balance of military, diplomatic, and psychological
strength in Korea appears broadly unaltered, and the
future of the peninsula remains as unclear as before. But
I ©im a deeper sense things are not the same. The peace
_ treaty, the subsequent American-Japanese security accord,
and the earlier American mutual-defense pacts with the
Philippines, Australia, and New Zealand are all part of
the background for the gradual introduction of a re-
armed and economically revived Japan as a factor in the
| Pacific. This will necessarily have repercussions in Korea,
_ whether or not the war-continues,
Some day, when more of the facts are known, we may
| be able to assess the impact of the peace treaty and pacts
| on the Korean cease-fire discussions, Perhaps the etfccts
_ were slight, in view of the already numerous obstacles
to an armistice, but there is some reason to think that
the pact decisions and their execution may have stiffened
the negotiators and made the proceedings more tortuous.
_ The various pacts—like so many previous actions and
_counter-actions of one side or the other—further crystal-
ized existing differences in the Pacific and narrowed the
_ possibilities of compromise. This sharpening of the situ-
ation was implicit in the encounters between oe
and Acheson at San Francisco and in the public exchange
_ of messages between Stalin and Mao Tse-tung on the eve
of the conference, reaffirming the close ties between the
two regimes and referring to the military guaranties of
the Soviet-Chinese alliance.
[| Apart from its possible import for the cease-fire nego-
fiations, the peace treaty contains clauses relating to
Korea. Under its terms Japan recognizes Korean inde-
ndence, and Korea—that is; in effect, South Korea
is included among the nations with which Japan
‘expresses willingness to negotiate fisheries and commer-
cic agreements and to which it is to extend most-favored-
treatment. Japan also promises “to give the
%
a.
naqgvio
AW RENCE K. ROSINGER has written extensiv ely on con-
d litions in Asia. He is editor and a co-author of ‘ ‘The State of
sia.” This is the second article in a symposium on the
pr Bisnis of peace in Korea. Next week Walter Sullivan,
New York Times correspondent with the U. N., will de-
scribe the reconstruction task that lies ahead.
wary 26, 1952
BY LAWRENCE K. ROSINGER
United Nations every assistance in any action it takes in
accordance with the Charter... .” This clause is impor-
tant as a reference to Korea, for it commits Japaa to con-
tinue the aid given the United Nations forces in Korea
prior to ratification of the peace treaty. It also furnishes
a possible basis for more extensive or more formal Japa-
nese participation in the Korean war at some future
date, if the current cease-fire effort should not succeed.
Japan has already played a significant role in the war,
not only as the crucial rear base from which the United
States and United Nations have operated, but also as a
formidable supplier of goods and services. For example,
Japan furnished LST crews for the landings at Inchon in
September, 1950, and the Japanese have also operated
minesweepers off Korea. Most of Japan’s help has been
in the form of supplies, including machinery, metals,
textiles, lumber, and chemicals. Japanese activities have
ranged over a wide field, from the repair of damaged
weapons and ships to the production of portable bridges,
and Japan’s metallurgical industries have handled large
orders placed by the occupation authorities, From the
outbreak of war in June, 1950, through July 29, 1951,
American war-procurement orders of goods and services
in Japan for the Korean operations totaled $385,000,000,
and the July, 1951, figure of $53,000,000 was higher
than for any other month up to that point. These orders,
which continue to flow in, have created a Japanese war
boom linked with Korea.
The prevailing American assumption—tinged with an
element of dowbt—is that a rearmed and economically
revived Japan will serve actively in a Pacific front against
communism without embarking on new adventures of its
own. But some of the Pacific allies of the United States
are less certain of this conclusion, and the recent defense
pacts with the Philippines, Australia, and New Zealand
were designed partly to reduce their fears. ;
The South Korean government has also expressed con-
cern over Japan’s future power, Although. not invited to
sign the San Francisco treaty—on the ground that Korea,
as a former Japanese colony, had not been at war with
Japan—the Rhee regime commented on the treaty draft
last summer, South Korea reportedly asked Washington
for the Japanese island of Tsushima lying between Japan
and Korea and for a regional security agreement withthe _ 3
United States. It also asked that Japan should not be oe
allowed to arm sufficiently to threaten Korean security. —
The formula advanced was that Korea and Japan should _
cooperate equally in Pacific defense. Since South Korea .
85
was in no position to obtain equality with Japan, this
formula was probably in part an effort to strengthen
Rhee’s bargaining position with Washington and Tokyo.
It is clear that, in the midst of more immediate problems,
much Korean opinion remains fearful of Japan. This
} sentiment presumably influenced the official South
: Korean reaction.
, ; The real nature of Japanese-South Korean relations is
H i suggested by recent conversations in Tokyo between rep-
resentatives of the two governments. The purpose of the
Fs meetings, which began in October under occupation aus-
pices, was to arrange a treaty of peace, amity, and com-
merce as a basis for the opening of diplomatic relations.
_ The Rhee regime urged speedy discussion of a variety of
_ subjects, but Japan seems to have shown little interest.
In fact, the Pusan radio charged Tokyo with a desire to
strengthen its position toward Korea by stalling until
_ after the Japanese peace treaty takes effect. One question
that is unclear is whether a Korean-Japanese military
accord is also intended to result from the Tokyo discus-
ioe sions, which are now in abeyance but are scheduled to
2 _fesume in February, The South Korean Foreign Minister
_ touched on an aspect of the subject on November 24
when he declared that his government would never
permit Japanese soldiers to enter Korea to fight Com-
» ae munists.
; ay = At present, of course, Japan can have no power of
nt ‘jnitiative in Korea, but any government in Tokyo,
whether war-minded or peaceful, is certain to be deeply
___ interested in an area so close to Japan. For this rea-
+ son it may be useful to recall that Japan did not origi-
i. nally swallow Korea at one gulp but absorbed it only
after protracted activity. The final act of annexation in
-—-:1910 was the product of two successful wars (with
y China in 1894-95 and with czarist Russia in 1904-05),
supplemented by several decades of political intrigue
in Korea, The point of these references to the past is not
a} to predict that history will repeat ‘itself but to suggest
| the importance of viewing a resurgent Japan in terms
> of decades rather than of the brief, controlled period of
_ the occupation.
Br > REVIVAL of Japanese economic influence in Asia
Bay A is involved in the American concept of Japan as
the “workshop” of the region. Japan must of course ex-
_ port if it is to live, and Japanese industry can certainly
x supply much that Asian countries require, But economic
- influence—for example, in South Korea—could lead to
+ political influence and ultimately to some form of po-
litical power. Asian nationalism constitutes a powerful
-_ counter-force. But former collaborationists continue to
function politically in a number of areas, including
South Korea, and it is conceivable that an alignment with
sphere” might seem attractive.
86
a strong, independent Japan in a new “co-prosperity.
“al
-
~ he bes , ae
“Ve a extent that yas revives, it wil have an in-
creasingly strong bargaining position in relation ‘oth
United States. With more than eighty million people, a
massive industry, and traditions of power, it may regard
the San Francisco conference as only a small down-pay- |
ment for its cooperation. This seems all the more pos- -
sible in view of the weakness of the other Asian allies
of the United States, such as the Rhee government, and ~
the demands of the United States for speedy Japanese
rearmament,
The conditions that might permit Japan to assume an
active role in the Pacific area must be weighed against
the many obstacles. The force of Asian nationalism has
already been mentioned, and this, ef course, includes
Korean nationalism in both parts of the divided country.
Another obstacle is the continued shakiness of Japan's
economy, with the burden of rearmament | kely to
raise new difficulties. Again, the United States, from
which Japan hopes to get more aid, may serve as a
check on the disagreeable possibilities in Japanese pol-
icy. Whatever may be the ultimate intentions of some
of its politicians, Japan is not today the militarized
nation of the pre-war period. With respect to the Com-
munist bloc on the continent, its attitude will be in-
fluenced by its pressing need for Chinese raw materials
and a share of the China market. Japan’s leaders and a
majority of the people oppose communism, but Com-
munist military power and political influence in Asia are
important realities that Japan, with its exposed geograph-
ical position and memories of defeat, is likely to bear in
mind.
The probability that for the present Japan will be
circumspect in its foreign policy—to the extent that con-
trol is restored to Japanese hands—was underlimed by
the decision in Washington not to submit the peace
treaty to the Senate in the last session of Congress, but to
wait until the 1952 session, It is interesting to note the
chief reason given for the State Department’s action—
the belief that if the cease-fire negotiations failed, the
needs of a new Korean campaign would be better met
by a Japan that remained an Allied base, as at present,
than by a Japan that was, in the words of a New York
Times correspondent, “a newly independent state strug-
gling to regain her bearings.”
In short, the ultimate effect on Korea of the Japanese
settlement and the trend toward a Pacific pact is a matter
of speculation. The peace and security treaties sharpen
existing alignments in the Pacific but are at present no
more than declarations of intention still to be carried out.
In the long run Japan’s leaders may be able to acquire
new influence in the East, including Korea. Their oppor-
tunities for potentially dangerous activities, however, —
would be reduced by an early Korean peace, especially
if this led to an adjustment of other outstanding issues
in Asia.
~ =
The NATION ~
_ HENRY ADAMS
a. The Mind and the Man
_ BY ELIZABETH STEVENSON
r\) O reads letters now? Who
YY writes them even? Yet for amuse-
, and for learning something about
| another time in the very atmosphere of
time’s gossip, they cannot be sur-
| passed. They beat histories, biographies,
and novels for the acuteness of mood
or tone. Farrar, Straus, and Young de-
serve thanks for the Great Letters Series.
The third volume, following Keats and
| Cowper, is a selection by Newton
Arvin from Henry Adams’s previously
| published letters.* Here, in this sam-
| pling of his social rather than philo-
ophic mind, is a good introduction to
Dh;
i 4 -
et
i
tha
The book is organized for the pleas-
ures of reading. The letters are divided
into five periods of Adams’s life, each
ection headed by the editor’s brief out-
‘ line of the man’s activities during that
| period. A list of identifications clarifies
"personal references.
) An introductory essay by Newton
Arvin summarizes Adams's life in sucha
vay as to help break up the stereotyped
image which continues to pass current
as the truth about Henry Adams, hav-
| ing appeared recently in its most hack-
meyed form in “The Magnificent
Yankee,” in which “Mr. Adams” was a
straw figure knocked over at regular in-
t tervals to enhance Wendell Holmes—a
| doubtful service to that robust demo-
| crat.
Arvin presents Adams more as an
observer than as a prophet. He stresses
the variety of his interests and the
| warmth of his sympathies rather than
| the blackness of his demonic insights.
shows him off as a letter-writer akin
omehow to the very different Horace
Walpole—a likeness Adams himself
joticed, He exhibits him as the’ good
aveler, enduring hardships when away
"ftom home with amazing cheerfulness
nd nonchalance to search out scenes
* "The Selected Letters of Henry Adams.”
dited with an Introduction by Newton
rvin ae 50.
y 26, 1952
~~
which affected his imagination. And in
judging some of the crotchets which
~ afflicted Adams and make him difficult
to resolve into a harmonious person-
ality, Arvin shows acuteness. He sug-
gests succinctly how personal tragedy
could affect historical judgment. He
indicates, too, the gradualness of the
growth of Adams’s pessimism, that slow
process by which ‘Henry Adams moved
from the great Unitarian synthesis of
his fathers—from its pure, cold, arid,
eighteenth-century rationality and opti-
mism—to the mechanistic catastrophism
with which he ended.”
There are gaps and muffled transi-
tions in the selection of the letters, since
the book is a concentrated dose of the
character, taste, intellect, prejudice of a
man rather than a record of a whole
life. The interesting Berlin episode of
his youth is omitted. So also is the
death of his sister Louisa, that first taste
he had of irreconcilable evil. Left out
is the crucial trip to Cuba in 1893 with
Clarence King. Left out, the pleasing
coda to his life—the hunting for and
finding of twelfth-century songs in
Paris.
Personal as the letters are, seeming to
be good, spontaneous, unguarded talk,
they do not contain all of Henry Adams.
He was very shy of self-revelation.
Some of it came out, disguised, in the
novels, biographies, and “History.” He
could be more naked, for instance in
“Esther” than in the first-person books,
““Mont-St.-Michel” and “The Educa-
tion.” “Democracy” is his political or-
deal; “Esther,” his own, as well as his
wife’s, religious plight. And where one
might least expect to find it, in the
“heavily documented, nine-volume “His-
tory of the United States,” there are
passages of lyrical intensity which tell
as much about the subjective Henry
Adams as any of these letters. One
could trace his description of the New
England privateers, lightly and danger-
ously rigged, from the “History” to
“Esther,” where it turns up again,
this time as an image for the character
of his heroine, and by private reference
an image of his wife, Marian Adams,
But by presenting a fresh culling of
letters Arvin has pulled Adams out of
the portentous shadows. He has made
it easy to listen to him. Reading the
letters is like hearing his talk: bold,
careless, but cutting to the center of
things. ‘‘Havana is a gay ruin,” he said,
catching an essence in two words. “An
engine house at night with two or three
engines letting off steam and showing
headlights” was the sight of a volcano
at night in Hawaii. His friend, La
Farge, was “‘a spectacled and animated
prism.”” Stevenson, whom he could not
like, was “‘an insane stork.” Theodore ©
Roosevelt, on a day when Adams was
out of sorts with him—‘a bore as big
as a buffalo.” The letters have the value
of white-hot emotions expressed in pic-
turesque, uninhibited language.
As Arvin says, he was “‘an ideologue
touched with the poetic sense.” He was
a forever working mind. It is particu-
larly exciting in these letters to see his
historical imagination at work. Wher-
ever he could find raw material for this
special sense, he would swoop down
and point out the connection never be-
fore seen; the conclusion never before
reached; causes, consequences, and by-
products; all expressed with living
urgency, The past, in person or scene,
seems to have just happened, or to be
happening as one reads his works. He
spoke, always, of Jefferson as if he had
known him personally. He loved Albert
Gallatin like a brother. He detested
Napoleon. And his distrust of Alex-
ander Hamilton was an intimate dislike.
Places no more than persons could
escape his transforming eye. He settled
in Washington when it still resembled,
as he said, a happy village; yet he saw
its future greatness and power. He
visited Granada. All he could see there
was its past; the fifteenth century sur-
rounded him. In Samoa, “I felt as
though I had got back to Homet’s time,
and were cruising about on the Aegean
with Ajax.”
He personified Tahiti and all Ta-
hitian history in one image:
mean that the place is gloomy, but just
quietly sad, as though it were a very
87
“Tl donee
o
é
7
er
ye
' Ly
4
L
ae
es
ee SS
ot
+
REG mye
Speers
Set”
a PS
oF
oe
PS
Be ot
ath +e MMe t
rae
pretty.woman who had got through her
fun and her troubles, and grown old,
and was just amusing herself by looking
on, without caring much what happens.
She has retired a long way out of the
world, and sees only her particular
friends, like me, with the highest intro-
ductions; but she dresses well, and her
jewels are superb. In private I suspect
she is given to crying because she feels
_ $0 solitary.”
In December, 1891, Henry Adams
_ went to the opera in Paris one evening
-and recorded the experience in a letter
to Elizabeth to whom he
could always write what meant most to
Cameron,
him. A hundred years before, his grand-
father, John Quincy Adams, had gone
to hear a performance of the same
opera. He had liked the opera, been
haunted by its music, and had come to
associate one song, a lament for the
abandoned Richard, with his own aban-
donment by the people in the election
of 1828. He wrote down this connec-
tion in his journal, with which Henry
was familiar.
When Henry, in Paris, went to the
revival of this old Grétry opera, he was
charmed by the music, and also sur-
rounded by associations. First, he put
himself in the person of his grand-
father; then he himself, in his own
person, was there in that other time, lis-
tening to “Richard.” ‘You know,” he
said to Mrs. Cameron, “what an awfully
handsome young fellow Copley made
me—with full dress and powdered hair,
talking to Mme Chose in the boxes,
and stopping to applaud ‘Un regard de
ma belle.’”’
He had projected himself, through
his imagination, into the past; or rather,
he had extended the experience of his
_ grandfather into his own life. The trait
is illustrative. This intensity of imagina-
5 tion characterized his day-to-day obser-
___ vations. It is this imagination, buttressed
by scholarship, which characterizes all
his work: his ‘‘History,” his biogra-
i phies, the “Mont-St.-Michel,” and “The
Education.”” They are works constructed
essentially by the shaping art. Such a
_ passage tossed off carelessly to a far-off
correspondent who might enjoy the
reference exhibits the very generation
of ideas.
The mind at work and the material
on which it worked: both are here in
the letters. The man and his time: the
88
1. oe
—-—s.\ _ 4 Ag
— ; fy a
time presented with the ane Sol bias;
the man holding back something of him-
self, yet letting go intimacies he hardly
knew he had revealed. If the letters do
not have the high pitch and concentra-
tion of the books, if they do not show
one the intensest Adams, at least they
show the basis of development—the
raw material from which he shaped the
few great works that keep him an hon--
orable thorn in the flesh of over-easy
American optimism,
The books are products; the letters,
process. But besides exhibiting an inter-
esting mind forming itself, they deserve
to be read for themselves. They are
amusing in the best way—that is, seri-
ously, They have depth of insight, but
at the same time are witty, even about
disaster. stretch of American
history from the Civil War to the First
World War had few such observers as
Henry Adams. And apparently his perti-
nence is just beginning. We are more
his contemporaries than his own corre-
spondents were. It is as if he were writ-
ing his letters to us.
The great
Mr. Acheson Defended
THE PATTERN OF RESPONSIBIL-
ITY. Edited by McGeorge Bundy
from the Record of Secretary of State
Dean Acheson. Houghton Méifflin
Company. $4.
F HUMANITY—and more particu-
larly the American people in an elec-
tion year—were ruled by sweet reason,
the publication of McGeorge Bundy’s
volume of selections from the public
utterances of Dean Achgson might well
settle forever the controversy over the
merits and fitness for high office of the
present Secretary of State. The selec-
tions are well chosen, the accompanying
commentary is judicious and good-tem-
pered—after reading them, no honest-
minded citizen could fail to be con-
vinced that virtually all the charges
customarily advanced against Mr. Ache-
son are groundless. In presenting,
chiefly in the Secretary's own words,
a most able brief for the defense, Mr.
Bundy has performed an essential pub-
lic service. The record has now been put
straight: the case should be closed.
Yet that is not quite the whole story.
Besides the fact that the book has ap-
peared rather late—corruption has re-
placed communism as the most promis-
the opposition attack has shi ed fron
the Department of State to the domestic
failings of the Administratien—one
may question whether the bulk of Mr.
Acheson's enemies are really interested
in learning the truth, Essentially their
opposition boils down to two things—a
conviction that accusing one’s political
adversaries of “softness” to communism
is good politics, and a profound per-
sonal dislike. Of the two, the latter is
perhaps the more important. For the
things about Mr. Acheson that drive his —
opponents to fury—his intelleetual at-
tainments, his good manners, his metic-
ulous speech, and his uncompromising
ethical standards, in a word, his per-
sonal superiority—are not likely to |
change. They are the essence of the —
man. By their mere existence they make —
nearly all the rest of Washington's po-
litical population Jook puny. Aad the
fact that Mr. Bundy demonsteates the
same qualities, that he comes from the
same social and intellectual background,
may hinder rather than assist him in his
task of counsel for the defense.
Hence this reviewer for one regrets
that Mr. Bundy should have felt obliged
to direct his book primarily at the mass
of Acheson-haters. The criticism, I
grant, is eccentric and bears no relation
to the realities either of polities or of
the publishing business. Yet it is only
honest to state that as I read on in Mr,
Bundy’s book, I became inereasingly de-
pressed. It seemed to me that both the
author and his protagonist were tending —
to descend to a commonplace level of ~
argument. They were not meeting the ff
attack on ground they had chosen them-
selves but were simply rebutting a series —
of vulgar and frequently dishonest —
charges. It is disheartening—and a grim —
reflection on the state of American pub- —
lic life today—to hear Mr. Acheson de-
fending his department before a group —
of newspaper editors in terms remi-—
niscent of a football rally. And par-
ticularly so when this selection follows |
one totally different in character-—a"_
lofty, closely reasoned statement of his
position on the Hiss case—which indi-—
cates what the Secretary is like when he |
permits himself to follow his true in- | i.
stincts.
And the same is true of Mr. Bundy
The preface—the only part of the book
in which the author fully reveals his |
ed, and independent—particular-
“ly in the passages in which Mr. Bundy
lists his few but significant disagree-
ments with Mr. Acheson. But the rest
of the book does not maintain the same
level. In the running commentary that
connects the selections from the Secre-
tary himself the tone is too cautious
and “official,” the style is too bland,
and too many crucial questions are
kirted or omitted altogether.
Hence to Mr. Acheson’s friends and
vell-wishers—and the present reviewer
a ‘counts himself among the latter—Mr.
| Bundy’s book makes rather strange
| teading. We are told all the things that
know already, we hear lengthy,
| sometimes tedious, answers to charges
| in which we have never believed, but
| our real questions remain unanswered,
We do not get any further light on the
| things that have been troubling us about
| the public record of a Secretary whom
/ we greatly admire. We find no com-
' ment, for example, on Mr. Acheson's
' petsonal limitations in dealing with
Europeans—no reflection of the fact
while his technical preparation
| within the Department of State is be-
| yond compare, his foreign experience
| has been extremely limited. (A man
who thoroughly understood the skep-
tice highly critical realism of a
| E Buropean—or, indeed, of an Asian—
| would not say as flat-footedly as he does
| that the United States has no satellites
| “whose votes we control.” Nor would
he speak so confidently of the possibil-
F of organizing “truly independent
tional regimes’ in Eastern Europe.)
bg Some of these statements, of course,
! may be largely for the record, but if
| there is any difference between the
\ Secretary in private and the Secretary in
public, it does not pierce through Mr.
| Bu indy’s commentary. And when we
} come to the latter’s statement that the
American refusal to recognize Commu-
China or to vote for its admission
> the United Nations was simply due
9 China’s failure to meet “basic stand-
tds of international behavior,” we
eally begin to wonder who's fooling
iF
.
.
f
i,
P
. Bundy frankly recognizes ‘that
e y Acheson’s Far Eastern policy
tanged after the outbreak of the Ko-
+y 26, 1952
oer Sa
It h ight, enka
Chinese interventio:
dramatic (and to my mind, least justi-
fiable) aspect of that change—the de-
cision to strengthen Chiang’s forces on
Formosa with arms and an American
military missicn—appears nowhere in
the record as Mr. Bundy lines it up.
Nor is there any hint that at least part
of this change may have been a weary
concession to merciless needling by the
Secretary’s critics. (Mr, Acheson, after
all, during the greater part of his sec-
retaryship, has been fighting for his
political life.) And the same considera-
tion applies to the chapter on “‘security
and loyalty in the Department of State.”
We find no discussion of whether or
not Mr. Acheson has occasionally al-
lowed a man under suspicion to be
thrown to the wolves—of why, for ex-
ample, John Carter Vincent was de-
moted from Berne to Tangier with a
cloud hanging over his name and no
adequate opportunity to clear it.
But let none of the foregoing be mis-
understood. It simply reflects the dissat-
isfaction of a questioning reader: it is
not intended to cast doubt on the record
of a great Secretary of State, and one,
furthermore, whose actions have more
frequently proved to be “right” than
those of almost anyone else around
these days. Mr. Acheson has suffered
political martyrdom: his public career is
a living illustration of his own warning
that “evil” and “degradation” follow
when “shrewd men . , . play on the
minds and loyalties and fears of their
fellows.” It is good that Mr, Bundy has
set the record straight, And it is also
good to know that in the Republican
Party—of which Mr. Bundy, surprising-
ly enough, is a loyal member—there
are men of his intelligence, political in-
dependence, and breadth of human un-
derstanding. H, STUART HUGHES
Coaches and Coronets
OUIDA, By Eileen Bigland. Duell,
Sloan and Pearce, $3.75,
i EVERY epoch since the widespread
distribution of books, there has
emerged a genre of writing—fiction,
usually—which lies somewhere between
the serious literature at the center and
the masses of record and mere news-
print at the periphery. Its products are
distinguished by 4 common subject mat-
ter rather than any individual quality,
and since they exist in response to some
deep social or psychological hunger, —
they enjoy an extravagant range and in-
tensity of appeal. Thus the Gothic ro-
mance, with its possessed, irrational
hero and its haunting threat of the un-
known in human experience, came as a
relief to the eighteenth century’s insist-
ence on the all-sufficiency of reason and
consciousness. A hundred years later the
detective story, with its omniscient hero
who always knew the answer, imparted
authority and security to a generation of
readers becoming less and less sure of
everything it had taken for granted.
Similarly, the rapidly urbanizing Amer-
ica before World War I found in an
idealized cowboy and his wide-open
Spaces a nostalgia-image for the free-
dom it had lost; and today, when the
earth gets smaller in every morning’s
paper, science fiction has emerged to
describe new worlds to get away to.
A century ago, when British society
was still a three-layer cake of dukes,
business men, and chambermaids, the
romance of high life was born. There
had always been memoirs by persons of
quality, but they concealed more than
they revealed, and though Disraeli’s
novels were the first to deal familiarly
with the private lives of peers, they
were relatively discreet. It took the
young lady who wore her hair like
Alice in Wonderland and called herself
Ouida to give the lending-library world
what it was really waiting for, Her first
story was called “Dashwood’s @. Dubwton eee
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89
{!
a a ee
a at ol —
and was published when she was twenty.
It was instantly popular, and its suc-
cessors went On appearing for the next
forty years. If Ouida’s portrait of life
among the coaches and coronets was
Jess than documentary, if Kensington
Gore and Belgravia had never known
such recklessly gaming younger sons or
lustrously evil countesses as hers, no
matter. It was enough that in the pages
of “Strathmore,” “Under Two Flags,”
and “The Two Viscounts,”’ the world at
Jarge could finally find out the ward-
robe details of a duke’s daughter, what
a guardsman’'s dressing table looked
like, and best of all, to what shockingly
headstrong ends a titled head would go
to get what it wanted.
So Ouida was read by millions, and
with the fortune she made before she
was thirty, she set up her notorious
salon at the Langham Hotel. Here, sur-
rounded by hot-house flowers, Longfel-
low, dozens of dogs, gold-braided
guardsmen—who smoked in her pres-
ence-—and as much blue blood as she
could lure, she became not only the
scandal of London but a figure more
fantastic than any in her books. “Ouida
in green silk, sinister, clever face, hair
down, voice like a carving knife,” said
William Allingham; “elle était toujours
affreuse,” said the Duc de Dion; “curi-
ous, uppish, a little terrible, and patheti-
cally grotesque,” said Henry James. In
her later years she settled in Italy, where
‘her inane lawsuits—if her dog bit you,
she sued—her shameless pursuit of roy-
alty, and her lavish receptions kept her
the rarest eccentric in Florentine society
for decades, and where finally, in 1908,
she died in poverty.
Theatrical, megalomaniac, entirely
unrestrained by any self-knowledge,
Ouida could not be the subject of a dull
biography. Miss Bigland’s is lively and
full of detail, and if it tends to gush
and fictionalize a little too much, this is
not inappropriate in connection with its
subject. Properly, the novels are treated
only in relation to their author’s career, -
though in a prefatory note Miss Bigland
does protest the influence of her heroine
on not only Firbank and Edith Wharton
but Galsworthy, Dreiser, and even D. H.
Lawrence. This is surely, affectionate
and harmless as it is, playing that parlor
game called Tradition and Individual
Talent a little too earnestly.
ROBERT PHELPS
90
Year’s End
THE GOOD SOLDIER. By Ford
Madox Ford. Alfred A. Knopf. $3.
AEOLIA. By Ilias Venezis. Translated
by E. D. Scott-Kilvert. The University
of Denver Press. $2.75.
FANCIES AND GOODNIGHTS. By
John Collier. Doubleday and Com-
pany. $4.
BEST STORIES FROM NEW WRIT-
ING. Selected and with an introduc-
tion by John Lehmann. Harcourt,
Brace and Company. $3.50.
MR. BELUNCLE. By V. S. Pritchett.
Harcourt, Brace and Company. $3.50.
VOYAGE TO WINDWARD: THE
LIFE OF ROBERT LOUIS STEV-
ENSON. By J. C. Furnas. William
Sloane Associates. $5.
KATHERINE MANSFIELD’S LET-
TERS TO JOHN MIDDLETON
MURRY. Alfred A. Knopf. $6.50.
EVERAL of last year’s books, im-
portant or generally assumed to be
so far, been men-
tioned in these columns. They demand a
closer examination than it is now pos-
sible to give them, but they should be
commented on, if only in brief.
Ford Madox Ford's “The Good
Soldier” was first published in 1915.
Ford thought well of it: “I have always
regarded this as my best book—at any
rate as the best book of mine of a pre-
war period.” One of his friends re-
marked, acutely, referring to its tight
structure and careful organization: “It
is the finest French novel in the English
language.” It is not about soldiering, but
scrutinizes the complicated relationships
within a quartet composed of a wealthy
American couple and an only slightly
Jess wealthy English couple as they move
from watering-place to watering-place in
what now seems the halcyon Europe of
the decade before 1914. It lacks the
scope and the passion of the Tietjens
series, in part because Ford’s concern
with form requires that the narrator be
a rather imperceptive man to whom the
important, have not,
moral horrors which surround him be-°
come only slowly apparent. Yet it is
more satisfying than most contemporary
fiction. Ford took his art. seriously,
and his seriousness shows, though it
never oppresses.
According to Lawrence Durrell’s note
to “‘Aeolia,” the Greeks consider Venezis
5 ¢
” bo ia
a
3
one of their two greatest contemporary
novelists. ‘“Aeolia’” is no novel but a
charming series of childhood recollec-
tions of life in Anatolia before the
Greek diaspora of 1914. These sketches *
do recapture a vanished and complex
agrarian society in which—the sense of .
this fact is one of the delights of the —
book—myth and magic were as im-
portant in daily life as crops and the
weather. The last scenes, when the
author's family abandons its farm just |
before the Turks arrive, achieve a real *
pathos from which most writers today
would shrink.
One should not read John Collier's
omnibus of forty-nine short stories,
“Fancies and Goodnights,” all at once.
What the jacket calls “these weird and
fantastic’ tales must be taken at widely
separated intervals. Then one may not
notice that even those which once
seemed admirable are confections rely-
ing on the merely grotesque or macabre
for subject matter and on new twists
to the trick ending for plot. Their
cleverness is overwhelming.
In contrast, the stories selected from
the fifteen years of John Lehmann’s
English periodical, New Writing, bear
rereading very well. They have great
variety. Christopher Isherwood is rep-
resented by The Nowaks (one of “The
Berlin Stories”); George Orwell by a
fine fragment of autobiography, at once
symbolic and first-rate reporting, Shoot-
ing an Elephant; and Rosamond Leh-
mann by a deft period-piece, The Red-
haired Miss Daintreys. The contributions
of Elizabeth Bowen, Williarm Sansom,
James Stern, and Denton Welch are all
very good, though not as good as other
stories they have written. And there are
stories by seventeen additional “new”
writers which are always more than
competent, avoiding the contemporary
American evils of slickness and the re-
cording of simple sensitiveness.
Since I admire V. S. Pritchett’s re-
marks on fiction, I wish I could admire
his novel. ““Mr. Beluncle’” is an amusing.
full-length portrait of a rascal, a get-
rich-quick operator of the London
suburbs, It is beautifully written; the
characters come fully to life. Numerous
signs indicate, however, that it is meant
to transcend these excellences. Indeed,
they obtrude themselves. Yet it is dif-
ficult to tell what “meaning” the book
is supposed to have. An anonymous
The NATION ;
4
‘
.
‘
'
'
:
'
‘
= Sake
oe a prdeees or a purpose
bandoned or r forgotten halfway through.
This judgment applies admirably to
‘M . Beluncle.”
“Voyage to Windward,” J. C. Fur-
nas’s long life of Robert Louis Steven-
son, has every appeatance—new mate-
rial, full detail, the extirpation of an-
cient heresy—of a standard biography.
Un nfortunately it is written in a slightly
old-fashioned and windy journalese.
The facts about Stevenson and Mr.
Furnas’s seemingly excellent and fair
assessment of them must be approached
through sentences and diction which
constantly offend the eye and ear.
I find it impossible to read all 701
closely printed pages of Katherine
‘Mansfield’s letters to John Middleton
Murry. When Mr. Murry first edited
these letters in 1928 he abridged some
and omitted others; he also included
‘many letters to other people. Now we
have her letters to him, complete and
-unrelieved. Their relationship, with its
‘many rejections, reversals, and resump-
tions, is presented in all available detail,
from her side, at least. Readers
enamored of the quarrels and calamities
) of authors will like this book. It is
first-rate in the snatches—sometimes
only a sentence or two—when Katherine
‘Mansfield was not worrying about the
state of her soul or about how she felt
or did not. feel toward Murry. An
old woman, a summer night, a fall of
ftain—these she could turn into a series
of lovely fragments delightful to con-
template. Her sensibility brought some-
thing new to English writing, though I
oubt that she was as important an
artist as the editorial comment assumes.
But the rest, that is, roughly, three-
quarters of the book, is painful with-
gut any of the expected rewards of pain.
Even if one reminds oneself regularly
that Katherine Mansfield was often a
‘sick women, the epistolary “scenes,”
the long-drawn-out analyses of feelings
which are often not clearly understood
despite the clarity with which they are
stated, the chronicle of a life which
was largely a pilgrimage to soihe
shrine impossible of access grow, in
short time, embarrassing, then annoying,
ind then tedious.
a ERNEST JONES
a "JAPAN IN WORLD HISTORY, By
G. B. Sansom. Institute of Pacific
Relations. $2.
HE Japanese have an expression,
nani mo gozaimasen a4, which
loosely translated means something like
“I haven't anything at all to offer you
and what I have is awful stuff, but’—
please eat heartily, drink my beer, take
over my house, etc., etc. To a people
steeped in the lore of super-salesman-
ship this is ridiculous. Who will drink
your beer if you tell him it is no good?
Since “Japan in World History,” a
composite of lectures delivered by Sir
George Sansom in Japan, is saturated
with the psychology of mani mo gozai-
masen ga, it will not appeal to an Ameri-
can audience. The usual reaction will
be, I think, ‘Well, this is certainly not
Sansom at his best.” Admirers of the
fluent style, the deft touches of humor,
the bold and sweeping intelligence char-
acteristic of the author's “Japan: A
Short Cultural History” and ‘'The West-
ern World and Japan” will be disap-
pointed. They will find this book
rambling, repetitious, sometimes uncon-
vincing. They will be annoyed by the
excessive humility: “I have no right
. . to pose as an authority on Japanese
history... . We {foreigners} must think
ourselves fortunate if Japanese historians
will take the trouble to instruct us... .”;
“I ask your pardon”; “{my] rambling
observations’; “these crude reflections.”
They may even be offended by an ‘‘ex-
cusing’”’ of Japanese past blunders—for
example, Yamagata’s institution of the
evil practice of reserving the posts of
War and Navy Ministers to officers on
the active list.
Nevertheless, this book provides us an
opportunity to cbserve in action a man
who knows Japan and the Japanese as
few Westerners know them, making a
contribution—very small, he would say
—to the restoration of good relations
between Japan and the West. He em-
phasizes as particularly important in this
task the building of individual freedom,
liberal scholarship, and general tolerance
in Japan, in whose defense the Japanese
failed so miserably during the 1930's.
His way of doing this is most inter-
esting, and surely discomfiting to those
who have advocated and practiced
“high-pressure” methods of “reeducat-
ing” the Japanese For there is no high ;
ae Bee UG eee
(fab tae “Mae
: Peel nt
pressure in Sansom. He is no high priest —
of democracy pontificating virtue to
those who failed. As an Englishman he
admits to citizenship in a country with
a long democratic tradition, but he re-
fuses to be smug on this score. Western
democracy, he feels, owes as much to
luck as to wisdom. “Quarrelsome, vio-
lent, disorderly people,” goaded by —
food shortages out of feudalism into
capitalism and trade, unable to organize
themselves because neither king nor
barons nor clergy nor merchants proved
strong enough to impose one will on an
entire country, finally arrived at a “de-
fective and partial tolerance,” “the only
hope of understanding between nations
as between persons.”
The Japanese, not being so peculiar
or so isolated as Westerners have
thought, came a long way in this direc-
tion, That they did not come farther
may be due more to their strengths than
to their weaknesses—a prevailing sense
of duty, the lack of religious strife, no
desperate need for trade, the “miracle”
of Tokugawa order and discipline. At
any rate it was not due to any lack of
political sense or capacity or virtue in
the Japanese people. Sir George finds
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no people better fitted for “cultivating
the arts of peace,” endowed as they are
with courage, determination, industry, a
high regard for duty, and a strong
aesthetic sense. ““The great tradition of
humanism is not a monopoly of Western
thought.” Obviously totalitarianism—or
democracy—could have happened any-
where, to any people.
Thus does Sir George Sansom, with-
out arrogance or insult, hand his Japa-
nese audience the cup of freedom and
tolerance and ask them to drink deeply.
They should understand, even if Ameri-
cans do not, that this brew is precious
in inverse ratio to the humility with
which it is presented.
HILARY CONROY
Books in Brief —
THE WORLDLY MUSE, AN AN-
THOLOGY OF SERIOUS LIGHT
VERSE. Edited by A. J. M. Smith.
Abelard Press. $3.50. Mr. Smith, not as
well known as he ought to be this side
of his native Canadian border, is a
bright gay poet who has here brought
together many different kinds of bright
gay pieces to form an altogether de-
lightful anthology. Too bad this one
could not have had a little more pre-
Christmas publicity. Hardly to be rec-
ommended as Lenten fare, but comes
the springtime and a few friends hav-
ing birthdays, you could hardly find a
happier present; it would also be a very
good gift for yourself, any time.
NORTH WITH THE SPRING. By
Edwin Way Teale. Dodd, Mead. $5.
Mr. Teale, well known as a writer and
naturalist, here describes how he real-
ized a common dream: following the
spring from Florida northward to
the timber line. A strenuous man as
well as a lively and exceptionally well-
informed one, he made a journey of
seventeen thousand miles, and took the
trouble to climb mountains, penetrate
swamps, and talk with natives all along
the way. He tells us informally about
what he saw, and being versed in the
whole field of natural history, he is al-
ways ready with the facts or the paral-
Jels which will explain what everything
means. Anyone planning such a trip
will find him an indispensable guide,
and for those of us who cannot go an
De
imaginary trip in his company is the
next best thing. Birds, beasts, plants,
and insects are duly noted, as well as
those grand features of the landscape
which are all the ordinary traveler is
aware of. Like Thoreau, Mr. Teale is
always amazed to discover “how much
is going on” in any field or wood.
There are also expert photographs by
the author.
JOSEPH
Drama | °°
KRUTCH
ERY few attempts have been made
to revive the plays of Eugene
O'Neill on Broadway. Many of them
were commercially successful as well as
highly esteemed, but there has always
been a minority which refused to admit
that O'Neill's virtues were genuine or
that they would long seem so.
The company at the City Center has
now opened the question with a first-
rate production of ‘Anna Christie,” and
the result is strong evidence on the side
of those who have sturdily maintained
O'Neill's claim to be, of all American
playwrights, the one most likely to Jast.
In the Times Mr. Atkinson remarked
that though this particular play is per-
haps not its author's best, it is certainly
better than any new play current. This
is an obvious fact, and, what is possibly
more important, a capacity audience was
delighted with it.
There is of course an unimportant
sense in which every old play—even a
classic—is ‘‘dated.” In that sense
Aeschylus and Shakespeare are “dated.”
Their techniques are no longer currently
ptacticed; they reflect once current in-
tellectual and emotional preoccupations
where the emphasis is not quite ours.
In fact, a classic might be defined as a
work of art which has become super-
ficially dated while remd@ming essen-
tially valid. The important thing is that
its conformity to a mode should be only
an incidental rather than a fundamental
cause of its original popularity. And
that proves to be precisely the case with
“Anna Christie.” If it had been written
today by a playwright of O’Neill’s gifts
it would not be precisely what it is.
Thirty years ago tales dealing with the
dregs of society were coming into fash-
ion. A heroine who had served her
= * * * i “Ay tt
aS : oe i tau a
7 a ee
time in a bawdy house seemed a more
romantic and possibly a more significant
figure than she would seem today. Yet
in watching a performance of this
particular play one is hardly aware of
this aspect of it. It is simply an absorb-
ing tale and genuinely “strong,” not
merely something which seemed so be- ~~
cause it was the sort of thing called
“strong’’ at a particular time. ,
The present production is excellent
not merely in the playing of the indi- «;
vidual parts but in its whole conception.
The very fact that O'Neill's plays are
full of violent emotions directly pre- -
sented always tempts to overplaying,
and the temptation is probably even
harder to resist in the case of a revival
which may seem to present the problem
of “putting over” a dated play. Wisely,
this production is subdued rather than
overemphasized, and the result is to
give full effectiveness to the strong
colors of the script itself. Celeste Holm
gives a quiet, relaxed performance of
Anna; Art Smith, a very effective one in
the difficult role of her father; Kevin
McCarthy, a really outstanding inter-
pretation of Mat Burke, the flamboyant
Irish “playboy of the Western world”
who finds himself called upon to face a
near-tragic dilemma. It is no secret that
O'Neill's dialogue is his weakest point
and that it is sometimes difficult to make
it seem convincing as real speech, but I
have seldom seen any production of any
of his plays which succeeded better in
making that dialogue fit the mouths of
the characters who speak it.
As one watches the play unfold again
one realizes clearly enough both why it
was one of the most popular of its
author’s works and why he himself al-
ways resented the fact. What he obwi-
ously wanted to write was a tragedy
about the sea as one embodiment of the
irrational force to which the most im-
posing human beings fall possessed and
willing victims. What happens is that
the simpler story of a man’s relation to
a woman takes over. It is in this man
and this woman, not in the metaphysi- a
_cal idea, that the audience becomes in-
terested. The father’s last denunciation
of the sea passes almost unnoticed be-
cause Anna and Mat have become recon-
ciled. Thus what was intended as a
mystical tragedy becomes a love story
with a happy ending. In other words,
“Anna Christie’ is a lesser work than
_ The NATION
eid
vy
3 echaps these audiences are right
as well as wrong.
ly “PAL JOEY” in revival has been
| dressed up with dance numbers and
laborate settings, but the additions are
| @ppropriate as well as smart and the
) basic line has not been changed. Vivi-
enne Segal plays the part again of the
bilder woman. She is the star of the
Show, and her singing of “Bewitched,
Bothered, and Bewildered” is as good
| as ever. So is the song. Helen Gallaghe:
| as Gladys the night-club girl is the sec-
ond star. Harold Lang dances his part
well, but he is simply not Pal Joey.
Though he tries hard he never loses the
air of the male ingenue, the innocent,
well-brought-up youth who strives to
| please. I’m afraid a real Pal Joey would
look upon this impersonation with a
quizzical and irreverent eye. M.M.
Music | nice
USIC HAGGIN
ie ACH’S St. John Passion is beauti-
a fully sung by the Robert Shaw
_ Chorale, Collegiate Chorale, and solo-
ists conducted by Shaw (RCA Victor).
_ The performance is reproduced not only
) with beauty of sound but with admir-
able balance and clarity, except in one
_ instance where the chorus can’t be heard
; "clearly behind the solo bass, I question
h Shaw’s reason for using English instead
of German: neither for all the singers
nor for all the listeners is this a per-
formance “to affirm and quicken a
- faith,” requiring that the story be “‘car-
tied in the living language of the singer
and listener” (and. does the use of
Latin make the Mass less effective in
affirming and quickening the faith of
Catholics?). Also, as a mere lay listener
) 2 find myself questioning a few details
"of the performance—the solemnity of
| Pilate’s “Behold the man!”’, the driving
tempos of some of the chotales. And as
a mere lay listener I am as usual moved
“hot by the arias (except “Es ist vall-
bracht’’) but by the recitative and arioso
_ Passages, and most of all by the choral
p ortions—especially the magnificent
opening chorus and the chorales,
Bach's Cantata “Ein’ feste Burg”
ary 26, 1952
——
a
pleases i its audiences _
One of these superb 33'/srpm 10-inch
Long-Playing Unbreakable Records
(Prepared by the non-profit Ditson Musical Foundation)
Regularly $45
YOURS
FOR ONLY
“INDIAN SUITE”
By Edward MacDowell
Ever since its first per-
formance by the Boston
Peron? Orchestra in
1896 this lovely and me-
lodic suite has been a
great concert hall favor-
ite throughout the world.
Each of the fascinating
five sections is based on
"2nd SYMPHONY”
By Walter Piston
Composed in 1943, pet-
med by the Boston
senony, NBC Sym-
Saw y, N. Y. Philbar-
monic, Philadelphia
Symphony and other
leading orchestras—win-
mer of the New York
Music Critics Circle
Award in 1944-45, this
enuine Indian themes—
egends, festivals, war
dances, romances and
cording.
INCE the last war a great musical awaken-
ing has electrified the music-loving world
—a sudden realization that the foremost music
being written today is American music—and
that American composers have been writing
enjoyable melodies, important music for the
past 200 years! In all the great concert halls
the most famous orchestras, conductors, solo-
ists, chamber groups are performing this
music for delighted audiences,
And now ano outstanding non-profit iasti-
tution has embarked on a program of creat-
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American music! Every form of musical ex-
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works, folk-music, theatre music... music of
America at work and at play; music of Amer-
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love of liberty and the love of fun, the love
of good living and the love of God. What-
ever your tastes—here is music for you!
HOW THIS MUSIC CAME TO BE RECORDED
Recently, the directors of the renowned Alice
M. Ditson Fund of Columbia University
awarded a substantial grant to create the non-
profic Ditson Musical Foundation, whose sole
purpose is to record and release each month
a new full-frequency recording of American
music, on Long Playing records,
ARE THE RECORDS EXPENSIVE?
No, to the contrary. Because the Ditson Musi-
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at cost to the American Recording Society
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richly rhythmic score has
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sorrows, 10” A.R.S. tee for its composer.
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10”
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engages the finest available conductors and
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larest high-fidelicy equipment, and pressed
directly from a limited. number of silver-
sputtered masters,
HOW THE SOCIETY OPERATES
Your purchase of either of the Long-Playing
records offered above for only $1.00 does not
obligate you to buy any additional records
from the Society—ever! However, we will be
happy to extend to you the courtesy of aa
Associate Membership. Each month, as aa
Associate Member, you will be offered an
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famous American composer, at the special
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any particular record, you need merely return
the form provided for that purpose,
FREE RECORDS OFFERED
With each two records purchascd at the regu-
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record of comparable qualiry
ABSOLUTELY FREE. How-
ever, because the number of
records which cen be preased
from silver-sputtered masters is
necessarily limired, we urge you
to mail the coupon at once!
AMERICAN RECORDING SOCIETY
100 AVE. OF THE AMERICAS, N. Y. 13, N.Y.
Se es LF BS GD Ye | Ay OY
THE AMERICAN RECORDING SOCIETY, Dept. 724+ NA-Y
100 Avenue of the Americas, New York 13, N. Y.
i O “INDIAN SUITE”, by MacDowell C1 “2nd SYMPHONY", by Piston Hf
: (Check one) a
Please send mo the record checked above, for which I enclose $1.00 as full payment. As an Associate Member ai
@ in tho American Reeording Society, I will receive the Society's publication which will give me adyanee notice i
of cach new moatily Society Long-Piz aying selection which I am eatitied to purchase at the special Membership q
price of only $4.95 for 12” records, $4.35 for 10” records plus a few cents for U.S. tax and shipping. However,
Bo may dec ine to purchase any or ail Society records offercd to me. With each two Society recordings I do
Bf purchase, you will send mo an additional record ABSOLUTELY FRED,
g CONG resecntenei sre ae iaealtih teva co evlieiclten’s sundeéus soudhago savas insvevedsec ZONE....002.04 State......... riogrstesneneia sevoreoedeneves
a Canadian Address: OWEN SOUND, ONTARIO J
SRE EN 2 dB ee
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oe
—
a SA
A
| PULITZER PRIZE and CRITICS’
(Bach Guild) also has impressive choral
passages, including another magnificent
opening chorus, and in addition an en-
gaging soprano aria. His Easter Oratorio
(Bach Guild) has a buoyant and radi-
ant opening Sinfonia and closing chorus
and a good Adagio for oboe and strings,
but longer stretches of uninteresting
solo singing. The performances of these
works by the Vienna Akademiechor,
soloists, and a chamber orchestra under
Prohaska's direction are excellent.
After the beautiful music by Vivaldi
that I know the unfamiliar oratorio
“Juditha Triumphans” (Period) is dis-
appointingly uninteresting; but there is
more interesting life in his “Dixit”
(Period). Both works are excellently
performed by Italian soloists, chorus,
and orchestra under Angelo Ephrikian’s
direction.
The same musicians give us equally
good performances of a group of fine
pieces by Monteverdi: “Laudate Domi-
num,” “Ut Queant,’’ ““Beatus Vir,” and
an unidentified work that follows “Bea-
tus Vir’ (Period).
Another disappointment to me is the
group of Purcell works—'’Te Deum,”
“Bell Anthem,” “Jubilate” in D, and
“Oh Sing Unto the Lord’’—that are not
made more attractive by the Purcell Per-
forming Society of Cleveland directed
by John Reymes King (Allegro). A
30% Less than List on LP Records
Send 15¢ for LP catalog to:
DISCOUNT RECORD CLUB
DEPT. N-39
Box 175, Radio City Station, New York 19, N. Y.
Add 15¢ per record postage and handling charges
(50¢ minimum) 48 HOUR SHIPMENT
AWARD
L \ RICHARD RODGERS & OSCAR HAMMERSTEIN Zn@
present in associction with
LELAND HAYWARD & JOSHUA LOGAN
MARTHA WRIGHT
GEGRGE BRITTON
South Pacific
ae Mose by RICHARD RODGERS
Hi Sy brie OSCAR HAMMERSTEIN 2nd
Bock by
QSAR HARMERSTEIN 2nd & JOSHUA LOGAN
a from JAMES A. MICHERER'S Pulitzer
Winning “TALES OF THE SOUTH PACIFIC’
Directed by JOSHUA LOGAN ~
__ Scenery & Lighting by Jo Mielziner
with MYRON McCORMICK
WAJESTIC THEATRE, 44th St. West of B’way
Evenings 8:30. Matinees Wed. & Sat., 2.30
Monday Eves. only. Curtain at 7 sharp.
sustained organ note between the words
“His pasture’” and “O go your way” in
the ‘Jubilate’ seems incorrect.
The same group—whose members
are not good enough for solo singing,
but sound better together except for the
shrillness of the sopranos—is heard on
a record, Sacred Music of the Seven-
teenth Century (Allegro), in several
beautiful pieces by Orlando Gibbons, a
few moderately interesting ones by
Matthew Locke, and some uninteresting
ones by Peter Philips.
Byrd's Mass for five voices (Allegro)
is lovely, though less impressively so
than the one for four voices that I re-
ported on last year. Perhaps the dif-
ference is in the less lovely
sound produced by the Nonesuch Sing-
ers of Bristol, England, under Roland
Dale Smith's direction—the sopranos
being shrill. On the same record are a
few pieces of Byrd's keyboard music,
most of them not very interesting, and
played by John Reymes King on the
organ, which doesn’t seem to be the best
instrument for the purpose.
On another record, Choral Master-
pieces of the Renaissance (Period),
the Nonesuch Singers sing two fine
sacred pieces by Victoria and a couple
of less interesting ones by Josquin; the
French Circle Choir of Bristol, a good
chorus directed by P. R. Banham, sings
a few charming French secular pieces;
and the Open Score Society, a chorus of
men and boys that is good except for
the altos, is directed by Francis Cameron
in a beautiful sacred piece by Byrd, a
couple of good ones by Farrant, a cou-
ple by Gibbons that are fair, and an un-
interesting one by Redford.
Victoria’s Masses “‘Quam Gloriosum”
and ‘““O Magnum Mysterium,” of which
the first is the more impressive, are sung
by the Welch Chorale, whose sopranos
are not good (Allegro).
I would skip Buxtehude’s Missa
Brevis and other pieces, the singing of
the Hastings Chorale whose- sopranos
are shrill and tenors are coarse, and
recording which produces a strong bum
(Allegro).
Benjamin Britten’s early “Te Deum,”
sung by the Washington Cathedral
Choir of men and boys, and his later
Hymn to St. Cecilia, sung by the Cham-
ber Chorus of Washington, are more
engaging than his Ceremony of Carols,
sung by the boys of the Washington
vocal
Cathedral Choir (WCFM). The solo —
boy soprano voices are not agreeable; —
otherwise the singing under Paul Calla-
way’'s direction is good.
A mere listener like myself to a work
like Alban Berg's “Der Wein” can say _
only, as I did in my review, that the .—
performance seems good. It takes some-—
one like the reader who has written me_
about that statement to feel able to as-
sure me “that the performance of ‘Der
Wein’ is quite bad. I+know the work |
intimately, have analyzed it, and have
followed the recording several times
with the score. As in Janssen's record- ©
ing of the Suite from “Wozzeck,’ a great
many points fail to come through clear-
ly which are important for the music
to make any kind of sense; there is
pointless editing (as in the ‘Wozzeck’
recording, where some thirteen meas-
ures of the last section are missing);
and Miss Boerner manages to sing the
correct notes of the opening phrase,
but from there on it is cateh-as-catch-
can to the point of singing wrong words
(Seinen for meinen, etc., etc.).” M
correspondent, a composer who is a
practitioner of the twelve-tone tech-
nique, also comments on Alfred Frank-
enstein’s explanation of the twelve-
tone-row procedure of Berg's piece,
which I found insufficient, and his anal-
ysis of its structure, which I found ques-
tionable, contending that they “can be
little else, since Frankenstein’s lecture is
based not upon his own observations of
what is actually taking place in the
music, but upon René Leibowitz’s ‘ques-
tionable’ and ‘insufficient’ books.’ As
for the music itself, in which I found
no expressive relation to the words, my
correspondent, an admirer of Berg’s
powers and certain of his works, thinks
“Der Wein” is “dull and completely
unsuited to the text and the medium.”
CONTRIBUTORS
ELIZABETH STEVENSON is the au- -
thor of the “The Crooked Corridor: A:
Study of Henry’ James” and is now at
- work on a biography of Hensy Adams.
H. STUART HUGHES, assistant pro-
fessor of history at Harvard University,
‘is the author of “An Essay for Our
Times.”
HILARY CONROY is a member of the
History Department at the University of
Pennsylvania.
The NATION
Braye
rogressive een
Co ndemned
Dear Sirs: In commenting on your re-
rent series Battle for Free Schools, I
hould like to’ point out that, like many
her issues of the day, that of “‘pro-
sressive education” suffers from clear-
t definitions and postulations. .. . In
lesions with teacher colleagues, who
consider themselves champions of ‘‘mod-
mm education” or “progressive educa-
jon” I am cavalierly assured that the
Activity Program as now practiced is
not really the Activity Program; that
when they, the progressives, speak of
he Core Curriculum, they do not mean
i ‘thing” which is now masquerading
‘such; that we do not now have in
pur schools an even reasonable facsimile
of what they intended.
In this manner the proponents of
ptcgressivism have made themselves in-
unerable. The weaknesses revealed in
lhe implementation of their program
e attributed to forced deviation from
the ideal, while the good points arise
in spite of conservative teachers and in-
idequate supplies.
Let there be no mistake about it. I am
very much concerned with a profes-
ional problem. If, as some of the pro-
ressives charge, criticism of their pro-
fram plays into the hands of the
aemies of the public school, we have
0 take this calculated risk. It is more
nportant to have a sound educational
rogram than to present a united front
> the enemy.
The heart of the progressive doctrine
| “Consider the whole child.” How-
yer, as long as this ideal means all
nings to all teachers, we will continue
2 > have perfect agreement on the de-
rability of change, but little or no
agreement on the direction of change.
We, of the “traditional” camp, pos-
tlate the indispensability of the funda-
aental skills. Without the essential
ining tools the child is helpless and
on pmpromised, and the boast of “keep-
g him happy” becomes a grim joke. It
ems gratuitous to state that no one
jects to a well- -integrated child enjoy-
& his learning experiences. The tradi-,
ynal teacher might be characterized as
ae who insists the schools exist pri-
i Say for learning. To the best of his
ility he makes the learning experi-
es happy ones. The “modern”
een the other hand, is willing to
vary 26, 1952
em = oh Pair
|
|
|
|
i
ca 4 *
Soret, =
the consoling thought that . may
come later). Here I too am guilty of
oversimplification, but obviously I can-
not develop the full thesis in this letter.
Unless and until the progressives can
successfully integrate the fundamental
skills into their program, the program is
educationally unsound. I am aware that
some of the progressives claim that their
products are well-versed in the essential
tools, even superior to the traditional
product. However, there is daily evi-
dence that runs counter to this claim.
One of the stranger aspects of the
whole controversy is the fantastic charge
that progressive education makes for
regimentation and statism. My criticism
is that with their excessive emphasis
upon the individual’s progress, the pro-
gressives willingly sacrifice the interests
of the larger group. It is a common ex-
perience today to have in a class a pupil
retarded by one or two years in arith-
A MOTHER writes from
Sing Sings DEATH HOUSE:
“We said, and we say again, that we are victims of the greatest
type of political frame-up ever known in America.”
SHOULD THEY DIE— Or Are They Innocent?
Ethel and Julius Rosenberg, parents of two small children, are the
only persons ever sentenced to death by a U. S. civil court for alleged
Axis Sally, Tokyo Rose and other self-confessed traitors
were sp: red their lives, Are the Rosenbergs victims of McCarthy-like
? Did a brother help to convict a sister to save his own life?
espionage.
hysteria ?
TIME 1S SHORT — Get the Facts Now!
In a pamphlet published by the National Committee to Secure Jus-
tice in the Rosenberg Case, Mr. William Reuben, a crusading jour-
nalist who “broke” the Trenton Six case, has cast grave doubt on
the government’s case against the Rosenbergs. The Rosenbergs may
never see another winter if their appeal is denied.
DO THESE THINGS—TODAY
1, Write for copies of the pamphlet, “To Secure Justice in the
Rosenberg Case.”
2. Write or call for speakers.
8. Write President Truman and Attorney-General McGrath asking
that justice be done in the Rosenberg Case.
4, Send funds to the Committee for legal and publicity expenses.
NATIONAL COMMITTEE TO
SECURE JUSTICE IN THE
ROSENBERG CASE
246 Fifth Ave., New York City
MUrray Hill 5-2144
i
i
i
i
!
i
i
i
i
I
Prov. Chairman: Joseph Brainin; I
125 co-sponsors Including Hon, '
Robert Morss Lovett, Dr. Katherine 1
Dedd, B, Z. Goldberg, Dr. Herbert 1
Aptheker, The Rev. Dr. Spencer i
Kennard, Mrs. Bessie Mitchell,
Capt. Hugh N. Muizac, and others. z
ADDRESS.
CITY.
NATIONAL COMMITTEE TO SECURE JUSTION
IN THE ROSENBERG CASE
246 Fifth Avenue, New York City
Enclosed is my contribution of $
justice in the Rosenberg Case.
Please send me Sa
(single copies, 6; $4 $4 per 100).
TD
A
os
- metic slowing up he progress of the a
class as a whole, all for the purpose of
keeping the child with his age group.
This leads logically to the doctrine of |
“no failures” and, ultimately, to 100 per
cent promotion. With one wasteful
stroke the elementary school has freed
itself of all troublesome problems. That
the problem reappears in aggravated
form in the high schools doesn’t seem
to trouble the progressives in the ele-
mentary grades at all. Unless a miracle
occurs to galvanize high-school teachers
into spirited action, the fundamental
skills may become college subjects.
Brooklyn, N. Y. CHARLES SALKIND
Shippers’ Costs
Dear Sirs: Aleine Austin in her article
The Revolt Against Joe Ryan, which
appeared in your December 1 issue,
points out the difference between our
contract and that of the International
Longshoremen’s Association on the East
—Ethel Rosenberg.
to secure
copies of the pamphiet
ZONE 6TATR SS
93, ae
EAS LN Sete ae
- See ne Le
>
‘Coat: rh eee
seems to me the erroneous conclusion
that it costs more to do business on the
West Coast and that, therefore, “the
employers have everything to gain by
maintaining the s/atus quo on the East-
ern docks.”
It is difficult for us to lay hands on
cost figures for the industry. However,
a California Senate Fact-Finding Com-
mittee on San Francisco Bay Ports has
just issued its final report, in which are
presented the following figures for
stevedoring costs:
Port Loading Discharging
Philadelphia $5.69 $6.12
New York 5.28 6.00
Norfolk 4.81 5.85
Baltimore 4.44 5.92
San Francisco Bay 4.30 4.95
According to this report stevedoring
costs in San Francisco are lower than
those for any one of the four major
East Coast ports shown, both for load-
ing and discharging.
I would conclude that despite what
are probably the lower labor costs on the
East Coast, shippers actually are stuck
for a higher cost owing to the loading
racket and other similar added costs.
This is not to say that East Coast em-
ployers have everything to gain by toss-
ing out the racketeers and substituting
a decent set-up such as we have on the
West Coast. I am simply trying to set
the record straight.
In general, the article is a good one.
r Vie rae
Ametee %
~~
It might have been n useful anal
composition of
York. I believe that such an analysis
would have shown that the cards are
stacked against the strikers in the board
as well as elsewhere.
LINCOLN FAIRLEY, Research Director,
International Longshoremen’s
and Warehousemen’s Union
San Francisco, Cal.
An Appeal for Struik
Dear Sirs: As The Nation so well re-
marked in its excellent article of Novem-
ber 24, Honor Thy Informer, by Joseph
E. Garland, a fire has indeed been start-
ed in the native state of the late Justice
Oliver Wendell Holmes. The case of
Professor Dirk J. Struik, internationally
known mathematician and a member of
the faculty of the Massachusetts Insti-
tute of Technology for twenty-five years,
has aroused his fellow-citizens to take
decisive action on his behalf.
Professor Struik, as Nation readers
know, has been indicted, under a 1919
state law never previously invoked, for
allegedly advocating the violent over-
throw of the governments of Massa-
chusetts and of the United States. Be-
lieving this indictment to be a potential
threat to freedom of expression, we, the
undersigned, have joined with over
forty others—professors, clergymen, and
other citizens of Massachusetts—io
form a defense committee whose pur-
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Whereas, in The Nation magazine for
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CORRECTION
The remarks on the Vatican appoint. |
ment attributed to Mrs. Roosevelt in an
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NATION,
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ACROSS
I’ 1 Indiscriminate mixture. (11)
: 9 = iy saying to judge, perhaps.
ts
| 10 ome that art and sex can be
b oa in colossal movie productions.
i,
11, 12 and 15. Implying oe celestial
i Origin of light? (7, 3, 4, 2, 6)
| 12 See 1,
- 22 and 27. Implying it takes spre
; to produce reflections? (1, 5, 3, 4, 8)
15 See 11.
47 arsine attendant of the early
| G. O. P. (8)
20 Increase with this produced Cotton,
| (6)
+22: See 14.
| 24°Pens. (7)
| 26 a way to make things safe.
27 See 14.
28 It certainly isn’t the heavenly qual-
ity of the snails there! (11)
f
DOWN
» 2 Hobo mountain (covered with rye)?
(7)
4 Hela together in all directions. (4)
requests to Puzzle Dept.,
26, 1952
ee
J
Se
eae 5) -
ean to life, it’s sweet and tune-
Readers are invited to send a free copy of Mr. Lewis's
The Nation, 20 Vesey Street,
BY FRANK W. LEWIS
5 You do 28 by decapitation, so dig
tor %. (7)
6 Fetish. (5)
7 Fold one’s tents? (6)
8 Trade in the first thing you pick up
in a suitcase
13 Kept by one who establishes his own
dateline. (5)
16 Compresses. (9)
18 Is Barrymore one extremely ill
sorted? (6)
19 This is rich! (7)
20 A short day goes almost immediate-
ly in bad weather. (7)
21 Turns inside out. (6)
23 It comes hack with accuracy, if you
take the car out. (5)
25 Recognized by you and others as a
tale of sorts. (2, 2)
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— Alternative to War—Broadus_ Mitchell
‘* (Pog Re
‘ \ elle >,
February 2, 1952
| DATA FOR THE SENATE
| apan: Recovery and Reaction
| BY T. A. BISSON
Economic Consequences of Mr. Dulles
BY KEITH HUTCHISON
*K
“Bombs Bring Us Together”
The N.A.A.C.P. Meets in Jacksonville
BY STETSON KENNEDY
CENTS A COPY + EVERY WEEK SINCE 1865 ° 7 DOLLARS A YEAR
eG
"oD | |
De RY Te ee ee
? > at ie in”
7)
eps
¥
r +
Cooperative Hospital
Elk City, Oklaboma
LAW suit pending in the District
Court of western Oklahoma brings
into sharp focus inherent differences
between a prepayment plan for medical
services and the fee-for-service theory of
most private physicians. Brought by the
Farmers’ Union Hospital Association
against the Beckham County Medical
Society, the suit is the climax of twenty
years of struggle among the doctors
serving the 20,000:people of the area.
The Farmers’ Union Hospital Asso-
ciation operates the Community Hospital
in Elk City, a typical plains town of
some 8,000 people. A cooperative ven-
ture, the hospital was started over twenty
years ago by Dr. Michael Shadid. A
prepayment plan was the essential differ-
ence between this hospital and other
hospitals in the country at the time.
As it has evolved, a family owning
a $100 lifetime membership in the hos-
pital pays dues each year according to
the number of persons in the family, the
maximum being $40. For this, mem-
bers receive free medical care whether or
not they are patients in the hospital. or
clinic, as well as certain discounts on
dental, laboratory, and X-ray work, on
room and board in the hospital, and on
nursing.
The Community Hospital stands as
the first successful attempt to combine
prepayment of medical bills with group
practice of doctors in an organization
_ financed and operated by the patients
_ who use its services. This idea was so
- foreign to the thinking of most
physicians in 1930, and is today, that
__ they have been fighting the plan all the
__ years of the hospital’s existence.
Elk City and the surrounding territory
late in 1929 was a grim place. Merchants
_ along Main Street were little better off
_ than the tight-lipped farmers who came
to their stores asking again for credit.
If illness hit these people they often
found themselves wiped out financially.
- Doctors, what few there were, had
__ patients living thirty to forty miles from
their offices. Many farm families actually
had no access to a physician’s care; to
_ consult a specialist they must go to
Oklahoma City or Amarillo, Texas, a
hundred miles away.
Seeing these conditions, Michael
a es ese .
“es [sar
arte a
.
‘ wipcy Oe Le
yoke bam
ae
nie.
Eee r he
aa ~
2 7
Shadid, a Syrian-born doctor who had
been in the area for twenty years, be-
came obsessed with an idea. He
wanted to establish a cooperative hos-
pital where members could pay in ad-
vance for illness and therefore budget
their medical expenses. He was en-
couraged to go forwafd with his plans
by a group of progressive farmers and
was later given additional support by
the Farmers’ Union in Oklahoma.
Beginning with a small one-story
building and 300 member families, the
Community Hospital-Clinic has grown
in a little over twenty years to a well-
equipped seventy-five-bed hospital, with
a new adjoining out-patient clinic build-
ing containing thirty examining rooms,
X-ray machines, a laboratory, a blood
bank, a pharmacy, and a polio ward.
The staff consists of seven physicians
and two dentists. There are now 2,600
member families.
From the first Doctor Shadid
realized he would get no help from
other local doctors, As his plans pro-
gressed and the hospital became a
reality, their indifference changed to bit-
terness aid then to a professional boy-
cott. Soon after the hospital opened its
doors, the Beckham County Medical So-
ciety, of which Doctor Shadid had been
a member for many years, dissolved and
some months later formed again without
him. No other member of the hospital’s
staff has since been admitted to the
county society, membership in which is
a prerequisite to membership in the
A. M. A. Staff doctors have also been
barred from postgraduate courses be-
cause they were not members of their
local society.
The Community Hospital has always
had difficulty in obtaining doctors be-
cause of the boycott, but the local
society has never brought any charges
against the quality of the medical care
given by the hospital. What the society
objects to is the dues plan and the
payment of salaries to staff doctors.
Medical economics, as well as the art
of fnedicine, has undergone great
changes in this century. Until 1900 both
were represented by the “family doc-
tor,” an individual enterpriser who un-
very
dertook to treat all types of human
ills. He gave his services to his patients
as they needed it and collected what
they could afford to pay. But this simple
a _ . a
hee Nia?
se ee:
ae -
-.
ope” eee
economic system became at a
the art of medicine advanced. The v
accumulation of knowledge caused th
gtowth of- specialists who develop ‘
great skills in a limited field, Nox
a patient may find it necessary to consu t
several doctors during the course of one
illness. He may have to make use of
technicians, laboratories, and hospitals,
The old financial arrangement has been
continued, however, and for each servive om
the patient receives a separate bill, the
sum total of which may leave him ia
debt for years. The Community Hospital
has combined all these services under
one roof and offered them on a pre-
payment plan.
Unfortunately it did this years before
the idea of medical insurance was gen-
erally accepted. Today there is nothing
startling about the prepayment plan on
which Dr. Michael Shadid founded the |
first cooperative hospital in the country. —
Blue Cross and similar schemes are
known to everyone, and most physicians
have come to accept the idea of medical
insurance in some form. Nevertheless,
the boycott against the Community Hos-
pital has ‘continued, as a penalty, doubt-
less, for being a pioneer in the field. The
younger doctors on the staff have suf-
fered from this boycott, and it was
largely in their interest that the Farmers’
Union Hospital Association, which op-
erates the Community Hospital, finaliy
brought suit against the Beckham County |
Se’ ste = ae ‘em
Mediral OR 7B ae
se, a
agai = a AR ae ee
mk nee fete
chart) “% Yoeg tee a
cadem here eee a :
as r ; She - ie
bee | fe -. on _ 7 cee *
Carry ree 7 f Ae
the “3 a ae i ; oe = Sy
outcae Sa <Q a rae
9 he a Sl
many. Se
eee? 1 bg hoe ae a
tal w = - 2 ; o ES
%, / fet io: ~ "
have >: 4 ‘ hm ? Ve e .
own pie Sr a ee
Ne ‘x : = = Z; Si 41 #¢ sy
plan. a ae <> wc =F . ae s
contro j :
betwec_ or Twhie ek: Pir fr part
at least, have been removed. The role
of the American Medical Association
AMERICA’ S LEADING Linea WEEKLY SINCE 1865
d -Vouume 174
: The Shape of Ibings
THE SYMBOLIC SIGNIFICANCE OF THE FLAMES
__ that spread through Cairo last Saturday was not lost on
the commentators of press and radio. There has been
_ much talk since then of how to quench the “fires of na-
' tionalism” so as to protect the Suez Canal and the safety
a ee
of the Western world. But the blaze may have done more
than destroy foreign-owned property and demonstrate
the lawlessness of the mob, For while it consumed the
faded, Victorian-Oriental grandeur of Shepheard’s Hotel
| —as perfect a symbol of the end of empire as could well
be devised—it also illumined the whole Middle Eastern
| scene, making visible broad political contours which have
| been obscured by detail, by emphasis on treaty rights, and
_ the safety of the Canal. Seen from Washington, the blaze
ze ccatly revealed, for instance, that no defense strategy
_ based on Africa—no ports or bomber bases, no pacts—
will be worth their weight in sand while nationalist pas-
sions run unappeased. It revealed, too, the uselessness of
trying to secure these things through deals made with
compliant governments: the rulers themselves are in
- equal danger from the flames. Finally, it revealed the
_ folly of continuing to support the desperate, rear-guard
_ efforts of imperialism in retreat—in Egypt, but in
_ Tunisia too, and presently in Morocco, to mention only
_ its African battlefront. *
4 THE WAY IS NEITHER PLEASANT NOR SAFE,
| though hardly more ugly or dangerous than the way of
_ the French in Tunis or the British in Ismailia. It involves
acceptance by the Western Allies of certain facts that
, cannot be altered by force or money or reason. It means
recognizing nationalist rebellion and deciding to work
with it, even though it is directed against the West.
. What Britain did with timely wisdom in India, Britain
and France will have to do in North Africa, and under
much less favorable circumstances, for once the mob is in
the streets any pacific gesture looks like capitulation..But
experience has shown in India and Israel how fast hatred
_ disappears when the “oppressor” turns friend, and the
| same change could take place in Egypt. Counsels such as
these may be written off in Washington as unrealistic,
jeopardizing security and surrendering to open violence,
To urge such a course on an ally is doubly difficult. But
| what is the alternative? Force to the limit? Full-fledged
A
NEW YORK +« SATURDAY + FEBRUARY 2, 1952
NUMBER 5
war against Egypt? War spreading across North Africa?
It would seem as though no outcome could so completely’
wreck the grand strategy which our policy is designed to
support. %
SENATOR KEFAUVER’S ANNOUNCEMENT
that he is a candidate for the Democratic nomination
for the Presidency and will campaign on the “paramount
issue” of peace will be greeted with enthusiasm by all
voters anxious to have as wide a choice as possible in the
1952 election. Senator Kefauver is an excellent politi-
cian, with a good sense of timing, a rough-and-ready
realism, and the all-important will to win. Thanks to his
boldness, it seems likely that the democratic situation
will be clarified far enough in advance of the convention
to make possible a significant test of trends within the
party. If it had not been for Senator Kefauver, President
Truman would probably have remained noncommittal
as long as possible. Now there is a real stir of activity at
Blair House, and much talk that Governor Adlai E,
Stevenson may be induced to become a Truman-blessed
candidate, In Senator Kefauver, Governor Stevenson,
and Justice William O, Douglas the Democratic Party
has three potential candidates well above the level of
leadership represented by Mr. Truman and mote accept-
able to liberal elements within the party. We hope that
Governor Stevenson and Justice Douglas will follow
Senator Kefauver’s lead and give their friends a chance -
to support them. *
LAST WEEK WE SUGGESTED THAT JUSTICE
Douglas was available as a possible Democratic nominee,
This view has been circumstantially confirmed by the
Justice’s bold and challenging talk to the Overseas Press
Club in New York on January 24. “We are looking
disaster in the face,” he warned. “You can win Asia with
affection, but you can’t buy Asia with dollars or get it
with guns and bullets.” In direct criticism of the State
Department, Justice Douglas charged that it had identi-
fied itself “with forces that are against the great masses ~
of people in these countries.” Calling for assistance to
the Asian masses “at the village level” and for measures
to improve their living standards by 1 or 2 per cent, —
he said: “We must make Point Four an entering wedge —
of an American management revolution. . . . Unless we
stop the Communist tide that way, we are going to drift
pi ei
f
a
4
“f
3
a
Pris ee , eo ,
4 oe . pf 4
; a _ ,
rh i SP ee ae :
2 4a a ae SRC ha en PR
° IN *2H7IS ‘ISSUE ‘
EDITORIALS
The Shape of Things 97
The Budget 99
Arab Refugees: A Long Step Forward 100
ARTICLES
Japan: Recovery and Reaction by T, A. Bisson 101
The Economic Consequences of Mr. Dulles
by Keith Hutchison 103
“Bombs Bring Us Together” by Stetson Kennedy 105
Rebuilding Shattered Korea by Walter Sullivan 107
BOOKS AND THE ARTS
Notes by the Way by Margaret Marshall 110
Alternative to War by Broadus Mitchell 110
New Forms in Art by S. Lane Faison, Jr. 111
Turkey and Iran by J. C. Hurewitz 111
Release of Energy by Bruce Catton 113
Verse Chronicle by Rolfe Humphries 113
Books in Brief 114
Drama by Joseph Wood Krutch 115
Records by B. H. Haggin 115
CROSSWORD PUZZLE No. 450
by Frank W. Lewis Opposite 116
Editor and Publisher: Freda Kirchwey
Associate Editor: Carey McWilliams
Foreign Editor Literary Editor
J. Alvarez del Vayo Margaret Marshall
Financial Editor : Keith Hutchison
Drama: Joseph Wood Krutch Music: B. H. Haggia
Assistant Literary Editor: Caroline Whiting
Assistant Editor: Charles R. Allen, Jr.
Copy Editor: Gladys Whiteside
Staff Contributors
Andrew Roth, Alexander Werth, Howard K. Smith, Carolus
Business Manager: Hugo Van Arx
Advertising Manager: Mary Simon
Director of Nation Associates : Lillie Shultz
The Nation, published weekly and copyright, 1952, in th
by The Nation Associates, Inc., 20 Vesey Street, New York 7; N =
Entered as second-class matter, December 13, 1879, at the Post Offica
of New York, N. Y., under the act of March 3, 1879, Advertising
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= ee ere CE Sb
ea loa f iT y . +}
s rs es} .
a Commu nis hada a
q ew 2 “8, -
, hear
wane pT
‘they will win by a default.” The. Jnited States, he in-
sisted, had missed a great opportunity when it sent
Premier Mossadegh home empty-handed: if we had -
given him support we would have made “every little
goatherd in Persia love America.” Asked to comment on
the significance of recent happenings in North Africa, —
Justice Douglas replied: “I would certainly tie my kite to —
some of those Moroccan fellows rather than the French,”
Finally, to round out this fine talk, he declared, in reply —
to a question, that he thought Winston Churchill was
responsible for our rebuff to Mossadegh, After this *
speech all we can say is that if Justice Douglas is not —
available for the nomination, then the art of communi- —
cating political intentions has been given a new twist.
+
THINKING HAS ALWAYS BEEN SUSPECT IN —
high places, and with some reason, but when it is ban-
ished from the schools then the citizens should, we think,
sit up and take notice. A case in point is the recent action —
of James T, McGeough, principal of East High School in
Pawtucket, Rhode Island, suspending the charter of —
UNESCO Thinkers, a student club formed to study the
work of the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and
Cultural Organization. Mr, McGeough moved promptly
when he read in the pages of the Providence Visitor, —
official publication of the Roman Catholic Diocese of
Rhode Island, that UNESCO may be under “atheistic
control.” This horrid possibility arises from the fact that
a scholar assigned to prepare a history for UNESCO is,
in the Visitor's opinion, an “‘atheist.” When his attention
was called to the fact that UNESCO enjoys the official
support of the United States, McGeough retorted: “This
is a Christian country, and do you think it is a good |
thing for students to be involved with an organization
that denies the existence of God?’ It is pleasant to be
able to report that McGeough’s bigotry has met with the
firm opposition of Monsignor Frederick G. Hoch- —
walt, general secretary of the National Catholic Educa- —
tional Association, who not only defended the “high
moral tone” of UNESCO but reminded its critics that the
preamble and constitution were largely the work of
Jacques Maritain, noted French Catholic philosopher.
McGeough, a former teacher and athletic coach in the |
school system, is said to owe his appointment to the local —
Democratic machine, which, as The Nation reported last ©
summer (June 16), tells the Pawtucket school authori-
ties what to do. °3 Acne
ROBERT A. (MR. REPUBLICAN) TAFT, THANKS ~
to his gyrations on the subject of McCarthyism, is
rapidly forfeiting the reputation he once enjoyed as
a forthright and upright man, concerned about the
The NATION
4
f
ie Fs aN 2 => eee
or not Senator McCarthy’s charges went too far, an
iy honest government would have probed them to the bot-
tom.” Last October he seemed to be having second, and
f _ better, thoughts. “I don’t think,” he said, speaking of
his Wisconsin colleague, “that one who overstates his
case helps his case.” But now, hunting delegates in Wis-
_ consin, he has slipped again. “Certainly McCarthy’s in-
vestigation,” he assured a meeting at Beloit on January
21, “has been fully justified by repeated dismissals of
_ employees of doubtful loyalty, by revelations regarding
the insincerity of the State Department’s Loyalty Board,
| by the dismissal of Service, and by other evidence.”
| And to show his own complete surrender to the spirit
_ of McCarthyism, Mr. Taft went on to make the fan-
| tastic charge that “this Administration has been
_ dominated by a strange Communist sympathy,” a revela-
tion which will certainly be news to the Kremlin. At
_ Beloit, according to a New York Times reporter, Mr.
_ Taft's references to McCarthy were greeted with mild
applause; at Monroe, where he repeated them the next
night, the audience was silent. Perhaps McCarthyism
is not such a winning card even in Wisconsin,
+
i INCIDENTALLY WE LEARN FROM NEWSWEEK
| that the Loyalty Review Board is worried about the
leaking of its secret minutes to Senator McCarthy. Ap-
parently some member of the board, instigated by the
Senator, is committing the very offense for which the
board recommended the dismissal of John Stewart Service
—the disclosure to an unauthorized person of classified
| information. We hope Mr. Taft will investigate.
: The Budget
HE budget for 1952-53 submitted by the Presi-
| ~L dent to Congress on January 21 takes the nation still
| farther into the financial stratosphere. Expenditure is
| set down at $85,400,000,000—about two-and-a-half
_ times Britain’s total national income, as the London
_ Times points out. Revenue is estimated at $71,000,000,-
* 000 on the basis of present taxes, so that although this
_ sum exceeds any war-time tax bill, we still face a pro-
__ spective deficit of $14,400,000,000.
© As soon as these monstrous totals were made known,
the air of Capitol Hill rang with the sounds of knife-
| sharpening and ax-grinding. This, however, is an annual
| ftitual which it is difficult to take very seriously, since
}# one Congressman’s pet economy usually turns out to be
§@ another's “pork.” Moreover, very little analysis of the
| budget is required to show that drastic surgery is
is possible without drastic revision of the whole de-
i
f
i
>
*ebruary 2, 1952
revealing himself as
J In March, 1951, he disgusted
many rmer admirers when he said that “whether _
PS 4
e
Of the proposed total expenditure $65,100,000,000,
or about 76 per cent, represents the cost of the “major
fense ptogram—a fact Congress shows little inclination
to face.
security program, including foreign aid and atomic de-
velopment.” All other government functions, including — | q
some “defense-connected” projects, will take $20,300,<
000,000, almost a billion dollars less than in the cur-
rent fiscal year. Just about half of this total is required
for interest on the public debt and for veterans’ services
and benefits—the first an untouchable item, the second
hardly less so. That leaves about $10,000,000,000 for
everything else—general administration, tax collection,
the Post Office, social welfare, agriculture, development.
of public resources, rivers and harbors, and so forth,
If all these functions were abolished—and even Senator
Byrd hardly goes to such lengths—we should still be
in the red.
Of course Congress may succeed in trimming the
deficit to some extent, but if it does, the probability is
that it will cut in the wrong places. In an election year,
for instance, it is unlikely to turn down the President’s
request for larger appropriations to support farm prices,
although agriculture would seem well able to prosper
without government aid under present circumstances, On
the other hand, proposals for more expenditure on pub-
lic health and more aid for education, for which a
strong case can be made on the basis of the appallingly
high percentage of selective-service rejections because of
physical unfitness or illiteracy, may well be turned down
in the name of economy.
Many Congressmen are promising to scrutinize sharply
defense as well as civilian expenditures, and undoubt-
edly they can find fat there which can be trimmed. But
at best they will save millions rather than billions. For
one thing, most of the money that will actually be spent
in fiscal 1953 has already been appropriated, and on
July 1 industry will have in hand orders for military
equipment totaling some $60,000,000,000.
Thus even if Congress decided to cut down the de-
fense program, it would find it difficult to diminish
appreciably total expenditure for the coming fiscal year.
But it can influence expenditures in future years by giv-
ing careful consideration to the Pentagon's plans for
expansion of the armed forces which the President in-
dorsed in his message. These plans call for an air force
of 143 wings—48 more than at present authorized by
Congress—an army of 21 divisions instead of 18, and
a navy of 408 “major combatant vessels,” with 16 car-
rier air groups against 392 vessels and 14 air groups.
It is the duty of Congress to review these proposals and
decide whether such an enlargement of our forces is in
fact vital to security. For once it approves this Pentagon
blueprint, it will find it has Jost all control not only of
the current budget but of those for several yeats ahead.
Sai Oi Ae OES a ae ay 2) IR
.! a > « 4 <“~ , hs i H —
‘ “5° P ¢ ,
/ C amy
2967
= >
i _ Arab Refugees:
i A Long Step Forward
i
For the first time since 1948 the emphasis has been
1 shifted, by the resolution, from relief to resettlement. A
|
HE United Nations resolution on Arab refugees
is a long step in the right direction—provided the
intentions of the U. N. Works and Relief Agency are
brought to practical realization.
Fe. fund of $250,000,000 was voted of which $200,000,000
___-will be used for reintegration and $50,000,000 for relief;
it is to be raised by voluntary contributions of member
states. The refugees are to be settled in the countries
Fi where they are now found, and a number of projects, ag-
_ ricultural and industrial, will be undertaken as part of the
__ economic-reintegration program, A time limit of three
years is set for accomplishing the resolution’s objectives.
Whether this is the final, word on the Arab-refugee
problem remains to be seen, Well-wishers of the project
have reason to be concerned about several aspects of the
- resolution as adopted.
First, there is its reiterated emphasis on the right of the
__ gefugees to repatriation—which means in Israel. There is
no chance whatever that this can be brought about, since
the former homes of the Arabs are occupied by Jewish
immigrants. In any case a fundamental contradiction
exists between voting a fund of $200,000,000 for reset-
Y ~ tlement and insisting, under Arab pressure, on repatria-
tion. Insistence on repatriation could give a wholly ten-
tative character to the reintegration program.
e Second, the resolution provides that reintegration shall
___ take place in the countries now sheltering the refugees.
__ This means that countries with comparatively small eco-
nomic resources will bear the principal burden, while
countries with large possibilities will play either no role
of a minor one. Iraq and Syria, given the necessary
funds, could most easily absorb the refugees since both
countries are underpopulated, but they will not be ex-
i: pected to take many—a regrettable fact from the stand-
point both of the refugees themselves and of the
economic future of the two countries.
_ Iraq, for example, with some 4,000 refugees, is not
_ included in the plans of the U. N. Works and Relief
_ Agency. Yet this country, with the richest natural re-
__ sources of any Middle Eastern state, must double its pop-
ulation through immigration in order to develop them.
The International Development Advisory Board has ex-
_ pressed the view that Iraq alone could absorb all the
_ Arab refugees were its possibilities developed. Second in
its capacity to absorb immigrants is Syria, where only
80,000 refugees are to be found. Syria needs at least
3,000,000 more settlers to develop its land alone.
- Under the present U. N. plan Jordan, with a refu-
100
HY gee population of some 465,000, and Lebanon, with
ms |
all the growing nationalism and xenophobia in the Mid-
70,0 000, iit
Ww ll carey the pring SEPA SH
The economic fate of some 200,000 refugees on the nar
row land strip of Gaza, held by Egypt, is problematical
if the present proposals are literally adhered to.
The third question is: Will the refugee population at:
the end of the three-year period be able to stand on its
own feet, considering current conditions in the Middle
East, unless plans are made simultaneously for develop -
ing the area and raising the living standards of the native
population? There is no provision for the latter under
the present scheme. ;
In our judgment the proposal submitted to the United
Nations in December by a group of nineteen distin-
guished Americans, since joined by 131 other leaders of
American opinion, offers at once a more practical and a
more imaginative solution. It eliminates the basic contra-
diction in the U. N. plan by demonstrating the impossi- —
bility of repatriation and the necessity of permanent —
resettlement. It proposes resettlement in countries which
would themselves benefit by receiving the refugees, It —
opens large vistas of opportunity for economic develop-
ment and improved living standards. It makes the per-
manent solution of the Arab-refugee problem a joint
responsibility of the international community, the Arab
states, and Israel. Under this plan an expenditure of ©
$300,000,000 is proposed for resettlement and of $500,-
000,000 for developing the natural resources of the
countries involved. Such bold and imaginative planning —
seems necessary if friction is to be minimized and
stability increased,
It is shocking to find the delegates of Syria and Iraq
still openly urging, without challenge, a “‘second round”
against Israel in the very council chamber where the ©
refugee fund was voted. Even more disturbing is the —
vacillation of the State Department. The United States
will have to contribute at least $50,000,000 a year for —
the next three years to this $250,000,000 fund. It should
be clear to the State Department that the Arab world, for
1 70,¢
have fa
dle East, is not yet able to stand on its own feet. It ©
needs financial and technical aid which only the Western
world and particularly the United States can provide.
But it knows how to bargain for what it wants, while we
seem to minimize the value of what we have to offer; the
habit of selling ourselves short still persists. It was up to
the United States to say firmly that it wished to see a.
final solution of the Arab-refugee problem, that it was
prepared to assure the necessary funds for a solution —
which would also benefit the native populations, and that —
it would withhold its aid unless the Arab states stopped
making a political football of the problem. The United —
States should still take this position if it wants the
money to be appropriated to serve both the refugees aod 7
the ends of peace in the Middle East. .
The Natio
.
|
AS JAPAN throws off direct occupation controls, the
outlines of two broad developments grow steadily
clearer. A vigorous economic comeback is under way,
and at the same time democracy and the public welfare
' ate being sorely buffeted. The reactionary trend should
4
cause no surprise. When, some years ago, the occupa-
tion authorities shelved the reform program as a luxury,
they willed the result we are now witnessing. More
recently General MacArthur's successor applied the fin-
ishing touch,
On May 3, 1951, the fourth anniversary of the adop-
tion of Japan’s democratic constitution, General Ridgway
authorized the Japanese govetnment “to review existing
ordinances issued in implementation of directives from
this headquarters, for the purpose of evolving through
established procedures such modifications as past experi-
ence and the present situation render necessary and de-
sirable.” Thus four months before the conclusion of the
treaty, which some observers had hoped would under-
write at least the basic occupation reforms, General
Ridgway in effect invited the Japanese authorities to
scuttle reforms that had become “inappropriate.”
Since Japan is still controlled by a set of bureaucrats
and business men indistinguishable from the pre-war lot,
the invitation was eagerly accepted. The great differ-
ence between the present ruling coalition and that which
governed the country before the war is the absence of
the militarists. Even under a treaty that places no limits
on Japan’s rearmament, some time must elapse before
the militarists can come back in a big way. A large
_ Japanese military establishment is not in the offing
unless the United: States is willing to pay for it.
}
Next year’s estimates include an expenditure of 315 bil-
lion yen—37 per cent of the total budget—for military
purposes. Of this Japan’s contribution to American mili-
tary costs will take 180 billion yen ($500,000,000) ; the
rest will be spent on its own armed forces.
* Japan is able to sustain this sizable military expendi-
ture for two reasons, The United States-Japan payments
_ agreement effective July 1, 1951, transformed previous
occupation costs of 100 billion yen into a much-reduced
domestic charge of 35 billion yen (Japan’s military con-
tribution) and a nice credit of $160,000,000 (United
_ States payment to Japan for facilities provided American
forces). No less important is the current high level of
_ T. A. BISSON, author of many books and reports on the Far
$ East, is now a lecturer in political science at the University
c California.
Pe February 2, 1952
as *
oe ae Pe a eee ee : 7
- Recovery Tt chon
BY T. A. BISSON
economic activity and foreign earnings, Unlike Britain,
Japan added to its foreign-currency holdings in 1951.
On March 31, under the weight of heavy import charges,
the Japanese reserve fell to $447,000,000 as against
$519,000,000 at the end of 1950. On August 31 it
had risen to $590,000,000, on September 30 to $667,-
000,000, and preliminary figures for October indicated
$730,000,000 or better.
A year or two ago few could foresee that Japan
would emerge from the occupation era paying its own
way. Both policy and accident have contributed to the
result. In 1949, after far too long a delay, the occupa-
tion authorities finally compelled the Japanese leaders to
adopt an economic program that stopped inflation and
insured maximum returns from large imports of aid
from the United States, In mid-1950 the Korean war.
brought a steady stream of American dollars into the
country, In mid-1951 imports from the United States
ended and Japan stood on its own. How well it is
succeeding in supporting itself may be gathered from
the accompanying table,
At first glance it may appear that Japan slipped badly
in 1951, but this is not so. The trade totals are far
larger, in spite of much smaller aid imports. Imports
had to be increased early in 1951 to compensate for a
lag in the last half of 1950. By July this excess was paid
for, and trade figures for later months show a continu-
ing positive balance.
JAPAN’S FOREIGN-EXCHANGE ACCOUNT
(in million dollars)
1950 1950 1951 1951
Jan.-June July-Dec. Jan.-June July-Sept.
SRG og aie cine oom op 300.1 472.7 653.9 323.0
Invisible trade (met) .. 51.6 152.2 323.2 207.4
RGM a ttn auiete ale xe 351.7 624.9 977.1 530.4
TE hos catia dhe 05 287.3 358.2 987.0 398.2
MBMCE Fase vidccas +64.4 +266.7 —10.1 4-132.2
U. S. aid imports ..... 213.0 148.0 75.0 0.0
Korean war procurement largely accounts for the strik-
ing gain in Japan's invisible trade receipts. But normal
merchandise exports stand at more than twice the 1950
level. Since July the $160,000,000 annual United States
payment—not included in the foreign-exchange account
above—has further strengthened Japan’s foreign-ex-
change position,
While the end of the Korean war would place a
strain on Japan’s dollar-payments position, its ability to
earn dollars in other ways is improving. If invisible
101
frst P an ay og a7 a en
pa 2
oy ti
trade pea are a Pe 000,000 fo
about $300,000,000 will be earned on, non-procure-
ment items, the major sources being foreign spending
in Japan and steadily growing receipts from shipping.
The American forces in Japan will. continue to pay
$160,000,000 annually, on a conservative estimate, for
various Japanese facilities, Payments for Japanese goods
and services directed to Korean reconstruction will be
in dollars. Continued moderate increases in Japanese
exports to the United States may be expected unless
tariff barriers are raised.
Japan can also save dollars by shifting’ imports away
_ from the United States. The new sterling-payments
‘iw agreement with Britain forces Japan to spend all sterling
____ balances in the sterling-area, and Japanese trade officials
are looking for sterling-area imports to replace pur-
> chases of American goods, China would provide a
@ more substantial alternative; Japan's 1951 trade gains
>) were achieved without benefit of China, either as market
| __ or supplier, Lack of Chinese coking coal and iron ore,
nearby and therefore cheap, has severely handicapped
_ Japan’s iron-and-steel industry, Higher steel costs are
spreading into the machinery, metal, shipbuilding, and
other trades, leaving textiles to carry an undue share of
yi 5 the export burden and thereby intensifying competition
with Lancashire. Japan is well aware that its foreign
trade can hardly be increased—even in 1951 it was less
than half the 1934-36 volume—if trade with China
__ fails to develop on a considerable scale,
i ERELY to maintain the trade position gained in
IMA 051 is not enough. Living standards are below
the pre-war level, and the population is multiplying
ery In 1953 Japan must face added charges of some
50 billion yen on such items as renewal of foreign-bond
service, reparations, and compensation for Allied nation-
als’ property losses. Above all, its economy needs a
large infusion of new capital. A severe power shortage
in the fall of 1951 showed that the high industrial pro-
duction was pressing on the fuel and power output.
Coal mines have been newly equipped only in part. The
nn) electric- “power industry, recently returned to private
ownership, is in poor shape.
It is clear, then, that further increases in Japan's
Be _ foreign trade are necessary if pressing requirements are
__ to be met. But meanwhile the Japanese leaders give
Mo indication that their domestic economic policies are
; devised with a view to the general welfare. On the con-
trary, they have consistently manipulated government
policies in the interest of their own narrowly based
eroup.
In 1950 industrial production, along with farming,
_ forestry, and fisheries, was nearirig 1934-36 levels, Popu-
lation was at 120 per cent of the figure for those years,
: : s and the living standard at 82-per cent—the urban stand-
1402
195 Nie ver, was only 73, the rur _
~ During months of 1951, though
ist 5
ard, ho
petition’ was ace ar abo e th cewek) ios 8
urban living standard fell to - per cent. Profits. rose |
eat,
steeply during the same period in cotton ae
chemical fiber, and some other industries, though not
basic industry. In August official staple food prices rose _
18 per cent and electricity rates 30 per cent, with further ”
increases expected in gas and water rates and in the
official prices of salt and sugar. When a tax cut was
promised as an offset, the Nippon Times (August 7) _
said editorially: “If tax cuts are to have any real
meaning, they must be made on the foundation of a
stabilized economy which will not wipe out their _
benefits.”
Joseph M. Dodge, the occupation’s financial adviser,
on being hurriedly recalled to Japan last fall seems to —
have made much the same point to Finance Minister |
Ikeda, who is reported to have “talked back” sharply.
One result, however, was an announcement by the gov-
ernment that it would postpone the projected measures
to decontrol rice and other food staples which had called _
forth embittered comment in the Japanese papers. Edi- —
torials argued that the urban family, with rationing
abolished, would pay still higher food prices, and that
the gain to the millions of small farmers would be
problematical—they would have to sell their meager sur-
pluses at harvest time, and the rice dealers would reap
the benefits of price fluctuations, While Mr. Dodge
sought to deal with the Finance Minister, the head of
SCAP’s Labor Division, Robert T. Amis, was deploring |
a swing “toward the right” in labor relations marked by —
coercion of workers into company unions and denial of
collective bargaining.
Their confidence now fully restored, Japan’s business
leaders have become quite frank about occupation re-
forms. Reporting an interview with Ryutaro Takahashi, —
who entered the Yoshida Cabinet on July 4 as Minister _
of International Trade and Industry, the Nippon Times
of July 6 said: “He called the anti-monopoly law passé. —
It needs to be changed, he added, as there is no more ~
use for its restrictive provisions under the present eco-
nomic society. . , . Another regulation, he said, which
might just as well be junked is the trade-association —
law.” He told Japanese business men, the paper con-
tinued, to “prepare themselves for a return to the inter- —
national market. To attain this end he asked for all-out ~
attempts to trim costs.” or
Occupation-sponsored labor legislation is due for a |
thorough overhauling. Foreign traders might do well to —
follow the revision of the Labor Standards Act, The |
president of a Japanese chemical company has said: “If
real improvement of working conditions is desired, it |
will be necessary to give some flexibility to the appli- —
cation of the law. Some lowering of standards, too, may
a and rafoemn rae a alieady been seriously under-
The Yoshida Cabinet destroyed the law’s chief
protective features when it voided the price-and-sale re-
. _ strictions on farm lands. -In the opinion of the Nippon
| Times, this “could very easily lead to a revival of the
former system of large land holdings controlled by a
_ few individuals.” The same editorial (September 25)
| noted that former landlords have “lost some of their
:
f
}
'
.
t
min a.
excess holdings, but they are comparatively well-to-do
and ate taking a leading role in the affairs of their
villages.” Under the free-market conditions now being
so rapidly restored, many of the new farm owners may
find they hold their land on short tenure—for the period
| that an agricultural crisis can be staved off.
IGNS are no less ominous in the political sphere. A
projected control law applying to the press, demon-
| strations, general strikes, espionage, and illegal organiza-
| tions has raised a loud outcry, but the Diet is ex-
: pected to pass it. Nihon Keizai, a conservative paper,
| commented editorially on September 25: ‘Excessive con-
i trol might lead to revival of a fascist or ultra-nationalistic
_ trend. Democratic labor or social movements and any
t _ Opposition to the government are liable to be suppressed
| in the name of the control of Communists.”
| Under a new Ministry of Public Security which, with
| its special-investigation force, marks a long step toward
| tevival of the Home Ministry abolished in 1947, a cen-
: tralized national police force will be reconstituted along
the old lines, The move became a certainty last fall when
EFERRING to discussions of “grave problems
affecting our two countries in the Far East,” the
communiqué issued at the close of the Truman-Churchill
s said: “A broad harmony of view has emerged...
for we recognize that the overwhelming need to counter
the Communist threat in that area transcends such
divergencies as there are in our policies toward China.”
_ Among these “divergencies” was one that had been
e sing not a little discord in exchanges between the
State Department and the Foreign Office—a difference
f f opinion about future relations between Japan and
Chis a. The British thought that this question had been
ttled last summer when in the course of negotiations
the Japanese treaty John Foster Dulles and former
or pn ‘Secretary Herbert Morrison reached an agree-
nt o effect that es was to be left free to de-
ry 2, 1952 ;
7 nd eas of cal | communities, discouraged S their in-
“ability to raise adequate funds—tucrative tax sources
being controlled by the center—voted to give up their
autonomous police forces. Tokyo Shimbun, while admit-
ting (July 26) that more effective police enforcement
would result, nevertheless deplored “creation of a cen-
iralized police system which might help cause a relapse
into the police state of the past.” If control of education
is also returned to the center, as is probable, two big
gashes will have been torn in the occupation-sponsored
fabric of local self-government.
Around 1947-48, when the occupation turned from
reform to recovery, the point was made that democracy
could not grow in an impoverished country. True
enough, and the occupation might have acted even earlier
to mitigate the hardships suffered by an inflation-ridden
populace. But did the argument mean that democracy
would be the natural fruit of economic recovery, no mat-
ter under whose auspices it came? It now appears that
there was nothing automatic about the result. For eco-
momic revival to bring democracy it was necessary that
the economic program should be in democratic hands
and used to strengthen, not jettison, political and social
reforms, Otherwise one might well ask: economic
recovery to what end?
A strong statement by President Truman that the
United States stands behind the reforms introduced under
the occupation would help to stem the tide now run-
ning in Japan. Such action is necessary if the good-will
generated by the constructive measures of the occupa-
tion is not to be lost at a time when it is desperately
needed to bolster American prestige in Asia.
LT he Economic Consequences of Mr. Dulles
BY KEITH HUTCHISON
cide whether it would recognize the Peking govern-
ment or Chiang Kai-shek’s Nationalist regime or neither.
However, when Mr. Dulles visited Tokyo in Decem-
ber he apparently strongly urged Premier Yoshida to
negotiate a treaty with Chiang. According to Frederick
Kuh, Washington correspondent of the Chicago Sun-
Times, the British ambassadors in both Tokyo and
Washington protested that these pressure tactics vio-
lated the Dulles-Morrison agreement. As a result, the
question was put on the agenda for the Truman-,
Churchill talks and was threshed out in detail by Sec-
retary of State Acheson and Foreign Secretary Eden.
Mr. Acheson asked that the British agree to allow the
Chinese Nationalist government to sign the Japanese
peace treaty for Formosa. Mr. Eden demurred on the
ground that the long-term interests of the Western
103
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a
a
¢ oe
+“
aA
=
* r %* ra
ese, Oy
sa dt
< rey
Tee air
: Te gD ae
‘powers would be. served eet by paaaaialie ake’
-
-nese to decide the matter for themselves—in other words, if
by honoring the previous Anglo-American agreement.
Thereupon Mr. Acheson apparently produced a clinch-
ing argument that must now have an ominously
familiar ring to British diplomats: unless Chiang was
brought into the picture, the Senate might refuse to
ratify the Japanese treaty.
The reluctant acquiescence of the British is con-
firmed by a letter from Premier Yoshida to Mr. Dulles
released in Tokyo on January 16, Dated December 24
and apparently held back pending the Washington talks,
_ this letter declares that the Japanese government has no
intention of concluding any bilateral agreement with
Communist China but is willing to sign a treaty with
the Nationalist government of China—"“applicable to
all territories which are now or hereafter be
under {its} control’’—reestablishing
between the two governments in conformity with the
eal set out in the multilateral treaty of peace.”
We shall probably be told that this decision repre-
sents a free choice by the Japanese government, but
any such assurances must be taken with ample salt. As
long ago as August 30, according to the Associated
Press Washington bureau, Mr. Dulles told Senators
may
“normal relations
who were troubled by the omission of Nationalist
China from the list of governments invited to San
Francisco that in due course Japan and Nationalist China
- would make a separate pact. In Tokyo recently he prob-
ably had only to hint that failure to take action of this
kind would imperil United States ratification of the
treaty. The Japanese government, anxious to recover its’
sovereign status and still dependent on American
financial aid, could easily see the wisdom of helping the
State Department appease the Senate.
ITH both Britain and Japan persuaded to toe the
line, the die has been cast, Let us consider some
e _ of the probable consequences.
There will undoubtedly be repercussions in England
when Parliament reassembles on January 29, and some
blunt questions will be put to Messrs. Churchill and
Eden, They will be reminded that during the debate on
the Japanese treaty on November 27, Peter Thorney-
croft, president of the Board of Trade, assured the
House for the government that there was no reason to
suppose that the United States government would “do
otherwise than leave it to the Japanese government to
decide on its own relations with other governments,”
‘The same point was stressed by Herbert Morrison,
former Foreign Secretary, and Kenneth Younger, former
_ Minister of State, who had represented Britain in the
negotiations pteceding the treaty, Japan’s freedom of
decision in regard to China, said Mr. Younger, had been
_ made clear at San Francisco. “Since then I have seen
104
<P ‘i "
Bee 3
e o oy ™ s s
ik ke th od St th
ie mute te Dated — aan i fes e the
Chinese Nationalist authorities. I hope no such situat ion
will arise. The long-term relations between the two most
important countries in Asia must be left to them exclasd x
sively.” ;
There are two reasons why so much emphasis was -
given to this issue. In the first place, the British gov-.
ernment has never agreed with Washington about —
China. It considered—and apparently still does despite’
the change in its political coloration—that excommunica-,
tion is a futile policy, It does not like Mao's regime, —
but it recognizes Mao as the de facto ruler of the aaa
mainland, and it is not prepared to place any bets ona
discredited Chiang Kai-shek who is wholly dependent on
American subsidies. It believes the effect of American
policy has been to cement relations between Peking Se }
Moscow and fears this cement will be hardened by a
Japanese treaty with Chiang, which Peking is bound to —
treat as a hostile move.
The second reason why Britain wished Japan to settle
its own relations with China was economic, Britain —
and Japan have long been commercial rivals in South- —
east Asia, and British merchants dread the return of |
the full force of Japanese competition. A number of ;
members of Parliament, particularly those representing
Lancashire textile areas, opposed the treaty because it
did not contain restrictions on Japanese production and -
controls designed to prevent “unfair” competition. The
British government agreed with Washington that it
would be unwise to hamper Japanese trade in this —
fashion. On the other hand, it did not wish to see Japan
prevented from selling goods to mainland China, its
natural market and nearest and cheapest source, of raw
materials. With that outlet blocked, the result would be
redoubled pressure to sell Japanese manufactures in
Southeast Asia to the detriment of British trade. How- |
ever, if the Japanese were allowed to make their own
choice, the British thought the clear advantages to be
derived from trade with China would induce them to ©
keep open the channels by refraining from permanently —
antagonizing Peking. Consequently, British defenders —
of the Japanese treaty sought to soothe its parliamentary
critics by making much of their understanding with
Washington. Now those critics will have the right to
complain that the large majority favoring the pi i
_was secured on false information.
Many Americans, no doubt, will consider the British .
attitude selfish and immoral, but two things must be
kept in mind, In the first place, Britain’s need to expand |
its exports is desperate: if it fails to do so, it faces —
national bankruptcy and a catastrophic fall in living ©
standards. Moreover, with an increasing proportion of —
its metal industries, the mainstay of its export busi-
y the lines in which jaa ans an advantage
m its low labor costs.
Again, Americans should not forget that they are
| quick to resent Japanese competition in their own com-
' mercial bailiwicks. In fact, mow that Japanese china,
glassware, sewing machines, toys, and other specialties
are returning to the American market in growing volume,
cfies of “unfair competition” and calls for higher tariffs
of quotas or both are loud and numerous. Shipping
interests are demanding steps to check the revival of the
| Japanese merchant marine, although a larger fleet be-
‘comes an economic necessity as Japan is forced to reach
for more distant markets. On the West Coast there is
strong agitation against rising imports of Japanese
tuna fish, and the House of Representatives has al-
feady been persuaded to pass a bill imposing a 3-cents-
a-pound tariff on frozen tuna. What line, one wonders,
will Senator Knowland of California, who has actively
_ sought to block Japanese trade with Communist China,
take on this measure when it comes before the upper
house?
In opposing such attempts to limit their opportuni-
HE terrorists’ bomb which on Christmas night
killed the militant Negro leader Harry T. Moore
at Mims, Florida, and subsequently caused the death of
his wife has galvanized Negro leaders all over the South
to dedicate themselves to achieving the democratic goals
for which Moore gave his life.
_ On January 19 and 20, 200 delegates representing
100,000 members of the National Association for the
sep racement of Colored People in fifteen Southern
ates met in Jacksonville and adopted a fighting ‘‘decla-
sation” which may profoundly affect the future of the
_ South. Florida was deliberately chosen, as one delegate
"put it, because “bombs do not frighten us; they bring
us together.”
I Addressed to “the world at large, to the South, and
| to Florida in particular,” the Jacksonville Declaration,
oe adopted in the name of Harry T. Moore, scored
Jacksonville, January 22
| STETSON KENNEDY, author of “Palmetto Country,” bas
discussed the bombing outrages in Miami and the murder of
" "Harry I. Moore in Mims in previous articles.
a az
_ Bebruary 2, 1952
AL hh
an A
Ms
.
in the American market, janie business men
will certainly stress the point that they are being forced
to sacrifice much more substantial interests in the China
market. For the time being, criticism may be subdued,
because Japan, as T. A. Bisson explains on page 101,
is Now enjoying a boom based on American procure-
ment of goods and services for the Korean armies. As a
result, Japan’s dollar reserves are increasing despite a
deficit in normal trade with the United States. Even
so, the purchase of food and raw materials from
America at much higher prices than the same goeds
would cost in China is a serious handicap to Japanese
industry. For instance, Manchurian coking coal, re-
cently imported in comparatively small amounts, has
cost about $20 a ton. American coking coal, which is
being bought in large quantities as a substitute, costs”
at least 50 per cent more, owing chiefly to heavy freight
charges. When the present abnormal flow of dollars into
Japan is stemmed, premium payments of this nature will
be very difficult to bear. We should not be surprised,
therefore, if before very long the Japanese say to us:
“At your behest we have cut off our noses to spite
Mao's face. What are you going to do to stop us from
bleeding to death?”
“Bombs Bring Us Together”
BY STETSON KENNEDY
“the new technique of lynching as exemplified in the
killing of Samuel Shepherd and the wounding of Walter
Irvin” in Eustis. It pledged the N. A. A. C. P. to con-
tinue the fight for: (1) the right to security of person
against the organized violence of lawless mobsters or
irresponsible law-enforcement officers; (2) the right to —
vote as free men in a free land; (3) the sight to em-
ployment opportunities in accordance with individual
merits; (4) the right of children to attend any edu-
cational institutions supported by public funds; (5) the
right to serve unsegregated in the armed forces of
the country; (6) the right to travel unrestricted by
Jim Crow regulations; (7) the right to go unmolested
among fellow-Americans as free men in a free society.
The Florida Times-Union of Jacksonville devoted
all of two inches to the conference. On the same day
this paper gave a full column to the rantings of the
“Reverend” Lloyd King, who in a nation-wide Liberty
Network broadcast emanating from Leesburg charged
that a “racial-hate organization” (the N. A. A. C. P.)
was “stirring up trouble in Florida.”
The fighting spirit of the delegates was an inspiring
105
ye
thing to see. As was to be expected, it was strongest in
the young and the workers, but there were notable
exceptions. One laborer said to me, “The trouble with
this organization is that the business people who are on
top don’t reach down often enough to help the working-
man in the ditch.’’ On the other hand, William P. Mil-
ner, business manager of a funeral home in Bartow,
declared on the floor, “As business men who get our
money from little people we ought to be willing to
spend some of it to help justify our position as
leaders.” Roy Wilkins, national administrator of the
N. A. A, C. P., addressed the delegates as “laborers,
workers, and even business men.” But the number of
limousines parked outside bore testimony that the leader-
ship continues to be weighted with business and pro-
fessional men who refuse to step aside. Wilkins was
heard to say later, “If everybody over forty-eight would
drop dead, we young folks would solve this race problem
overnight,”
HE most violent militant was A, J. Clements, Jr., a
Charleston attorney, who roared, “To hell with
tliese social gradualists, these time-not-ripers who say to
take it easy! I'm not willing to follow any man who
wants to go easy for me winning my freedom!’ Mrs,
A. W. Simpkins, state secretary from South Carolina,
declared, “Like Atlas, we must reach down and touch
the earth to gain new strength.” The women delegates
had been noticeably denied leadership status but dis-
played exceptional ability from the floor,
Something new in “Southern revolts’ broke out when
Kelly M. Alexander, vigorous N. A. A. C. P. president
for North Carolina and a member of the national
board, called upon the conference to “take a look at
the list of our national board and see how inade-
quately represented the South is, As the chief battle-
ground of the struggle the South needs and is entitled to
more representation on the policy-making level; we're
no Charlie McCarthys!”
As a non-partisan organization, the conference con-
fined itself to attacks upon hate-mongering Dixiecrat
politicians. But informal talks with delegates in the cor-
tidors revealed that a profound disillusionment with
President Truman has set in. Most of the delegates I
questioned felt that American Negroes had bet on Tru-
man once too often. Accustomed as they are to broken
promises Negroes are as bitter about the “scrap of
paper’ known as Truman’s civil-rights program as they
wete once convinced of its sincerity. I could not find a
delegate who was at all impressed with the wrist-slapping
FEPC which the President hastily appointed after fed-
eral authorities had failed to make arrests or invoke jury
probes in the Florida terrorism.
Wilkins outspokenly placed the real blame for the
terrorism upon the governors of Georgia, South Caro-
106
nations of certain Southerners in Congress, “It is their
inflammatory remarks which lead the little imitation
Talmadges to conclude that they can go out and bomb
and kill with impunity,” he declared. '
With the Jacksonville police chief and the Duval
County sheriff sweating it out in the audience, J. M. <7
Hinton, N. A. A. C. P. president in South Carolina, said:
“It's a peculiar thing how the police can always track, |
down every Negro bootlegger and numbers writer, but
whenever a Negro is killed by white men they rush in. ;
and say ‘tell us the story’; and then they close the book. | 7
You may be sure that if a white family had been bombed
to death, the next morning they would have had a:
hundred Negroes in jail—eny hundred.” Pointing out —
that the white people of America should be delighted. —
that fifteen million Negro Americans are eager to co- !
operate in building a real democracy, Hinton declared: ;
“The future of this world no longer rests in white
hands—it is being decided in India, China, Japan, and °
Africa.” é
In the same militant vein delegate Lawson of ,
Savannah, a youthful member of the national board,
asserted: “Just because Jackie Robinson has been admit-
ted to the ball barks, and Ralph Bunche and Marian |
Anderson have crept through a crack in the wall, doesn’t |
mean that we're all satisfied, We are standing before
the wall of segregation and we will not be moved until
it comes tumbling down! If the Talmadges and Rus- ©
sells do not have sense enough to get out of the way,
it will just have to fall on their stupid heads! Harry
Moore is dead because some of us have not stood up.”
Wilkins hit this nail on the head again when he said,
“Too many white people in the South—and nation too—
embrace the formula: ‘Uncomplaining Negroes plus un-
challenged whites equal peaceful race relations,’ ”
UITE properly the conference stressed political .
action as the basic means of combating terrorism,
discrimination, and segregation. A committee composed
of the N, A. A. C. P. presidents in fifteen Southern
states was set up to correlate the job of doubling the
number of Negroes registered as voters. “We must fight
for our political rights on the local level,” Mrs. Simp-
kins insisted. ““You can’t hit a man unless he is close to
you. While it’s a fine thing to be able to vote for Presi-
dent, we need to help elect the shesiff and chief of
police too.” The Reverend Mr. Mann, vice-president for
Georgia, described how he had successfully overcome f
fears by inaugurating a “Meet Me at the Courthouse” ff}
campaign, in which he called upon every member of his
congregation who would meet him at the courthouse the
next morning to register to stand up and be counted,
Almost all who promise follow through, he said, A
minister from Montgomery, South Carolina, told of
Past by the N. A, A. C. P. chapter, which con-
| sults the books to determine which Negroes have quali-
fied. Emory O. Jackson, editor of the Birmingham
| Daily World, reported that some Alabama counties open
the registration books only during the plowing season and
that in others the registrars often go fishing on regis-
‘tration days. A delegate from Richland County, Georgia,
said that a Talmadge henchman had locked up the books
: pending further legislation.”
» When one of the Arkansas delegates extolled the
N. A. A. C. P.’s organization of his state on a city
and county basis, without any white representation,
Attorney Clements retorted, “I resent the presentation
of that kind of plan.to this kind of organization. The
N. A. A. C. P. opposes segregation, and yet some of
its chapters still go in for segregated political action,
Paris, January 21
O COUNTRY has ever been more completely
laid waste by war than Korea. So states J. Donald
' Kingsley, who has been assigned by the United Nations
_ to repair the damage. Before the war the Korean Penin-
sula was one of the three most intensively industrialized
areas of the Far East—the others being Japan and
‘Manchuria. Korea under the Japanese had the biggest
complex of chemical industries in non-Soviet Asia, sub-
marine shops, and many other large manufacturing enter-
Prises. Today these industries are totally ruined.
The loss of life has been appalling. United Nations ex-
| estimate that one out of every nine men, women,
“and children in North Korea has been killed. The maimed
are seen everywhere. High on the U. N.'s list of requi-
‘si mites for Korean reconstruction is a factory to make arti-
ial limbs. In South Korea roughly 5,000,000 people
“have been displaced and 600,000 homes destroy ed, Offi-
ie “cial reports describe 100,000 children as “unaccom-
Panied.”” Two-thirds of them are wandering on the
ere facing Siberian winds and winter snow.
| There ate small consolations. Since ground fighting
W ALTER SULLIVAN, New York Times correspondent
im Korea in 1950, is now in that paper's U. N. bureau.
; aide his is the third of a series of articles on the problems of
. ea @ in Korea. Next week | Yongjeung Kim will discuss the
s Jim ‘Crowism is being turned .
EER SS Ora
ee ;
ave got to act purely as citizens in a democracy.”
Much attention was devoted to the problem of increas-
Baye
ing N. A. A.C. P. membership, but no one suggested
that this might be directly related to program. In the con-
ference’s host city of Jacksonville, with 112,000 Negroes,
there are but 250 N. A. A. C. P. members, and no
N. A. A. C. P. office is listed in the telephone directory.
Mrs. Ruby Hurley, national organization chairman,
frankly argued that the new drive should not be intrusted
to the established membership committees of the
branches, which she said “are in the habit of doing
nothing all year.” She even told of finding branch presi-
dents who had not yet opened their N. A. A. C, P.
Christmas-seal packets for 1950. No very promising
method of gaining new members was suggested.
Yet all in all, the South-wide N, A. A. C. P. meeting
called as a memorial to Harry Moore was an impressive
affair; its undercurrents were strong and its promise
for the future was great,
Rebuilding Shattered Korea
BY WALTER SULLIVAN
for the past six months has been confined to the vicinity
of the Thirty-eighth Parallel, other areas have been
granted a breathing spell, and under the pressure of
military requirements the transport system has been
patched up. It may even be more efficient than before the
war, what with temporary bridges, highways widened
or straightened by American bulldozers, and the port of
Pusan dredged by the United States army engineers,
Grounds for hope are also found in the plans of United
Nations relief and rehabilitation experts, who expect to
spend $250,000,000 in the first year after the army turns
the job over to them—perhaps even more now that
transport recovery has made the Korean economy more
capable of absorbing aid.
But numerous questions darken the future. When will
the army let go its hold on the South Korean economy?
When will the complementary economies of North and
South Korea be reunited? Will the South Korean regime
allow ineptitude, corruption, and runaway inflation to
block recovery? Will peace really come to Korea with a
cease-fire, or will Syngman Rhee’s government be shaken
as before by guerrilla activity and internal dissension?
Korean unity now seems a long way off. It may not
come until the end of the cold war. Meanwhile
the United Nations Korean Reconstruction Agency
(UNKRA) has no plans for sending aid to North
Korea, though there is nothing in writing that forbids
it to do so, UNKRA was conceived at Lake Success more
than a year ago on the eve of General MacArthur's ill-
107
fw
or
fated “home-by-Christmas”’ offensive. In the discussions
in the Economic and Social Council the Soviet Union
favored a relief program in whose formulation ‘Korean
representatives” would take part. Its views were not ac-
cepted, and it opposed the final plan for Korean recon-
struction. This plan assumed that most if not all of
Korea would be under United Nations control. U. N.
relief machinery was expected to move north gradually,
taking over from the army. UNKRA’s directive provides
that its area of operation shall be determined by what
is technically the highest United Nations authority in
Korea—the U. N. Commission for the Unification and
Rehabilitation of Korea (UNCURK). UNKRA has
been informed by UNCURK that it can operate in
areas under the administration of the South Korean gov-
ernment. Presumably it will also be allowed to work in
the strip north of the Thirty-eighth Parallel but south
of the new cease-fire line.
HE “Statement of General Policy’ guiding UNKRA
is in many respects similar to the regulations gov-
erning American post-war aid. Inspection by U. N.
personnel of warehouses, distribution facilities, and
records is stipulated. Korean authorities are required to
publish the source of the aid, keep records, and make
whatever reports are demanded by UNKRA. It was be-
cause of such provisions that the Eastern European coun-
tries first rejected Marshall Plan aid. The Democratic
People’s’Republic in North Korea would probably also
refuse to comply with them.
The division of the Korean Peninsula will make the
task of reconstruction more prolonged and expensive,
as the American representative on the Economic and
Social Council pointed out at Lake Success last year when
unification by military means seemed near. The South has
more rice paddies than it needs; the North an excess of
power plants. The rail and highway networks were built
for a unified country. There is still some talk of ex-
changing southern rice for northern power if the deal can
be arranged, but otherwise it appears that the division
along the cease-fire line will be unbridged, the Western
mations caring for the South and the nations grouped
around Moscow aiding the North.
United Nations planning is entirely in terms of South
Korea's needs. The capital loss due to war damage south
of the Thirty-cighth Parallel cannot be estimated with ac-
cutacy, but J. Donald Kingsley, head of UNKRA, puts
it at close to two billion dollars. Priority, according to
the UNKRA directive, must be given “to the provision
of basic food, clothing, and shelter for the population
of Korea and measures to prevent epidemics.”
Of the millions of Koreans displaced in the fighting,
probably a majority, anxious to salvage what they can of
their property, have drifted back to their burned-out
homes. Still uprooted are the 150,000 peasants evacuated
108
| + ee
from a twenty-mile belt behind the front lines. Th
countless ruined villages are the most terrible and uni-
versal mark of the war on the Korean landscape, To’
wipe out cover for North Korean vehicles and person-
nel, hundreds of thatch-roofed houses were burned by
air-dropped jellied gasoline or artillery fire.
The countryside has been almost stripped of wood, but
clay, mud, and straw for rebuilding the villages are at
hand. The needed machines, generators, rolling stock, —
mining equipment, and livestock must be shipped in. '
Roughly 200,000 draft animals have disappeared in the ©
past eighteen months, most of them slaughtered for food '
by soldiers or refugees. The absence of oxen seriously im-
pairs food production, and UNKRA wishes that 20,000
new animals—mostly oxen and breeding stock—could be
imported before spring planting. In many areas the ir-
rigation system on which rice cultivation depends has j
been badly damaged; where the ditches are still sound,
there may be no water because the pumping stations get
no power. Fertilizer, formerly Korea's chief import and ‘
necessary to rice production, is in extremely short supply. °
RIGINALLY UNKRA was not to start its program”
until the army said the fighting was over, but last
July, in view of the prolongation of the war, it obtained ,
General Ridgway’s consent to a limited amount of work. ,
While relief remained in the hands of the Eighth Army’s
Civil Assistance Command and the army also continued
to rebuild railways, electric-power systems, and other fa- .
cilities important to its operations, UNKRA was allowed
‘to send in a small team of experts for long-range plan-
ning, high-level technical assistance to Rhee’s govern-
ment, and certain other projects approved by the army.
The shifting masses of refugees—sometimes a million
on the move at one time—are still an army problem.
Almost the entire population of Seoul fled when the
fighting drew near. In their absence half the homes,
three-quarters of the office buildings, and more than 80_
per cent of the factories were leveled. Now the former
residents are pouring back by the thousands and setting
up shop in shanty towns, presenting a serious problem
for a city without water or lighting utilities.
The army did not consider the refugee ‘problem criti-
cal as long as the refugees were orderly, out of the
way, and not a health threat to the troops. United Na-
tions officials say that within that framework the army
has done a good job. There have been no major epi-
demics. About 6,000 refugees are in the emergency,
hospital at Seoul, some with smallpox, some with
typhus, but scattered outbreaks of these scourges have
been checked. Health teams stationed along highways
have inoculated the tide of humanity and dusted them
with DDT. A third of these medical workers are from [f-
specialized United Nations agencies and the Red Cross. |f-
Most of the rest belong to the army medical corps; there
The NATION E
on of fertilizer, cotton, and lumber.
~ Once : fighting has stopped, the army is supposed to tura
over the relief job entirely to the U. N., but there are in-
‘dications that the brass may not consider the combat
Ps na 5e permanently ended by a cease-fire. U. N. relief
jals anticipate American military occupation for a
con Sidetable period but hope the army will loosen its
gtip on the economic structure of the country and let civil
agencies take over. They feel that the change-over from
nilitary to civilian control must be abrupt and complete.
[he U. N. must have freedom to use the ports and
failways and be given custody of relief supplies now
stockpiled in Korea or en route. Otherwise, it is argued,
there will be a dangerous gap in relief services.
_ Perhaps the greatest difficulty faced by the relief pro
gram in Korea is inflation, As a brake on spiraling costs
‘ he E. C. A. required Rhee’s government to deposit in a
“counterpart fund” sums equivalent to the value of all
lief imports. This is also required by UNKRA, but in-
flation is as much a danger as before. “We are ground
between two millstones,” a relief official complained re-
mtly, “the army and inflation.”
Mindful of E. C, A. experience in South Korea, the
U. N. General Assembly a year ago spelled out in bald
terms what the government must do, Adequate measures,
it said, must be taken by the Korean authorities to see
that relief was effectively employed. “Special attention
| should be given to measures to combat inflation, to sound
_ fiscal and monetary policies, to.the requisite pricing,
rationing, and allocation controls.” There should also
be “prudent use” of Korean foreign exchange and, the
directive added hopefully, “efficient management of gov-
| efmment enterprise.” (Kingsley said recently that he
_ hoped some of South Korea's state-owned industry could
| be reorganized on mixed public-private lines or into co-
Operatives.) Relief was not to be used as a political
weapon. “All classes of the population shall receive their
equitable shares of essential commodities without dis-
‘ctimination as to race, creed, or political belief.” The
. | directive also declared that the program was intended to
Strengthen Korea's political independence and must not
| be used “for foreign economic and political interference
in Korea’s internal affairs.”
ts UNKRA’ s problems are parallel in many respects to
. ot those faced by UNRRA after World War II. A number
| Parner UNRRA employees are now in UNKRA,
Ag
J ingsley served for some time as head of the Inter-
tional Refugee Organization. These men believe that,
ha
n
+
Biven a free hand, they can put the Korean economy on
sé
its Ss feet in five years, At present they are trying to get
« Pé€tmission from the army to undertake the most urgent
di aa imports, restoration of the fishing fleet,
y February 2, 1952
Teast
— iging of aeall agin, rie of power plants,
schools, and housing, and care of orphans. Kingsley be-
lieves that the first-year allocation of $250,000,000 for
his agency will permit restoration of roughly half the
damage to utilities, fisheries, and transport, 40 per cent
of the damage to forests and agriculture, and 18 per cent
of the damage to industry and mines.
HE relief program will play a vital role in the
country’s political future. As in the period before
the war, South Korea is bound to face keen economic
competition from North Korea. Though the destruction is
probably greater in the North, the North Koreans can be
expected to work fast, and they will undoubtedly receive
aid from China and the U. S. S. R, In addition, the
spirit of the workers, the elimination of corruption, and
the Spartan governmental discipline will give a strong
boost to recovery.
American officials in Seoul conceded before the out-
break of hostilities that North Korea had far outdistanced
South Korea in economic achievements, The South was
forever floundering in inflationary crises, rice shortages,
and a drastically unfavorable trade balance. In North
Korea on the other hand, exports were in excess of im-
ports, prices were stable, and industry was expanding at
a steady pace. The lead of the North certainly represented
more than that region's initial advantage in industrial
development. The shops at Inchon, seaport of Seoul,
where submarines were built under the Japanese, hardly
turned out a dinghy under the South Korean govern-
ment. The morale of South Korean workers was un-
dermined by the activities of the Taehan Youth Corps
and the police, The tuberculosis rate in some factories
was put officially at over 80 per cent, and American
advisers complained that skilled miners could not be
trained because their life expectancy was only about
two years.
Although the United States has spent hundreds of mil-
lions to bomb, burn, and lay waste Korea, Congress
refused to approve the $162,500,000 pledged by the
United States toward the first-year relief fund of $250,-
000,000. Instead, it allocated $50,000,000 or less of un-
expended E, C, A. funds, and even this sum is not yet
available to UNKRA. Canada, with its far smaller re-
sources, has given $7,000,000. The attitude of some
Congressmen seems to be: “We protected them from
aggression, let someone else do the relief job.’’ Others
argue that the money will be wasted by corrupt and in-
efficient South Korean officials, These are not valid rea-
sons for skimping on our aid, To the same degree that
the United States assumed responsibility for the fight-
ing, it should undertake the reconstruction. To fail in
this respect will only strengthen the lingering memory
among the people that much of the devastation was
caused by American arms.
109
Pe oat tee
in
ime
me
Ee
NOTES BY THE WAY
BY MARGARET MARSHALL
most rewarding thing about
“Winds of Morning” by H. L.
Davis (Morrow, $3.50) is its evocation
_ of Western country, morning, noon, and
i
a
night. In comparison, both the plot and
_ the characters seem rather inconsequen-
tial, and the action which held me to the
end was the progress of a bunch of
scruffy horses from a settlement clut-
tered with fences and railroad tracks to
Ny
Open country, where they would have
room to run. The time is early spring,
and Mr, Davis has written a fine docu-
+ i> aks
mentary of the land and the season.
The principal character, Old Hen-
_ dricks, has possibilities to begin with.
He is one of the original settlers of
the region but has been away for years,
having skipped the country to get away
_ from his progeny. As the book opens,
he has returned to look things over,
_ both the country and the people. He has
fallen into the job of herder of the
horses, for his keep; when their owner
__ throws up title to the bothersome ani-
mals, Old Hendricks comes into pos-
session of them. In the course of the
trek to the high country Hendricks inter-
- . é :
-_-venes in the affairs of various people—
most of them related to him in one way
or another—and always for their good.
_ The conception is sound enough but
smugness creeps in, the wise old-timer
turns into a mere do-gooder, and Old
_ Hendricks tends to become an old bore.
The young deputy sheriff, Amos
_ Clarke, who accompanies Hendricks and
=
% _ is also the narrator is a likable chap and
"pretty convincing—except that one never
_ quite credits, though one is grateful for
it, his astounding capacity for summon-
By __ ing up a landscape, complete with sights
= and sounds and the quality of the air it-
self. Amos, that is to say Mr. Davis, also
has a wonderful command of Western
images and sayings. They sometimes
give the impression of having been a
little too self-consciously laid in, but
for the most part they lend strength and
distinction to the writing, and their
tangy, often puckering flavor lingers like
the taste of a chokecherry.
Ee arp
BOOKS
a
ie rj the
IN “CHOSEN COUNTRY” (Hough-
ton Mifflin, $4) John Dos Passos in-
vokes the American past to explain the
present and to, intimate the future of
his two main characters, Lulie Harring-
ton and Jay Pignatelli. Once again he
uses the device of parallel panels. In this
case the lives and backgrounds of the
progenitors of Lulie and Jay are in-
terpolated at length while the main
story waits. This device always seemed
to me an irritating substitute for in-
tegration and still does, but the “pro-
legomena” are extremely well done.
Indeed, the history of the first Pignatelli
and his wife, Katherine Jay, is the best
part of the book, and these two people
have a stature and substance that young
Jay and Lulie never achieve, just as
the historical characters in the short
biographies of “U. S. A.” had more life
than the contemporary fictional char-
acters, especially the fictional men in
that book. But the characterization in
“Chosen Country,” of men as‘ well as
women, is in general more successful,
and the reason, I think, is that it is
ridden by no single thesis—in “U. S. A.”
it was the single over-all conceptioh of
our society as a money civilization—
to which the fates of the characters have
to conform. ‘Chosen Countty” is there-
fore richer in that unpredictability of
behavior and event which creates the
basic suspense of good fiction.
From the title one might expect that
Dos Passos had gone in for patriotism
of the cruder sort—especially since his
disillusionment with the radical hopes
and activity of his youth has been well
advertised. As it turns out, the title is
rather arbitrary. The point of the story,
as I read it, is that this is not so much
the country his characters have chosen
as the country they happen to inhabit and
are therefore irrevocably involved in.
The book is infused, to be sure, with
a love of country and of place—it is
somewhat similar in this respect to Mr.
Davis's “Winds of Morning.” But then
this element has always been palpable in
Mr. Dos Passos’s books even when they
were most critical of what was going on
in his country. Dos Passos recounts, as
part of the experience and education of
young Jay, the story of his own thirty
years’ war—the principal episodes of
left-wing politics, of enthusiasms and
betrayals—but his mood is more his-
torical than polemic. Finally, the story
ends happily, with Jay and Lulie re--
solving to make “this wilderness our
house,” but the “message” seems to be
not that this country is perfect but that
its very variety, infinite and as yet
unordered, offers reason. for hope as
well as inducement to despair.
Alternative to War
CAPITALISM AND SOCIALISM ON :
TRIAL, By Fritz Sternberg. Trans-
lated from the German by Edward
Fitzgerald, The John Day Company, .
$6.50.
TERNBERG’S analysis of modern
history not only makes the street!
cries of world politics seem shallow but:
casts doubt on the penetration of many
who pass for informed statesmen. His
well-stocked and fertile mind draws les-.
sons from the continents and the cen-
turies. He gives enough facts, from a —
wide range of sources, to permit the
reader to judge of his conclusions, but
primarily this is a work of imterpreta-
tion. It bundles up in a single volume —
much that the author has thewght and
said in a life of learning, ot
and conscientious report. .
The superiority of the book lies in the. .
thesis that world events can best be |
understood in the light of the develop-
ment of capitalism, including for many
countries, but not for the United States, —
imperialism. Yet Sternberg doesnot so
much enforce a doctrine as use it to
illumine the paths he treads. Though he
is alarmed at “the danger that a large
part of the industrial apparatus of the
world will be destroyed, . . . the danger
of a long period iCal history, the
danger of a decline into barbarism,” he
is far from concluding that “things past
redress are now with me past care.’
He feels that the only chance of |
checking and ultimately quieting the |
mortal antagonism between the two |
world powers—the U. S. S. R. and the
United States—lies in building “a pro-
The NATION N
gl
2
eae
* Oe
ue
be
it
ae
lly y of ital
“and yet would
have aa the slightest reason or desire
to attack her.” This Europe, combining
economic progress with political and
personal liberty, would be a “third
force” between the present two. If given
time, it could infiltrate the Soviet Union
with principles of individual freedom
ind beckon the United States along the
toad of cooperative institutions. A dem-
onstration, in a United Europe, “that a
democratic Socialist society can exist
ee maintain itself’ might prove that
e totalitarian Soviet State is not the
Sribic alternative to the capitalist
This is not a novel prescription, but
the author, by elimination of any other
solution, and by positive support, invests
it with new meaning. The book, how-
, is anything but hortatory. It is
father the solemn and feeling testimony
of a European (now American) who
has abundant means of knowing where-
of he speaks. © BROADUS MITCHELL
New Forms in Art
_ABSTRACT PAINTING. Background
_ and American Phase. By Thomas B.
Hess, The Viking Press, $7.50.
CIEASONALLY,” the author writes
J in his foreword, “new abstract
painters appear with unfamiliar forms,
treated with pew ideas, deriving from
recently have ett made in America, and
in fact that they constitute one of this
country’s major contributions to con-
temporary culture, is the subject of this
essionist persuasion. Eleven i. Se
= grouped by Ritchie, in the cata-
ue of last season’s American Abstract
e show at the Museum of Modern Art, as
| Expressionist Geometric (Tobey, Hof-
Mann, Motherwell, Tomlin, Reinhardt)
ig as Expressionist Biomorphic (De-
ming, Gorky, Baziotes, Brooks, Roth-
4) ko, Pollock). A twelfth (Balcomb
Greene) would surely have been simi-~
larly grouped if he had been represented
by a recent example of his work; like-
wise the remaining six (Tworkov,
Gatch, Bloom, Gottlieb, Kline, Vicente),
February 2, 1952
“While 1 am not ead ae deci
abstract painters by double abstractions
—and Hess is too much interested in the
individual artist to bother with such
matters—these citations will indicate the
direction that the most interesting ab-
stract painting has been taking,
Ritchie’s catalogue was limited to a
survey of the earlier history of abstract
art in America and the grouping men-
tioned above; the present book bravely
embarks on criticism, a criticism which
is based on enthusiastic interest. Supple-
mented by over one hundred reproduc-
tions, including twelve color plates of
excellent quality, this is an important
contribution both as an estimate of the
painters and as the debut of a discern-
ing, witty, and courageous critic.
In his lively introduction Hess inti-
mates, without falling into clichés, that
abstraction is as old as art itself and that
the enduring value of any art lies
primarily in its formal values. But he is
sometimes dogmatic and, I think, wrong
when he denies any artistic worth, in
past art, to “species of subject...
or the moral, political, or subconscious
motive of the artist.” Is Masaccio’s
moral grandeur irrelevant, then, and the
thematic astringency of Piero? We do
not need to pick the bones of Renais-
sance art to make it intelligible.
The second section, called Background
and Paris, sets the stage for the third,
called Foreground and New York. These
are of equal length: everything con-
sidered, the balance of emphasis seems
to me to be about right. The inevitable
but indispensable survey of European
developments is full of bright observa-
tions. Bonnard is not so much a belated
Impressionist as “an Expressionist of
pleasure—as great and heroic a position
as is being one _pain.” Chirico
achieves a light, Mondrian’s
forms are so firmly established that ‘one
of the ironies of modern art will be the
refusal of a child in 1982 to see any-
thing in a Mondrian but the facade of a
famous building.”
I note, in passing, that much of the
fine criticism that Hess lavishes on the
European precursors is firmly grounded
in a sympathetic acceptance of their
subject matter and its implications,
In the final seotion (Foreground and
New York) Hess turns perversely gen-
eral, though he includes enough biog-
“waxy”
raphy to distinguish individuals and an
adequate account of their artistic de-
velopment to date, The over-all esti-
mates are incisive and sensitively writ-
ten, but I miss the trenchant analysis of
individual paintings which marks the
earlier seotion. My disappointment is not
unlike that produced by Greenberg’s
book on Miré—the criticism sets a fine,
heady momentum up to the point of
climax, and then unaccountably wobbles.
8, LANE FAISON, JR.
Turkey and Iran
THE UNITED STATES AND TUR-
KEY AND IRAN. By Lewis V.
Thomas and Richard N. Frye. Har-
vard University Press. $4.25.
HAT the Middle East has become an
area vital to the American national
interest, few will any longer contest.
That this has been wholly a post-war
manifestation, many are prone to over-
look, That the United States policy of
containing the U. S, 8. R., as applied to
the Middle East, has failed, almost
everyone by now is convinced.
Yet the Middle East is also an area
$1,000,000. @-day spent...
jet we are losing the
cold war in. .
aiweraas Dilemma
and Opportunity
by L. S. Stavrianos
$3.25
“The able analysis of Greek politics by
Mr. Stavrianos 6learly. describes why
our program..of guns and subsidies -is
not enough ... Greece Ee recy do BY
we are losing the cold. war.
— John. Nuveen
ahaa EC, {Administrator in Greece
At Your Bookstore or Write to:
Henry Regnery. Co., Chicago 4, Illinois
111
)
b-
:
about which most Americans, in and
out of government, have acquired either
a body of misconceptions or an emo-
tional partisanship. Neither is helpful in
developing an informed public opinion,
without which even policies maturely
conceived may founder. In post-war
Washington, however, there has been
anything but mature reflection on the
Middle East, and in the wake of the
current Iranian and Egyptian crises and
the lingering Arab-Israel tensions a
sense of frustration emanating from
Washington has overtaken a growing
segment of the public.
Turkey and Iran are the only Middle
East countries which abut on the
U. S. S. R. They are—or should be—
of equal concern to the United States
and its Western allies in the cold war.
Nevertheless, the first major break at the
European end of the Western wall of
containment along the extended periph-
ery of the Soviet orbit begins at the
Turkish-Iranian frontier. The question
immediately arises as to why Turkey
has been absorbed into the Western
defense arrangements and Iran has not.
It is to answering this question that
Thomas and Frye essentially address
themselves in their respective sections on
Turkey and Iran.
Still their book, like all the others
in Harvard's American Foreign Policy
Library series, is not limited to United
States interests in and relations with the
ARTHUR MILLER, Pulitzer
Prize-winning author of
Death of a Salesman, has
joined other famous writers
for The Churchman with a
moving story of a father who
did not betray his son—the
inspiring human story behind
the sordid legalities of the
Melish case.
WITH SUPERB ARTISTRY Amer-
ica’s foremost playwright has cap-
tured the essential meaning of the
most important struggle for reli-
gious liberty of our generation—a
treatment typical of this religious
journal’s fresh approach to contro-
versial issues.
THE CHURCHMAN
425 FOURTH AVE., NEW YORK 16, N. ¥.
Please send me The Churchman for 12
issues beginning with the Feb. 1 issue,
containing Arthur Miller’s story. I enclose
$2.00 in full payment.
NOUNS ee ee
iC |
112
countries under review. Thomas and
Frye competently and succinetly describe
the geography, natural resources, demo-
graphic trends, and cultural forces, and
then admirably outline the history of
Turkey and. Iran. Within this context,
which forms the bulk of the volume, the
authors evaluate the problems and pros-
pects of American responsibilities and
policies toward the two Moslem lands.
This mechanical treatment is perhaps in-
evitable, for until a decade ago Turkey
and Iran lay entirely outside the sphere
of United States national interest.
American missionaries, it is true, have
been active in the two countries for
well over a century. Until Pearl Harbor,
however, the Department of State re-
flected our isolationist policy toward
Europe and western Asia by scrupulously
eschewing any entanglements in this
Moslem region.
Even during World War II, when
Turkey and Iran for the first time were
thrust upon Washington's attention,
no long-range American programs
emerged. The United States government
tended to regard Turkey—like the Arab
lands to the south—as falling within
the British sphere of influence, and
such American policy as was articulated
aimed primarily at shoring up British
defenses and “incidentally [at] exploit-
ing Turkey's neutrality in our own inter-
ests." In the case of Iran, United States
policy centered on expediting the trans-
port of Jend-lease supplies to Russia.
In the final months of World War II
and the early post-war period Turkey
and Iran became the objects of Soviet
aggression, as the Kremlin attempted to
chip off the Shah’s northwestern prov-
inces and obtain_a controlling interest
in an Iranian oil concession, and laid
claim to bases in the Turkish Straits
area and to the northeast districts of
Kars and Ardahan. While the United
States contributed to the defeat of Rus-
sia’s immediate designs, it was only
with the Truman Doctrine, observes
Thomas, that Turkey came into its own
in American strategic thinking.
Precisely because the Turkish govern-
ment and people were united in their
hostility to the Soviet Union was there
established an immediate identity of
purpose between Ankara and Washing-
ton. Thomas also notes that American
policy did “not involve us in important
differences with our English-speaking
allies.” This was so, he might have
added, because Britain enjoyed no spe-
cial status in Turkey, and American in-
tervention, by keeping the U. S. S. R.
out of Turkey, was helping Britain
to shield its elaborate interests and’
privileges in the Arab world from
direct contact with the U. S. S. R. ;
American economic and _ military.
grants earmarked for Turkey amounted
to some $700,000,000 by 1950. In sharp’
contrast, American aid to Iran in resist-:
ing Soviet pressures in 1946-47 consisted |
exclusively of diplomatic and moral sup-
port. This was indeed indispensable to —
Tehran in thwarting Russia, and United
States prestige reached its height in the
fall of 1947, when, with Ambassador.
Allen's advance public indorsement, the!
Iranian Majlis, or legislature, rejected the
provisional Soviet-Iranian oil agreement.
Thereafter, despite promises of sub-+
stantial economic assistance, less than’
$15,000,000 were allocated to Iran, the
bulk of it in the form of credits for the
purchase of American war surplus.
Frye tells us that even -the Shah,
Iran’s most persistent advocate of close
relations with the United States, finally’
“criticized the slowness and meagerness
of American aid.” This Frye believes to
have been a capital American failure.’
While he does not explain the reasons
for Washington’s parsimony, these may
be inferred from his analysis of Iran's
ambivalence to the U. S. S. R., the exist- ’
ence of the well-organized and growing
pro-Soviet Tudeh Party, and the depend-
ence of Iran’s economy on Russia. Even
more important was the presence of the
British—a factor which entirely escaped
the author's notice—who through the’
Anglo-Iranian Oil Company not only
exerted powerful pressures on the
Iranian government but resented Amer-
ican meddling. On the other hand,
Frye lucidly presents the Iranian view-
point in the developments leading up to
the oil crisis in the spring of 1951.
A summary chapter, written jointly
by Thomas and Frye, would have en-
hanced greatly the value of the study
and brought into sharp focus the effects
and implications of the contrasting
United States policies in Turkey and
Iran. Despite this omission the book is
a must, for it provides a sound introduc-
tion to American problems and re-
sponsibilities in these two Moslem
lands. J. C. HUREWITZ
The NATION
os in World War Il. ‘By Eliot Jane-
_ way. Yale University Press. $5.
‘JISTORY may be a fable agreed
upon, but until the fable takes final
shape the deep moans round with many
i ices. The bits and pieces which will
e day make up the story of “the
Beffoct” of the 1940’s are still com-
in, and the latest contribution is
Janeway’s brilliant and often ex-
perating “The Struggle for Survival.”
_ Mr. Janeway sees some things very
leatly, and he pounces on one truth
which ought to go into all textbooks on
American government: a President who
has large affairs to direct does not need
0 be a good administrator—is, indeed,
probably much better off if he is no ad-
Ministrator at all.
_ As Mr. Janeway abundantly demon-
ates, Franklin Roosevelt was an ex-
cessively bad administrator. From the
Start of the struggle with the Axis, the
) administrative set-up in Washington was
terrible, and F. D. R. was forever mak-
| ‘ing it worse—brightly, airily, and for
the best of reasons. But Roosevelt was
i also one of the greatest of Presidents.
_ He saw what had to be done and he got
it done expertly, caring not a fig for
_ administration but relying, as Mr. Jane-
yay aptly says, on “the unorganized mo-
mentum of American democracy.” It
co uld probably, be argued—as the author
4 ees close to doing—that great leader-
thip in the White House succeeds, not
in spite of administrative ineptitude, but
% large part because of it. After all,
Hoover was the Great Administrator.
| @n any case, Mr. Janeway examines
the steps by which government was or-
; ed to create a victorious war econ-
ie my—the forgotten War Resources
ard, the NDAC, OPM, and SPAB,
War Production Board, and all the
fest, The virtue of his book is that he
} mz es clear what was so very hard to
¢ at the time—that the real job was
9 take the wraps off and release “the
| monymous energies of the millions be-
hind whose momentum Roosevelt fol-
.” The machinery was bad* and~
much of it was atrociously operated, but
| the work did get done—faster and bet-
ter than the wildest optimist would have
r | ae to hope. —
Fe february 2, 1952
=
ao
{
gan
\
What ete it ‘exasperating i is what can
only be described as the streak of Time-
Life-Fortune omniscience that runs
though it all. Mr. Janeway is never in
doubt; he never has to peer through a
glass darkly. He can see unbroken pat-
terns everywhere: the fathomless de-
signs of Justice Frankfurter, the devious
plots of Harry Hopkins, and the diaboli-
cally benign machinations of F. D. R.
Actually, it was never quite that sim-
ple. Also, Mr. Janeway is preoccupied
with his pet villain, Donald Nelson, for
whom he can find no adequate denuncia-
tion. If the military finally took con-
trol, if reconversion was halted, if
greed and reaction finally steered the
nation blindly into a post-war era where
a world was waiting to be remade—if
these deplorable things happened, as in-
deed they did, Mr. Janeway can see no
reason but Nelson’s incompetence, du-
plicity, shortsightedness, and timidity.
Really, there was more to it than that.
As a minor matter, Mr. Janeway’s
fondness for phrase-making now and
then betrays him—as when, describing
the defense boom as a step in the Roose-
velt revolution, he remarks that “it saw
Negroes move about in their own Cadil-
lacs, farmers in their own airplanes, hill-
billies in their own shoes, and the rich
in their own kitchens.’’ That may be
fine in the slick-paper magazines, but it
hardly belongs in a history.
And it is history to which Mr. Jane-
way is contributing. His contribution has
value, but it needs to be read with a
good deal of reserve,
BRUCE CATTON
Verse Chronicle
OLLECTED POEMS.” By Marianne
Moore (Macmillan, $3): Here
be, as the old maps say, jerboas and
pangolins, the plumet basilisk, the
tuatera, the aepyornos and the apteryx,
pin-swins and wood-weasels, a host of
curious specimens, animal, vegetable,
and mineral; also artifacts, and quo-
tations from Montaigne, George Shiras
III, Alphonse de Candolle, Dostoevsky,
Richard Baxter, Xenophon, and many,
many others, famous and obscure. Here
are also precision and wit, a passionate
interest and a reserved manner, irony,
craft, an elaboration that counterpoints
ihe ne
,
ee
succinctness, a muting of music and
thyme that sets off the occasionally im-
perious tone, the ve plus ultra of Alex-
andrian poetry. And do not make the
mistake of thinking there is no emo-
tion. Take probity on faith? A rare ex-
perience in our time. It is offered us
here, and we should be grateful. (At a
bargain price, too; for the earlier presen-
tations are some of them out of print.)
“The Third Eyelid,” by Frona Lane
(Alan Swallow, $2), continues the
promise of this house to present in its
New Poetry Series interesting “‘first col-
lections” in compact form. As a mat-
ter of fact, Miss Lane carries the coms
pactness pretty far, relying, for effects
of wryness and terseness, on omission of
articles and considerable use of the im-
perative mood, Her work with snap-
shot and flash bulb, as in Clothes-Line
and a Balcony, or Niobe-Night, is more
successful than her attempt at mural
painting, as illustrated by the last poem
in the book, Ritual of Purification, which
is over-ttalicized, and OVER-CAPITAL-
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regular publisher's price post-free if
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20 Vesey pores New York 7, N. Y.
113
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or
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ate -
PER es ea se ;
IZED. A pleasant little poem, Family
Letter, shows what Miss Lane can do by
way of variety when she is not being too
ambitious.
“First Love, and Other Poems,” by
Edwin Rolfe (The Larry Edmunds
Bookshop, Los Angeles, $2.75), testi-
fies, with elegiac eloquence, to the au-
thor’s devotion to the people of Spain,
his memory of their heroes, whether na-
tive or volunteeer: there are chants in
praise of Chaplin and Dreiser. Mr.
Rolfe’s range extends from a controlled
sadness, with a good deal of reservation
in the statement, as in, for instance,
Recruit, to the Latin rhetoric of the next
to the last poem in this collection,
Elegia, which seemed as authentic in its
first appearance, the Spanish translation
made by J. Rubia Barcia, as it does in
Mr. Rolfe’s own English.
Speaking of Spain, if anybody cares
to remember, the Beloit Poetry Journal
has issued as Chapbook No. 1, in paper
covers, priced at $1, the “Romancero
Gitano” of Garcia Lorca, translated by
Langston Hughes. There is an introduc-
tion by Robert Glauber, and some illus-
trations (pretty horrible) by John
McNee, Jr. It is high time that these
fifteen ballads, Lorca’s greatest work,
were presented as the unit they are. Mr.
Hughes's translations are scrupulous and
careful, perhaps even a little too modest;
The NATION
[_] with Harper’s Magazine
The NATION
[_] with Consumer Reports.
FOR YOUR CONVENIENC
text, he sometimes -
statement, whereas a bit 1 more etiele
a greater concern with line music and
resonance, would have come closer to
the spirit if not the letter of the original.
In lighter vein, we have “Green
Fingers, and Other Poems,” by Reginald
Arkell (Harcourt, Brace, $2). These are
about gardening; their author has won
Jaurels as the creator of a quaint char-
acter known as Old Herbaceous. 1 am, I
suspect happily, unfamiliar with the
antics of this citizen, but if he reflects
at all the author's verse tendencies, he
is, 1 conclude, soapily sentimental and
cute enough to puke a buzzard.
Readers interested in the Vassar days
of Edna St. Vincent Millay might do
well to inquire of the Vassar Alumnae
reprints of the
memorial essay, Vincent at Vassar, by
Elizabeth Hazelton Haight, are available
to the general public. Professor Haight
was Miss Millay’s Latin teacher and
friend, and this memorial essay is tender
and loving without being excessively
saccharine. It is also copiously, and
charmingly, illustrated, with photo-
graphs of the poet that range from
school days in Camden, Maine, to the
time when she returned to campus as a
distinguished alumna reading her poems.
Magazine whether
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2/2/52
114
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- re.
Pathe weap Y
ae new
c )
‘lucid, readable, and objective study of
making money were almost as numerous
LER FOUNDATION. By Reyciaslld B.S
Fosdick. Harper. $4.50. During the last
half-century the philanthropic trusts _
established by the Rockefellers have ex- —
pended nearly a billion dollars for pub-
lic welfare, particularly health and edu- ©
cation, and for the most part the money
scems to have been spent with the same,
shrewdness and foresight that character-\
ized its accumulation. This excellent
book by a former president of the
Rockefeller Foundation describes the —
underlying principles on which these
world-wide philanthropies have been
based, the techniques of selecting and i |
carrying through the programs, and the |
results in terms of social betterment and
human progress. The senior Rockefeller
said, “A man should make all he can, ©
and give all he can.” Reading this book 4
one is convinced that, on balance, the*
world benefited from his success in both
endeavors.
THE MARSHALL STORY. By Robert .
Payne. Prentice-Hall. $5. Another book —
—and this time a good one—by that
fabulously prolific young Englishman
now teaching in Alabama who already —
is the author of forty volumes on the
most diverse and unrelated subjects.
Written in haste, as all Payne’s books
must be, and without first-chand knowl-
edge of its subject, it is nevertheless a
General Marshall's life, character, and
accomplishments, with an especially in-
teresting section on how and why the
General was tripped up in trying to
solve the Chinese problem.
THE GREAT RASCAL. By Jay Mon-
aghan. Little, Brown. $4.50. The sub-
title reads: “The exploits of the amaz- —
ing Ned Bunthine, king of the dime |
novelists, Buffalo Bill’s promoter, sol-
dier, sportsman, Western trader, roué,
political manipulator, adventurer ex-
traordinary.” Judson (Buntline was his.
pen name) was a harebtained complete —
rascal of the last century whose ways of ‘
as those of Panurge, and no more scru-
pulous. Mr. Monaghan’s research was
thorough, his style is journalistic, his —
book a slight but interesting addition to i
the history of low life in America.
The NATIO! Ne
tne ‘
le
a
ae
5 whi
MNHE SHRIKE” (Cort Theater) is a
x rather odd sort of play which be-
gin where Strindberg’s ‘The Father”
eaves off. It begins, that is to say, with
the arrival in a psychiatric ward of a
nan Whose wife has managed to get him
sent there, and it then goes on to the
point where he is finally discharged in
her custody. This means, so the impli-
cation is, that he is right back where
he started from, since any time that he
rebels against her authority she can have
him committed all over again. The total
effect is, nevertheless, not quite so Strind-
Dergian as this sounds, because the play
urns out to be approximately one-third
nelodrama, one-third “documentary,”
Q and one-third protest against official mis-
handling of our mental invalids. The
thor may possibly have read Strind-
berg, but he has obviously been more
influenced by such things as, say, “The
Snake Pit” and Mr. Kingsley’s pioneer
documentary “Men in White.” The end
tesult may be a rather grisly sort of
entertainment but entertainment after a
fashion it is certainly intended to be, and
there is a fair chance that it will be ac-
cepted as such by a satisfactorily large
dience. After all, no other age since
the Elizabethan has been so interested
aS ours is in the madman, and no in-
considerable «part of the vast current
| literature about psychiatry has been
| «marketed as good light reading.
| It is as documentary melodrama that
this play succeeds best. All the scenes
| take place in one or another of the
| wards of a city hospital, and the first,
| which begins when the victim of at-
“tempted suicide by phenobarbital is
rolled in and the machinery of the
hospital begins to move, is tense and
esting. Presently the wife comes in
“@ all tears; the husband finally recovers
«consciousness; and gradually one begins
- realize that the wife is a villain, that
she has driven her husband to despera-
i oc, and that, consciously or uncon-
_ Sciously, her persistent intention is to get
him back into her clutches. The psy-
- chiatrists, who appear to be remarkably
_ stupid and more fanatically committed
to the social, sexual, and matrimonial
| February 2, 1952
to padestnad what the id. hie soon
sees very clearly; they cooperate beauti-
fully with the villainess; and the vic-
tim does not get out until he decides to
play the hypocrite. He tells the doctors
what they want to hear, stages a recon-
ciliation with his wife, and then is left
at the final curtain desperate with the
realization that he will never be a free
man again.
José Ferrer, who generally plays sane
men rather wildly, plays this madman
with subdued effectiveness, and there is
also a skilful presentation of the hypo-
critical wife by Judith Evelyn. The
trouble with the play is that the docu-
mentary interest wears out early in the
second act and that the hopelessness of
the victim’s situation is never entirely
convincing; so that the whole is not
quite real either as tragedy or as social
protest. The present reviewer is no law-
yer, but he hopes he is not wrong in
believing that the commitment in the
wife's custody is not unlimited either as
to duration or as to the powers which it
confers. An old New Yorker cartoon
showed a lawyer explaining to an indig-
nant lady that she cannot get a divorce
exclusively on the ground of insubordi-
nation, and I fancy that the point is
relevant. My advice to the husband
would be to bear up as well as he can
for a year or two and then to move into
his own apartment. I doubt that he
could be summarily sent back to an in-
sane asylum without a hearing or that at
such a hearing inability to get along
with his would be considered
sufficient and prima facie evidence of
certifiable madness. In other words, the
hero of this play is in rather a tough
spot, but the author does not succeed
in convincing me that it is quite so bad
as, for melodramatic purposes, he asks
us to believe that it is.
As for the title, which is never re-
ferred to in the course of the play, one
may explain for the benefit of non-
ornithologists that a shrike is a small
bird which kills rodents and sometimes
other birds, which it either eats imme-
diately or hangs up for future use on a
thorn or a barbed-wire fence. I suppose
the fact that one would never suspect
from its appearance that it has any such
bloody habits is the reason for the im-
wite
Tar Aeon eee
A elie comparison with oe wife in this
play. Even so the appropnatedcss is not
too striking.
By Es
HAGGIN
Records
Ales newest recording of Bach’s great
Passacaglia for organ (MGM) pro-
vides another disappointment. Carl
Weinrich plays the work straightfor-
wardly on the organ of Princeton Uni-
versity Chapel; and it must be the
acoustic defects of the chapel that cause
the opening statement of the theme to
come off the record with a counter-
point not written by Bach, and his own
lines of counterpoint often not to be
clear in the variations and fugue. There
is a similar lack of clarity in the A
minor Concerto after Vivaldi on the re-
verse side. 2
On the other hand Robert Noechren’s
performances of Bach’s Canonic Varia-
tions on “Vom Himmel hoch da komm’
ich her’ and Chorale and Variations on
“O Gott, Du frommer Gott’’ on the
organ of Grace Episcopal Church ia
Sandusky, Ohio (Allegro), come off the
record with admirable clarity, The first
piece is one of the matured Bach’s ex-
(“Urtext”) editions
AUTHENTIC in handy pocket scores
We * Temp. Clavier, 2 volumes
BACH’ S } Violin-Clavier Sonatas
BEETHOVEN’ 5 82 Plano Sonatas,
§ volumes
08¢ cach — FREE Catalog
At dealers, or direct from
L EA P OCKET scorES Nee York’ 82. N.Y 4
\ PULITZER PRIZE and CRITICS’ AWARD
RICHARD RODGERS & OSCAR HAMMERSTEIN Za@
present in ossociotion with
LELAND HAYWARD & JOSHUA LOGAN
MARTHA WRIGHT
GEORGE BRITTON
South Pacific
Music by RICHARD RODGERS
hyrics by OSCAR IY HRS 2nd
OSCAR saeasaton fo & stare
Adapted from JAIAES A. MICHENER'S
Prize Winning‘ "TALES OF THE SOUTH PACIFIC’
Directed by JOSHUA LOGAN
Scenery & Lighting by Jo Mielziner
with MYRON McCORMICK
WAJESTIC THEATRE, 44th St, West of B’way
Evenings 8:30. Matinees Wed. & Sat., 2.30
Monday Eves. only. Curtain at 7 sharp,
i15
Bs
,
a
ae
sir
a
er
rr
Rs
hi wi
ercises of prodigious technique with no
interesting musical results; the second,
which he wrote at the age of seventeen,
is engaging, with a remarkable and mov-
ing chromatic slow variation.
Clearly reproduced also are Helmut
Walcha’s performances of Bach’s Schib-
ler Chorale Preludes on the St. Jakobi
organ in Liibeck, and five other Chorale
Preludes on the Schnitger organ in
Cappel (Decca). Of the Schiibler group
the best-known, “Wachet auf, ruft uns
die Stimme,” is the most impressive; of
the others I find “An Wasserfliissen
Babylon” beautiful and “Nun freut
euch, licben Christen g’mein” engaging,
but “Fuga sopra il Magnificat,” “Vom
Himmel hoch da komm’ ich her,’’ and
“Valet will ich dir geben” less inter-
esting. The peformances are good.
Fernando Valenti’s harpsichord play-
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116
ing seems to me the finest, in its treat-
ment both of the instrument and of the
music, that is now to be heard, and
lends interest to two otherwise unin-
teresting works of Bach—the Toccata in
D minor and the Prelude, Fugue, and
Allegro in E flat—that are on one
record with the fine Toccata in E
minor (Allegro).
The Haydn Piano Sonata No. 46 is-
sued by the Haydn Society is the one
that EMS issued as No. 43, and one of
his best. Virginia Pleasants plays it with
effective tempos, Clarity, sensitiveness,
and repose—as against the more turbu-
lent pianistic brilliance of Rosen’s EMS
performance. No. 49, om the same
Haydn Society record, I find uninter-
esting. And I would skip Soulima
Stravinsky's performances of six other
Haydn sonatas, most of them uninterest-
ing (Allegro).
Friedrich Gulda’s performances of
Beethoven's Sonatas Opus 110 and
Opus 27 No. 2 on one London record
and Opus 106 (‘“Hammerklavier’’) on
another are like the one of Opus 111 at
his first recital in New York—remark-
able for the accuracy and beauty of
sound with which his clearly outlining
conceptions of the music are executed,
but with those outlines lacking the in-
tensification and projective force that
maturity may bring, and with the works
lacking the strength that Beethoven's
music should have, The inadequacy is
greatest in Opus 106, least in the tran-
quil opening movement of Opus 110.
And I should mention that Gulda’s un-
usual treatment of the repeated A in
measures 5 and 6 of the Adagio of
Opus 110 doesn't work for me. The
piano is well reproduced; but in ad-
dition to the audible hall resonance
peculiar to London recording, the side
with Opus 110 produces on my machine
a pounding noise which it does not pro-
duce on a machine with limited bass.
Schumann’s “Carnaval” (Columbia)
is played well by Gyorgy Sandor; the re-
corded sound is glassy, and metallic in
loud passages. The less familiar “‘Fas-
chingschwank aus Wien” (Vanguard),
played well by Jacqueline Blancard, I.
find uninteresting; and the Brahms
Variations on a Theme of Schumann, on
the reverse side, even more so.
Chopin’s Ballades (Allegro) are
played well by Leonid Hambro; even
with bass enormously stepped up the
formances are even better, and are bet-
ter reproduced). The Nocturnes (RCA
Victor) are played by Rubinstein very
beautifully in the traditional mannered —
style. Firkusny’s performance of the:
great Sonata Opus 58 (Columbia) is
something to skip.
Debussy's Etudes (REB) offer elab:.
orations of the various elements of his
piano style—most of them interesting
only in that respect, a few engaging .
and impressive as music. They are '
played well by Charles Rosen. ;
With Henry Cowell's performances
of a number of his piano pieces (Circle)
comes a separate little record with his —
spoken comments on them, which would |
be more useful printed on the envelope. !
Cowell has devised ingenious ways of ,
manipulating the strings of the piano
directly to produce the sound of a harp, *
the wailing of a banshee, and other ~
things of that kind; but the pieces —
achieve nothing of interest beyond their”
approximations of the sounds of the
harp, the banshee, and so on. And I find
myself not interested much more by the
pieces whose substance is produced by '
the normal method. of depressing the
keys.
A reader thinks I gave a slightly mis- °
leading impression, in my discussion of
the New York City Ballet’s repertory,
with the phrase “the inferior ballets of
other choreographers.” He points out
that while these ballets are inferior to
Balanchine's, “‘one, ‘Hluminations,’ is
quite fine, and at least three others,
‘The Duel,’ ‘Cakewalk, and ‘Mother
Goose,’ are slight but respectable—v. e., °
not the actually shoddy stuff that you
find in other companies.”
_____ CONTRIBUTORS
BROADUS MITCHELL is professor of —
economics at Rutgers University.
S. LANE FAISON, JR., is chairman of
the Art Department of Williams Col-
lege. j
J. C. HUREWITZ is lecturer in govern-
ment at the School of International. Af- _
fairs, Columbia University. i
BRUCE CATTON is the author of
“Mr. Lincoln’s Army” and “The War
Lords of Washington.” {
ROLFE HUMPHRIES, The Nation's
poetry critic, has recently published a
verse translation of Virgil’s “Aeneid.”
The NATION
wee te
ir
ACROSS
1 The life of a car? (13)
10 Deep in the Sierra Nevadas.
11 S, M, T, etc.—any one! (3, 6)
12 Not paying the penalty for being
twice guilty? (9)
13 Die; it’s unnecessary with 11. (5)
14 Standing Pat? Not with too much
of this! (5, 7)
19 One seldom sees them playing by
themselves. (12)
22 Looks sullen like 8, in a way. (5)
24 Scolded too much? (In too high a
class.) (9)
25 Made out of fancy material? (Pan-
ama hats—the A-minus sort.) (9)
26 Indian and many white brothers find
: dinner there! (5)
27 Smothered in a blanket, by the
sound of it! (4-2-3-4)
DOWN
2 Did one of these have his house cave
in? (6)
8 One might by tossing out the first
question. (4, 5)
4 re asinine people come from here?
(5)
5 Held up and teased. (5)
BY FRANK W. LEWIS
jee or
6
7
8
9
15
16
7
i
18
20
21
23
24
ACROSS :—1
A stake’s supports. (5)
Crusoe’s exclamation on seeing Fri-
day's footprints? (8)
Spout beer or holy water from it!
(5)
Certainly doesn’t charge ahead! (7)
A little bluing might help to make
one. (9)
An opinion to bury. (9)
Catch the flue! (7)
The g val of Rig ghtists? (8)
People that get it on the house don’t
necessarily get swindled. (Unless
someone gyps ’em?) (6)
Anthony’s family needs a change!
(5)
Stuffed dates.
A man,
(5)
(5)
alternatively his offspring.
*e*@ee
SOLUTION TO PUZZLE No, 449
PROMISCUITY; 9 BENCH
SAW; 10 EXTRAS; 11, 12 and 15 MATCHES
ARE MADD IN HAVEN: 14, 22 and 27 A
PENNY FOR YOUR THOUGHTS: 17 PLAY-
GOER;
20 MATHER; 24 INDITES; 26 RHS-
CUE; 28 BARTULINESS.
DOWN:—2 ROCK CANDY;
SEWN: 5 U
3 MYSTERY; 4
NEARTH; 6 TOTEM; 7 Dnh-
CAMP; 8 HANDLHE; "13 DIARY; 16 AS-
TRINGES; 18 LIONEL; 19 OPUI ENT; 20
MONSOON; 21 BVERTS; 23 YUCCA; 25 ET
AL.
Readers are invited to send for a free copy of Mr. Lewis's “ground rules.” Address
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| FEBRUARY 2, 1952
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By Morris Mitchell, director of the Putney (Ver-
mont) Graduate School of Teacher Education.
Il. TEACHERS AND THE “THING”
By Goodwin Watson, professor of education at
Teachers College, Columbia University, author
of “Action for Unity,” and other books.
IJ. BIG BUSINESS AND THE SCHOOL SYSTEM
By J. Austin Burkhart, teacher of political sci-
ence at Stephens College, Columbia, Missouri>
IV. THE FOOT IN THE DOOR—ORGANIZED
RELIGION IN AMERICAN SCHOOLS
By Jerome Nathanson, leader at the Ethical Cul-
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tion,-and author of “John Dewey: The Recon-
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By Horace Mann Bond, president of Lincoln Uni-
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Reader's Scope, free-lance writer now with the
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VI. MONEY, CHILDREN, AND EDUCATION
By Frederick C. McLaughlin, author of the re-
cently published book “Fiseal and Administra-
tive Control of City School Systems.”
VII. DIRECTIONS FOR EDUCATIONAL
PROGRESS
By Kenneth D. Benne, professor of education at
the University of Illinois, president of the Amer-
ican Education Fellowship, author of “A Concept
of Authority” and other books.
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Murder in the Mines
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a
}
v OLUME 174
be Shape of Ibings
HAROLD L. ICKES, IN SPITE OF SOME ILL
health in recent years, was vigorous and effective almost
fo the day of his death. His articles in the New Republic
e shrewd, salty, and penetrating. He followed events
with unflagging attention, and when you talked to him
you always sensed the long knowledge that lay behind
his most casual comments. Not that his judgments were
nfallible. Far from it. Often infuriatingly wrong-headed
and arbitrary, he would stick to his position with a pas-
sion worthy of a better cause. But when the better cause
came along you could count on Harold Ickes to fight for
it without any concern for his own interest or con-
yenience. Republican Spain, for example, had no better
friend in America; and his opposition to the policy of
onciliating Franco was expressed with an open contempt
for the expediencies of cold war and the threats of the
_ witch hunters. Ickes’s eminence as Secretary of the Inte-
rior is unchallenged. Not only did he enforce the stand-
_ atds that ruled out the possibility of new Teapot Domes;
“he also established so firmly the doctrine of public con-
} trol over public resources that it will be hard, we believe,
| ! for any succeeding Secretary to abandon it altogether.
| Throughout his years in office he was not so much a good
“administrator as a dynamic leader who imbued his sub-
| _ ordinates in the multifarious bureaus and divisions of the
| monstrous department with a new sense of direction, a
“social and political goal. His resignation was a misfor-
| tune for which the President was plainly responsible, but
it gave Mr. Ickes a few years of freedom to devote to his
' family and a wide variety of personal and public inter-
ests. His going will leave a big gap in American life, for
s Harold Ickes was one of those rare persons who could be
fought or followed but never for a moment ignored.
gant
REPORTS FROM LONDON CONFIRM ANDREW
Roth’s account of Chiang’s Guerrillas in our issue of Jan-
aty 26. On January 19 the Observer's crack correspond-
nt, Rawle Knox, cabled from*Ranpoon that “one of
chiang Kai-shek’s best battalions from Formosa has re-
ently reinforced Kuomintang General Li Mis 93d
Division in [northeastern] Burma, according to indis-
putable authoritics’—meaning, apparently, the British
abassy. “There is indisputable evidence that Americans
> helpir g the 93d Division. Two Americans accom-
afk
ng =
NEW YORK + SATURDAY + FEBRUARY 9, 1952
{MERICA’S LEADING LIBERAL WEEKLY SINCE 1865
NUMBER 6
panied it in its ignominious offensive last autumn, and
when retreat followed, a Thai [Siamese] police helicop-
ter was sent to evacuate them from Mongnyen. It crashed
and was burned by its crew; the two Americans walked
out into Thailand. . .. Over Kengtung town [in north-
eastern Burma’s Shan States}, Constellations are fre-
quently seen flying at about 10,000 feet. . . . Misdirected
parachute drops have been found, which include Ameri-
can small arms manufactured since the war. Surrendered
Kuomintang men say they have been helped into Burma
by an American organization in Bangkok. . . . There is
quite sufficient evidence . . . to show that an independent
American agency is helping Kuomintang troops and
material through Thailand to Burma, a maneuver for
which, in present Asian circumstances, foolhardy is a
temperate word.” Reports of this kind help to explain
John Foster Dulles’s statement before the Senate Foreign
Relations Committee on January 21 in which he said that
to produce “a change in China . . . will require determi-
nation to promote freedom and independence in Asia,
and action consistent with that determination as op portu-
nities arise” (italics ours). 5h
IT WAS INEVITABLE THAT THE ATTACK ON
free schools should eventually be directed at a college.
This is the prime significance of the recent attempt of the
Hearst press, aided by Allen Zoll, Louis Budenz, the
American Legion Magazine, Counterattack, and a local
Legion post, to breach the walls of academic freedom at
Sarah Lawrence College. The attack follows the familiar
pattern of the razzle-dazzle campaigns Jaunched against
the public schools in Pasadena, California, Englewood,
New Jersey, and a score of other communities- since
1949, “Charges” are irresponsibly aired; then a local
group “demands,” under direct threat of financial re-
prisal, that the institution deliver up certain heretics;
finally, to give the campaign meaning, the public threats
ate neatly synchronized to give the impression that they
represent mass opposition rather than the ravings of a
small group of fanatics egged on by self-seeking organi-
zations and institutions. In this instance the plot has
failed because the trustees of Sarah Lawrence have de-
clined to be placed in a defensive position. In a fine
statement the trustees declared: “An educational institu-
tion must teach its students to think for themselves by
giving them the knowledge upon which to base judg-
ments. . . . In carrying out this responsibility faculty
sf
e IN. “THIS ISSUE °
EDITORIALS
The Shape of Things
While the Supreme Court Pussyfoots
Mr. Butler’s Tourniquet
ARTICLES
The Speech Nobody Made
by J. Alvarez del Vayo
Murder in the Mines by Willard Shelton
Force and Violence in Illinois
by Len Schroeter
Tunisian Tinder Box by Andrew Roth
Released Time: The Parent’s Right to Choose
by Edward S$. Greenbaum
Released Time: A Crutch for the Churches
by V. T. Thayer
Political Prospects in Korea:
Plan for a Settlement by Yongjeung Kim
Make Peace with China!
by W. MacMahon Ball
Safeguard Democracy! by Owen Lattimore
BOOKS AND THE ARTS
Weizsicker: Good German vs. Good European
by H. Stuart Hughes
The Widening Circle by Ernest Jones
Inside Negro Europe by Rayford W., Logan
The Social Uses of Pychoanalysis
by Mark Kanzer
Illustration, Illumination by Rolfe Humphries
Books in Brief
Art by Manny Farber
Records by B. H. Haggin
Record Notes by Robert E. Garis
LETTERS TO THE EDITORS 143
CROSSWORD PUZZLE No. 451
by Frank W. Lewis opposite 144
Editor and Publisher: Freda Kirchwey
Associate Editor: Carey McWilliams
Foreign Editor Literary Editor
J. Alvarez del Vayo Margaret Marshall
Financial Editor ; Keith Hutchison
Drama: Joseph Wood Krutch Music: B. H. Haggia
Assistant Literary Editor: Caroline Whiting
Assistant Editor: Charles R. Allen, Jr.
Copy Editor: Gladys Whiteside
Staff Contributors
Andrew Roth, Alexander Werth, Howard K. Smith, Carolus
Business Manager: Hugo Van Arx
Advertising Manager: Mary Simon
Director of Nation Associates: Lillie Shultz
The Nation, published weekly and copyright, 1952, in
= The Nation Associates, Inc., 20 Vesey Street, New York y N. x.
as second-class matter, December 13, 1879, at the Post Office
New York, N. Y., under the act of March 3, 1879. Advertising
and Circulation Representative for Continental Europe: Publicitas,
Subscription Prices: Domestic—One year $7; Two years $12; Three
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Information to Libraries: The Nation is indexed in Readera’ Guide
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Articles, Public Affairs Information Service, Dramatic Index.
118
‘ach ae
nd iblady laicedy aap ae
deggie of any sights eens as citizens of ti his co an .
try, including the right to belong to any Jegal politica Ki _
organization of their own choosing, . . . The idea that a 2
member of the faculty should take intellectual or politi-
cal dictation from any quarter is alien to everything Sarah
Lawrence stands for. Prejudiced or politically inspired — i
teaching would quickly reveal itself, and would be re- ||
jected by the students and by the whole college.” If th :
trustees stand by this statement, there will be no rout of H M3
freedom at Sarah Lawrence.
> o
THE FBI WAS GIVEN A TASTE OF ITS OWN —
medicine in Hawaii when the International Longshore- | :.
men's and Warehousemen’s Union broadcast over Sta-
tion KHON the recorded conversation of two FBI agents
with David Thompson, the union's educational director. "
Calling at Thompson's home, the agents tried to per ‘¥
suade him to help them convince Jack W. Hall, a union
official now under indictment for violation of the Smith —
act, to become a government witness. Unknown to the z
agents, a tape recording was made of the interview. With ||
remarkable frankness the agents offered a variety of +
“deals,” including a reduction in the number of counts —
in the indictment against Hall, if he would “go along”
with the government. The agents scoffed at the notion ~
that the persons indicted in Hawaii for violation of the
Smith act constituted “a clear and present danger”’ to the
security of the islands. “They just don’t rate,” one of
them said; “they would make poor Communists in the
lowest cell in California.” It is too bad that the play-
back of the recording could not have been heard over a
national network or at least by a Congressional commit-
tee. If this is a fair sample of the political police ac-
tivities of the FBI, it is high time Mr, Hoover was asked .
a few questions, x
“2
a
me
NOW THAT EVERYBODY IS INVESTIGATING
everybody else it is no surprise to find Frank E.. McKin-—
ney of Indianapolis, so recently chosen by President Tru-
man to help purify the Democratic Party, himself the
object of an inquiry in connection with the bankruptcy”
case of Frank Cohen’s Empire Tractor Corporation. The ff!
trustees of that defunct company want to find out
whether its failure was caused in part by the huge, quick
profits paid to.Mr. McKinney and his friend Frank Me
McHale, Democratic National Committeeman from In- 4
diana, They also want to know whether those profits cat ;
be recovered and turned over to the company’s credito
In an effort to protect the reputation of his new Natia nal
Chairman, Mr. Truman has refused to make available t
report on the Empire Ordnance Company, a rela
eA"
r sah tule A:
can setae” to Sasi the names of individuals
te the public “for scorn or ridicule without regard
ir guilt or innocence.” These are praiseworthy scru-
the public, and enough questionable doings have been
connected with it so that the full facts can only help him
—unless they are still more questionable. Readers who
fecall Irving Liebowitz’s article, Frank “Midas” McKin-
“ney, in The Nation of December 29, wili agree that eva-
‘sive tactics will no longer serve the Democratic National
Chairman, or the President.
»~
MEANWHILE, MR. GABRIELSON, McKINNEY’S
Republican counterpart, and Mr. Boyle, his Democratic
‘predecessor, are in trouble too. Both have been accused
by the Senate investigating subcommittee of dubious con-
duct in connection with several RFC loans, But Mr.
Gabrielson at least has found a champion. Senator Joe
McCarthy, whose feeling for the niceties and scrupulous
tegatd for the rights of the accused are well known,
entered a lone dissent from the subcommittee’s report.
is comment should be included in all future collections
of McCarthiana, ‘The report, in my opinion,” he said,
“must stick strictly to the facts as proven and not indulge
_ in supposition.” x
THE RECENT APPOINTMENT OF LUIGI GEDDA
to head Catholic Action in Italy is proof that the Vatican
| is getting ready for a showdown with the anti-clerical
, elements in the Christian Democratic Party. Gedda is the
. man who in 1948 organized the Catholic “Civic Com-
mittees” which turned out the Christian Democratic
" vote and coincidentally made Catholic Action, the tem-
poral arm of the church, very influential within the party.
He is an extreme conservative who has consistently urged
closer cooperation between the Demo-Christians and the
| extreme right. When the appointment was announced,
Monarchist and neo-Fascist legislators promptly ex-
. | ptessed approval. A Demo-Christian spokesman limited
| himself to declaring that his party would not become
‘subservient to church policies, but it is evident that a real
for control is in prospect. The Vatican newspaper,
L’Osservatore Romano, in an angry editorial aimed at
4p) tefuting the criticism which both the left and the center
ave leveled at Gedda, declared that “all these influences
are fanciful’ since ‘Catholic Action is not a political
5 ep ation or a political party.” The Osservatore denied
xg) tha the church was applying any pressure to the Demo-
og t Gh , although in the same breath it declared that
| rere pany obviously be no division of policy between
at patty and the clergy. The first indications of how
icces ssful Gedda has been will come in the spring, when
A wy 5, 1952
U
ial
ynle
Mal
Jat)
€ uman eocadice in rea acs provinces, mainly j in southern Italy, will hold
“pot in accord with our —
administrative elections, If Gedda and Catholic Action
succeed in forcing the Demo-Christians to collaborate
with the Monarchists and the neo-Fascist Italian Social
Movement, the result might not only split the government
party but confirm the victory of political clericalism.
+
ALGER HISS, CONVICTED OF PERJURY TWO
years ago by the second of two juries to hear his case,
has moved for a third trial based on newly discovered
evidence, The motion is supported by affidavits strongly
suggesting that the famous Woodstock typewriter, which
figured so prominently in the trials, may have been a
specially built or fabricated machine and not the
machine that Hiss once owned. Its serial number indi-
cates that it was built in the second half of 1929, whereas
the admitted Hiss letters and the Chambers documents
appear in a typeface that the Woodstock Company had
abandoned at the end of 1928 or early 1929. The motion
also relies on sworn testimony by Lee Pressman, formerly
chief counsel for the C. I. O., which directly contradicts
Chambers’s testimony that Hiss once belonged to a Com-
munist “apparatus” that included Pressman, Pressman’s
statement was not available at either trial, since he had
not then decided to testify before the House Un-American
Activities Committee. Of great interest also is a wealth
of new evidence cited to prove that Chambers had
broken with the Communist Party and gone into hiding
at a date which would make it impossible for him to
have been a pillar of the Communist espionage system
Jate in the spring of 1938. The motion contains, in ad-
dition, two affidavits from witnesses who, without quali-
fication, contradict the testimony of the “surprise”
witness, Edith Murray, whose testimony was largely in-
strumental in bringing about the conviction of Hiss at
the second trial. Both trials were conducted in a social,
if not a courtroom, atmosphere that was highly preju-
dicial; it is to be hoped, therefore, that this motion for a
new trial will be weighed with the greatest care and
objectivity. *
AN INVESTIGATION OF BLACKLISTING
practices in the radio and television industries by the
Federal Communications Commission was proposed in
these columns on December 1, 1951. We are now
pleased to report that the Author's League of America
has instructed its president, Rex Stout, to ask the com-
mission for a hearing on the blacklisting of writers and
others by radio and television licensees, In view of the
great public interest in the question and the clear threat
which blacklisting offers to American institutions, the
FCC should grant the request. Properly conducted, such
a hearing could dispel “the black shadow of fear” from
television and radio studios,
119
C8 n ' eae :
While by Sapa Gee
Pussyfoots
ACED with an opportunity to strike a final blow
at segregated public schools, the Supreme Court has
Fo only dodged the issue but in effect ruled that
the right of Negro children to equality of education
must be vindicated in each school district of the South.
_ The nub of the ruling in the Clarendon County, South
Garolina, case is that the court prefers to force the ad-
- mission of Negroes to “white” schools on a case-by-case
basis rather than rule that the “separate-but-equal” doc-
trine is a contradiction in terms.
_ In recent years the Supreme Court has gradually
broken down the pattern of segregation in the tax-sup-
i af Bic graduate and professional schools of most of the
_ border and a number of Southern states. Last year the
N. A. A. C. P. decided to strike at segregation in the pub-
E i lic schools. Negro parents in Clarendon County brought
suit in the federal district court, asking that their children
be admitted to the regular “white” school on the ground
that segregation is per se unconstitutional,
ph Over the vigorous dissent of Judge J. Waties Waring,
oe the special three-judge court sitting on the case decided
that segregation was constitutional but that the Negro
__ school in Clarendon must be made “‘equal’’ to the white.
School officials were accordingly ordered to report back
within six months on the steps taken to achieve this ob-
b jective. In the meantime, however, the petitioners ap-
i pealed to the Supreme Court, which has now ruled that
the lower court should have considered the report of the
_ school officials—a ruling which will delay final decision
. on the crucial issue until well after the November elec-
tion. As Justices Black and Douglas pointed out in dis-
sents, the Supreme Court had all the information needed
for a judgment if it had been willing to pass on the ques-
tion of segregation itself. For if the court had faced this
issue, it would not have mattered whether the Negro
school was equal or even better than the “white.”
When the case again comes before it, the Supreme
Court will doubtless order Negro children admitted to
the schools of Clarendon County; but the victory will be
a marrow one indeed since it will be based solely on con-
ditions of inequality found to exist in that one county.
If the fight against segregation must go on until Negroes
7 have captured every educational hedgerow, it will con-
tinue for many summers. It was for this reason that Gov-
_efnor James F, Byrnes hailed the decision as a victory for
the South.
; Apparently the Supreme Court—Justices Black and
ie Douglas dissenting—intends to kill Jim Crow by as many
z ‘pimpricks as there are school districts in the South. If
_ this is its strategy, then we should like to go on record
as saying that the court is likely to provoke a great deal
120
i
ab tes AT tes Chae
recited ae wighenan ine: piece on a poe a dia
clearly enough that while the Supreme Court pussy oots, ¥
the opposition is exploding bombs and blasting away
with shotguns. By temporizing with these forces, the —
court only encourages further resistance and thereby
arrests the pace of social progress. Further reprieves are —
pointless: Jim Crow is dying, let the final blow be
struck!
Mr. Butler's Tourniquet ~
AST weck Britain's Chancellor of the Exchequer, —
Richard A. Butler, brought forward the second in- —
stalment of a Tory austerity program calculated to make |
his fellow-countrymen look back longingly to the ; |
spacious days of Cripps. Two months ago Mr. Butler *
announced a reduction in import licenses for European
goods, particularly foodstuffs, intended to cut imports “4
by £350,000,000, together with the halving of tourists’ a
foreign-exchange allowances. Now imports from other *
arcas are to be reduced by £150,000,000, and the tourist —
allowance is again cut in half, bringing it down to £25
anoually, not more than enough for an economical week _
in Paris.
Supplies of home produced as well as foreign goodsia
are to be restricted. Quotas of most kinds of hard goods, _
including bicycles, radios, television sets, vacuum clean-—
ers, and other household appliances, are to be a third —
Jess than last year. This will free capacity in the metal-
working industries for export orders and defense, as
will the proposed severe restriction of all non-essential —
building and investment in plant and machinery. It is also
expected that these measures will lead to some unem- JF
ployment and thus assist recruitment in the under-
manned defense industries.
The reduction in the supply of goods available to
British consumers must be matched by measures to cut >
down purchasing power if it is not to create new JM
inflationary pressures. To this end Mr. Butler announced
a cut in civil-service personnel and the modification of the ff
National Health Service by the imposition of a small
uniform charge for each prescription supplied and of —
fees for dental work, hitherto free. But these are ob:
viously small “beginnings; a much heavier attack on
spending power is likely when Mr. Butler presents his:
budget on March 4, five weeks earlier than usual. ee
In the House of Commons the Labor opposition ree i
plied to the government’s proposals with a motion of
censure which declared that the new austerity roa
was “inadequate, inapproptrate, and unjust” and urged do
that there could be “no confidence in a governmen
whose present policy is in such marked contrast to the
optimistic statements on which it was returned 1
co; ntrols a5 more efaod. they were well aware
Britain’s tottering balance of payments would not
mit any thing of the sort. However, the Labor
Patty's spokesmen were handicapped by the fact that,
like the Tories, they were committed to giving priority
to searmament. Had a Labor government been re-
turned to office it would have been compelled to take
very similar action unless it had decided to reduce
defense expenditure.
_ Only the Bevanite group, therefore, was in a position
to attack the govefnment on the ground that it was
sacrificing the social services and the workers’ standard
of living to rearmament. Bevan himself intervened ef-
fectively to point out that part of the proposed saving in
imports was to be achieved by reducing reserves of food
and materials—an act of “criminal lunacy” if there was
Keally danger of war. However, the rebel leader ap-
p
i
|
ared to be biding his time, expecting, perhaps, that his
eal opportunity would come when the budget appears,
) especially if the Chancelior confirms persistent rumors
by abolishing the food subsidies.
While some of the Tories’ belt-tightening measures
ate debatable, it is beyond dispute that Britain, in co-
operation with its partners in the sterling area, must find
| means to end the drain on its gold and dollar reserves.
In the second half of 1951 these reserves fell by
$1,578,000,000 and now total only $2,335,000,000,
which is not very much above the irreducible safe mini-
“mum of about $2,000,000,000. For some time both
Britain and the principal sterling-area countries have
been living above their incomes, If they continue to do
so and there are further substantial drafts on the re-
e, the sterling area is likely to collapse and Britain
itself will be threatened with bankruptcy.
_ This danger was recognized at the recent conference
in London of Commonwealth Finance Ministers, who
perce that each member of the sterling group should
ke appropriate measures to rectify its trade balance.
. Butler's program represents part of Britain's re-
.) Sponse to this challenge, and in the near future other
3 ) Members of the Commonwealth are expected to an-
Mounce plans for curbing imports and investments and
imulating exports.
Such steps are probably inevitable in view of the pres-
€at crisis. The difficulty is that they are essentially restric-
“tionist and thus apt to be self-defeating. British curbs
jon imports from Europe, together with restrictions on
te ists, must, for instance, create balance-of-trade diffi-
culties for other countries, which in tern may find them-
selves forced to block imports from the sterling area. The
tesult may be a concentration of British and European
sales efforts in this country, where there is no tance
ayments problem to serve as an excuse for limiting
ary 9, 1952
4
*
as ed i nd ne 3
hat wa : g point, since
ee > electorate with visions of ©
re ae 2 set se PE he
es a ‘ «,
LA o 4 Y
f .
ports. Yet, if successful, such a sales drive would prob-
- ably lead to strong protests from manufacturers here
whose own production is being curtailed by defense re-
quirements. Again, the restriction of investment must
prevent the realization of one of Britain’s prime needs—
the improvement of its industrial plant. Without that it
will not be able to raise its productivity and in the not
very long run will find exports lagging because costs are
too high.
Restrictionism, in short, is like a tourniquet, It may
prevent a country from bleeding to death, but if retained
for long it stops circulation. Britain-has to find means not
merely to check the economic hemorrhage which threat-
ens its life but to end it. The real question facing Church-
ill’s government, therefore, is the one that Mr, Bevan
and his friends continue to press: can this cure be effected
so Jong as the country is arming beyond its means?
The Speech Nobody Made
BY J. ALVAREZ DEL VAYO
Paris, January 30
OR two months the press of the world has been pub-
“lishing detailed accounts of the proceedings of the
General Assembly and the various U. N. committees. But
though the speeches have been accurately reported and
the comments ample and intelligent, people have not got
the real picture of what has been happening—of the
change from the high expectations of the opening ses-
sions to the sense of frustration now prevailing, To fill
out the story, historians of the Assembly need a speech
which is not in the files because it was never given aloud,
though it was frequently whispered into the ears of dele-
gates and journalists. It would have caused a great sensa-
tion if some representative of a small Western nation had
had the courage to rise up and deliver it from the floor.
It would have run, I believe, something like this:
Mr. Chairman: The country I represent belongs to
what is usually called the “Western” or “Christian”
world. As such it will be called upon to do its share in
defending the West in case of Communist aggression.
This gives me the right, I think, to appraise the forces
on our side and the way they are being utilized. Since
I speak in this tribunal I shall naturally emphasize the
use the United Nations is making of them.
At San Francisco the United Nations pledged them-
selves to wipe out fascism. Their whole policy during the
war was directed to that end, and no one imagined the
»task was accomplished when the Jast shot was fired. It
was recognized that a continuing political effort, based
on an accord among the five great powers, would be re-
quired. There is no use asking sadly or indignantly why
this fundamental postulate of post-war policy was so soon
Lak
forgotten. The fact is that the accord among the Big Five
no longer exists, that it has been replaced by two an-
tagonistic alliances, and that the United Nations, instead
of trying to forge a new unity, is apparently bending
every effort to prevent the great powers from getting to-
gether to negotiate an agreement. As a result the United
Nations has lost all power to secure the peace. The give
and take of negotiations has been abandoned for the
adoption of resolutions by a not always convinced but
usually obedient Western majority.
Countries which can contribute men or arms or experi-
ence in aggression are rated higher than those which,
like mine, can only offer devotion to the principles of the
Charter. Thus a Germany more and more dominated by
the surviving exponents of Nazism, by pre-war generals
and industrialists, exercises more influence here in the
Palais de Chaillot, even before its formal admission to
the U. N., than a country like India, which insists on
conciliation; Uruguay with its long tradition of democ-
racy is less courted than Franco's Spain.
While the propaganda front is one of the most impor-
tant fronts of the cold war, the matter of effectives must
also be considered. Besides the German and Japanese
divisions which N. A. T. O.'s high command is planning
to recruit, it must raise and equip French, English, Bel-
gian, Scandinavian, South American, Greek, and Turkish
troops. America, meanwhile, prepares Franco Spain for
its role as ally and undertakes the rearming and training
of the defeated forces of Chiang Kai-shek, The strain on
the Western countries is tremendous. Post-war recon-
struction is interrupted; consumers’ goods are becoming
scarce; living standards, already low, are declining; plans
for the economic development of backward countries
must be put off; trade barriers between East and West
are multiplied; raw materials are stockpiled and chan-
neled into the manufacture of armaments; bankruptcy is
staved off only by fresh transfusions of dollars. I do not
imagine these things. They are all described in the re-
ports of the U. N.’s experts, and some have been dis-
cussed in the present Assembly. The trend in this
direction was started by the U. N.’s famous resolutions—
those creating the Interim Committee, the Acheson plan
(“Uniting for Peace’), and other similar “collective”
measures. And behind all these resolutions stands the
transfer of the functions of the Security Council to the
Assembly, where our “Western” world has a firm
majority and no veto can be exercised. Have we, by these
means, accomplished our aims?
In private conversations it is admitted that our plan has
not worked. Though the resolutions were passed by over-
whelming votes, the conviction which would have given
them moral force and insured their effective implementa-
tion was lacking. The chief thought was that the enemy
must not get the impression of any division in our ranks.
We have repeatedly proclaimed the success of collective
122
"eS SF >
ton
‘ie
+
and so far no armistice to mark the successful applica-
tion of military sanctions. The truth is that the handling
of the Korean affair has antagonized all Asia.
The refusal of the Assembly to consider how to bring
the Korean war to an early end has further damaged the
wy
ag at e
action in Korea, but there has been no military decision! ;
.
prestige of this institution, When Mr. Vishinsky offered .
to discuss Korea, the Assembly, in my opinion, should —
have seized the opportunity either to unmask the Soviet |
proposal if it was only a maneuver or to make use of it
if it was genuine. The man in the street simply does not ' i
understand—and, indeed, it és difficult to understand— |
why the United Nations must permit the war in Korea
to drag on and on, apparently forever, without lifting a.
finger to finish the bloodshed. The argument that discus-
sion in the U. N. might endanger the truce negotiations
in Korea seems pure nonsense to the ordinary citizen, He
knows only that the talks have been stalled for weeks
and that if they collapse the U. N. troops may bomb
China proper. Confronted with this gloomy prospect, he
says: Well, after all, this is a United Nations war; if the
United Nations is unable to finish it, what is the use of
having a United Nations?
Our disarmament resolution had no practical value
since it was opposed by the countries we wanted to see
disarm. Our resolution on German unity was rejected by |
half of Germany, We voted for economic aid to under-
developed countries knowing such aid would not get be-
yond the paper stage. When for once a miracle occurred .
in the Political Committee and a Russian resolution call-
ing for simultaneous admission of the fourteen applicant
nations was approved by twenty-one votes to twelve with
twenty-five abstentions, the American delegation imme-
diately initiated a drive to kill it in the Assembly, where
a two-thirds’ majority is required.
That is the record within the U. N. Outside, spokes-
men for the Arab states have emphasized the failure of
Western policy in the Middle East, and events have surely .
borne them out. Not only Aneurin Bevan but Winston
Churchill has described the British economy as “ruined.”
The Americans try to reassure us by saying that the task
of creating positions of strength has caused difficulties —
which will disappear as the rearmament program ap-
proaches completion. But what guaranty have we that the J
United States, after building up these positions of
strength, will consider it necessary or advantageous to
negotiate with the Russians? May not the desire to de-
liver an ultimatum overrule its allies’ demand for’a
negotiated settlement? That question haunts us and over-,
shadows every other calculation.
It is essential that we Westerners restore the prestige
of negotiation. After all, public opinion in all our coun-
tries, however great the ideological opposition to com-
munism, would be less offended by the sight of Soviet J
representatives around the council table than they are at f
The NATION |
en suened P Pearl Harbor, or Franco's pfo-
le ngists, Let us give frank and public expression
to the doubts voiced privately by so many dele-
. Let us shape out of those doubts a policy of con-
Washington, January 31
LOSING his testimony on the Neely-Price mine-
A _csafety bill before a Senate labor subcommittee, John
L. Lewis reminded committee members that in ancient
Egypt- there were men -who tended the Houses of the
‘Dead. “Those men were a breed apart. The effluvia of
death always seemed to emanate from their bodies. I
sometimes wish, when I have time to meditate between
explosions, that some great anthropologist or profound
student of genealogy would tell me whether our present-
) day coal operators are not descendants of the men who
_ worked in the Houses of the Dead. In no other way can
| I account for their callousness, their indifference to death
‘among their employees, their pseudo-defense of the kill-
ing, the maiming, the wounding of men.”
The language was violent, although Lewis's manner
| was restrained, and Harry Moses, a veteran spokesman of
the mine operators, blenched visibly, But the testimony
| of the operators themselves proved that the denunciation
| was justified, Witness after witness representing the coal
} industry declared that enforcement of federal mine-safety
| regulations would be “impracticable,” that it was “‘un-
constitutional,” that it was fradulently designed to pro-
| e, not safety, but “nationalization” of the mines.
Until 1941 mine operators were able to prevent federal
inspectors from entering their pits. It would be “uncon-
stitutional,” they argued for an agent of the federal
eed to pass judgment on miners’ working condi-
lise They were finally forced to allow federal safety
| inspections, but they blocked all attempts to give the
| Bureau of Mines and Department of the Interior the
| power to close down unsafe mines.
4 Since inauguration of the safety-inspection service not
"| a single major mine disaster has occurred without prior
) Warning of unsafe conditions. The Centralia, Hlinois,
| mine in which 111 men died five years ago had been the
~ | subject of protests by federal inspectors and a committee
0 the miners. The Orient mine No. 2 at West Frankfort,
illinois, which killed 119 men just before Christmas, was
sriticized by federal inspectors as recently as last July 31.
a
|
- cs
WILLARD SHELTON was formerly The Nation’s Wash-
ington correspondent.
"ebruary 9, 1952
ey ~
ith » Hither s pedis ee Ate
* clletion and refuse to permit the United Nations to be
converted into an instrument of “containment” or ulti-
mate showdown in the struggle for power we have seen
carried on im this Assembly. For that would mean its
death,
furder in the Mines
BY WILLARD SHELTON
John J. Forbes, director of the Bureau of Mines, testified
that four consecutive reports of federal agents in two
years had warned the Chicago, Wilmington, and Frank-
lin Coal Company that Orient No. 2 was dangerous and
had spelled out the major hazards in capital letters.
While theoretically it should be possible for mine
safety to be insured by the several states, the record of
93,000 deaths in fifty years shows that the states have not
done the job. In Ilinois, Governor Adlai Stevenson had
a new safety code drafted, but the General Assembly re-
fused to consider it. Even the members of the legislature
from the West Frankfort area showed no interest.
The major objection to strict safety laws is economic.
It costs money to protect mines against natural hazards—
to use rock dusting to keep down the explosive potential
of coal dust, to instal ventilating shafts, to buy “per-
missible”’ equipment (approved by federal inspectors)
and maintain it in “permissible” opetating condition.
Moreover, if one state passes a rigid safety code, its mines
are handicapped in competition with those of other states,
The coal lobbyists scarcely have to lift an eyebrow in any
state capital to discourage crusading about mine safety.
In spite of these facts not a single representative of
the coal industry who appeared before the Neely sub-
committee had the decency to admit frankly that the time
had come for federal action. Harry Treadwell, vice-presi-
dent of the company operating Orient mine No. 2,
double-talked to the committee and the press. He told
the committee, in response to repeated questions from
Senator Murray, that he favored any Jaw “that would
stop accidents so we can continue in business,” but he
confided to reporters afterward that he was “not neces-
sarily” in favor of the Neely-Price bil), The miners killed
in the West Frankfort disaster left 301 dependents, but
Treadwell is “not necessarily” in favor of effective meas-
ures to prevent future disasters.
Ed Schorr, representing the Ohio and some western
Pennsylvania operators, warmly indorsed federal legis-
lation in principle, but insisted ihat the whole federal
mine-safety code—a highly technical document requiring
expert interpretation—be written into law by Congress,
so that day-to-day administration would be removed from —
the Bureau of Mines. Schorr also proposed that if the
123
ore y eke yee ea = ee
: me
genes at down a . mine, the Crs Ate afier ‘te?
rg sight of immediate recourse to a federal judge, who
could suspend the order.
ne __ Robert E. Lee Hall, a lawyer who appeared for the
_ National Coal Association, argued that the safety record
_ of mines was steadily improving and that to transfer
“primary responsibility” to the federal government
_ would be unconstitutional and would create “‘uncertain-
_ties.” Walter Thurmond expressed the opposition of the
Southern Coal Producers’ Association; an engineer from
_ Pikesville, Kentucky, one O. S, Batten, who appeared
_ for Kentucky operators, charged that the Neely-Price
_ bill and the mine-safety code were equally insincere and
fraught with menace to the Republic.
; __ A curious note was introduced into the hearings by
_ Thomas E. Shroyer, Senator Taft's representatiye on the
_ staff of the Senate Labor Committee. Shroyer—and he
mi pres later echoed by Taft himself—exhibited concern for
the constitutional question of whether coal mining is an
Bi aspect of interstate commerce and as such properly sub-
Ae! _ ject to federal regulation, Forbes, of the Bureau of
Mines, insisted that fewer than 5 per cent of existing
mines would be exempt from federal regulation on the
sound that they operated wholly in intrastate commerce,
A but Taft and Shroyer seemed dubious, Apparently in
__ their view the coal industry is clearly in interstate com-
merce when John L. Lewis is to be hit with a court in-
_ junction prohibiting a strike but just as clearly out of it
__ when mine safety is the issue.
: A word must be said about the hot dispute between
ee Force and Violence
pie!
AIRO, ILLINOIS, one of the last communities in
oc Northern states in which segregated schools still
exist, was scheduled to capitulate to democratic prin-
eepics on January 28, when seventy Negro children in a
town of 12,000 people were to be admitted into the
ee _ previously all-white public schools. That night shot-
gun blasts rocked the home of Dr. James C. Wallace, a
leader of the National Association for the Advancement
of Colored People, the first Negro candidate for the
Cairo school board, and the recognized leader of the
local campaign to obtain integrated schools. Unlike his
Florida counterpart, Harry T. Moore, Dr. Wallace was
not killed.
Dr. Urbane F, Bass, another prominent local Negro,
_ LEN SCHROETER, a graduate of the Yale Law School, is
a member of the legal staff of the N. A. A. C, P.
The next night a bomb exploded in the home of —
a the author 7 chined by ttincc® ott) Sa
to shot down unsafe mines. Taft argued that ar nere su | t |
for damages under Taft-Hartley did not mean that ¢
union would lose. As he expressed it, drawing on b is od
memory of catch phrases from law school, “You can
sue the Bishop of Boston for bastardy but you can’t ve
collect.” The facts in the case of the Blackwood Fuel 4
Company of Virginia appear to sustain Lewis. The _ a
miners’ safety committee protested conditions in the —
Blackwood mine, and one of the members of the com- _'
mittee was fired when he refused to work. The rest of the, |
men quit in retaliation, but a federal Taft-Hartley in- —
junction drove them back to the pits. Whether or not the. —
company wins its lawsuit against the union, the safety
committee was unable to shut down the mine. 3
Sponsors of the Neely-Price bill feel confident that }
the measure will be approved by the Senate Labor Com-
mittee, Its fate may depend on Representative Graham —
Barden of North Carolina, chairman of the House com- —
mittee, It may also depend on whether the operators
profit from a strategy of delay, hoping that memory of |
West Frankfort will fade, or another unsafe mine blows _
up soon—and blows the bill through Congress. ;
P. $. While the Senators debated, six more miners |
were killed in an explosion in the Carpentertown mine ;
No. 2 in Greensburg, Pennsylvania. Last year federal
mine inspectors had reported to the owners that the pit
was “gassy” and directed their attention to serious haz- .
ards. Will this new tragedy move Congress to act?
in Lllinots
BY LEN SCHROETER —
wrecking one of the bedrooms. On both these nights ~
fiery crosses burned in the Negro section of town, No | cn
Negro child has yet been enrolled in the white schools —
of this southernmost Illinois community, which is now in —
the grip of an organized reign of terror. 2
Illinois law provides that no pupil shall be excinyiodin i
or segregated in any public school on account of race >
or color, and the recently passed Jenkins Amendment — /_
denies state-aid funds to any-school district that vio- - Ee
lates this law. Cairo, however, situated at the junction -
of the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers, almost one hundred _ P
miles south of-St. Louis, is as Southern as Paducah, *
Kentucky, in its social and economic structure. The :
capital of Illinois, at Springfield, seems far away. ee
As in most Southern communities, segregation has
meant that Negro students are denied decent educa- i i
tional opportunities. The Negroes and whites have three J!
grammar schools each, one junior high school, and one 4 |
ing reported that 2 a comparison of the two school
, makes it “evident that the pattern of segregation
ats equality of equipment, teaching facilities, and
educational opportunities for colored children.”
| The campaign to force Cairo to conform to state law
me vigorous opposition, The District Superintendent
Schools, Leo S. Schultz, a bitter foe of integration,
‘was supported by the school board, which is composed
‘of the town’s leading business men, including the presi-
dents of the two banks. Resistance to the change was
é 9 encountered from some elements in the Negro
community who had accommodated their lives and
rareets to segregation. Foremost in the fight against
i nt gration were the principals of the Negro schools, who
used every means at their disposal to prevent children
from secking a transfer to the white schools.
F CONCERTED effort to get Negro children and
i A parents to apply for transfers began immediately
after the burning of a fiery cross in the nearby town of
Brookport, Illinois. This demonstration was directed
at Negro workers in Brookport who were working in
_ the atomic-energy plant at Paducah, Kentucky. Despite
' vicious opposition N. A. A. C. P. field secretaries jus
_Shagaloff and Lester Bailey organized neighborhood
i meetings, arranged for tadio broadcasts, and distributed
handbills to tell parents they should ask for transfers.
| The response of most of the Negro community was en-
| thusiastic. Negro spokesmen urged cooperation and
| obedience to state law on school officials.
On January 17 the first group of students and parents
presented applications for transfer. By the following
afternoon seventy applications, complying with every
technicality, had been filed. It was announced that the
| applications could be processed in twenty-four hours and
that the children would be admitted at the beginning
of the new semester, January 28.
,On January 21 the N. A. A. C, P. leaders met with
the City Council, the sheriff, and the chief of police,
and asked for help in preparing the community for the
\
transfers. Local officials refused to make a public state-
ment that Negro children had a legal right to be ad-
; mitted to the schools. Nor would they take any action
| to ease the transition, though they conceded that the
| law compelled integration.
Rumors of violence began to seep through the town.
| David Lansden, a white lawyer who had been consulted
| by the Negro group, had the windows of his house
broken. The N. A. A. C. P. leaders sent word of the
ected transfers to the state law-enforcement agents,
who in turn notified the local United States Attorney and
the local FBI agents. No one seemed interested. On
y 23 the first crosses were burned in Cairo.
/
7.
he
eu
‘i
February 9, 1952
z
ep
=
7: ate 2
r Lisl, 7
ne
e
pears a Ose i Pee ORS
Fae esa a 2 :
i
a r
rominen white citizens met secretly to devise measures _
; to maintain segregation. Attorney General J. Howard
McGrath was informed that tension was high and
violence might be feared. The national office of =
N. A. A. C. P. was also warned.
On January 25 Roy Wilkins, N. A. A. C. P. adminis-
trator, sent an urgent telegram to Governor Adlai E.
Stevenson of Illinois: “We fear some form of outbreak
and wish steps to be taken to guarantee safety of children
and parents when they present themselves at schools
Monday morning. Feel certain you would not wish any
racial disturbance in Illinois, and therefore we request
state to take all necessary steps in situation.” The Gov-
ernor did not reply, but he sent Russell Babcock, director
of the Illinois Commission on Human Rights, to Cairo to
look over the situation, Babcock reported that there was
nothing to worry about.
When the children went to the white schools on
Monday morning, they were told their transfers had not
been processed, although the city had had ten days
to do what was necessary to comply with the law. On
Tuesday they were turned away again. The next day
there had been so much violence and the crowds were
so threatening that no child ventured to appear.
None of the persons responsible for the intimidation
and violence has as yet been arrested. Affidavits have
been presented to Lucy T. McPherson, County Super-
intendent of Schools, stating that the unreasonable delay
in processing transfers was an act of discrimination, and
she has said that state-aid funds will be discontinued.
This same technique was used last spring but was
abandoned when the authorities said that Negro children
were free to seck transfers and that they did not have
a policy of discrimination.
Once again it appears that white supremacists, by
force and violence, can disregard the law with im-
punity. But unlike recent outbreaks in Florida, these tac-
tics were used after local, state, and national authorities
had been warned to take precautions against them. Lit-
tle can be expected of bigoted officials who refuse to
prevent Jaw-breaking they know is being planned. The
federal government has displayed an utter disregard for
the rights of Negroes in case after case of violations
presented to the Department of Justice and the FBI.
But more energetic action might have been looked for
from the liberal Governor Adlai Stevenson.
The Cairo disorders point up what the killing of
Harry Moore and the wave of bombings in Florida,
Texas, Georgia, Alabama, and North and South Carolina
make clear. In Walter White’s words, ‘“The bomb has
replaced the lyncher’s rope.” We have entered a new
phase in the struggle for Negro rights. Until now the
emphasis has been on passing laws that destroy the legal
basis for Jim Crow. Those victories have been won, Now
they must be translated into social reality. No one recog-
125
;
“)
a 2D
a ewe
Sts 3
ree
ea
nizes this new phase more clearly than the people who
are the beneficiaries of white supremacy. Seeing that they
can no longer preserve their social and economic power
legally, they resort to extra-legal acts. Their weapons
are the bomb and the fiery cross, Their spokesmen are not
a lunatic fringe but the Governors and Senators’ of
Southern states and the sheriffs, mayors, and police
chiefs of Jim Crow communities. They condone, en-
courage, and plan violence as an instrument of policy.
+s ee TY Oe
Their allies are those who, in, dread of are c et
or in hope of political advancement, play bias with
fascist terrorists.
The response of all minorities and of all Americans
who cherish freedom must be to recognize the enemy
and to fight him as vigorously in Illinois as in Florida,
through mass organization and political action designed _
to elect public officials who take the Fourteenth Amend- .
ment seriously,
Tunisian Tinder Box
London, January 30
OU must see Bourguiba in action to understand
Tunisian nationalism,” said the Arab who had led
me through the narrow streets of the Arab quarter of
Tunis to show me the brass plaque, “Habib Bourguiba—
Avocat,” on the door of the nationalist leader's office.
That was in the summer of 1950, and the place had
already become something of a shrine,
Not long afterward I met Bourguiba in Paris, where
he was hospitalized, and after talking with him I was
moved to write: “In a hospital bed I have found the
match that may soon set off the North African tinder
box.’ His force of character was instantly apparent, and
his lean, mobile face was alive with intelligence, its ex-
pression changing rapidly with his thoughts.
In arresting him on January 18 the French struck
this Tunisian “match” against the flinty surface of their
colonial obduracy. The flame of revolt flared up quickly.
Crowds demonstrated, police posts were dynamited.
Towns were seized, trains derailed, French soldiers shot.
The so-called ‘‘soft” people of Tunisia showed that their
nationalism was as militant as that of any advanced
area in the colonial world. The French described their
action as a ‘‘calculated risk.” They thought that if they
arrested Bourguiba and other leaders of the Neo-Destour
(New Constitutional) Party, some ‘“‘moderates” might
come to the surface. It was the sort of “calculated risk”
one might take in searching for a lost coin in a powder
magazine with a blazing torch.
Bourguiba is certainly the last man with whom the
_ French should want to collide violently. Massive demon-
strations have made it clear that he and his party com-
mand the loyalty of all politically conscious Tunisians
except a thin Communist fringe and an even thinner
tightest fringe organized in the feudal Vieux Destour
(Old Constitutional) Party.
ANDREW ROTH is a staff contributor now writing from
London.
126
BY ANDREW ROTH
Bourguiba's record is amazingly clean. The French
cannot hurl at him the charges of corruption which
stick so firmly to many Middle Eastern leaders, Born ,
in Monastir forty-nine years ago, he has never known
comfort, He lived the life of a poor Tunisian student in
Paris while getting his law degree, and it was then that
he met and married his French wife. Nor can he be
accused of having collaborated with the Nazis or
Fascists, although the Germans released him from a
French prison in Marseilles in 1942 and the Italians
also tried hard to win him over.
But what annoys the French most of all is that they
cannot call him a Communist, He has purged his party
of every person—even a long-time friend—who has
shown any tendency to flirt with Moscow or Communist-
led movements; in 1950 he took the trade unions adher-
ing to his party out of the Communist-led federation. At
the same time he has the dynamism, organizational
ability, and sensitivity to economic and social problems
necessary to compete with the Communists. The peasant
and labor organizations led by the Neo-Destour Party
have far outstripped those of the Communists. And his -§?
network of party cells and fronts gives him the tactical
advantages elsewhere enjoyed only by Communists.
In March, 1945, Bourguiba succeeded in breaking out
of the isolation imposed on most colonial nationalists. He
left Tunisia secretly and after an arduous trip by boat,
camel, and on foot finally reached Egypt. In Cairo he
established close links with leading Arab nationalists
throughout the Middle East, although he does not share |
the fanaticism that inspires many of therm. The London -
Times said of him the other day, after his arrest: ““Brit-
ish officials might well have felt envious of their French -
colleagues, who had so reasonable a party to deal wi
In 1950-51 he made an extended tour which gave him
a chance to put his case before Pandit Nehru, Liaquat
Ali Khan, and Sukarno, as well as before high London
and Washington officials. He showed his political
cunning by having his visit to the United States spon- —
The NATION ©
be -
na Tepcsnitire a aie Mactan Federation
abor. While there Bourguiba broadcast in Arabic over
‘Voice of America.” In London he stayed away from
left-wingers, whose support he could take for granted—
_ and was invited to broadcast over the BBC. L’ Aurore of
Pa tis commented acidly: “Do the British hope to get
out of their own present difficulties in the Arab world
by egging on the Arab League against the French?”
Asked by the diplomatic correspondent of the Lon-
don News Chronicle what he would do if the French
‘continued to stall in instituting reforms, Bourguiba
answered, “If the French resist our demands we will
‘organize strikes and demonstrations.” And if these are
suppressed? “We will fight.” He also made it clear that
he expected American pressure to prevent the French
rom precipitating an armed clash. If the French and
) Tunisians fought, he pointed out, ‘Tunisia would go
through a dangerous period which would not be a mat-
| ter of indifference to powers interested in the stability
of the Mediterranean world.” He said he would tell
the Americans: “You want military bases in Tunisia?
Very well. It is only from us, the Tunisians, that you
can get them. Moreover, if our movement fails, the
Tunisian people, in despair, will turn to the Com-
oom and a vital strategic area will be lost to the
i West.”
i OR Bourguiba the use of force is a last resort be-
cn his small country of 3,500,000 people can
hardly hope to defeat the troops the French can send from
other parts of North Africa and France itself, Before
_ allowing his country to be ravaged like Indo-China, he
wants to be sure he cannot succeed by direct negotiation
or by appealing to world opinion through the United
| Nations. It was for this reason that he displayed such
| : . * s .
| patience in Paris in the summer of 1950 when the French
_ government acted as if, like its Bourbon ancestors, it had
| forgotten nothing and learned nothing. The Quai
| nobody but himself evoked a ghostly procession of die-
} hard colonials, including the British leader who had dis-
} missed Gandhi as a “naked little fakir.”
|, When Foreign Minister Robert Schuman conceded,
} We cannot maintain the system of direct French rule
| | forever,” and pao that “internal ereny. thous
| gradual political reforms, Bourguiba decided “it would
| be criminal not to grasp the hand stretched out toward
| us.” But it proved to be a slippery hand. Bourguiba per-
— the secretary of Neo-Destour.to join the Cabinet
on the assumption that it would have increased powers.
he French did allow the Resident General to be re-
placed as head of the Cabinet by a Tunisian Prime
ef, but the counter-signature of the Resident
February 9, 1952
7. > =
tative Grand Council includ-
. t General was still required. In consequence almost 200
_ Ministerial decisions were frozen in 1951. The prom-
ised proportion of Tunisian appointments was not made.
Promised local self-government was blocked by the
French insistence that the Tunisians give representation
even in municipal governments to French settlers in
Tunisia.
The 150,000 French who demand permanent political
rights commensurate with their present control of the
Tunisian economy and government consider Bourguiba
their greatest menace. Any political reform which de-
prives them of an absolute veto over the future of
3,500,000 Tunisians is denounced as the “abdication”
of the “French presence’’ in a country whose sovereignty
France is supposed to be only “protecting.” These
colonials maintain a strong
lobby in Paris, which is par-
ticularly influential in the
Radica! Party.
After almost a year of frus-
tration, the Tunisian Prime
Minister went to Paris last
October to ask for an all-
Tunisian Cabinet—now seven
of fifteen ministers are Tuni-
sions—a purely Tunisian As-
sembly elected by universal
suffrage instead of a consul-
ing an equal French section,
and the more rapid introduc-
tion of Tunisians into the
civil service. He was turned
down through the influence of the pro-colonialist Radi-
cals in the French Cabinet. On December 15 Foreign
Minister Schuman went back on his previous slightly
encouraging words and said it was “impossible to
exclude” French residents in Tunisia ‘from partici-
pation in the political institutions of the country.”
Simultaneously the French Cabinet recalled the Resident
General, M. Perillier, who had gone to Tunis from
Algeria with a reputation for conservatism but had
become convinced that reforms were overdue in Tu-
nisia.
When Bourguiba left Paris for Tunis a fortnight later
he made it clear that the Tunisians could never allow
the French settlers a privileged position. ‘There is not
a country in whose political institutions a foreigner par-
ticipates if he has not integrated himself into the
country by accepting its nationality. . . . Only the
friendly mediation of the United Nations could bring
these negotiations out of their impasse by permitting a
renewal of conversations on reasonable grounds and with
serious chances of success.” He did not pretend France
would accept this. Once home he informed the Paris
427
BCANDELe,
Habib Bourguiba
PA ae fy a as ot
ee PO $< : wd a
"kore
“Monde: “We will re |
will proclaim the sovereignty and ‘independence of
Tunisia; (2) we will demand negotiation of a new
_ treaty which will fix the date of the transfer of
ie sovereignty, accord the foreign communities the guaran-
y ee Pao
ar 1946 ae ti YW
CS mn. Oo ur
Yo
ot
RELEASED TIME
mA ©
cause ‘the = that of ae
blocked.”
Le be Parent's Right to Choose
k ee excuse Johnny on Wednesday afternoons to
take his music lesson.” Public schools grant such re-
_ quests. Parents may also have their children excused to
_ take dancing lessons or to observe Yom Kippur or Good
, Friday, The New York State education law authorizes
_ such absences, recognizing the parent's right to have a
say in his child’s education. No one has challenged the
tight of the state to comply with such requests. But if the
_ parent requests that his child be excused from school to
‘feceive religious” instruction, there are violent protests
_ from many quarters.
_ The same law which permits absence for religious
observances and music and dancing lessons permits ab-
sence to receive religious instruction. This part of the
~ law, it is claimed, violates the doctrine of separation be-
_ tween church and state, and the issue is now before the
_ Supreme Court of the United States, A bitter fight is
_ being waged against it. It is said that the state has no
_ right to comply with a parent's request that his child be
excused from school even one hour a week to receive
_ religious instruction. The parents of the 200,000 Catholic,
Jewish, and Protestant children who make these requests
_ ate told: “You may not have your children receive re-
ligious instruction during school hours. We have the
Wt - constitutional right to stop you.” This strange position
____ is taken by liberal organizations which usually seek to
uphold the rights of the individual.
___Excusing children from school for religious instruction
is nothing new. The plan is called “released time” and
t has been in operation since 1914, Almost every state
has some released-time plan. About 2,000,000 children in
ne country participate in it. Here in New York we have
had the program for many years. The atheists attacked its
: constitutionality over twenty-five years ago, but it was
the
animously sustained by our highest state court, the
Ae
Bt
_ EDWARD S. GREENBAUM is senior member of the New
York law firm of Greenbaum, Wolff, and Ernst. During the
: sae war he became a A general and later served as assistant
BY EDWARD S. GREENBAUM |
Court of Appeals. Benjamin N. Cardozo was then a q
judge of that distinguished court, which included Jud
Irving Lehman and Cuthbert Pound, Judge Pound wrote |
the opinion for the court. After referring to the fact that
a child could “take outside instruction in music or danc- ~
ing without violating the provisions of the compulsory= ‘i
education law, either in letter or in spirit,” he held that .
absence for religious instruction was likewise permis-
sible, He said: “It is impossible to say, as a matter of —
law, that the slightest infringement of constitutional ‘
right or abuse of statutory requirement has been shown ©
in this case.”
The released-time program continued, In 1940 the —
Legislature passed a statute authorizing the Commissioner
of Education to establish uniform rules for the opera-
tion of the program. Governor Herbert H. Lehman ap-
proved the law. In so doing he said: “A few people have
given voice to fears that the bill violates the principles —
of our government. These fears, in my opinion, are |
groundless. The bili does not introduce anything new —
into our public-school system, nor does it violate the prin- ff»
ciples of our public educational system.” 4
Experience has shown that Governor Lehman was
correct. The fears of the opponents of the law have
proved groundless, This is borne out by an objective 4
survey made by the Public Education Association, sei ‘f
has constantly objected to the released-time program, —
There was no evidence, the report said, that the program
made for group disrespect. Only 26 of the 327 principals .
and teachers interviewed opposed the plan. Some be- —
lieved that released time made for inter-group respect. [ify
One said: “When the Jewish children participated there. fy,
Was a pleasant feeling about everyone going. Now the fi
sitnation is neutral.” All seemed to agree that the pro“
gram “‘is still conducted amid considerable controversy.”
The Public Education Association accordingly recom- ‘
mended that if the fight against released time were cons
tinued, the community groups who oppose it should fy
“take some pressure off the school system in order that
a.
—
"var ms
Pe eesti sie
re effect and might
Pelaierck value the program had.
2 some places the released-time program has been
sed. This was the case in Champaign, Illinois. There,
_ without the authorization of any state law, religious in-
struction was given in public-school classrooms during
school hours. The religious teachers were engaged with
‘the approval of the Superintendent of Schools. Enrol-
‘ment cards were distributed by the regular teachers and
im some cases paid for by the school. The class teacher
“usually remained at her desk while the religious instruc-
tion was given. The United States Supreme Court, in
“March, 1948, in the case of McCollum v. Board of Edu-
cation, held that this program violated the provisions of
the Constitution. Although the Champaign released-time
program obviously differed radically from that in New
York, the Supreme Court decision in the McCollum
case provided fuel for another attack on the New York
plan. The American Civil Liberties Union and other
groups supported it. The lower courts sustained the
law. They pointed out the obvious differences between the
New York and the Champaign program. In July, 1951,
| the case reached the Court of Appeals, where its con-
¥4 stitutionality was again upheld in a six-to-one decision.
\* In its opinion the court enumerated the factors in the
| ‘Champaign case and said that none of them were present
in New York, where the instruction must be outside
the school building and there is neither supervision nor
approval of religious teachers by the school system.
-
aw breached the wall between church and state and
violated the First Amendment. This amendment forbids
the making of laws “respecting an establishment of reli-
| gion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” The
| court said: “Neither of these prohibitions, in language
of meaning, has anything whatever to do with this re-
leased-time system.” It declared that the argument
| against the law “construes the First Amendment by ig-
} | Noring its language, its history, and its obvious meaning,”
, | and that released-time programs clearly do not establish
7 va religion or prohibit “the free exercise thereof.”
5}, .On the contrary, they encourage such free excrcise.
by x released time would prevent parents from
fully exercising their rights to give their children reli-
} gious instruction in the faith of their choosing. The court
| referred to the absolute right of parents to direct the
ve _ and education of their children, and quoted
“} from a recent decision of the United States Supreme
»- | Court which said: “It is cardinal.withus that the custody,
"care, and nurture of the child resides first in the parent,
whose primary function and freedom include preparation
atm or obligations the state can neither supply nor hinder.”
E hese rights of the parent were referred to as “true and
February 9, 1952
.*
e -
q “on court analyzed carefully the arguments that the
]
L
Bes uci A oem |
ey oe i | = eae 7 . S
ae sights bhidet natural law, antedating, and: su-
petior to, any human constitutien or statute.”
The court noted that the Constitution does not demand
that no friendly gesture between church and state should
be countenanced. It accordingly upheld the lower courts
and dismissed the petition to held the law uncon-
stitutional. But the fight continued, and the issue is now
before the United States Supreme Court.
EGAL questions are not the only ones involved in this
fight against released time. There are others as
important. That we may not like the released-time
program is beside the point. While we may think it
preferable for our children to receive their religious
instruction after school hours or on Saturday or Sunday,
others may feel differently. The state Legislature has said
that such absences at the parents’ request may be allowed.
The Court of Appeals referred to the objections in these —
words: “What petitioners are saying is that they dislike
the whole enterprise and consider it socially undesirable,
These are predilections, not questions of law.”
The released-time program is the law of New York.
Its constitutionality has been uniformly and finally up-
held by all the courts of this state. Those of us who
do not want to avail ourselves of its provisions need not
do so. In New York City the parents of about 120,000
children do want it. Their children—about one-fourth
of those attending public school—participate in the
program. Most of them are Catholic, but many are Jewish
and Protestant. It is difficult for them and their parents
to understand why those who oppose released time and
want no part of if have any “right’’ to prevent others
from using it as provided by the law of the state.
That we should fight any real inroads on the vital
doctrine of separation of church and state is elementary.
But we should not blindly follow slogans and patterns.
We should not line ourselves up on one side of a ques-
tion just because other liberals, or so-called liberals, are
taking that position. We should determine for ourselves
whether the popular side is the right side.
Are the dangers in the New York program real or
imagined? Experience of many years has failed to show
their reality. Nor have we any basis for believing that
this program, if properly administered, will ever con-
stitute a threat to the doctrine of separation of church
and state. But we do know that those who believe in the
program deeply resent the action of those who seck to
deprive them of the right the state has given them to
bring up their children in the way they think proper.
Bitterness and group hostility are the inevitable result,
The seleased-time program is not perfect. Its most
ardent supporters do not claim that it is. However, they
are making an earnest effort to correct its imperfections,
including those which might threaten the proper bound-
aries between church and state. The Greater New York
129
a
m Coordinating Conicaitiae on Released Tim
A Fs
Merten at ei “y 1
Rages me
ne 7 z
i aw i ES
eat ae
= 7 teet
-
fe
of te
rotestants, aa Roman Catholics is edias itself to
bys this task, It believes that the released-time program, if
ei; fe properly administered, can bring valuable religious and
_ moral instruction to many children. It seeks the coopera-
ti on of members of all religious faiths to make the plan
a vital force for better group relations and increased
nter-proup respect,
RELEASED TIME
Crutch for Churches
¥,
a HERE is a significant difference between the oc-
= ‘i casional excusing of children from school for a music
lesson, a dancing lesson, a family festival, or even the
& y
observance of a religious holiday and releasing them
* T
_ each week for religious instruction. Religious instruction
on released time requires the public school to organize
WF program so that children whose parents request it may
a drop their regular work periodically to attend religious
_ classes without missing any vital instruction, No matter
$0
how few those who go may be, the children who re-
_ main , and the teaching staff, are expected to suspend all
significant operations while their fellows attend the
church school,
a What to do with the children who do not enrol in
_ the released-time program is a problem. No advanced
_ work may be undertaken, since this would disadvantage
if the released timers. Nor can the substitute activity be
- too interesting or valuable from the child’s point of
EY Diview, since this would constitute “unfair competition”
ie
i with the religious instruction and be interpreted as an
unfriendly act. The principals of schools in Chicago,
rine
> hye or
sate ye ne eae NA
Pe Rie! aid ede
LOO Sta ites S |
‘nite upreme Court | e
eet prising and disturbing to find it made by
chose who usually fight for civil liberties ‘oak inst
intolerance. A “‘victory” for them—if they “aa
well prove a major defeat. And it may be a crushing —
setback for those who seek to improve inter-group tela- :
tions and protect the rights of the individual,
~~ 7
tne
Ortre. |
BY V. T. THAYER ,
These facts render more than pertinent the grounds 4
upon which the United States Supreme Court, in the |
famous McCollum case, based its decision that the ree ||
leased-time program in force in Champaign, Illinois, —
violated the principle of separation of church and state. +
The core of this decision would seem to be as applicable
to programs off the school grounds as to those inside the
building. Said the court:
The operation of the state’s compulsory educational
system thus assists and is integrated with the program of
religious instruction carried on by separate religious sects.
Pupils compelled by law to go to school for secular
education are released in part from their legal duty upon
the condition that they attend the religious classes.
This is beyond all question a utilization of the tax-
established and tax-supported public-school system to
aid religious groups to spread their faith. And it falls
squarely under the ban of the First Amendment (made
applicable to the states by the Fourteenth).
In sustaining the released-time program as conducted
in New York City, the New York Court of Appeals"
by-passed the words of the Supreme Court just quoted,
Not so, however, the Circuit Court of Missouri, when ff}
the Board of Education in St. Louis decided to ignore the _
opinion of the State Superintendent of Public Instruction _
and to continue to hold classes on released time but off .
the school grounds and, asin New York City, without
enforcement of attendance by the public schools. The —
court enjoined this practice, stating in pact:
é EY where less than 10 per cent of the pupils were on
ee teleased-time programs, received orders that “nothing
ary significant shall be taught the children not taking re-
he igious instruction so that those taking it shall not be
mm penalized for their absence.” Indeed, the educational price
pa id has sometimes been so high that it has led to the
_ program’s abandonment. In Harrisburg, rare nae
_ for example, the Board of Education observed that “i
rder to meet this problem, there must be a isudess
activities in the school which often are the actual
if character-building agencies of the school itself.” Bee ences [Between the St Lies ane ee
McCollum case} are inconsequential. The controlling
fact in both cases is that the public schools are used to
aid sectarian groups to disseminate their doctrines.
Whether these sectarian classes are conducted in school
buildings or elsewhere can make no difference, since
attendance upon them during compulsory school hours
is deemed attendance at school. Failure to exercise eS BR i
he
r¢ endance records does not make ”
_ the program legal; it merely indicates laxity on the part
of school authorities. The fact that any sect may par-
" _ ticipate in this program is immaterial; the public school
— _ cannot be used to aid one religion or to aid all religions.
Whether the opinion of the New York Court of
_ Appeals or that of the Circuit Court of Missouri is to
_ stand is a question which the United States Supreme
Court will doubtless soon decide, since the New York
decision is now before it on appeal.
HAT a religious minority demands released time
for religious instruction has confused those liberals
_ who identify the wishes of a minority with the rights of
an individual. This is, of course, both an absurd and a
| dangerous view, which leads directly along the road to
dictatorship. We should remind ourselves that the strict
| confinement of the public schools to secular instruction is
) the direct application to education of the principle of sep-
] aration of church and state which Americans have recog-
| nized as indispensable to religious freedom. This prin-
ciple was established on the national level through the
} First Amendment and on the state level through state
constitutional provisions and legislative acts after painful
} experience with a contrary policy, The American peo-
q ple had experimented both with a state church and with
| 4 policy of ‘ “cooperation” between government and re-
i ligion on a “non-discriminatory” basis. The latter, they
| had learned, is as impossible to realize as the first is
unjust. Consequently, they concluded, in Madison's
} words, that religion should be made “wholly exempt”
| from the “cognizance” of “Civil Society.” It was not
that they loved religion less but that they saw in sepa-
ration the sole condition of freedom for the religious
conscience.
___ This policy, the Supreme Court decided in McCollum
v. Board of Education, now binds both the federal and
'] > the state governments. But long before the First Amend-
_ ment was made applicable to the states through the
| f Fourteenth, the basis of its restrictions in matters of
} religion and education was found, as Justice Frankfurter
g states, in “the whole experience of our people. Zealous
}, watchfulness against the fusion of secular and religious
| activities by government itself, through any of its instru-
| ments but especially through its educational agencies,
_.was the democratic response of the American com-
' munity to the particular needs of a young and growing
5 nation, unique in the composition of its people.” Those
_ who oppose religious instruction on released time recog-
' nize, to continue with Justice Frankfurter, ‘‘the need of
a democratic society to educate its children ... in an
_atmosphere free from pressures in a realm in which
pressures are most resisted and where conflicts are most
.. engendered,”
o
ty Feb Beery 9, 1952
ers
en
"Poet cyt
Sl
YT
Le
Sem ae
et us reer to “the rights of the hiGridae °
aa Some liberals seem to assume that a parent’s right to
rear and educate his child is annulled unless the public
school cooperates ina religious-education program. Surely.
this is too strained a point, There is no lack of oppor-
tunity for religious education under family and church
auspices outside school hours. Indeed, as was pointed
out in the Champaign case, if it were merely a matter of
finding-an hour for religious education, time could be
set aside on Saturday or Sunday, or the school day
might be shortened “to allow all children to go where
they please, leaving those who so desire to go to a reli-
gious school.” But this does not satisfy the religious au-
thorities. Why? Because then it would not be possible to
use the authority or the influence of the school to bring
about attendance at the church school.
Moreover, we should distinguish between the parent’s
right to use the school for his own ends and the right
of the child. Each child, irrespective of his background,
is entitled to an education in the public school free from
the divisiveness which an emphasis upon religious dif-
ferences inevitably causes, Objective studies of released-
time programs have confirmed again and again their
unfortunate effects upon children. Only in the religiously
homogeneous community do they operate without ac-
centuating feelings and attitudes altogether different
from those their exponents profess to value. As the
Board of Education in Harrisburg pointed out when it
abandoned its program, “The public school generally
has been our most democratic institution, and any pro-
gram which emphasizes the differences of the pupils is
harmful. News items from cities where there has been
‘released time’ for religious education indicate that there
is now more intolerance, discrimination, and disunity
than previously existed in the public schools of those
communities,”
Experience with the released-time program in New
York City is no exception to this rule, Three separate
studies conducted by the Public Education Association
since the inception of the program in 1941 have sup-
plied the data upon which the association has based its
consistent opposition, These studies reveal an increase
in truancy in the cooperating schools while the program
is in progress. They cite numerous instances in which
teachers, despite instructions to the contrary, have exer-
cised pressure upon the children to enrol in religious
classes. They show the waste of teachers’ and pupils’
time during the absence of the released timers. And
while, according to the most recent report, little evidence
was found that “the released-time program, as it operates
here, makes for disrespect’ of religious differences, it
is significant that this conclusion could be stated only
negatively,
A final objection to religious instruction on released
time follows from the fact that it encourages the school
131
oh ering J ee
« ind sod ctinecks Sita tas eglec - its unique
cee: education, Both institutions are charged with
_ this task, but their opportunities and their contributions
3 are not identical. It is the responsibility of the school to
‘educate for common values—honesty and fair play,
truthfulness and temperance, self-control and responsi-
bility, respect for personality, and the like. To be sure,
feligious instruction can and often does promote these
virtues, but there is reason to believe that they are
‘strengthened rather than weakened when they are en-
visaged as independent of sectarian doctrine and theo-
logical dogma. Insistence on religious instruction—
either inside the school or outside but in cooperation
with the school—as an indispensable condition of moral
education both detracts from the significance of the
‘school’s unique function in the area of common values
and encourages teachers and administrative officers to
_ shift their responsibility to the church.
On the other hand, the churches weaken their educa-
tional programs when they resort to the schools as to a
ay
18 #4 i F
function in
a =
Cru
vital eligiou: sdatotliek ‘ana iad
thesaulige s to at ap eceiiag wp Abas s long as
they continue to lean pod the’ schol they ae ce
encouraged to postpone the day of reform. Relewsel RS:
time programs merely perpetuate a type of religious
education that requires new blood in the interest of
religion, “4
The comment of Dr. John Haynes Holmes seems to
sum up this final point: . 4
Here is the church rushing to the state for aid ~
and comfort in supporting educational activities which,
for One reason or another, it cannot support itself. And
here is the state taking over a highly religious function
of the church in giving away a precious period of time,
to be used in the church's interest.
What the churches need is to be intelligent, free, —
militant, and united in the ethical and social aspects of
their faith. When the churches meet this test, they will
have no need of “released time,”
Political Prospects in Korea
_ PLAN FOR A SETTLEMENT
ae BY YONGJEUNG KIM
F AN armistice finally descends on the ruins of Korea,
A the world will be entitled to see it as the essential
_ preliminary to a peaceful solution of the main problem,
_ but unless immediate steps are then taken to settle the
a urgent question of Korean unification and independence,
a bigger explosion can be expected.
Should Korea be restored to its unhappy pre-war
/ political status, its future would appear bleaker than
hr er before. Its social and economic structure has been
_ utterly demolished, and its people are dying of hunger,
cold, and disease. “Peace” under such circumstances is
y a mockery. A Korea left divided as well as ruined will
have gone through untold agony to no avail, and the
- Inited Nations will have fought for nothing.
ae Since the U. N. was created “to maintain international
peace and security,” it has a responsibility to provide an
portunity for the Korean people to determine their
ional future..If it allows the great powers to keep
cir underlings in the saddle, it will not only leave the
5 YONGJEUNG KIM is founder and president of the Korean
‘Affairs Institute, a non-profit and non-partisan organization
- devoted to the dissemination and analysis of factual informa-
tion about Korea and the promotion of a oo 'y understand-
festering problem unsolved and thus invite another dis-
aster but forfeit world confidence tn its usefulness.
“We dislike both Syngman Rhee and Kim Il-sung,
but whom else can we support?” has been a standing
question in the West. It sounds logical enough, but
actually it shows little regard for the Koreans’ own in-
terests. Why should not the Korean people as a whole
be helped this time instead of a particular individual or
group?
It is unrealistic to look for a “good man” in the pres-
ent circumstances. How could such a maa fise to
prominence under either of the present regimes? How
long could he stand on his feet? Many a good man al-
ready has been liquidated, north and south of the Thirty-
eighth Parallel. Anyone against Rhee is a “red,” anyone ~
against Kim a “‘reactionary.’’ After bitter experience the
Korean people, except a few who have personal axes-to
grind, would reject any foreign-sponsored leader if they
were permitted to express their free will.
In accordance with the South Korean constitution, the
National Assembly elected Rhee President. His term ex-
pites next summer. Who will be his successor is obviously |
a “hot” political question. Strong opposition to Rhee has
been developing in the National Assembly, and his re-
election will probably not be possible unless force is used.
(“Force” means just that: it is possible, although uncon- —
stitutional, to imprison opposition legislators; this was
done in March, 1950, with thirteen National Assembly-
men.)
Aware of the difficulties ahead, Rhee’s orn
The Naric i N
. BET Py ee eee tT cs
ro’ o constitutional amendments: elec- Peace Committee,
on of the President by popular vote, and creation of an
upper house for the legislature. Its motives were not ob-
~ scure. Rhee would have an excellent chance of reelection
in a “popular” vote under the eye of the police, the.
armed forces, and the terroristic Tae Han Youth Corps.
Legislative opposition could be blocked by a division of
the Assembly into two chambers, The proposal for popu-
lar election of the President had considerable propaganda
appeal, particularly to American ears, but the National
Assembly understood the real purpose of both amend-
ments and defeated them on January 18 by a vote of
143 to 19.
N THE interest of world peace and the survival of the
Koredn people, the U. N. should make every effort
to obtain a final settlement of the Korean problem.
We have negotiated a cease-fire—however uneasy—
with the Communist military leaders. Next we can
try to negotiate with the Communist diplomats for
Korean unification and independence.
It may be futile to negotiate with the Communists
except on a basis of strength. Nevertheless, we must not
let the hope of peace die for lack of effort. While it
would be unrealistic to expect either Korean regime to
offer an equitable basis for unity, a solution could un-
doubtedly be found that would meet with the approval
of the suppressed Korean people. It probably would be
along the following lines:
1. Creation of a Peace Committee, on which Near
Eastern, Asian, and/or other neutrals would be repre-
sented to expedite the unification of Korea and the
restoration of its independence, This body should be
empowered to act as an interim national authority until
a central Korean government could be established
through national elections, Its membership should be ap-
proved by the belligerents but not include their represen-
tatives. It might be composed of outstanding individuals
_ nominated by Sweden, Mexico, Indonesia, Brazil, Egypt,
" India, Syria, Burma, and Israel but not politically acs
countable to their respective governments.
2. Organization of an advisory body to assist the Peace
Committee, composed of one Korean from each prov-
ince, These should be men of good reputation who at no
time served under either of the present regimes and were
not Japanese collaborators,
‘3. Dissolution of the two existing governments,
- neither of which enjoys popular confidence. Unless this
is done, there will be no “free elections.” If the leaders
_ of both sides would resign voluntarily, they would render
"a great service to the Korean nation and to the world.
“They need not fear a general election if their claims of
popular confidence are true.
_ 4. Immediate establishment of local governments,
"chosen by local popular elections supervised by the
February 9, 1952
to take over civil
and police functions
from the present
regimes.
5. Withdrawal of
all foreign forces
and simultaneous
demobilization of
all Korean troops,
under the supervi-
sion of the Peace
Committee, to cre-
ate a peaceful at-
mosphere before the
general election,
6. Establishment
of a national govy-
ernment after the general election has been held.
7. Neutralization of Korea through a guaranty by the
United Nations and China to respect Korean independ-
ence, sovereignty, and territorial integrity and to seek no
special political or economic privileges.
8. An immediate start on the reconstruction and re-
habilitation of Korea by all nations under U. N. leader-
ship, with a schedule that envisions completion in three
years as a symbol of human conscience and a fitting
mosphere before the general election.
Practically everything has to be rebuilt, The entire
mation is destitute. In order to assuage and win over
the troubled minds of not only the Koreans but other
Asians, the Korean misery should be rooted out with a
fighting zeal, Donald Kingsley, general director of the
U. N. Korean Reconstruction Agency, has stated that a
conservative estimate of reconstruction costs in South
Korea would be $2,000,000,000 and that some estimates
run as high as $8,000,000,000, He conceded that the
U. N.’s proposed appropriation of $250,000,000 for the
purpose in the first year is only a “drop in the bucket.”
While the non-Communist world has accepted some
responsibility for reconstructing Korea, the Communists
remain silent on this matter. They must, however, share
the obligation. On this point there should be no equivo-
cation. Moreover, neither the non-Communist world nor
the Soviet bloc should look upon its contribution to the
rehabilitation of Korea as charity. It is clearly a duty.
It is unthinkable that the statesmen of the sixty United
Nations cannot settle the Korean problem. But if they
employ outmoded, face-saving techniques, are dominated
by self-interest, and ignore basic principles which our
common sense tells us are correct, we shall be surrendet-
ing our destiny to the knowing or unwitting architects
of world anarchy. Not until Korea has been given an
opportunity to reunite and become independent, will
peace be attained and collective security realized,
La Palme
“The Land Is Not Dry Yet.”
133
Pa gs
re ah x a
am tat, aa ner rr ee Pee: a
/ MAKE PEACE WITH CHINA!
BY W. MAC MAHON BALL
Ta eee
_ TDyEACE with Communist China is the prerequisite to
_ fT a political settlement in Korea. But peace with China
is indivisible. The United Nations cannot be at peace
with China about Korea if the United States is not at
peace with China about Formosa.
a On paper there are two possible ways of achieving
this peace. The United Nations may make China feel
t hat it faces military destruction if it refuses to accept
ie U. N. terms for Korea, It may hope that Communist
c ina will be afraid to go on with a long war of attrition
in Korea, afraid that increased American military aid to
_ Chiang Kai-shek will encourage him to attack the main-
and, afraid that U. N. planes will bomb bases in Man-
_ churia; and these fears, it may hope, will help Communist
China to find wisdom.
_ Such a policy can succeed only if the Peking govern-
_ ment (a) knows the U. N. terms fora settlement in Korea
- —no one else seems to know; (b) believes that a settle-
ment in Korea will end the threat of American support
for Chiang’s plans of conquest—it would hardly make
sense for China to accept a U. N, decision on Korea if the
actual result were merely to enable the United States
_ to divert military help from Syngman Rhee to Chiang
Kai-shek; (c) feels that the risks of thwarting the wishes
of the Soviet Union are less than the risks of thwarting
the wishes of the United Nations.
It seems to me unrealistic to think that in these circum-
we are trying to instil in it. I can see no chance of a
_ peaceful settlement in Korea until the Peking govern-
ment becomes convinced that the United States and the
_ United Nations have firmly renounced all intentions to
aid or abet any military effort to undermine its authority.
_ For Peking the first priority is to survive. Before long
Russia’s national ambitions may well clash with China’s,
abst this can hardly occur while Peking feels that its
_ existence is threatened by the military power of the West.
Its idle to pretend it possible to get a satisfactory set-
a ement in Korea that is not part of a wider settlement
in the Far East. A settlement might be sought along the
_ following lines: (1) the cessation of all military help to
‘the Chinese Nationalists and any other gronp planning
aa attack on Communist China; (2) an armistice
eaving the United Nations in temporary control of
Korea; (3) an arrangement by which after, say, a
_ six months’ cooling-off period, elections might be held
Se © eric the supervision of neutral observers for a parlia-
* .: _ ment for the whole of Korea; (4) the subsequent
4 iti withdrawal of all foreign mnltaey forces.
Sou
_W. MAC MAHON BALL is professor at the University of
| Maltosrne, and author of “Japan: Enemy or Ally?”
ay
>
‘stances Communist China will succumb to the fears ©
antee “deme iene” tn omexl ae Korean
is likely to feel it enust- use ts police Fatee So Eiel ee
the opposition. A right government will dub its oppo- > 44
nents “Communist conspirators and terrorists”; to a
Communist government all opponents will be “nition
traitors and lackeys of foreign imperialism.” But this
is a problem that only the Koreans can solve.
SAFEGUARD DEMOCRACY!
BY OWEN LATTIMORE
E ARE in real danger of a political débacle in
Korea, After a year and a half of war to defend
South Korea against aggression, not a single popular
South Korean military hero has emerged—not even a
second-rater who merits a build-up in the newspapers.
Nor is there any sign of a popular political hero who can
be placed before the world as the satis representative
of a democratic cause.
We are now in a position to pegchiall a military settle-
ment based on a much stronger defensive position than
the original wide-open line of division along the Thirty-
eighth Parallel. But if, after such a settlement, the world
finds that there is no vigorous, visibly democratic, genu-
inely Korean-led cause of democracy in South Korea—
that only the same incompetent, tired old reactionaries
crawl out of the ruins, asking America to put them back
in business—then our future in Asia is black indeed.
Strong measures are needed to retrieve the situation.
It should be recalled that our original intervention had
the majority backing of free, non-Communist Asia
because the issue was clear: a bold military aggres-
sion had marched across an internationally recognized
line of demarcation. That clear issue, readily understood
by the newly independent countries of Asia, sensitive
about their own frontiers and their sovereign rights, was
unfortunately blurred by General MacArthur's “home by
Christmas” attempt to thrust all the way to the Yalu.
Only one kind of measure, I believe, has any chance
at this late hour of restoring international confidence and
at the same time providing for the creation of a healthy
political atmosphere in South Korea. The United Na-
tions, which should have been represented in the armis-
tice negotiations internationally and not by the United
States alone, must be fully represented at any confer-
ence determining the political future of South Korea. -
At the very least Canada and Australia should be in- JP
cluded, because of their interest in the Pacific, and India « §*
and Pakistan because of’their importance as mon-Com-
munist Asian countries.
OWEN LATTIMORE is director of the Walter Hines Page —
School of International Relations of Johns Hopkins Umrus .
sity and the author of many books on Asia. -
The Nation:
Loam
vs. Good European
BY H. STUART HUGHES
_ cialize in books dedicated to the moral
fehabilitation of Germany, has now
_ brought out a translation of the memoirs
| 1938 to 1943.* Ordinarily this position
|= —which corresponded to that of a
} permanent under secretary drawn from
_ the ranks of career diplomats—would
_ have been one of enormous influence.
} It is Weizsacker's contention that in his
case this influence was almost nil, and
| that where it did exist it was exerted
solely in the interests of preserving
} peace. In early 1949 an American Mili-
di tary Tribunal found otherwise, con-
| demning Weizsicker to seven years’
' imprisonment. The contrast of these
. two theses gives historical and psycho-
} logical interest to what would otherwise
| be a mediocre book. ‘
Both from a literary standpoint and
from the standpoint of physical presen-
tation, Weizsicker’s memoirs are disap-
pointing. They are poorly organized,
ill-balanced, episodic, and their style is
| _ gtaceless and*frequently ambiguous. To
_ what extent these latter difficulties stem
' from the original or the translation it
} is impossible to tell, since neither trans-
} Jator nor publisher has seen fit to add to
} the memoirs themselves even.a para-
graph of introduction or explanation.
| For a publication of historical source
| material, this omission is almost un-
| precedented. It is nearly universal prac-
lytice to have some historian or other
-fesponsible specialist write an introduc-
} tion setting the memoirs in their larger
} framework, alerting the reader to the
| special pleading in which even the most
pulous statesman reminiscing-on his
must occasionally indulge, and fill-
ing in the gaps and correcting the ery
ts, calculated or accidental, in the
iginal text. In the case of memoirs so
of booby traps as Weizsacker’s, this
* “Memoirs of Ernst von Weizsicker.”
Translated by John Andrews, $3.75.
ebruary 9, 1952
>
*
Weizsaecker: Good German
sort of intellectual orientation is par-
ticularly necessary. Yet we find no word
explaining the circumstances under
which the book was written, comparing
it with the accounts of other participants
in the internal opposition to Hitler—
Hassell, Kordt, Schlabrendorff, and the
like—or with the German Foreign Of-
fice documents now being published, or
finally, and most important, analyzing
the evidence presented at Weizsicker’s
trial,
In the absence of such an introduc-
tion or of thorough independent re-
search—which the present reviewer
confesses he has not made—it is impos-
sible to form an adequate estimate of
Weizsicker’s book. In what follows I
shall assume that Weizsicker’s account
of his activities is substantially accurate
and shall try to do no more than test
the limitations and the internal co-
herence of what is essentially an argu-
ment for the defense.
Weizsicker's major contention is that
in 1938, hating Nazism and convinced
that Hitler was about to plunge Europe
into a war that would be catastrophic
both for his own country and for West-
ern civilization, he consented to serve
under Ribbentrop as state secretary with
the sole purpose of sabotaging his
chief's aggressive designs. He knew that
the task he had undertaken was desper-
ately difficult and probably hopeless,
and that he would get little credit or
understanding for his efforts. He felt
that he was making a sacrifice of his
own personal reputation in the inter-
ests of peace—and that in so doing he
was behaving both as a good German
and as a good European.
In support of this contention Weiz-
sicker unfolds a record of high-prin-
cipled duplicity unparalleled in the an-
nals of diplomacy. Treading warily, ever
alert to possible detection, he spun for
five heartbreaking years a fragile net-
work of intrigue, which he fondly
hoped could hold back the German war
machine. Unable to avow his purposes
except to a few intimates, he dealt in
delaying actions, veiled warnings, and
calculated indiscretions to the ambas-
sadors of potential enemies. To further
his ideal ends, he stooped to an out-
ward conformism that revolted his
aristocratic soul: membership in the
National Socialist Party, attendance at
the social functions at which the Nazi
leaders paraded their vulgarity, and
even acceptance of a high honorary rank
in the S. S, In early 1943, sick of a
struggle that had lost any semblance
of practical reality, he requested and
obtained a transfer to the German em-
bassy to the Vatican, where be spent
the remainder of the war. He left Berlin
having incurred nothing worse than
Ribbentrop’s hatred—but not, apparent-
ly, his complete distrust—and from Hit-
ler a puzzled mixture of suspicion and
grudging respect.
Despite its ambiguity, this record of
tenacious foot-dragging would be most
impressive—if Weizsicker in the end
had had anything to show for it. But it
had all been, as he himself manfully
confesses, ‘‘in and even worse
than in vain.” As a political prognosti-
cator Weizsiicker was nearly always
wrong: in 1933 he considered the Nazi
regime a transitory phenomenon; in
1934 he discounted the possibility of an
understanding between Hitler and Mus-
solini; in 1938 he thought Britain and
France would fight for Czechoslovakia;
in 1939 he gravely overestimated the
difficulty of negotiating the Nazi-Soviet
pact; in 1940 he was “completely sur-
prised” by the quick collapse of the
French army. These errors were all
common to informed people at the
time. But in Weizsicker’s case their
total effect was catastrophic, For. they
made him constantly underestimate the
strength and staying power of the polit-
ical forces with which he was engaged
in secret combat. ‘
Aside from a contribution to the
Munich settlement—a dubious claim to
the gratitude of posterity—Weizsacker
was unable to do anything tangible to
preserve the peace or to limit the war.
True enough, for certain of his failures
the blindness of the Western Allies was
heavily to blame. It is now well estab-
lished that the British knew in Sep-
tember, 1938, that the military and _
Foreign Office opposition was prepared
135
vain,
ee 6 a i
Beta
to put Hitler under arrest to prevent an
invasion of Czechoslovakia, and that
the Chamberlain government failed to
act on this intelligence. And it is also
now fairly generally conceded that the
Casablanca formula of unconditional
surrender was a gratuitous blunder and
a heaven-sent gift to Hitler's propa-
gandists. Certainly the British and
American governments failed to take
the German opposition as seriously as it
deserved and in so doing left the Ger-
man people no alternative but to fight
on under Nazi leadership.
Yet when all this is granted, it is
difficult to see—at least after 1940—
how any other policy on the part of the
Allies could particularly have aided
what Weizsicker was trying to do.
For Weizsiicker drew a definite line be-
yond which he would not go in op-
posing his Nazi masters. He would not
work for the defeat of his own country.
He “could never have considered .. .
the possibility of attacking the Ger-
man soldiers from behind.” Hence his
failure, on June 18, 1941, to warn the
Soviet Ambassador of the impending
German attack—an act, he argues, which
“would no longer have held up the
disaster” and would simply have “cost
the lives of German soldiers.” But this
was the crux of the whole matter. After
the warring nations had been fully en-
gaged, and with a compromise peace
obviously out of the question, the only
realistic way to work for peace was to
work for the defeat of Germany. This
was a hard lesson for patriotic Ger-
mans to learn, and their reluctance to
recognize it was largely responsible for
the long delay in carrying out the in-
terminably planned and replanned con-
Spiracy against Hitler's life. Eventually
the inner circle of the conspirators
realized that they could not avoid the
risk of anti-national behavior if they
were to take any action at all, and the
result was the bomb attempt of July
20, 1944. Perhaps because he differed
from the inner circle in this important
respect, Weizsicker evidently remained
on the fringes of the conspiracy. It is
significant that after the assassination
attempt had failed, when hundreds of
oppositionists of all sorts were being
rounded up for questioning, Weizsicker
was not recalled from Rome to answer
for his past activities.
An aristocrat and a former naval of-
136
ficer, who had joined the Foreign Serv-
ice only after Germany's defeat in the
First World War had cut off his naval
career, Weizsiicker was basically an old-
line German patriot. His book reveals,
frequently unconsciously and naively,
the virtues and the limitations of this
attitude: devotion to the public service,
sincere religious feeling, a high stand-
ard of personal morality combined with
a blunt acceptance of the overriding
claims of raison d'état, above all, an .
unquestioning loyalty to the inherited
standards of nation and of class. It is a
dignified, in many respects an impres-
sive, attitude. But in the unprecedented
circumstances in which Germany found
itself under the Nazis, this standard of
conduct failed to meet the test. In es-
tablishing service to the German state
as the highgst ideal it failed to provide
for a situation in which a defiance of
traditional national loyalty might be
the only recourse against tyranny and
universal destruction,
It will be many years before an im-
partial verdict on Weizsicker can be
rendered. His career is too ambiguous
and the distinction between sacrifice and
opportunism is too difficult to draw.
Meantime, one thing alone is sure: on
Weizsicker's terms, from 1938 to 1943,
it proved impossible to be both a good
German and a good European. On bal-
ance, it was the German who had the
upper hand.
The Widening Circle
THE CATHERINE WHEEL. By Jean
Stafford. Harcourt, Brace and Com-
pany. $3.
CATHERINE WHEEL” is the
most engrossing unsuccessful novel
I have read for a very long time. It is
unsuccessful because it tries to do too
much and because Miss Stafford’s atti-
tude toward her subject or subjects is
ambiguous. Sometimes she marshals her
awareness to achieve a density compar-
able to that which marked the fine open-
ing chapter of “Boston Adventure.”
Sometimes she clutters her writing with
e multiplicity of matters ineptly crowded —
together.
The central symbol, for example, is
beautifully worked out. The wheel of
Saint Catherine was an instrument of
torture named for that Egyptian martyr
who was subjected to it. Here it repre-
sents the long, virginal, imperceptive,
and imperceptible torment of Katharine
Congreve. She is thirty-eight in the sum-
mer of the novel. Nothing has really
happened to her since her heart was
most conventionally broken twenty years
earlier. She is rapidly approaching en-
tire collapse. Her chief nervous symp-
toms are a feeling which recurs with
increasing frequency of being whirled
about, wheeling and helpless; and a de-
sire for death. Yet her outer life is
serene. Watched over by “her faithful
servants,” her beauty untouched by any
flame, she presides as chatelaime of a
great Maine summer house, adorned,
from cellar to garret, with objects chosen
by generations endowed with impeccable
taste.
The everyday Catherine wheel is a
kind of fireworks which gushes upward,
circles about in brief splendor, and then
splutters out. Like it, Katharine’s “rare-
fied world” is an ephemeral pyrotechni-
cal display. When, during a show of
fireworks, she is burned to death, one of
our last sights of her is as she “ran by
herself in a widening circle, fanning the
fire until it reached her waist.”
But the novel is also about the initia-
tion of her twelve-year-old cousin,
Andrew Shipley, into a knowledge of
the frailty of human ties. Miss Stafford
is very good at recapturing what goes
on in the minds of children—“The
Mountain Lion’’ displays this pewer—
but Andrew's difficulties are a distrac-
tion never really incorporated into the
novel. And he, in turn, has twin sisters,
whose blossoming, though intended as
a contrast to the sterility of Katharine’s
life, is a further distraction.
On another level “The Catherine
Wheel” is a daydream brought to a
violent conclusion. The ordered life of
a great house, the objects which adorn
it, the way this woman lives are, in their
fashion, desirable. Miss Stafford loves
them all. Yet she weighs them also with
a meaningless irony and, after displaying
them lovingly, destroys them with mean-
ingless violence. She seems to be saying °
that the nerves and the senses will have
their destructive way. When she destroys
what she has so tenderly re-created—her
earlier novels end in similar, inconclu-
sive, senseless catastrophes—rage rather
than knowledge possesses her during the
cold ceremonial preparations to kill,
tritely, the thing she loves.
The NATION
Stafford’s elegant sentences, except when
«the y fall into lists of rare objects con-
_ moting vanished elegance, are, unlike
‘most contemporary ornate writing, or-
_ ganic to what one guesses was a large
_ design. They are the sometimes fanciful
garment of intentions and perceptions
_ which are never quite successfully or-
© ganized into a whole because she never
_ knows exactly what she thinks and feels
| a about her subject and also, probably,
i __ because private feelings, irrelevant to
her purpose, will intrude upon her fic-
tion. She creates, constantly, the impres-
sion of seeing clear through everything
she writes about to nothing at all.
ERNEST JONES
fi
ae
a
"
<
§ _ Inside Negro Europe
| NO GREEN PASTURES—THE NE-
GRO IN EUROPE TODAY. By Roi
Ottley. Charles Scribner's Sons. $3.
re. OTTLEY, like other competent
journalists, excels in reporting
what he has seen and heard. Many in-
| cidents of his travels between 1944 and
1946 in England, France, Germany,
Italy, Yugoslavia, Hungary, Greece,
Czechoslovakia, Rumania, Egypt, the
Lebanon, and Palestine might well be
included in the anthology of “‘Insides.”
Among these are his realistic portrait of
| “Frisco” Bingham and his former night
club in London; the black ghettoes in
| London and Liverpool; the gay be-
| trothal dinner of a molta bella Nea-
politan girl and her colored fiance from
Sugar Loaf, Mississippi; the frightening
experience of an American colored girl
.in Germany in 1938; the all too brief
| etching of Tahia Koriem, the beautiful
Negroid “Greta Garbo of the Arab
- world” and of her apartment in Cairo.
Even more absorbing is Ottley’s special
horror, as an American Negro, in wit-
* néssing the lynch madness that still ran
riot in Milan a few hours after the
execution of Mussolini and a half-dozen
of his henchmen. If only one selection
could be included in such an anthology,
I should nominate his description of the
forty thousand Black Jews of Tel Aviv,
| § most of whom live in Carmel Sug, “a
neglected area very much like a ghetto.”
; This would have been a better book
¢ @ if the author had devoted all of it to
. | his own experiences, contemporary first-
ad accounts, and the immediate back-
hom 9,.1952
e ene pers
aa
Pogo of the race aa He deemed
it necessary, however, to provide a rather
extensive historical background of the
problem in the various countries. Much
of this history, especially the brief biog-
raphies of eminent Negroes, makes fas-
cinating reading for those not familiar
with the careers of Molineaux, Aldridge,
Ignatius Sancho, Samuel Coleridge-Tay-
lor, Browning, Pushkin, the three
Dumas, Eugene Chen, Tanner, and
others. How much this historical treat-
ment leads to an understanding of
Europe today is debatable. It is marred
by numerous minor errors, such as mis-
spelled names, and others that are more
serious. Cleopatra was certainly not
“black.” The Germans did not annex
the Congo in 1884, Marcus Garvey did
not join W. E. B. Du Bois in promoting
the first Pan-African Congress, in Paris
in 1919, Booker T, Washington dined,
not lunched, with President Theodore
Roosevelt, (It is necessary to correct
this myth because, apparently, Southern
susceptibilities would have been less af-
fronted by a lunch than by a dinner.)
The author's thesis that Europe pro-
vides “No Green Pastures” for the
Negro is subject to many reservations.
Some of these he clearly reveals. Low
man on the totem pole in France is, in-
deed, the North African rather than the
Negro. I also concur with his comment,
frequently repeated, that discrimination
in public places and a distant attitude
in private gatherings are based rather
and class than on race and
color. Above all, Ottley cites numerous
examples of Negroes, especially in Eng-
land and France, who have no desire
to come to the United States. Let one
passage suffice:
on caste
In fact, Negroes in Paris constitute an
élite: students, teachers, writers, painters,
clergymen, officers, judges, government
officials, business and _ professional
men. . . . Negroes hold positions as
plant managers, postmasters, executives,
and inspectors of buses and subways, and
there are Negro seamen, sales girls, street«
car conductors and motormen, hairdress-
ers, and ordinary laborers,
On the whole, however, Ottley
amasses evidence to justify his conclu-
sion that Englishmen and Frenchmen in
particular have racial prejudices, The
Pope, he insists, uttered “the only
racially positive note I heard sounded
in all Europe.” The author also sug-
gests that ‘‘in a small way, perhaps, the
state of Israel is leading the way to a
solution of color problems in the
world.” And he closes with the con-
viction that “‘what America has learned
about race relations is of vital impor-
tance to a multi-colored world.” In ac-
tual fact, of course, the truth lies some-
where between this optimistic view and
the horrible facts revealed in “We
Charge Genocide,” the one-sided in-
dictment of the United States published
by the Civil Rights Congress.
My principal criticism of this book,
which I read at one sitting, is that at
“The solemn and feeling
testimony of a European
(now American)
who has abundant
means of knowing
whereof he speaks."
apitalism
AND
ocialism
on Trial
By FRITZ STERNBERG
“A basic volume which explains
our age and its great problems far
better than any other contempo-'
rary publication known to me, It
should be read by every policy-
making official in Washington but
it also should be read by every
intelligent citizen who wants to
know what our age is all about.”
—Emit LENGYEL, Professor of
Education, New York University
“Sternberg’s analysis of modern
history not only makes the street
cries of world politics seem shal-
low but casts doubt on the penetra-
tion of many who pass for informed
statesmen. His well-stocked and
fertile mind draws lessons from
the continents and the centuries.”
—*Broapus MITCHELL, The Nation
602 pages * Atall bookstores © $7.00
THE JOHN DAY COMPANY
Sales office: 210 Madison Ave., Mew York 16
a mmunnmnanatmniammtiamntaidmmanl
137
Icast in some respects it is already out of
date. Conditions in the Western Euro-
pean countries have improved since
1944-46. It is plausible to conclude that
this improvement has Jessened the com-
petition for jobs which, along with the
competition for women folk, is largely
responsible for the plight of recent
Negro migrants. While full self-govern-
ment and equal integration have not
been achieved, the new constitutions in
Jamaica, the Gold Coast, and Nigeria
and the presence of some thirty-five
deputies from Black Africa and the
French West Indies in the French
National Assembly should be kept in
mind when one evaluates Ottley’s analy-
sis of the impact of imperialism on the
minds of Englishmen and Frenchmen in
1944-46, I have been in France for only
two months, but I have heard several
eminent Frenchmen, irrespective of re-
ligious affiliation, assert as did the Pope
that “ ‘the blacks will one day live like
other men.’”” RAYFORD W. LOGAN
The Social Uses of
Psychoanalysis
PSYCHOANALYSIS, MAN, AND
SOCIETY, By Paul Schilder. Ar-
ranged by Lauretta Bender. W. W.
Norton and Company. $4.
PSYCHOANALYSIS AND POLITICS.
By R. E. Money-Kyrle. W. W. Nor-
ton and Company. $3.
= psychiatrist must inevitably pon-
der the connections between the
troubled mental state of the individual
and of society as a whole. He knows that
the nervous disorders of his patients are
inseparable from the tensions that pre-
vail in his environment. He cannot
avoid, therefore, casting a professional
eye on the apparently irrational antics
of the social group. His psychiatric
thinking in such matters will naturally -
tend in the direction of diagnosis and
therapeutic recommendations. Of course
he is aware of his limitations in the face
of political and economic issues that
transcend the psychological sphere.
Nevertheless, he feels, no doubt rightly,
that his own contributions deserve seri-
ous consideration within the total
scheme of things.
Taking his first tentative step toward
the broader view, the psychiatrist is
likely to reflect that great nations are,
138
after all, conglomerations of individual
men and women. The forces at work
between smal! numbers are also to be
found operating universally. From this
basic supposition, at least, Dr. Paul
Schilder took his point of departure in
his recently published book.
Schilder, whose research and teaching
activities in Vienna and at Bellevue Hos-
pital in New York made him an out-
standing figure, passed away some ten
years ago. His widow and able collabo- .
rator, Dr. Lauretta Bender, has collected
many of his articles, which, together
with data from his manuscripts, fur-
nished the material for the present vol-
ume—the latest in an impressive succes-
sion of posthumous publications that
still have a significant message for the
contemporary reader.
The basic social unit, as Schilder per-
ceived it, is the “body image’—a con-
cept toward which he made important
original contributions. The infant sees
himself not as a separate entity but as
an image which fuses and blends with
those of other personalities that enter
into his world—his parents, his siblings,
and so on. Only gradually does the
sense of the self as a distinct entity
evolve, and then only to a limited
degree. All through life, new associa-
tions with people are being formed in
which feelings of identity—or incon-
gruity—establish zones of mutual influ-
ence, much like chemical interactions,
so that the behavior of each individual
is almost always conditioned at each
moment by that of others in his past
and present.
Schilder next explored and described
the various nervous disorders and forms
of maladjustment in terms of the basic
clashes that arise when there is difficulty
integrating one’s body image with those
that prevail in a particular society. The
value of deviations as well as of simi-
Jarities should be recognized. Moreover,
the influence of society itself constitutes
a vital element in the shaping of each
individual body image; a disorganized
society must inevitably produce disor-
ganized men and women.
The interplay of personalities during
group therapy—a field in which he was
a pioneer—gave Dr. Schilder the oppor-
tunity to study social forces in direct
action. He gained the conviction that
the factors which proved beneficial to
the members of a small group would
$
also be of value in Jarger units. The
healing influence of the ist—
based on his knowledge and good-will
—<ould be taken over by an enlight-
ened and well-disposed government.
The healthful impact which each mem-
ber of the group could be induced to
exert on his fellows as he came to un-
derstand them and himself better could
be extended over an indefinitely wide
range.
Economic problems naturally cast their
inexorable shadows upon the scene,
Schilder agreed, but in the end must
themselves be calculated in terms of
human needs and human labor. The
laws that govern the human mind must
enter into all social phenomena. The
disturbances within a culture reveal pat-
terns basically analogous to the neuroses
of individuals. Psychological insight
should therefore be invoked in treating
the maladies of nations.
A similar view is taken by R. E.
Money-Kyrle in his “Psychoanalysis and
Politics.” Money-Kyrle is an English
lay analyst who served on an official
commission investigating the Nazi men-
tality in Germany after the war. Where
Schilder proceeded from the analysis of
the individual to that of the state,
Money-Kyrle reverses the process and
undertakes to assess the state acoording
to the character of the populace. He
puts forward the interesting proposition
that a government may be judged
morally by the type of personality that
flourishes under its regime.
This intriguing idea, unfortunately,
cannot be adequately developed by the
author because of the artificial and ques-
tionable constructs that he devises. For
both men and nations he invents a
measuring rod that purportedly extends
from their primitive “authoritarian”
depths to their more advanced “‘human-
istic consciences.” Authoritarianism and
humanism in persons and governments
alike are absolute and clearly defined
entities, as Money-Kyrle conceives them,
and are supposed to represent opposite —
ends in the order of biological evolu-:
tion. To validate his ideas he invokes _
the controversial theorems of Melanie ~
Klein, which have found little accept-
ance among the psychoanalysts of this
country.
The application of these concepts to
contemporary politics is scarcely con-
vincing. On the Money-Kyele scale the
The NATION |
zs SS Ss Pe se ee
S Erk. rets =-of 2
’
=
BE =
wu ea he is A rbatly afflicted with
F B horrible apparition of a phallic mother
} who manages to look very much like a
is socialist. The pacifist, on the other hand,
_ is apparently an unfortunate individual
"who got that way because his parents
quarreled so dreadtully during his child-
hood. Such “psyching” seems slightly
| amateurish and even a little on the
:
oe
i
primitive side of the Money-Kyrle scale.
_ In fact, the impression grows with read-
ing that the only proper outcome of
humanistic evolution is a British Labor-
ite, favorably disposed to rearmament
and committed to rather definite views
_ on a wide variety of questions.
MARK KANZER
Illustration, Illumination
_ THE FIELDS OF LIGHT. By Reuben
| A. Brower. Oxford University Press.
$3.50.
AT a happy title for a book of
if criticism, and how happily the
} text lives up to the title! Mr. Brower's
experiment in critical reading exacts of
the student close attention and consider-
able use of his brains. The method re-
quires that the design of the work under
study be traced through line-by-line
search for the key images, metaphors,
_ symbols, and the links that bind these
a together, so that in the end the im-
aginative integrity that fuses the whole
{| may be understood, and enjoyed. This
| book is not for the lazy; it is strenuous
going, this analytic appreciation, but it
leads, ultimately, as a quotation from
~ Henry James indicates, to “the Beauti-
ful Gate of Enjoyment.”
Mr. Brower demonstrates his system
with short poems by Blake and Frost,
sonnets by Donne and Hopkins, Keats’s
Ode to Autumn, two poems by Herbert,
* Marianne Moore’s Roses Only, Donne
again, the sonnet beginning ‘At the
round earth’s imagin’d corners” and The
‘Extasie, Yeats’s Two Songs from a
_ Play; thence, on a larger scale, he has us
work through “The Tempest,” “Mrs.
‘ _ Dalloway,” Pope’s “Epistle to Richard
? Boyle,” “Of the Use of Riches,” “‘Pride
and Prejudice,” and “A Passage to
- India.”
it should be obvious from the above
that Mr. Brower's taste is good, his
February 9, 1952
7
a -
|
| ’
|
|
|
inp
>
prone
“his ieothed flexible,
Less obvious, from
so summary a sketch z as ; this, are his good
manners and good sense, his willingness
to admit that no critical method can en-
tirely explain a work of art, his cheer-
ful acceptance of charges of naivete.
“One of my aims is to show that naivete
of a certain sort is indispensable in crit-
icism, and pays.” A disciple of Leavis,
Richards, and Empson, and probably
entitled as such to a chair in the academy
of the New Criticism, Mr. Brower wears
his rue, if it may be called so, with
considerable difference. He is high-
spirited, gay; “‘marvelous” and “‘wonder-
ful” are adjectives which come quickly
to his mind. He has no intention what-
ever of taking the poem from the poet,
the novel from the novelist; the minute
analysis, however close the observation,
never into cold dissection, a
process, as Louise Bogan has written,
rather like boning a shad. Unlike many
a latter-day Zojlus, Mr. Brower has an
ear, an awareness that the sound mat-
ters. Above and over all is the sense of
his original admiration for, and delight
in, the work which he is presenting, so
that his guidance, however strict, is
founded on zest; the criticism exists for
the work, not the other way round. And
if the reader has to use his intellect as
well as his emotions to come out where
Mr. Brower has started, well what's the
matter with that if the journey ends in
the fields of light?
ROLFE HUMPHRIES
_ Books in Brief
THE ONLY WAR WE SEEK. By
Arthur Goodfriend. Published for
Americans for Democratic Action by
Farrar, Straus and Young. $3. This is.a
moving and highly effective picture
book on the war between communism
and democracy for possession of men’s
minds and a stinging criticism of some
of the weaknesses of American foreign
policy. The conquest of China by the
Communists, for example, is described
in startling contrasts of picture se-
quences and text illustrating the differ-
ence between Communist propaganda
and our own, and the unhappy fact is
brought home that the Communists were
smarter than we, closer to the people,
and at least superficially more under-
turns
" 4 + ~
aa
standing of the people’s problems,
Goodfriend was a member of the Joint
Commission on Rural Reconstruction,
an E. C. A. outfit trying to work with
Chinese farmers, and he saw both the
causes- and the results as the red tide
swept America off the China mainland.
Now trouble is brewing among “*back-
ward” peoples everywhere, and a gen-
eration of Americans that has not yet
stopped thinking in terms of the white
man’s burden must learn “how to fuse
our material aid with the spiritual back-
ground and political aspirations” of
others who hate the very concept of the
white man’s burden. Goodfriend thinks
that we can still do the job—but not
unless we stop bragging about -our ny-
lon-and-refrigerator society and _ start
helping others to help themselves.
THE INSANITY OF JESUS
and
THE GREAT EVILS OF CHRISTIANITY
forthrightly told in a condensed easily read
book based on a mountain of research and
written for the 8% of people who can
think, and want the facts and evidence,
War, crime, poverty, disease, is largely
caused by the Christian ox-cart religious
superstition, a disgrace to this atomic age,
and reaponsible for enslaving the minds
and lives of millions, A Race of Superior
Men can only emerge when an age of
Science and Intelligence replaces the pres-
ent Age of Superstition. No man’s educa-
tion is coniplete until he has read
SUPERIOR MEN
By Jomes Hervey Johnson
(Most book sellers are afraid to handle {t.)
192 pages, card cover, order direct from
the writer. $1.00 POSTPAID
Box 2832, San Diego 12, Calif,
4
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139
ie
HEAVENS ON EARTH. By Mark
Holloway. Library Publishers. $4.75. A
concise and well-organized study of
utopian communities in America from
1680 to 1880. The book covers not only
those better-known utopias in which
fanatics and perfectionists attempted to
find a more rational way of life only to
discover that spiritual aspiration seldom
equated with practical common sense,
but also the religious communities such
as those established by the Shakers,
Rappites, and Zoarites.
MANNY
FARBER
Art
MERICAN art critics, from Leo
Stein on, have worked so hard at
creating a new hierarchy of painters that
to try to knock down one of their idols
now is as useless as trying to chip
through a bank vault with a teaspoon.
Yet one must speak one’s mind, and to
me the recent Matisse show at the Fifty-
third Street Barr and Grill spilled a
scandalous secret about “the greatest
master of the twentieth century.” Far
sketchier than it was cracked up to be,
the display did touch on most of the
high spots of his career, and clearly
showed his long industrious progression
from thin to thinner painting, both
tangibly and philosophically. The in-
escapable revelation is that the philis-
tines of thirty-odd years ago were nearer
than they knew to the truth: Matisse
may be skilful and ingenious, but only
by the wildest idealistic rationalization
can he be credited as a dedicated, rip-
ened artist who has given himself over
to feeling, sensuality, “love and life.”
The crux of the great myth is that
this magnificently endowed pagan has
been the most adept of all painters in se-
lecting and juxtaposing exotic, dynamic,
gleaming colors; that he flies you close
to the sun, in fact, with colors like so
many bursts of jet exhaust. Trudging
around through those rooms full of dead
fish, heavy-breasted nudes, copper vases,
flowers, fruits, costume jewelry, silk cur-
tains, Milanese pigeons, and musical
bric-a-brac, I found it a collection of
embarrassingly insipid themes im-
ptisoned in listless, lusterless, somewhat
ditty tones of superficial color. There
was on every hand the look of taut old
140
icing plastered thinly over an exces-
sively impelling surface, an icing now
going vaguely ocher since the surfaces
themselves are yellowing with the pas-
sage of time. And the assertive black
outlines—on which Matisse has de-
pended as trustingly as Rouault ¢o make
his reds and yellows sing—have held
their power while everything else has
faded, so that today the blacks over-
whelm and over-darken almost every
harmony. The exhibit verified a long-
held hunch of mine that the jolly
hedonist’s glory has been felicitously
created in large part by the brilliancy,
gloss, and sparkle of the products of the
reproduction industry. The plates in
Barr's new book, for instance, are beau-
tiful and scintillating, but hold any one
of them up to its original and you will
get an awful jolt.
Though miles of criticism have been
published about Matisse’s early use of
Manet’'s simplicity and flatness, Monet's
fragmentation and illumination of color,
Cézanne's hatching, modeling, and com-
position—and finally of the synthesis
and maturity that emerged when he
picked up some decorative things from
the Orient—a glance at his early trivial
experiments in impressionism and post-
impressionism should convince anyone
that M. Mati$$e is an egocentric who
cares little, and understands less, about
any style other than his own. (If he is
really indebted to any of his colleagues,
it is to the tricky mannerist putterers
who decorate cheap pottery.) Painting
with a bland stroke, hardly mixing color
on palette or canvas, working neatly,
quickly, deftly, and a bit hygienically—
like an Old World gentleman—over his
“spontaneous” projects—indeed, “tick-
ling”’ his way along, to borrow frenemy
Picasso’s devastating verb—he seems
never to be deeply involved or even
slightly carried away by his work. This
was made pretty apparent in a two-reel
film of Matisse at work released here a
few years back, but nobody paid any at-
tention to it; so the myth goes on that
Matisse and sensuality are synonymous,
while the latest retrospective showing of
his pictures yawns with barrenness, bald-
ness, and an inescapable faggish pseudo-
sensibility.
Yet his position fairly far up in
Western painting—say 73 on a scale
from 0 to 100—is insured, I think, by
both the variety of his compositions and
had
draftsman. He moves on to a new
compartmental arrangement after about
three pictures, where a Breughel or a
Corot spends from a decade to a life-
time on the same crowded figure eight
or inverted pyramid; and his line is as
much a thing of genius—if somewhat .
glib genius—as Cary Grant's dark
nonchalant glitter. With one swift, sure,
unbroken flip of the wrist he can do ‘a
more for the female navel, abdomen,
breast, and nipple than anyone since
Mr. Maidenform.
Aside from this, what has Matisse
really given the world to keep for the ~
next thousand years? Certainly nothing
more, in the last analysis, than a gigantic
dose of that kind of “charm” which has
enabled the butterfly battalions, during
his reign, to take over almost exclusively
in almost every field of creativity from
the short story to the symphony, from
the straight chair to the department
store. The only trouble is that—as we
all know but none of us admit—this
charm is sterile; it is also getting dated,
as are the paintings that were its source.
Sterility is the key to the chapel at
Vence which Matisse and everybody else
call the climax and summation of his
career. Here if anywhere is symbolized,
in cold white bathroom tiles, cold black
doodles, and cold tinted sunlight, the
modern artist's breakout of the ego and
breakdown of technique and fecling—
to say nothing of religious feeling, on
which I am no authority. It is a move-
ment in which the artist gets to say
whatever he bloody well pleases with an
oversimplification and rapidity shat make
one yearn for the distant era when
craftsmanship was so complex that you
started at the age of nine as an ap-
prentice, learning to mix colors, prepare
panels, and so on. The chapel has
naivete, “charm,” and a confident slick-
ness; it also does things with filtered
light that are breathtakingly pretty. But
is the prettiness valid or vulgar, and is
this church designed for the worship
of God or Matisse?
Henri Matisse never seems to have
“sweated over a wosk long enough to
give it deep values, plastic or human. It
will be said in rebuttal that Matisse him-
self has never pretended to be more
than a nice old rocking chair of an artist,
whose goal was to soothe the soul with
a pure, calm, equilibrated art. The im-
The NATION
[| a ae Oe Ce oe “ee ee eee” eee" ee eel
;
ki
a
L
|
A
: of heart, ase even this claim ap-
questionable.
B. i,
HAGGIN
UGENE BERMAN’S decors for the
first three acts of the Metropolitan’s
new “Rigoletto” are the most astound-
ingly beautiful and effective I can recall
seeing in opera—the only ones compara-
ble with them being Berman’s for the
ballet “Romeo and Juliet” and the sec-
ond act of ‘‘Giselle.’’ And his costumes
} for “Rigoletto” also are very beautiful.
me
,
y
i
=
.
q
|
' struck me as odd: the fact
When I call the decors effective I have
in mind not only their extraordinary liv-
ing presence as settings for what is seen
and heard, but the way the first-act palace
interior, with its levels and windowed
galleries, provides the means for the
rich and intricate profusion of activity
created by Herbert Graf. The designer
and director together achieve something
I have never scen before and didn’t
think possible: a first act that makes
dramatic sense—though a second act
that would make sense appears to have
been more than even they could achieve.
One detail in the first and third acts
that in rooms
in the Duke's palace, in which he was
bare-headed; the courtiers wore hats;
but perhaps Dr. Graf knows this to have
been the practice of the period.
The work of the principals in the per-
formance I attended was less satisfying.
_ It was the eighth performance of the sea-
“son, with replacements of singers of the
fitst performance—Paolo Silveri for the
first time as a rough-voiced, lunging and
clutching Rigoletto, and Jan Peerce for
the first. time as a Duke who began by
+ Singing Ouesta o quella very poorly but
went on to. do the best singing of the
evening. Peerce also began badly out of
step with the orchestra,
something of a shock, since I had
thought that with Bing we had heard
the last of a singer stepping onto the
"Metropolitan stage without even a con-
ference with the conductor about tempos
' (which Peerce appeared to have had be-
fore the later acts). But a worse shock
was the singing of Roberta Peters as
"Gilda; for I would have supposed we
] February 9, 1952
had |
~ politan of such premature Si iaion of
which was
insufficiently or poorly schooled vocal
talent coping with the demands of a
role like Gilda with a catch-as-catch-can
method of vocal production for each
note that produced a different-sounding
voice each time—and one that was un-
pleasant as often as pleasant.
A week later I went again, to hear
Gilda sung for the first time by Gene-
vieve Warner. This was the soprano
whose singing in a performance of
Mozart's “Seraglio” put on by the
Music School of the Henry Street Set-
tlement three years ago amazed me with
the extraordinary loveliness of the
sounds that were produced—even in the
most formidably high and florid pas-
sages of Constanza’s arias—with an
effortless casualness born of secure tech-
nique. In the second act of ‘‘Rigoletto”’
it took a good part of her opening duets
for Miss Warner to get over her
nervousness and warm up her voice,
which in Caro nome produced sounds
and phrases that ravished the ear, But
the Metropolitan audience which Miss
Peters had been able to excite to cheers
by her way of making the squeezing out
of a particularly acidulous note a dra-
demonstration of triumph over
prodigious difficulties—this
was left unmoved and silent by Miss
Warner's effortless production of those
lovely phrases,
“Those English have a weight of tra-
matic
audience
dition to support them, but sometimes it
’ someone commented when
I wondered how critics like Desmond
Shaw-Taylor and Edward Sackville-West
of the New Statesman and Nation and
Martin Cooper of the Spectator—who
operated with a musical knowledge, un-
derstanding, and perception related to a
rich culture that made their
writing so illuminatingly accurate most
of the time—could sometimes hit so
wide of the mark. Cooper, for example,
of the accurate observation
and evaluation embodied in his state-
ments that “if you really listen to
Berlioz’s music, really follow it , . . it
is perfectly coherent and alive with the
most astonishing vitality”; that ‘‘for all
the richness of his palette and the
kolossal character of many of his effects,
Berlioz is not a sensualist’’; that
monically his music is ascetic and its ef-
fect on the listener astringent,” and the
sinks them,
fener: il
is capable
“har-
THE AMERICAN
f BOOK PUBLISHERS COUNCIL
THE AMERICAN
; BOOKSELLERS ASSOCIATION §
THE BooK
5 MANUFACTURERS
INSTITUTE
take pride in
Announcing
the Winners of the
1952
NATIONAL |
1BOOK AWARD
|GOLD MEDALS
FICTION
James Jones
for
From Here io Eternity
6
NON-FICTION
Rachel L. Carson
for
The Sea Around Us
- es
POETRY
Marianne Moore
for
Collected Poems
The winner in each field was
selected by the following judges
FICTION
Robert Gorham Davis
Brendan Gill
Lloyd Morris
Budd Schulberg
Jean Stafford
NON-FICTION
Crane Brinton
Huntington Cairns
Marquis Childs
Luther H. Evans
Horace M, Kallen
POETRY
Conrad Aiken
Winfield T. Scott
Wallace Stevens
Selden Rodman
Peter Viereck
The National Book Award was
established three years ago to
give official recognition to the
most distinguished books of the
year. Since then the Award has
become an annual event in which
the American book industry has
united to honor American authors,
ee eee
141
ee
four brass bands and eighteen kettle-
drums of the Tuba mirum of the
Requiem “are used by a mind so com-
pletely in the grip of a poetic idea,
so absolutely alien to all exploitation
of sound for its own sake (the sensual-
ist’s music), that the listener's soul and
not his nerves are affected.” But he is
capable also of the statement that “no
violin concerto more than Elgar's com-
bines musical quality with virtuosity’;
and for him it is Flagstad who has only
a phenomenal voice, Gigli who has in
addition the “sheer artistry’ that will
prolong his career when the voice goes.
One finds these inequalities also in
Cooper's excellent book “French Music”’
(Oxford, $4.75). In his introduction he
explains that French music isn’t popular
in England because it Jacks “‘a strongly
flavored emotional content, either moral
or uplifting as in Beethoven or intro-
vert and lowering as in Tchaikovsky”;
the French composer, he says, rejects
W. J. Turner's idea that the function of
art is to réveal the soul of man, and
regards music as “the art of arranging
sounds in agreeable and intellectually
satisfying patterns.’ He is aware that
“taste, intelligence, and skill cannot re-
place the individual genius or, divorced
from largeness of character, create works
of the first magnitude’; but he contends
that “few countries at any period have
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PULITZER PRIZE and CRITICS’ AWARD
RICHARD RODGERS & OSCAR HAMMERSTEIN 2nd
present in ossociotion with
LELAND HAYWARD & JOSHUA LOGAN
MARTHA WRIGHT
GEORGE BRITTON
South Pacific
Mosic by RICHARD RODGERS
byrics by peat HAMMERS TEM 2nd
y
OSCAR HAMMERSTEIN 2nd & JOSHUA LOGAN
Adapted from JAMES A. MICHERER'S Pulitzor
Prize Winning “TALES OF THE SOUTH PACIFIC’
Directed by JOSHUA LOGAN
Scenery & lighting by Jo Mielziner
with MYRON McCORMICK
BAJESTIS THEATRE, 44th St., West of B’way
Evenings 8 :30. Matinees Wed. & Sat., 2.30
Monday Eves. only. Curtain at 7 sharp.
* mildly
been richer in the best music of the
second rank.’’ And the illuminating in-
telligence, perception, and sense of
values that are evident in these general
statements appear also in most of the
subsequent detailed examination of this
music. But occasionally this discussion of
works in terms of tendency results in
their not being perceived and evaluated
correctly as particular works of art: one
would not suspect the outstanding stat-
ure of Debussy’s “La Mer” and
“Images” for orchestra from what
Cooper says of them, and he misrep-
resents and undervalues Qhabrier’s fas-
cinatingly original “Dix Piéces pit-
toresques.” However, the few details of
this sort don’t make this anything less
than an excellent book.
Record Notes
BY ROBERT E. GARIS
[Because of the great increase in the
number of new LP records we shail pub-
lish occasionally brief listings by Mr. Garis
which will supplement Mr. Haggin’s re-
views.)
Bartok: Music for Strings, Percussion
and Celesta; Von Karajan and the Phil-
harmonia Orchestra (Columbia), also
Kubelik and the Chicago Symphony
(Mercury); one of Bartok’s best pieces;
the Kubelik performance is Jurid and is
recorded with too wide a dynamic range,
shrill highs, and noisy surfaces; the Kara-
jan is better; best of all is the Byrns per-
formance on Capitol. Violin Concerto;
Varga with the Berlin Philharmonic un-
der Fricsay (Decca); a few beautifully
expressive moments embedded in a dif-
fuse rhapsody; performance good, record-
ing not well balanced.
Bloch: Concerto Grosso for string or-
chestra and piano obligato; Kubelik and
the Chicago Symphony (Mercury); per-
formance effective, noisy surfaces.
Brahms: “Academic Festival’ Overture
and Hungarian Dances Nos. 1, 3, 10, 17;
Walter and the New York Philharmonic
(Columbia); performances excellent. So-
nata No. 3 for violin and piano; Horo-
witz and Milstein (Victor); juicy virtuoso
performance. Symphony No. 2; Monteux
with San Francisco Symphony (Victor) ;
performance fair, some wavering in pitch.
Couperin: Harpsichord Suite; Eta
Harich-Schneider (Urania); music only
interesting;
poor, recording not clean.
Couperin and Rameau: Harpsichord
Recital; Sylvia Marlowe (MGM); pleas-
ant music, fair performance.
Franck: Sonata for Violin and Piano;
Stern and Zakin (Columbia); good per-
formance.
Locatelli: Concerto da Camera for
performance very .
strings and piano; Litschauer with the
Vienna Chamber Orchestra (Vanguard);
dull music; fair performance.
Martinu; Sonata and Sonatina for two
violins and piano; Margarete and Willy
Schweyda and Jan Behr (Urania); dull
music; competent performance.
Mendelssohn: “Vtalian” Symphony; Rie-
ger and Munich Philharmonic (Decca);
performance weak; recording hollow and
muffled.
Muasorgksy: “Pictures at an Exhibition”; -
Kubelik and the Chicago Symphony
(Mercury); performance effective; re-
cording superb, noisy surfaces.
Respighi: “Trittico Botticelliano”; Lit-
schauer and Vienna State Opera Orches-
tra (Vanguard);
pretty sonorities with a gum-drop center;
performance effective, recording not clean.
Sibelius: “Finlandia” and “The Swan
of Tuonela”; Ormandy and the Philadel-
phia (Columbia); good perfermances.
Symphony No. 2; Koussevitzky and Bos-
ton Symphony (Victor); performance
effective.
Strauss: “Death and Transfiguration”;
Reiner and RCA Victor Symphony (Vic-
tor); performance good. “Don Juan”;
Koussevitzky and the Boston Symphony
(Victor ) ; performance fair, recording thin.
“Till Eulenspiegel”; Reiner and the RCA
Victor Symphony (Victor); performance
generally effective, occasionally melodra-
matic.
Szymanowski: Violin Concerto No. 1;
Uminska with the Philharmonia Orches-
tra under Fichtelberg (Decca); music
very poor, tirelessly rhapsodic; perform-
ance ditto.
Wagner: “Siegfried Idyl’;, Koussevit-
zky and the Boston Symphony (Victor);
performance poor, recording thin.
Weber: “Der Freischiitz” Overture; Or-
mandy and the Philadelphia (Columbia);
good performance, wavering pitch and
noisy surfaces,
CONTRIBUTORS
H. STUART HUGHES, assistant pro-
fessor of history at Harvard University,
is the author of “An Essay for Our
Times.” ‘-
RAYFORD W. LOGAN, professor of
history at Howard University, is at pres-
ent in Paris, where he is making a study
of French colonial administration.
MARK KANZER is a practicing psycho- °
analyst in New York City and clinical
associate professor at the Medical Col-
lege of the State University ef New
York.
ROLFE HUMPHRIES, The Nation’s
poetry critic, has recently published a
verse translation of Virgil’s “Aeneid.”
ROBERT E. GARIS is in the Depart-
ment of English at Wellesley College.
The NATION
typical Respighi— .
For Justice Douglas
_ [The Nation has received many tele-
t hone calls and letters in response to
the editorial published on January 26,
entitled Justice Douglas Is Available.
E cerpts from a few of the letters ap-
pear below. In an early spring issue
"The Nation will publish an article by
) Fred Rodell of the Yale Law School
on Justice Douglas as a possible Demo-
s eratic nominee. |
i s Is Available was splendid, and struck
es responsive chord in countless persons
iF
Dear Sirs: Your editorial Justice Doug-
who are dismayed and discouraged by
the present destructive trends in this
| country, and who fcel that he alone can
| provide the vision and the leadership we
| desperately need. . . . The moment has
| come to translate talk into action. Time
| is short. Will you start a Douglas for
President movement—or shall it all
: dissolve in talk? JOSEPH H, TITUS
| Jamaica, N. Y.
} Dear Sirs: 1 was very glad to see your
f magazine editorializing on so fine an
issue. I think sf enough people raise the
| cry Justice Douglas might become avail-
} able. I would be glad to help in any
| effort in this direction, whether it be
fund raising or campaigning, but have
“heard of none so far. Surely someone
| should organize a movement that would
| have such wide and fervent support
among so many thinking Americans.
_ New York CHARLES R. BOWEN
_ Dear Sirs: 1 hail with delight your ban-
ner for Justice Douglas for President. I
_have long thought of him as the ami
man of presidential calibre we have. .
ELIZABETH STEPTOE
Charlottesville, Va.
Dear Sirs: 1s there any sort of organiza-
*tidn pushing for Justice Douglas? He
certainly would be the ideal candi-
F RUSSEL PALMER
; hoe N. J.
Dear Sirs: I read with . . . real interest
your editorial on Justice Douglas, As a
“rather restless liberal voter looking for
a decent candidate for whom one could
Vote with some enthusiasm, the name of
Justice Douglas is certainly the most
‘congenial one I have seen mentioned
-: where this year. Liberal and pro-
“A essive voters could conduct a really
Peoruary 9, 1952
5 to
worthwhile campaign with a candidate
of Douglas's stature... .
Ypsilanti, Mich. ANN HUBBELL
Dear Sirs : | wish to express my satisfac-
tion and pleasure in your effort to direct
the attention of our people to Justice
Douglas as a possible nominee for Presi-
dent. A life-long voting Republican, I'd
be glad of the opportunity to vote for
him on any ticket
Yelm, Wash. WILL RICHARDS
Dear Sirs: Your editorial on Justice
Douglas electrified my voter’s impulse.
It would be good news if for once
the nation will listen to The Nation.
New York EDWARD F, BROWN
Dear Sirs: Few things have given me
keener pleasure recently than the copy
of The Nation of January 26... I
consider Justice Douglas our greatest
American liberal. With his hand on the
steering wheel, we could feel secure. . .
I hope The Nation will start a boom for
him, CLARISSA E, CALLAHAN
Denver, Col.
Dear Sirs: We would like you to know
that we agree wholeheartedly and in-
dorse your proposal to try to convince
Justice Douglas that he is the outstand-
ing choice for the Democratic nomina-
tos... ADELE R. MEYER
Riverdale, N. Y. PAUL MEYER
After Pasadena, Phoenix
Dear Sirs; The campaign to stifle free
inquiry in our colleges and universities,
recently reported in a series of articles
entitled Battle for Free Schools in The
Nation, won another victory by- forcing
out a textbook at Phoenix, Arizona.
The book is ‘Basic Economics,” by
Mitchell, Murad, Berkowitz, and Bagley,
published by William Sloane Associates
in 1951. It is one of the several stand-
ard textbooks in the field of economics
and is used at various colleges and uni-
versities. The authors, all professors of
economics at Rutgers University, the
state university of New Jersey, differ in
opinion among themselves. This bene-
fits the circumspeotion of the book,
which is an effort at factual, non-parti-
san exposition.
The first shot in the skirmish at Phoe-
nix College was fired on October 6,
1951, by an anonymous corporal at
Luke Air Force Base who in a letter to
re Se OR Te 7 ea! Pp i —
tt wick 7 ; i ,
> Editors
the editor of the Phoenix Gazette de-
nounced the book as “socialistic,”
“dreamy,” and “idealistic.” This in-
dictment was supported by vague in-
nuendo, quotation out of context, and
outright misquotation. The corporal
pleaded to have the book banned from
Phoenix College and indeed from all
schools—public and private.
President E. M. Montgomery of
Phoenix College countered by defend-
ing the book in a statement to the press.
The Phoenix Gazette in an editorial
on October 11 then reemphasized the
corporal’s charges and called for a ban
on the book, Again the college authori-
ties reacted. Dean Robert J. Hannelly
announced that the college intended to
combat this ‘attack on academic free-
dom.”
The Board of Education of Phoenix
College then ordered a public review of
the book on October 16. The outcome
cf this public review was that the board
unanimously voted to continue “Basic
Economics” as a text.
This victory for academic freedom
was not accepted as final by the self-
appointed defenders of our economic
faith. Letters and editorials, in the
Gazette and other papers, kept up the
fight. The background and affiliations
of Broadus Mitchell and of others
among the authors were impugned. One
letter sent to the authors revealed, per-
haps more honestly than did the pub-
lished attacks, the sentiments and qual-
ity of the assailants. It read; “You fel-’
lows sound like a bunch of Joisey kikes,
come out west where we will teach the
American way of life.”
Something called America’s Better
Citizens Committee sent out literature
misquoting the book and urging people
to write to the school board to have the
book banned. Dean Hannelly stated that
the college had been swamped with
letters demanding that the book be
dropped. The American Legion (Luke
Greenway Post No. 1) declared the
book un-American, socialistically and
communistically inclined, and urged
that it be banned from all Arizona
schools. The two Phoenix newspapets,
the Gazette and the Republic, owned by
Eugene C. Pulliam of Indianapolis, re-
fused to print the true facts or to pte-
sent the college administration’s side in
the controversy.
Eventually the college succumbed. |
“The dispute over a Phoenix College
textbook has ended,” said an editorial
143
7
e
:
in the Gazette on January 5, 1952.
“College authorities, yielding tardily
but with good grace, have decided that
“Basic Economics’ by Mitchell, Murad,
Berkowitz, and Bagley will not be used
as a textbook after the present semester
ends January 18. Material more lauda-
tory of the American economic system
will be used.” The Gazette editorial
hailed the assault on the book as “a
working of the democratic processes”
and as not “in any way infringing on
their academic freedom.”
There are rumors that the Phoenix
Jegionnaires, elated by the surrender of
Phoenix College, are planning to extend
the ban to all colleges and universities
in the nation.
No more suitable question suggests
itself than one asked by the eloquent
corporal in his letter to the editor which
started the “democratic process.”” “Can't
something be done about this? It’s a far
cry from the principles upon which our
country was founded and for which a
great number of us are giving up years
of our lives.” LEOPOLD KOHR
New Brunswick, N. J.
The Memphis Witch Hunt
Dear Sirs: The activities of Local 19,
Distributive, Processing, and Office
Workers, composed primarily of Ne-
groes in two Memphis plants, had been
reported, off and on, in local papers as
“Jeft wing.” To conservative Memphis
anything considered “‘left’’ is also usu-
ally considered communistic. However,
Memphis is either less hysterical or more
lethargic than many American cities to-
day, for there was very little talk about
Local 19.
Memphis, therefore, was somewhat
surprised to hear that Senator Eastland,
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The NATION
TWENTY VESEY STREET
New York 7, New York
BArclay 7-1066
from nearby Mississippi, was coming
with a Senate subcommittee to investi-
gate Communist activities in the city.
The committee moved in, suddenly, with
fanfare and publicity, but Memphis on
the whole, once it had got over the
initial shock, pretty well ignored the
entire affair. Some suspicious folk sug-
gested the investigation was just a little
political maneuvering by the Senator,
who might have an eye on elections
down home. Others, close to the Jabor
field, hinted that the rival C. I. O.
Chemical Workers’ Union, which had
recently been defeated by the D, P. O.
in a National Labor Relations Board
election, might have persuaded the Sena-
tor to investigate so that the election
might be challenged, giving the C. I. O.
another crack at it.
The local papers gave a blow-by-blow
description of the committee goings-on.
The pattern of questioning was familiar,
but the obvious difference in the way
witnesses were questioned made the
investigation a trial, Senator Eastland
and Victor Rabinowitz, attorney for the
D. P. O., generated most of the ex-
citement. Rabinowitz tried to give legal
counsel to union members, and Eastland
did not want the witnesses to have it, at
least not Rabinowitz’s. At one time dur-
ing the hearing Eastland shouted,
“Throw that damn scum out of here!”
This outburst summoned marshals to
escort Rabinowitz out of the chamber
and got headlines in the paper and
congratulations from C, I. O. officials.
There seemed little justification for such
adolescent, undignified behavior on the
part of a United States Senator, since
Rabinowitz, if he offended the Senator,
only did so through his insistence on
knowing what his rights were. Some
people felt the Senator was making up
his rules as he went along, leaving
everyone confused. They also felt that
he was playing the game with loaded
dice in not letting witnesses have an
attorney, since the committee itself had
its own lawyer, Richard Arens.
A bit of local color was added by
Eastland’s treatment of Negro witnesses.
Although all white persons, both accused
or otherwise, were addressed as “Mr.”
or “Mrs.” by the Senator, Negroes were
addressed as “boy” or by their first
name, in the best Mississippi tradition.
Richard Arens, committee attorney, did
call Negroes “Mr.” or “Mrs.” but
lashed out at them like a new graduate
trying to win his first case, Witnesses,
both Negro and _ white—alternately
tense, angry, and scared—were peterally
confused or puzzled.
The committee showed a definite flait
for drama when in the middle of the —
investigation it brought in a “mystery
witness” by the name of Paul Crouch,
an ex-Communist. After a witness had
been questioned, Crouch was called in
to tell what he knew about the person.
Although he had not been a member of
the Communist Party for nine years,
Crouch displayed a most remarkable -
memory for things that had happened
and the exact date of their happening .
ten or fifteen years before. With obvious
delight Crouch named names, made ac- '
cusations, and contradicted witnesses,
while they glared and committee mem-
bers practically chortled with pleasure,
Many spectators wondered if the ex- °
Communist was any more trustworthy
than a present<lay Communist, but the
committee for some reason seemed to
have great faith in the veracity of its
imported mystery witness.
The hearing ended in a burst of glory,
branding the D. P, O. as Communist,
threatening to invalidate the recent
N. L. R. B, elections won by the union,
and promising to seck laws curbing
“groups like D. P. O.”’ No one was sur-
prised, naturally. There was some talk
about indicting D. P. O.’s 1,400 local
members. Of course, everyone connectéd
with the hearing knew that they could
not be indicted for anything, but the
members, being uneducated in the
mysteries of witch hunts, were probably
scared out of their wits. At least one
well-known business man who had re-
fused to answer certain quéstions and
who had hired known “‘left-wingers”
thought it advisable to sell his business
and leave town. He was not directly ac-
cused of being a Communist, or of
advocating the overthrow of the gov-
ernment, but the committee did a lot of
insinuating.
Nothing was accomplished, of course.
No one proved that the D. P. O. was
trying to overthrow the government.
Surprisingly few people even kept up
with the hearings. In a state that hasn't
amended its constitution since it was
originally written in 1870 and in a city
that seldom sees two men running for
any one office, the whole thing , ~ed_
rather silly. Many people who ¢ d, I"
about it felt that the C. I Uthat
D. P. O. and the committee were taking’
advantage of the colored folks, or that
it was just politics, or that it was just part
of Congress's investigating spree and
didn’t mean a thing. However, they will
vaguely remember names connected with
the hearing and automatically brand
those names as Communists.
MARY MOSTERT
Memphis, Tenn.
The NATION
Pa ONES ACH es = ;
| 13 Self-announcement o
| 15 Works with a rope. (>)
Pk Pde
Vig te = 3
rossword
ACROSS
1 Anticipates being confused without
a cleaning agent. (10)
6 No back-twist on 12 to make this
box. (4)
10,27 and 8 down. This wire should
obviously be either thicker or have
better conductivity. (8, 4, 2, 5, 10)
11 Did Georgé find one of them so
and? (7)
12 ual cuts of food. {8)
the master sci-
entist of the religious leaders? (5)
17 Cross-section of our life caught in
a camera. (9)
19, See 2 down.
21°A different kind of subject than the
complement of 4. (5)
23 on the sort of thing horses are.
24 See 2 down.
| 27 See 10 across,
123 a tried to drink unsuccessfully.
29 '\25 down. Stand-by on Midway!
dently the flank is “anosedt)
~
}$U men’s assets scarcely disturb them;
some find this disturbing! (10)
DOWN
1 If an American soldier led them,
they’d become much bigger. (4)
2,26 down, 19 across, 24 across, 3™
down. Features equivalent to many
ways? (3, 4, 4, 8, 1, 8, 5
Puzzle No. 451
BY FRANK W. LEWIS
mice) | tT LP | i Peet
| - Bae
lo & lr A
3 See 2 down.
4 Base things on something other than
the subject under discussion. (9)
5 Want work? Try in addition to
make it with this water. (5)
7 According to a certain rate, or a
pare thereof. (8, 4)
8 See 10 across.
9 Swift, perhaps, but not exactly as
the artist is. (8)
14 Such meetings are usually unsched-
uled. (10)
16 Take a card in a fast shuffle? It’s
simple! (8)
18 Bundle up, and speak well of it; it’s
worked out very nicely. (9)
20 oper paper is; anarchists want to
e, (7)
22 Mute female swans I’ve observed to
be thoughtful. (7)
24 Paul’s companion or the Roman em-
peror? Either could make it suit to
a sary v9 (5)
25 See 29 across.
26 See 2 down.
. Bie .
SOLUTION TO PUZZLE No. 450
ACROSS :—1 AUTOBIOGRAPHY: 10 TA-
HOE; 11 DAY LETTER; 12 UNR@FINED:
13 STAMP; 14 IRISH WHISKHY; 19 AC.
COMPANISTS ; 22 POUTS; 24 OVERRATED ;
25 PHANTASMA; 26 INCAN; 27 DYED-IN-
THH-WOOL.
DOWN :—2 USHERS; 3 OPEN FORUM; 4
INDONESIA; 5 GUYED; 6 ABETS: 7 HAT-
RACKS; 8 STOUP ; 9 PREPAYS; 15 WHITH-
WASH; 16 INTERVIEW; 17 BAGPIPE; 18
ACCURACY; 2 STUCCO; 21 BDENS; 23
SATED; 24 ORSON.
Readers are Invited to send for a free copy of Mr. Lewis's “ground rules." Address
requests to Puzzle Dept., The Nation, 20 Vesey Street, New York 7, New York.
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NATIONAL CAMPAIGN COMMITTE
Sen. Hubert Humphrey, Chairman
teag. em
SEN. WAYNE MORSE
Rep. JOHN BLATNIK
Rep. RicHARD BOLLING
Rep, ADOLPH SaBATH
WENDELL BERGE
FRANCIS BIDDLE
Mrs. RAYMOND CLAPPER
JOHN DEWEY
James T. FARRELL
A. J. HAYES
Mrs. LEON HENDERSON
Mrs. HAROLD ICKES
MorDECAI JOHNSON
James Logs, JR.
Morris Novik
Rovert NATHAN
JAMES PATTON
Water REUTHER
MICHAEL STRAIGHT
Jerry VOORHIS
WILLIAM WARNE
i
'
i
{
Educational TV—An Editorial
. @ is Ruth ar ¥
SS SS
cm ee ee ee en SS
a eR RR RS SR AI, SSS GERSREESSE SS SENS STE NRISRINR SE SSNS SS I Sr
February 16, 1952
PThe White House
‘Under Surveillance
BY CAREY McWILLIAMS
~
~The Malthusian Scarecrow
BY JOSUE DE CASTRO
x
amanys Price Goes Up - - - - - J. Alvarez del Vayo
> High Cost of Health - - - - - - - Keith Hutchison
| arque’s “Spark of Life’ - - = = - - = Harvey Swados
other Presidential Appointment - - - Wéillard Shelton
eT a EL
s7ENTS A COPY . EVERY WEEK SINCE 1865 ° 7 DOLLARS A YEAR
Death by Jim Crow
Galveston, Texas
OBERT DORSEY SMITH, forty-
three-year-old Negro, was found
_ dead in a Galveston alley in the early
morning hours of November 11. The
circumstances of his death, as they have
since come to light, offer an example of
_ Jim Crowism less sensational than a
e _ lynching but just as unpardonable.
Normally a dead Negro has little
_ mews value in Galveston. But differences
between the police department and the
hospital administration invested this
case with unusual interest. Stories about
it appeared in nearly every issue of the
local dailies from November 12 to 28.
The father of six children, Smith had
been employed by a local packing firm
for twenty years. The evening before his
death he was struck by an automobile
on a busy Galveston street. He was
taken from the scene of the accident to
John Sealy Hospital, a unit of the
School of Medicine of the University of
Texas. After examination and treatment
he was released, although he was unable
“to get fully dressed” when he left; his
shoes and wallet were later found in the
hospital. The police started to drive him
home but halfway there dropped him
off, with about nine blocks to walk. He
was found dead in an alley not far from
where he had got out of the police car
—his face swollen, large bruises on legs
and back, naked except for his trousers.
“Accidental death due to skull fracture,
multiple fractures of the pelvis, and in-
ternal injuries,” read the autopsy report.
The next day the police and the hos-
pital officials issued conflicting state-
ments. Dr. T, D. Blocker, Jr., the hos-
pital administrator, said that the emer-
gency examination had found only
superficial hip injuries and intoxication.
_ The police stated that Smith’s death
might have been caused by the accident,
plus a fall from the hospital examin-
ing table. Smith had been helped to the
police car by a physician and an orderly,
who said later that there was nothing
seriously wrong with him at that time.
In the view of the police the arrange-
ment of his clothing and the nature of
his injuries precluded the possibility
that he had been assaulted after leaving
the car to walk home.
AROUND
At a subsequent meeting called by Smith’s experience suggests the kind —
*
SN ites
ve Sor tea
THE U
UL
Dr. Blocker “to give the hospital's
side of the ‘case,” Dr, Blocker tes-
tified that Smith had been examined
by a senior medical student, then re-
checked by an intern. Both reported a
minor hip injury and intoxication. An
X-ray was taken, but a fracture of the
pelvis detected on the picture later by
an unidentified radiologist was over-
looked at the time, apparently because
the plate was wet. There was no evi-
dence of a skull fracture, The intern tes-
tified Smith fell from the table while
alone in the room.
Both the county attorney and the
police commissioner declared that the
facts brought out at this hearing in no
way reflected upon the hospital. The
Galveston News of November 17 re-
ported that “the circumstances surround-
ing the death were thrashed out . .
with the group reaching a general
agreement that the incident was the type
that occurs unavoidably at times.”
A committee of Negroes then peti-
tioned for a full investigation. The
grand jury agreed to hear some wit-
nesses and later issued a statement
which made no mention of the actions
of the police or the hospital attendants.
Thus the case of Robert Dorsey Smith
came to a quict close—apparently to the
satisfaction of the Galveston authorities.
Many unanswered questions, how-
ever, haunt the conscience of the white
minority concerned with such cases. Is it
customary for medical students to con-
duct unsupervised examinations of bad-
ly injured persons, even if their findings
are later checked by an intern? Was the
wet condition of the X-ray plate an ade-
quate excuse for the faulty diagnosis?
Why was the radiologist who later dis-
covered the fractured pelvis never iden-
tified by name? Was Smith examined
after he had fallen from the table?
Do hospitals usually discharge patients
who, after emergency treatment, are
unable to dress themselves, are. bare-
foot, and must be carried out? Why
did the police allow this nearly naked,
badly injured man to leave the police
car nine blocks from his home? Early in
the case the reports of the police and
the hospital were at variance; what
caused the police to be so easily satisfied
with the hospital report later on?
a iw 4 +
iy nl
J ~ +s.
2) ns pen
MRE atts ae " -.
ue
Pe
1m
‘ - \
Mee
of emergency hospital treatment that —
Negroes receive in many Southern —
towns. The reaction of the community,
fully informed by the unusual publicity ~
given to the case, was also typical. A
vigorous demand from any quarter that.
the responsibility be fixed might have
demonstrated that the community did
not condone Smith's death. Such a pro-
test might have had a considerable ef-"
fect upon the future welfare of Negroes.
in Galveston, It might have given re-
assurance that there are humane and
decent elements in the South whose ef-
forts in behalf of the Negro population
justify gradualism and non-intervention
by the federal government. But the only
faint voice of protest in the Smith case
came from the Negroes of Galveston,
In passing it may be pointed out
that the white driver of the car that —
struck Smith was charged with negli-
gent homicide and released on his own
fecognizance pending a hearing. The
case was continued three times and then
dismissed. The grand jury failed to fix.
responsibility not only for the circum. |
stances surrounding Smith's death but —
also for the accident. Nothing about the |
Smith case, ane is more bene at .
similar occt Tag
the inconcli A
find the fac SER.
[Alex CG
Political £ SAS
University”
Foundatio Sone Sp)
As Se ‘ : e ct
One, Ate Re Seas
Dr. V } =) HEP
versity SCNOOL U1 taumiee
Delhi, tells of his recent trip to Gok
munist China with a group of In-
dian intellectuals. Dr. Rao is the’
author of several books which have |
gained world-wide attention and has |
represented his country at interna- |
tional food conferences held io
Washington, Quebec, and Copen-
hagen. Combining a cosmopolitan
outlook with a keen instinct for re-
porting, he paints a vivid picture
of Red China and presents a number
of hitherto unpublished facts.
_ AMERICA’S LEADING LIBERAL
NEW YORK + SATURDAY +» FEBRUARY 16, 1952
VoLUME 174
WEEKLIY SINCE 1865
NuMBER 7
Ihe Shape of Things
THE CLAIMS CF ALASKA AND HAWAII TO
statehood have long been widely accepted and appear to
have the support of a majority of the Congress. Never-
theless, it may prove as difficult to bring these territories
into the Union as it is to get Italy admitted to the United
Nations. Since Alaska is normally Democratic and
_ Hawaii Republican, a “package deal’ ought to be feasi-
ble. However, Southern Senators fear that Congres-
sional delegations from the new states would reinforce
the proponents of civil rights. Considerations of party
loyalty make it a little difficult for them openly to op-
pose Alaska, and on the theory that it would be easier
to pass, supporters of the statehood bills decided to give
the Alaska measure precedence. But last week a switch in
_ tactics appeared desirable in view of indications that
_ enough Southern Democrats were prepared to join with
Republicans to assure the bill’s recommittal—tantamount
to burial. At the same time an informal canvass suggested
that there were fifty-five votes for Hawaii and perhaps
enough to obtain a cloture should Southern threats of a
filibuster materialize. If the Hawaiian measure could be
passed, it would be impossible, it was felt, to defeat
the Alaska bill. At this point Senator Pat McCarran,
head of the Senate’s Internal Security Investigating sub-
committee threw a monkey wrench into the works by
announcing his intention to make a protracted inquiry
-into the menace of communism in Hawaii. The result
may well be that both statehood bills will be blocked.
Hawaiians, at least, seem to be coming to the end of their
patience. They are now beginning to talk about follow-
ing the example of Tunisia, denied self-government by
.France, and sending a petition to the United Nations. We
hope they do so. That might shame Congress into action.
+
COLLIER’S 1S STILL PEDDLING THE MYTH
that the United States government thought the maga-
zine’s special issue on World War III a capital idea.
On February 9 its editorial page boasted that ". . . the
State Department has asked and received permission to
translate the issue’s editorial for reprinting in publica-
tions throughout the world.” Actually the only request
Of permission to reprint “The Unwanted War” came
aR
FISAS
“ary:
from a Falangist-sponsored weekly in Barcelona. Further-
more, Edward W. Barrett, until recently Assistant Secre-
tary of State for Public Affairs, has said that the State
Department does not “plan to give the article world-wide
distribution” but simply asked Collier's for clearance in
case there should be “future . . . similar requests.” It now
appears that such requests are not likely to be granted.
The Nation has learned that “The Unwanted War” has
been stamped by the State Department with a “discre-
tionary mark’’—the next thing to an outright refusal to
permit reprints. vi
CONGRESS SHOULD ACT IMMEDIATELY TO
provide extra unemployment benefits for workers made
idle by civilian cutbacks. Under legislation sponsored by
Senator Blair Moody, Representative John D. Dingell,
and others, the federal government would pay fifty cents
for each dollar advanced by the states, and would match,
dollar for dollar, the additional compensation provided
by some states for dependents. Considering that state un-
employment benefits average only $21 a week, a measure
of this kind seems imperative, even though it would last
only long enough to get the states over the period of
conversion, While the proponents of the plan undoubt-
edly are thinking mainly of the jobless in Michigan,
where cutbacks have had panticularly serious effects, other
sore spots demand attention. The textile workers, for ex-
ample, have been hit badly by declining sales in men’s-
wear and other “soft”-goods lines. But in granting
relief to the present victims of conversion, Congress
should consider the problem of unemployment on a
long-term, preventive basis, It is high time some real
efforts were made to prevent workers from being
penalized each time we shift from a civilian to a defense
economy, of vice versa. =
IN THEORY DEMOCRACY AND MONARCHY
are not at all compatible. The one implies sovereignty
of the people with equal rights for all citizens; the other
sets a man by virtue of his birth apart from and above
all others. He may be clever or stupid, good, bad, or
indifferent, but he is the king to whom his “subjects’*
owe homage. Nevertheless, a few nations, notably Britain
and the Scandinavian countries, have succeeded not only
in reconciling these opposing systems but in making them
support each other. In Britain the throne has increased
\
e IN THIS ISSUE 2
EDITORIALS
The Shape of Things 145
Educational TV: The Time Is Now 147
Bonn Feels Its Oats 148
ARTICLES
Another Presidential Appointment
by Willard Shelton 149
The White House Under Surveillance
by Carey McWilliams 150
The High Cost of Health by Keith Hutchison 152
Germany's Price Goes Up by J. Alvarez del Vayo 154
The Malthusian Scarecrow by Josue de Castro 156
BOOKS AND THE ARTS
Documentary of Evil by Harvey Swados 158
Israel's Problems by Marie Syrkin 158
Myths and Fairy Tales by Charles Spielberger 160
Books in Brief 161
Drama by Joseph Wood Krutch 162
Records by B. H. Haggin 162
LETTERS TO THE EDITORS 164
CROSSWORD PUZZLE No. 452
by Frank W. Lewis opposite 164
Editor and Publisher: Freda Kirchwey
Associate Editor: Carey McWilliams
Foreign Editor Literary Editor
J. Alvarez del Vayo Margaret Marshall
Financial Editor: Keith Hutchison
Drama: Joseph Wood Krutch Music: B. H. Haggia
Assistant Literary Editor: Caroline Whiting
Assistant Editor: Charles R. Allen, Jr.
Copy Editor: Gladys Whiteside
Staff Contributors
Andrew Roth, Alexander Werth, Howard K. Smith, Carolus
Business Manager: Hugo Van Arx
Advertising Manager: Mary Simon
Director of Nation Associates: Lillie Shultz
The Natton, published weekly and copyright, 1952, In the U, S. A,
by The Nation Associates, Inc., 20 Vesey Street, New York Nove
Entered as second-class matter, December 13, 1879, at the Post Office
of New York, N, Y., under the act of March 8, 1879. Advertising
and Circulation Representative for Continental Europe: Publicitas,
Subscription Prices: Domestic—One year $7; Two years $12; Three
years $17. Additional postage per year: Foreign and Canadian $1.
Change of Address: Three weeks’ notice is required for change of
am, which cannot be made without the old address as well as
e new,
Information to Librartéat The Nation 1s indexed in Readers’ Guide
to Periodical Literature, Book Review Digest, Index to Labor
Articles, Public Affairs Information Service, Dramatic Index,
SR ee na ae ee a mr in ec RE A
146
agent in the esas of which the strong. actions 0
political warfare can be carried on without disturbing
national stability and unity, Also, as Mr. Churchill said
on February 2, “The crown has become the mysterious,
*
indeed, I may say the magic link which unites our loosely ~
bound but strongly interwoven Commonwealth of na-
tions, states, and races.” The last significant republican -
movement in Britain occurred in the middle of the nine-
teenth century when Queen Victoria indulged in partisan:
ship and showed signs of wishing to enlarge the powers
of the crown. Her son, Edward VII, and her grandson,
George V, conformed more closely to the constitutional -
ideal, although both are believed on occasion to have
stretched their right to be consulted by the Prime Min-’
ister, to encourage certain courses of action, and to warn
against others. By contrast George VI, whose reign has
been so sadly cut short, seems to have been a model
monarch in his relations with both Tory and Labor
governments. Certainly he was a popular king, and the
Bie ao! saws s
people of Britain will not soon forget the way in which -.
he shared their dangers and difficulties when they stood
alone against the Axis. *
THE KING'S DEATH AND THE ACCESSION OF
Queen Elizabeth II will have no direct political con-
sequences but indirectly may prove helpful to the pres-
ent government. No Englishman could better Mr,
Churchill's expression of national sentiment about these
events, and the speeches which it is his duty to make will
undoubtedly increase his popularity, Moreover, the
King’s death necessitates a short political moratorium at
a most convenient moment for the Prime Minister, who
on the day it occurred was under heavy fire in the House
of Commons on account of his ambiguous declarations
about Far Eastern policy, Again, a period of national
mourning will provide a proper psychological at-
mosphere for the new austerity measures which contrast
so dismally with Tory election promises, Finally, the
Queen’s coronation, whenever it takes place, should give
the government an opportunity to stage a great Common-
wealth rally in London and attract large numbers of tour-
ists to help right the trade balance. If at this time some
relaxation of austerity also proves possible, the stage
might be set for a successful appeal to the voters.
*
CITING THE GREATER PRODUCTIVITY OF-
Southern labor as its reason, the American Woolen Com: _
pany has announced that it may shift all its operations :
from New England to the South. Of the company’s —
twenty-four mills, twenty-one are now located in New —
England, The average hourly wage of $1.05 for textile ~
workers in the South, as compared with the Northern ©
average of $1.26, may have some bearing on the com-
The NATION
et contract but to eine instead for
ely new agreement. It would like to have the
v Eeeakract include a provision which would authorize
eater work assignments,” that is, speed-ups. The
ion contends that nothing in the present contract pre-
vents greater work loads if new production machinery is
t into use or if the company can convince an arbitrator
t greater work loads are warranted. That American
‘olen is not the only textile firm anxious to beat a re-
teat to the more kindly atmosphere of the South, where
vacations with pay, group insurance, and other fringe
benefits ate virtually unknown, is indicated by the effort
of the Utica and Mohawk Cotton Mills to escape from
an injunction recently issued to restrain it from moving
outh Carolina while a $400,000 suit brought by the
nion over questions of vacation and separation pay is
sendi wg. There has been, of course, a sharp drop in the
earnings of the textile industry; but this situation will
not be remedied by shifting plants to the regional sweat-
shop that is the South.
Fducational TV:
The Time Is Now
HE future of educational television may be decided
in the next few weeks. Last March the FCC issued
entative allocations for 1,900 new television stations, of
which 207 were reserved for schools and colleges, pro-
ided they demonstrated a real interest in obtaining chan-
s. Since then some 500 institutions have applied for
such facilities, and the FCC is about to issue a final deci-
ion on allocations.
The past year, however, has seen several developments
which, while commendable in themselves, increase the
ikelihood that the FCC may take a narrow view of the
re) ey parece it must now decide. It is being argued, for
Instance, that educational institutions will be unable to
wi necessary funds or organize the facilities for
ll-time TV operations. The Ford Foundation’s million-
lollar television-radio workshop, set up to provide com-
networks with significant program material, has
been cited as an example of the way educational institu-
ions might cooperate with commercial outlets without
going to the expense of establishing separate channels.
Senator William Benton’s proposed National Citizens’
Welevision Advisory Board has also been discussed as a
Possible means of achieving the same end.
| There is merit in these proposals, as there is also in the
suggestion that commercial outlets shottld be required by
aw to devote a portion of their telecasting time to educa-
mal programs (see The Nation, October 13, 1951).
ese and similar measures might be expected to im-
Jebruary 16, 1952
- tf". be
prove ‘television as a medium for disseminating news,
interpretative comment, and entertainment of a better
quality, But none of the alternatives thus far advanced
can be fairly regarded as an adequate substitute for the
allocation of channels for the exelusive use of educa-
tional institutions. On this score, we are inclined to share
John Crosby’s view (New York Herald Tribune, January
23, 1952) that “educators will never in this world pry
more than a token amount of time from commercial sta-
tions.” Besides, universities are among the few remain-
ing centers of free, critical inquiry in a society in which
the channels of communication are increasingly monop-
olized. They are, of course, vulnerable to economic and
political influences; but the fact that educational channels
would not be directly geared to profit-making offers the
best hope of a wider and more effective use of television
for educational purposes.
Until recently the FCC has seemed to favor the policy
of reserving channels for educational institutions. But
under constant pressure from commercial interests it has
begun to speculate rather gloomily about the possibility
of 200 “idle” channels, and some commissioners have
suggested that “non-use” of ether waves constitutes un-
pardonable “waste” of a public resource. That a tele-
vision channel in the Chicago area should be valued at
$10,000,000 is some measure of the weight of the pres-
sures being brought to bear to reduce the number of
channels for schools and colleges, Thus there is a real
danger that the time a channel reserved for a college may
remain unused will be so severely limited that few insti-
tutions will be able to raise the funds needed to build
stations and organize facilities. This, indeed, is the real
issue behind the argument that a policy which encour-
ages telecasting to wider audiences—even mediocre com-
mercial telecasting—is preferable to a policy of holding
up allocations in the hope that educators may be able,
given sufficient time, to take advantage of them.
Actually the interest shown by schools and colleges in
obtaining channels is quite impressive, considering how
little the commissioners have done to encourage it—a
notable exception being the fine work of Commissioner
Frieda Hennock. It is true that more educators have
talked about educational television than have set about
raising the necessary funds. It is also true that many prac-
tical problems must be solved if the financing of educa-
tional stations is to proceed with reasonable dispatch.
But the fact that at least one community—Wichita,
Kansas—has adopted a $5 personal-property tax, with
the revenue earmarked for the construction and opera-
tion of an educational TV station shows that the difficul-
ties can be surmounted.
Since both the FCC and the industry acknowledge the
university’s “theoretical potentialities” for television, the
commission should be urged to stand by the decision it
- made last spring to reserve at least 207 channels for edu-
147
cational outlets. Under no circumstances should the
FCC permit itself to be pressured into reducing the num-
ber of reservations or into placing rigid limits on the
time such frequencies may remain unused, Ia the alloca-
tion of channels there is indeed a danger of “waste”—
not in the failure to exploit a public resource but ‘in its
exploitation for private purposes under the guise of “de-
velopment.” The waste of valuable timber land and
mineral resources during the last century in response to a
similar argument should sufficiently demonstrate the
urgency of close public attention to the issue now before
the FCC. The ether waves, too, are part of the public
domain,
Bonn Feels Its Oats
T WAS tactless of the French government, at a mo-
ment when plans for German participation in a Euro-
pean army were nearing completion, to change the title
of its representative in the Saar from High Commissioner
to Ambassador. This move, suggesting that the French
were treating the Saar as an independent sovereign state,
was bound to raise nationalist passions in West Germany,
The Quai d’Orsay must have anticipated this reaction:
in fact, it is reported that Allied sources in Germany
who were queried in advance gave an accurate forecast of
the ensuing outburst. What, then, was the purpose of the
French government? Was it trying perhaps to needle
Germany into a display of nationalist temper in the
course of which Bonn would reveal sooner than it had
intended details of the bill for the military services of
West Germany? Better a showdown now, the French
may have argued, before the European army is finally set
up, than later.
Whether or not the French government was thinking
along these lines, its move in the Saar has produced such
results. No doubt we have still to learn the full price of
German cooperation, but the total now revealed by Bonn
is certainly high enough to induce all but the most reck-
less enthusiasts for German rearmament to pause.
Last week, following a two-day debate in the West
German Bundestag, the principle of participation in a
European army was approved by 204 to 156, However,
five other resolutions adopted by a show of hands indi-
cated clearly the conditions which the Adenauer govern-
ment wishes to attach to an agreement reducing this
principle to practice. The first declared that as long as
West Germany was not a member of NATO it must be
given “military rights appropriate to the idea of a Euro- ~
par defense force as a voluntary association of equal part-
ners.” According to a Bonn official interrogated by Drew
Middleton of the New York Times, this obscurely
worded demand is a new effort to obtain a German gen-
eral staff.
The second resolution expressed regret at the naming
148
eh
pag poets
ts + at gs ped ae.
ree tae
“Fa Peo glenda Wo to > Saar and as
freedom Eanes The third declare d that Ger
many’s financial defense contribution must be deters
mined by the same standards as that of other countries. —
Number four was a significant concession to the old mili-_
tarist elements—a demand that the Western Allies re-
view the sentences of war criminals “without delay.”
Finally a resolution, beginning “The occupation regime
must come to an end,” called for full restoration of Ger:
man sovereignty with freedom to repeal occupation laws
and an end of all controls on German industry.
The nature and scope of these demands show that the
West Germans are feeling the oats which we have bee
assiduously feeding them in the form of daily statements
about the indispensability of German rearmament. They |
indicate also that there ate a great many hurdles to be |
negotiated before the proposed European army material-
izes, The first demand is particularly tricky. Admission of.
West Germany to NATO is strongly opposed by France’ |
on the very reasonable grounds that it would deprive the. i
Atlantic Pact of its defensive character in view of Bonn’ s
declared aim of recovering lost German territory in the
east. On the other hand, the idea that the Germans
should be permitted a general staff nullifies the whole
purpose of the European-army plan and reintroduces the
nightmare that France has been so desperately trying to
dispel.
The impudence of the fourth resolution speaks for it-
self. It is evidence of German determination to expunge
the crimes of Nazism by forcing the Allies to admit that
they never really took place or, at least, were much exag-
gerated. As for the demand for the end of the occupation
regime, that of course is intended to remove all remain-
ing obstacles to the rebuilding of the German arms in-
dustry and to end such reforms as the anti-cartelization
laws. .
It may shock some people to find that less than seven | :
years after V-E Day, the Germans feel strong enough to
put forward such demands. Still more alarming is the’
fact that they can probably enforce most of them, For as
many obsetvers foresaw when the project of rearming
West Germany first emerged from the Pentagon in 1950,
and as the German expert interviewed by Mr.-del Vayo.
reports, we have dealt Bonn a winning poker hand. Now §
Chancellor Adenauer is raising the ante and forcing us to i,
pay up. As Drew Middleton wrote in the New York:
Times of February 10: “No one doubts that the West
needs Germany, although the degree of the need has fy
been greatly exaggerated by those who think solely in L
terms of army divisions. But the Germans no longer need
the West as much as they did, and in the future they’ will .
need it still less. . . . It must be expected that the leaders.
of the Federal Republic will become more difficult, not [il
easier, to deal with in the future, especially in the months
between now and next year’s election,” . a
oh. rae
The NATION M,
5 ae i ei nati
estaenital Deohrmen:
E BY WILLARD SHELTON
Washington, February 6
o 9); ESIDENT TRUMAN today picked an obscure
. ] _ Assistant Secretary of the Interior, Dale E. Doty, to
fill the vacancy on the Federal Power Commission left
by the departure last October of Mon C, Wallgren, who
in sixteen months of service had thoroughly besmirched
_ the commission’s fine record of defending the public in-
terest against predatory electric and natural-gas com-
panies. Nothing derogatory is known about Mr, Doty.
For a number of years he has been a protégé of Secre-
tary of the Interior Oscar Chapman, one of the few
im es officials in the Administration who have
for consumer interests. But the public should
be told how Mr, Truman’s “friends” managed to block
the appointment of candidates for the post whose records
entitled them to serious consideration,
One of these candidates was Raymond S. McKeough,
former Democratic Representative from Illinois who
had made a fine reputation on the old Maritime Com-
Mmission. Another was Mrs. Chase Going Woodhouse,
_ who as a Democratic Representative from Connecticut
had shown herself to be a dependable liberal. A third
‘was a member of the FPC’s professional staff eminently
qualified for promotion by his knowledge of the field.
| M age had the powerful backing of Frank E. Mc-
Kinney, chairman of the Democratic National Commit-
tee. Mrs. Woodhouse was the second choice of Mrs.
India Edwards, head of the committee's women’s divi-
‘sion. Support from the National Committee, it turned
out, was no help.
McKinney's efforts in behalf of McKeough were op-
| posed by President Truman’s secretary, Matt Connelly,
1} and his administrative assistant for personnel, Donald
| S. Dawson. McKeough was called a “trouble-maker.”
‘| His “loyalty” to the President was questioned. The only
8} conceivable explanation for these charges is that he was
5} the one member of the old Maritime Commission who
| had refused to approve loose accounting practices and
4} scandalous subsidies to private ship operators, the one
member who had escaped scathing Congressional criti-
a) cism, the one member whose actions had not invited at-
) tack on the Administration.
*| When McKinney continued to support McKeough, he
#}\ met other obstacles. McKeough was said to have the back-
i} ing of a former celebrated New Dealer whom the Presi-
ident detests—the “kiss of death.” It was reported that
) Senator Edwin C. Johnson of Colorado, chairman of the
}) Interstate Commerce Committee, would refuse to allow
ih) McKeough’s confirmation. To the question what John-
son had against McKeough nobody has given a clear-
cut answer, but his opposition is amply confirmed.
J
ebruary 16, 1952
Oo) ”
* Bs le — " as
‘Had the Presideat been well advised, he would have
known that he was badly in need of a liberal of tested
quality to replace Wallgren. In 1950 Mr. Truman
vetoed the Kerr natural-gas bill, which would have re-
lieved “independent” gas companies of FPC regulation
of their rates. Last August, Wallgren in effect annulled
the veto in the specific case of the Phillips Petroleum
Company by a written decision that the FPC had never
possessed any authority over the rates charged by inde-
pendent gas companies. The Wallgren opinion and the
President's message vetoing the Kerr bill were in direct
contradiction, A public-utilities magazine, hailing the
FPC decision, frankly exulted that Wallgren had given
the natural-gas industry everything it could have hoped
for under the Kerr bill—and perhaps more.
The Kerr bill was fought by Senator Paul H. Douglas
of Illinois and Senator Estes Kefauver of Tennessee as
prejudicial to consumers. It was also opposed by William
M. Boyle, Jr., then chairman of the Democratic National
Committee, and Secretary Chapman. Douglas estimated
that if the bill were passed, consumers would soon be
paying from $200,000,000 to $300,000,000 a year more
in gas rates, and called it a ‘‘five-to-ten-billion-dollar
bonanza” for the gas producers. Republicans hoped the
President would sign the measure and thus prove that
he gave only lip-service to the interests of consumers;
the majority of Senate Republicans voted against the
bill. When Mr. Truman's veto was announced, Senator
Douglas said, “God bless the President of the United
States!”
Then everything was undone by Wallgren, The pro-
fessional staff of the FPC frankly admitted that the de-
cision in the Phillips case was contrary to their judgment.
Unless it is reversed, independent gas companies are left
‘completely unregulated as to rates, and consumers will
pay through the nose, Gas-pipe-line operators, en-
couraged by the trend of events, are beating at the doors
of the commission demanding to be allowed to raise
their rates, and if the requested inereases go through,
state and local regulatory bodies will have no choice but
to allow local retailers of gas to raise prices.
Mr. Doty, Truman’s appointee, may prove an excellent
commissioner. In the cockpit of FPC controversies, where
powerful industrialists and members of Congress fight
for the spoils, he may reveal the granite-like qualities
needed for public service. One hopes so. Thomas
Buchanan, the one FPC commissioner who disagreed
with the Phillips decision and wrote a brilliant dissenting
opinion, must feel lonely these days in his job. Unfor-
tunately it has been made reasonably clear that honest
and genuine service to the people—service which does
credit to the Administration instead of provoking criti-
cism for laxity and impropriety—is not always rewarded,
Not when the White House cronies see a chance to
intervene,
149
HE witch hunt has now been extended to the high-
est echelons of American business and government,
and even to the White House. This was bound to hap-
pen sooner or later, Once the informer is officially sanc-
tioned—as by the Attorney General of the United States
urging college students to tell tales on their instructors,
ee: ot by Edgar Hoover beseeching taxicab drivers to help
him catch spies—he becomes all-powerful; literally no
one is immune from his prying and tattling.
This was clearly established by the witch hunt in the
wake of World War I. At first only anarchists and wob-
blies were beaten up and kicked around, but from 1921
to 1924 the FBI, with J. Edgar Hoover as assistant
director, put Senators and Representatives under surveil-
lance—rifled their files, examined their mail bags, got
servants in their homes to report on their actions; it even
set a watch on a federal judge, The story is being re-
peated today but with variations in scale and tempo.
On January 28, for example, Senator Joseph R. Mc-
Carthy gave the press a copy of a letter he had sent to
Henry R. Luce, editor-in-chief of Time, demanding that
Time withdraw certain charges. Coupled with the de-
- mand was the threat that if the magazine did not comply
promptly, the Senator would place his case before “all
of your advertisers.” In this impudent note Mr, Luce
was accused—I imagine for the first time in his career—
of “rendering almost unlimited service to the Communist
cause and undermining America.” The basis of this hor-
rendous charge was simply that T7me had dared criticize
Joseph R. McCarthy. A year or so back it was Adam
Hats and Drew Pearson that felt the Senator's lash;
today the most powerful magazine publisher in America
is his victim, Nor is McCarthy's threat an idle one.
Should the present witch hunt continue unabated, it is
conceivable that even Mr. Luce could be made to toe
the line.
Consider the extraordinary “leak” of confidential in-
formation from the Loyalty Review Board to Senator
McCarthy, Commenting on McCarthy's evident access to
the board’s records, the Washington Post said on January
18: “It is plain that some person inside the Loyalty
_ Review Board is giving classified. material to Senator
McCarthy . .. and is thus guilty of one of the specific
activities which the executive order directs the Loyalty
Review Board to consider in connection with the de-
termination of disloyalty.” Such a statement carries seri-
ous implications. The board has been converted into an
instrument in a partisan struggle for power. If informers
have infiltrated the Loyalty Review Board, they are doubt-
150
pits da:
Wath *
Yep
urn, - a
"Capes Ai
BY CAREY McWILLIAMS, 4
less to be found in the Pentagon, in the offices of Con-
gressmen, among the clerical staff of the Supreme Court,
and perhaps in the White House. /
Two recent incidents show that this supposition is not’ |
groundless, On January 29 Senator McCarthy charged |
that Philleo Nash, a member of President Truman’s Oe 4
had been named in FBI reports as a person who had had"
close connections with Communists in the 1940's, The —
Senator, of course, offered no proof that the reports were
correct, but suppose they were. How does it happen that
McCarthy has access to confidential files of the FBI?
Can there be informers in the FBI? One would prefer
to believe this than to have to conclude that J. Edgar
Hoover himself has been feeding information to McCar- «|
thy, but the circumstances warrant the latter inference.
Or consider the case of David Lloyd, a highly re-
spected special assistant to the President. In 1950 charges *
were made against Mr. Lloyd by Senator McCarthy on
the basis of information supplied by “sources at the
Loyalty Review Board.” Since no supporting evidence
was offered, formal charges were never filed and no. —
hearing was held, McCarthy now claims that the Lloyd —
case was closed on orders from the White House. If
this is true, how does Senator McCarthy happen to know ]
it? Has he an informer in the White House or on the
Loyalty Review Board, or is he able, like the man in the
Marcel Ayme story, to walk through stone walls?
The Lloyd and Nash incidents indicate that the White
House itself is now under surveillance, a conclusion also
implicit in the Max Lowenthal incident.
On January 24, 1952, Representative George A. Don-
dero of Michigan viciously attacked Lowenthal on the
floor of the House, charging that he was “back on the
Washington scene’ and had “recently almost succeeded —
in dealing a death blow to the government's program in
prosecuting Communists.” According to Dondero, Low- §
enthal was “‘the architect of the plan to fire J. Howard §f
McGrath” and to name Justin Miller as his-successor.
Dondero said further: “I am... keeping my eye peeled 9"
to find out what he is doing now, in the hope that when ff
it is discovered I can expose it here before the Congress 4
of the United States and the American people.” Any- ~—
‘one familiar with Dondero’s assault upon modern ab- 4 ;
stract artists as agents of the Kremlin would dread to be’
“exposed” by him; he is a man with a Pe if er-
ratic, political imagination.
Max Lowenthal, the target of this attack, is a well a 4
known New York lawyer. He was counsel for one of the ©
Truman investigations for several years and has remained —
The Nation
D Piswcaital was es to appear before
ne House Committee on Un-American Activities. The
ook was highly critical of the FBI, and extraordinary
pressures, first to prevent its publication and later to im-
pede its sales, were brought to bear on Lowenthal and his
publishers. But these efforts failed, and the staff of the
House committee were equally unable “to lay a hand”
on the book’s author, Last spring Lowenthal repeated
his criticism of the FBI in a paper which he read before
a conference on law enforcement sponsored by the Law
School of the University of Chicago. In this paper,
entitled “Police Methods in Crime Detection and Coun-
ter-Espionage,” he maintained that by “placing under
police scrutiny the thoughts, the beliefs, the reading mat-
ter, and the circle of acquaintances of large numbers of
Americans,” the FBI had created an atmosphere in which
spies were able to operate more freely than before the
witch hunt began. It can be imagined that Mr. Hoover, as
sensitive to criticism as his friend Walter Winchell, did
not take this statement lightly.
ASHINGTON observers confirm the plain im-
plication of Dondero’s speech—that Lowenthal
ha d been at the White House and had talked with the
President. No responsible person, however, confirms the
alleged “plot,” to quote the Chicago Tribune’s character-
ization of the supposed interview. In any case one won-
ders how Reptesentative Dondero knew what was said in
‘a conversation between the President and Mr. Lowenthal?
Both are seasoned public men with a reputation for re-
Specting confidences. Conceivably the White House staff
of 300 workers contains one or more informers. Another
possible inference—the more likely the more one studies
Dondero’s speech of January 24—is that informers or
those occasional “informants” of the FBI whom its chief
generally indorses as “confidential” or ‘reliable’ have
had Lowenthal and the White House under surveillance
for some time.
‘The close friendship between J. Edgar Hoover and
"Dondero is a matter of common knowledge. According
‘] to the New York Post of January 25, “Dondero, like
} Winchell, has frequently displayed notably close connec-
4 tions with the FBI.” In 1946 Dondero told his colleagues
}) in the House that he had spent long hours with J. Edgar
1 Hoover, getting confidential information about spies and
such. In an earlier attack on Lowenthal in 1947 Don-
dero asserted that he knew what the FBI knew or claimed
0 know about Lowenthal. At the time of the attempt to
) Suppress Lowenthal’s book in 1950, it was Dondero who
’ | made the chief speech against Lowenthal in Congress.
| Supporting the inference that the FBI is keeping tabs
a the White House is a little-noticed but significant fact.
The Secret Service, which is under the Treasury Depart-
y
ID
‘F lebruary 16, 1952
a
ment, has always had the responsibility for protecting the
White House and the President. Secret Service agents —
see everyone who goes into the White House offices or
the President’s study. The time, to the hour and minute,
of everything that happens in the White House, includ-
ing all arnivals and departures, is carefully noted. Secret
ervice agents are in the White House all night. They
watch the switchboards, guard the leon see any
papers left on the desks. If the FBI had this function, it
would have innumerable opportunities to acquire power
at the highest deci-
sion-making levels.
J. Edgar Hoover
has long sought to de-
ptive the Secret Serv-
ice of this high re-
sponsibility and to
acquire it for the FBI.
The Herbert Hoover
Commission recom-
mended such a trans-
fer. Up to the present,
however, J. Edgar has
failed to win the
White House prize,
though he has never
given up hope that it
would some day be
his, In the meantime
he has wangled thou-
sands of dollars of
special appropriations from Congress for the “protection”
of the President, protection which the present incum-
bent of the White House has never asked for. It is
well known that President Truman, since the days when
he was a Senator, has looked with disfavor on the FBI's
repeated bid for new powers. It was in part to curb
the bureau that he appointed the Nimitz Commission last
year to survey internal security problems; and it was
Hoover's influence in Congress that scuttled the com-
mission, Not for years has the Department of Justice
been in any sense independent of the FBI; Hoover has
been the master-mind of the witch hunt.
Today President Truman is thoroughly aware that he is
a Major target of the more audacious witch-hunters, He
is far too astute not to know that the FBI supplies
McCarthy with information. The President has surely
noted the FBI's failure to deny that it has been feeding
information to Dondero, McCarthy, and other enemies of
the Administration. Back in 1950 Wisconsin newspapers
published an indorsement of McCarthy by J. Edgar
Hoover—the statement is said to have helped “rebuild”
McCarthy at a time when his prestige was at a low ebb.
Thus in the first weeks of 1952 it has become clear
—if it was not always clear—that literally no Ameri-
151
‘ ]. Edgar Hoover
=~"
»
‘“
>
_ shadow the White House without the
i Cane CaaS gee
ae eas 8
“~ he - ”
a oe RISE eo Sty
can is beyond the reach of weit Bint or the vicious
activities of informers. If the FBI, or “confidential in-
formants” of the type constituting one of the main
sources of FBI information or misinformation, can
President's
knowledge or consent, then no agency of government is
immune. Does the FBI have its eye on Justices Black and
_ Douglas? Has it shadowed Judge Delbert Metzger in
Hawaii? What Senator or Representative can today feel
sure that the FBI does not have some ‘“‘confidential in-
formant’ in his office, reading his mail, jotting down the
names of visitors?
The shadow that has now fallen on the White House
fell long ago across every government agency, most
factories, many businesses, and literally millions of
American homes. Few institutions of higher learning can
ignore the informers in their midst. This shadow might
still be dispelled if people of power and influence could
be induced to speak out, as some of them finally did in
the 1920's. But many of these people are now intimi-
dated, or hesitant for other reasons. In Wisconsin, Gov-
ernor Kohler has finally decided not to oppose McCarthy,
thus insuring the latter’s renomination, The day that
__ McCarthy attacked Henry Luce, the Senate Rules sub-
committee, weakened by the resignation of Margaret
The igh Cost of Health
MONG the many rising items in the rising cost of
living is medical care, including pre-paid medical
insurance, the panacea which the American Medical
Association offers us as a safe substitute for the horrors
of “socialized medicine.” On May 1 both the Associated
Hospital Service (Blue Cross) and the United Medical
Service (Blue Shield) of New York will advance their
subscription rates. Group membership in the first, which
provides coverage against hospital fees, will in the future
bi cost $1.60 a month for an individual instead of $1.24,
and $4.36 for a family instead of $3.56, Moreover, mar-
_ ried couples without children, who at present pay $2.72
a month, are to be charged the full family rate. Such
_ couples, it is explained, are mostly elderly and require,
on the average, as much service as families with children.
The United Medical Service provides either surgical
care and in-hospital medical care or surgical care only. Its
rates for the more complete service are to increase from
72 cents to 88 cents monthly for an individual, from
$1.64 to $2.00 for husband and wife, and from $2.96 to
$3.40 for a family.
As a result of these changes the total cost of family
- coverage against illnesses and accidents requiring hos-
152 "4
as!
Deg Cae .
nO. hase S oe ncon. nclusin € n at nc
“eteotigly nih ct ene be taken”
to carry out its previous decision to investigate enatot
Benton's charges against McCarthy. That project would
now seem to be as dead as the dodo. A House committee
has voted to investigate the Department of Justice— ©
meaning Attorney General J. Howard McGrath—but —
there is not the slightest likelihood that it will question”
J. Edgar Hoover on his relations with McCarthy and —
Dondero and other political enemies of the Adminis-
tration.
Those who want to roll back the “black shadow of: 4
fear’’—the phrase is Justice William O, Douglas'’s—now.
enveloping so large an area of American life must realize
that behind the McCarthys stand those who really direct’
the witch hunt; behind the puppet is the puppeteer. —
Joe McCarthy, like Charlie, is a puppet; but who pulls —
the strings? Congress could easily find out if it inves- ©
tigated the FBI as it did in 1924. At least once every |)
twenty-five years J. Edgar Hoover should be required to |
answer a few questions, and the questioning should be ~
done, as Max Lowenthal stated in his Chicago speech,
by ‘‘a staff of such courage and independence that it can +
decline to rest on the assertion of the [FBI] and can —
insist on answers... .”
ma
BY KEITH HUTCHISON
pitalization will be $93.12 a year. And this not incon-
siderable item is of course only a part and often quitea
small part of the average family’s health budget. More- |
over, Blue Shield only meets surgeons’ and physicians’
bills in full when the subscriber's income is under a quite
modest level—$4,000 for a family or $2,500 for an [fu
individual. In other cases the patient receives a credit — le
_ which is usually well below the doctor's fee. Bs
‘Writing of the Blue Shield type of contract in the —
Atlantic Monthly of October, 1950, Dr. James Howard ff
Means, professor of clinical medicine at Harvard-Uni- [itv
versity, said: “While these plans are of some assistance [td
in aiding surgeons and obstetricians to collect their fees, 4 he
and while they act as a bit of a cushion for the patient fh,
facing a big bill for a surgical or obstetrical procedure, fia
they obviously have glaring deficiencies. For one thing, J hh
they probably do not cover more than one-sixth of the By
avetage family’s annual doctor's bill, so that they are’ Be:
hardly more than a token of economic aid.” { ey
If my own experience is at all typical for middle- Hiv,
income families, Dr. Means errs on the side of modera- ty.
tion. In the past seven years Blue Cross and Blue Shield fi
premiums have accounted for about one-tenth of my an-—
The NATION.
i
/ hy
‘in the Soeiiy a oh one operation, entailing
hree days in hospital, on which occasion I recovered
rom a Blue Cross and Blue Shield about half my expenses.
er year I developed an infection which proved to
be relatively mild but which produced in its early stages
ome symptoms alarming to my doctor. As a result, a
pecialist was called in and I was subjected to some
elaborate tests. The upshot was reassuring, but the total
Xp ense of this illness, exceeding $300, was decidedly
debilitating to my bank account; since no hospitalization
was involved nothing was recoverable from the insurance
plans. However, this was exceptional, and the real bur-
den of the family’s annual health bill is due to what
ay be called routine expenses for check-ups, care of
eeth and eyes, minor ailments, and prescriptions.
Thete are prepaid medical-insurance schemes that
cover a good many of these expenses. One of them, the
Farmers’ Union Hospital Association of Elk City, Okla-
| homa, was described in The Nation of February 2, That
group suffered from boycott by the local medical society;
and similar bodies, such as the Group Health Association
of Washington, the Permanente Health Plan in Califor-
nia, and the Health Insurance Plan of Greater New
York, have also been criticized and obstructed by organ-
ized medicine, which appears to view them as only
slightly less dangerous than government health insurance.
_ Despite obstacles, such plans have found wide accept-
ance in the few areas where they have been tried. New
York’s H. I. P., for instance, has now more than 280,000
members, although it accepts only employee groups and
their families. Its members are entitled to choose a family
doctor from a long list of general practitioners, and to
receive medical, surgical, and specialist care at home, at
| doctors’ offices, and in hospital. The service includes reg-
} ular health examinations, immunization and tests, ma-
| ternity and child care, eye examinations, physical therapy,
X-ray examinations and treatments, psychiatric examina-
tions, visiting nurses, and the use of an ambulance when
necessary. It does not cover dental care, prescribed drugs,
diologicals, appliances, treatments for acute alcoholism
or drug addiction, or mental disorders requiring institu-
ional treatment. It also excludes hospital costs, but mem-
| bers are required to carry hospitalization 1 insurance $0 as
to complete their protection.
‘There are no plans, I am told, for increasing H. I. P.
} subscription rates at the present time..On the contracts
| covering employees and families they range from $34.32
| for one with two or more dependefitts. This applies to
hose with family incomes not exceeding $6,500 or to
j}) single employees earning up to $5,000. Those with
| greater incomes pay about 50 per cent more, Thus for
bruary 16, 1952
i
innually for an employee with no dependents to $103.48
aes ocala family the eerbidition of H. L P, an
Blue Cross will cost $155.80 annually after May 1, With
dental cate and other excluded items added, the total
health bill is not likely to be less than $200 and may be
considerably more.
INCE this is probably the broadest and most satisfac-
tory plan for meeting health expenses now available
to Americans, it is interesting to compare its costs with
those of the British Health Service, which has much
broader coverage even when allowance is made for the
trimming of benefits just proposed by the Tory govern-
ment, The British service, as its critics are so fond of
telling us, is not really “free”; like education in this
country it is paid for through taxes, on the ground that
health is as much a matter of public concern as literacy.
The gross cost in 1949-50 was $1,220,800,000, or 3.6
per cent of total consumer expenditure, This amounted
to $24.31 per capita, or $97.24 for a family of four.
In this country total private expenditure for medical
services and commodities in 1949 has been estimated at
$7,900,000,000, about 11 per cent of which was covered
by voluntary insurance benefits and indemnities.* This
was 4.4 per cent of total consumer expenditure in that
year and amounted to $54 per capita, or $212 per family
of four.
Of course many American families don’t spend any-
thing like that sum on health: they can’t afford the
money and in many cases don't get the medical care even
when they need it desperately. The New York World-
Telegram of January 29 published a report from Big
Stone Gap, Virginia, about a mother who set out over
a mountain trail with a sick baby to reach a hospital. A
neighbor explained that three doctors had been called
before they found one “who talked like he was going to
come. That one asked whether Mrs, Hazelwood had any
money in the house.” She did not, and the upshot was
the baby died of pneumonia a few minutes after its
mother reached the hospital. After investigating this
case, Dr, E. J. Benko, chairman of the Wise County
Medical Society’s Board of Censors, said, according to
the New York Herald Tribune of January 30, that a doc-
tor is “a damn fool to go out without knowing whether
he is going to get paid.’ County doctors, he added, are
willing to accept charity cases, “but nobody wants to get
stuck with a dead beat.”
I don’t imagine that story could be duplicated in
Britain, where since the Health Service started, a baby’s
right to life has been a civic right and not a matter of
charity. But until health care in this country is provided
on the basis of need instead of ability to pay, such human
sacrifices are likely to be among the costs of private-
enterprise medicine.
*]. S. Falk, Director, Division of Research and Statistics, Social
Security Agency, in Annals of the American Academy of Political
and Social Science, January, 1951.
153
eo ae a Se
+a se Sly 2
;
Rohe nys Price Comm
he ear
Se a He io a
a ge oka
; ? Led oY _
ie ca il eee
Wd Covad he ee oy
a a AS nea) Sith td ce
Paris, February 2
HE other day I talked for several hours with a
German who by reason of his official position
thoroughly understands the “German problem.” No
one could suspect him of being friendly to Russia—
In fact, he criticized Russian policy severely—but he was
convinced that the German policy of the Atlantic powers
had taken a dangerous turn, His view of the present
situation and of the way it is likely to develop is worth
passing on to American readers,
“Throughout Germany,” he said, “the people are
doing their best, In this respect they cannot be criticized.
West Germany has a great deal of unemployment and
is burdened with the refugees from the east. East Ger-
many, far from being troubled with unemployment,
needs workers badly, But West Germany is benefiting
from a great influx of foreign private capital. Copious
funds are being made available, partly because no
controls have been imposed on the economy and partly
because Western policy favors Germany above other
European countries. The product of West German in-
dustry, moreover, is in great demand for Atlantic de-
fense, East Germany has the advantage of lower prices;
many West Germans go to the Soviet-controlled eastern
zone to buy food, The shop windows in the West are
filled with luxuries like oranges, which are almost never
seen in the east, but Soviet propaganda asserts that the
east zone’s cheap potatoes are a still stronger attraction.
The difference in the cost of living in the two zones
has slowed the stream of refugees flowing westward.”
Since the question of German rearmament is now so
urgent, I asked him how the Germans themselves felt
about it.
“In general,” he said, “they are not enthusiastic.
In recent Gallup polls even young people have been 70
per cent against remilitarization, But this spontaneous
opposition is counteracted by outside pressures. Young
people in Germany today feel terribly confused, just as
they do in other European countries. In East Germany
they parade and make speeches to the satisfaction of the
Soviet authorities and seem converted to communism,
but I will wager that one day they will march against
Russia. And in West Germany the same young men who
are now talking about enlisting in a European army will
some day march against France. The only strong, genuine
emotion in either group is devotion to Germany and to
the idea of a reunited Germany.
“West German youth call themselves ‘democratic
and anti-militarist,’ but recently their attitude has been
154
BY J. ALVAREZ DEL VAYO
somewhat affected by the growth of such organi-
zations as the Bund Deutscher Jugend. Being rabidly
anti-Communist, this group has received strong financial
support and greatly increased its membership, The
Bundesjugendring, which is made up of young people ©
of widely varying views and usually takes a democratic ©
position, has not shown itself very ‘cooperative’ on the ©
question of rearmament and is not so well off for funds.’ |
But of course the attitude of the youth, though im- |
portant, is not decisive with the Bonn government.” 1
I then asked Herr if he would permit me a direct —
question: Did he himself favor the rearmament of Ger- ; @
many?
“In the form in which it is at present conceived, no,”
he replied; ‘‘in its original form, with the Germans’ mili-
tary contribution kept to proper proportions, yes, If Ger-
mans will help defend their own country only for a ©
price, and that price is that they shall be treated as the ©
most privileged member of the European community 7
and be allowed to destroy every seed of future German _
democracy, then, as a liberal, I hope they do not get ,
their price. I do not want to see former S, S. officers |
strutting through the streets as our new masters, I am
outraged when I hear a man like Frauenfeld, the ex- .
Gauleiter of Austria, say that Hitler's S, S. were “élite |
European troops.” It is bad enough that at this very —
moment the S. S. is preparing for a great ‘reunion’
in Germany, to which former Nazis are coming from [#@
Spain and Argentina and the other countries where they
have been trying to revive the Nazi movement.” ;
I put in a question: “Don’t the Germans know that by _
making too many demands they may come a cropper?”
“Chancellor Adenauer knows it, but he is under con- —
stant pressure from his entourage to extract every pos-
sible advantage from the American interest in German
rearmament. The other day I said to a high government
official that this was no time to talk about rectifying the JM
eastern frontier. He replied that if the Germans wefe not [@ },
given satisfaction in this matter, there would be no Ger-
man divisions: the Allies could take their choice. I said |
that in the present difficult international situation the |
Allies could not raise that question without seeming to—
be directly provoking Russia. He insisted that the Allies
must secure the return of the eastern provinces to Ger-
many, compensate Poland with Russian territory, anc
make it up to Russia in some other way. How, for in-
stance, I asked him, Well, he said, there is Yugoslavia. If
the Allies would let Russia take over Yugoslavia, Mos-
cow would gladly make a deal. I observed that the policy
The Natio. .
policy frequently Saad a had changed toward
Franco and might toward Tito.
“Several things are behind the Germans’ exigent at-
titude. There was the speech of High Commissioner
_ McCloy on December 17 pointing out that the United
_ States had a ‘German policy in reserve, in addition to the
_ European army.’ More important was the action of Mr.
_ Harriman, head of the Mutual Security Agency, in
_ choosing William H. Draper as his personal representa-
_ tive in Europe. Mr, Draper is remembered as one who
rendered the German ruling class many services when he
___ was General Clay's right-hand man: among other things
he retracted earlier decrees concerning demilitarization
_ and the dissolution of industrial cartels, But the chief
| _ feason for Bonn’s increasing boldness is found in the re-
| __ ports from Washington that the American military plan-
"ners, seeing that efforts to build a European defense com-
| munity were bogged down, had decided to separate the
problem of German rearmament from the problem of
European unification, instead of making one conditional
_ on the other, as the French demanded. I have cited only
_ public and well-known occurrences, but I might also speak
_ Of the secret encouragement given to the German gen-
erals by American military men who have asked them to
help pick the officers for the future European army.”
a “It is said the British have obtained better results
_ than the Americans in reeducating the Germans for de-
mocracy. Is that true?”
democratization have been a failure, Did you hear about
what happened at a UNESCO meeting the other day,
here in Paris? A hundred German students were invited
__ by the Allies to come to Paris to learn about the work of
_ the specialized U. N, agencies, They were shown a num-
__ ber of films, one of which referred in restrained terms to
_ the crimes of the Nazis. The German students rose in a
body and left the room!
“The idea of remilitarization was repugnant to almost
everybody a few months ago. But since the Germans
‘have discovered that if they rearm, their country can
_ become again the leading power in Europe, the opposi-
_ tion is dissolving. Those in favor are still a minority, but
when they say that rearmament will win for Germany
the financial and political support of the most powerful
mation on earth, the United States, they have an effective
argument, No country is recovering more rapidly or feels
‘More confident of the future than Germany. Its faith in
itself is confirmed by the stock market: West German
industrial stocks which two months ago sold on the
Paris Bourse for 900 francs have gone up to 5,000.”
_ I asked how the Germans felt about the European
army,
_ “Just when it seemed that agreement on a European
February 16, 1952
swith @ anille that Aloa:
“Perhaps to some extent. But in general all attempts at |
de ense spiel was going to fe racked, ‘after great dif-
- ficulty, in Paris, the whole plan was jeopardized by Ger-
many’s demand to be accepted into NATO, This was
carrying the equal-rights theory to extremes, And instead
of trying to allay French anxiety, Bonn chose to empha-
size that a new and powerful Wehrmacht would emerges
from the plan for a European army, which theoretically
was supposed to be able to restrain German ambitions,
At about the same time Bonn reacted brusquely to the ap-
pointment of High Commissioner Granval as French
ambassador to the Saar. It is interesting to note that the
Socialists objected even more strongly than the Chancel-
lor, reproaching Adenauer for his ‘concessions’ to
France and demanding a firm policy on the Saar. In these
domestic struggles the winner is always the same military
and industrial clique which caused the two world wars.
Seeing Germany courted by the Americans, this clique
is now resolved to make the United States pay the high-
est possible price for German rearmament.
“The Nazis, of course, are pleased by this develop-
ment. A year ago people would get excited when a known
Nazi who had been prudently lying low was appointed to
a government ministry or to the board of directors of a
big industrial enterprise. Nowadays that happens so often
that only a foreign correspondent recently arrived in
Germany would see a story in it, But the chief difference
between a year ago and today is that Nazis then were
satisfied to get good jobs in the civil administration or in
ptivate business while now they have trained their sights
on the future German army, Many of the majors, cap-
tains, lieutenants, and sergeants of the new German divi-
sions, the officers who mold an army's character, will be
active Nazis. In the beginning these divisions will owe
allegiance to a supra-national ‘Europe,’ but soon they will
become an embryo German army, and as the result of
German experience over the past five years a belligerent
and aggressive army, Americans who are shocked that
France retains its traditional distrust of Germany should
remember the long past. A man in Colorado, living four
thousand miles from the Rhine, views German rearma-
ment very differently from a Frenchman who realizes
that while the Russians may attack France, the Germans
have attacked it many times,
“Some people think it will take at least two years to
rearm West Germany. This is a gross miscalculation.
They forget the most important factor in German rearm-
ament—the ‘cadres.’ While France is stripped of its new
officers by the Indo-Chinese war, which absorbs each year
an entire class of Saint-Cyr graduates, Germany has on
hand more officers than it can use. The organizations of
veterans, of former officers, that have been revived dur-
ing the past year or so are already at work selecting the
‘cadres’ of the new German divisions. These are officers
trained in the war against Russia—a fact that increases
their value. The German military program is much farther ©
155
ta Pre
‘Beste
on advanced than official comments in . NATO would lead
_ you to believe.”
_ “Do you think the French reaction will induce a dip-
- Jomatic retreat on the Germans’ part?” I asked.
“I am afraid not, France has been forced to yield
ground continuously in the past twelvemonth, and the
Germans are flushed with victory. France is likely to find
itself facing such a strong Germany that the desired eco-
a nomic union with the Saar will prove as impossible
: as it was in 1935. Soon, if events continue on their pres-
ent course, Germany will have the strongest army in
Western Europe. That will cause forebodings in Euro-
_ peans who recall Germany's resurgence after Jena and
% after Versailles, The demand of the leading Bonn diplo-
F "mat, Hallistein, that Germany be admitted to NATO can
1g be ignored for a time—it may not even be discussed at
_ the coming meeting of the Atlantic Council in Lisbon—
but it will probably be granted in the end.”
I asked how he thought Russia would react to this.
“I shall not venture an opinion on that. Moscow
- continues to support Grotewohl’s unity campaign and
_ offer of free elections, but I am inclined to think it has
FTER a lapse of fifty years the Malthusian theory
has again come into vogue. Malthus, it will be re-
called, spent the greater part of his life gathering statis-
___ tics to prove that while the world’s population increased
geometrically, the world’s food supply increased arith-
_ metically. The inference, of course, was that a point
-_ would be reached at which the population could no
longer be fed. Periodically the Malthusian theory has
feenjoyed a wide appeal; its popularity today is merely the
latest of a number of similar resurrections. Are we really
incapable of producing the food we need? The neo-
_ Malthusians say “yes,” but are they right?
___ Malthus was the victim of a basic mistake, for he took
we as his starting point the rate of population growth in the
_ United States at the end of the eighteenth century, when
political and economic conditions placed a premium on
Jarge families. During the next century his theory was
partly borne out by the facts, but by 1900 the net repro-
duction rate had fallen so sharply in Western Europe that
its validity was questioned. And the rate has continued
JOSUE DE CASTRO is head of the Institute of Nutrition
of the University of Brazil and chairman of the Executive
Council of the U. N. Food and Agriculture Organization.
This article is taken from his forthcoming book, “Geog-
raphy of Hunger,” to be published by Little, Brown.
156
. ee ae
‘ i mae ,
little faith i in h his $ success. To ans
7 be Malthusian Scarecrow
hi
‘ a
m t G
armament by arming East Germany w ould
adequate counter-move. A remilitarized West Geemany- -
supported by the enormous industrial potential of the
United States would constitute such a threat to Russia
that one can hardly expect it to remain idle while the
plan is carried through. How it can block the process is a
question. At one time it seemed possible that to pre-
vent German rearmament Russia would even go to war.
But recently Soviet diplomats have given the impres-
sion that they are equally concerned with other issues, -
such as the nationalist movements in Asia and the Middle
East. I do not believe that Egypt is nearly so important
to Russia as Germany, but if Moscow could convince
the Allies that it might give way in the Middle and Far
East in return for the abandonment of German te-
armament, it might cause a split between the French and
the Anglo-Americans.”
“Then you believe that the danger of a violent Russian
reaction to German rearmament has passed?”
“By no means. There will be constant danger of it, in
my opinion, for the next few months,”
JOSUE DE CASTRO
to fall during the past fifty years. According to figures
released by the National Resources Committee in 1941,
the net reproduction rate for Sweden was then only .84,
which means that the number of births was more than
offset by the number of deaths. In 1939 the rate for
France was down to 0.9, for Germany (1938) to 0.99,
and for the United States to 1.01. More recent figures are
not available, but once the post-war “boom” in babies
has subsided there is every reason to believe that the net
reproduction rate will continue to fall in Western Europe
and in this country. In the Far East the facts bear out
Malthus’s theory somewhat better, but whether the rate
of population growth will continue to increase there
seems, in the light of European experience, rather doubt-
ful. Even if we concede Malthus’s theory of population
increase, his views on the world’s food supply are clearly
erroneous.
Contrary to Malthus’s prediction, food production can
undoubtedly keep pace with a rising birth rate. At the _
present time only about 10 per cent of the earth’s arable’
land is being cultivated, and the yield of most of this
could be doubled by the scientific use of new machinery,
fertilizers, planting techniques, insecticides, and hybrids.
The World Food Survey conducted by the U. N. re- ~
ported not long ago that with modern methods India
could increase its production of wheat as much as 50 per
The NATION
7 s Tea es,
t
a
a
fh
rr
3
te
ee Be
we sl billion more acres producing food.
A tundsed million more acres could be farmed in
-Oceani . Development of 10 per cent of the arable
land in Russia and Canada now untilled would mean
an additional three billion acres.
_ The population of the world increases by 1 per cent
evety year, but improvements in farming alone have
taised the output of food 14 per cent a year. The United
_ States Bureau of Agricultural Economics has reported
\ that during the five-year period 1941-46 the American
farmer “produced enough food each year to feed
50,000,000 more people than could have been fed at
comparable dietary levels during the last five years of the
1930's.” And this increase, the bureau says, was achieved
| _ with 10 per cent fewer men in the fields, most of it being
_ due to new fertilizers and insecticides and the develop-
ment of new types of seed and livestock.
| Increasing the acreage under cultivation and the out-
put per acre are only two means of increasing the food
supply. Many sources of food have not yet been exploited.
_ The sea produces vegetables, such as placto, which have
_ high nutritional value. Chroella, an alga which can be
| grown commercially in tanks and fed with minerals, is
| tich in proteins, A single installation could raise enough
of it to supply the proteins needed by three million peo-
_ ple and the fats for one and a half million. This
would be roughly equivalent to the production of
_ 150,000 acres of good arable land. New plants rich in
_ mineral content, such as the broelizceas (Broelia lacinicea
mart) of Brazil, which contain fifteen times as much
calcium as milk does, are being studied for commercial
planting. Besides these new natural sources, science is
every day discovering ways to manufacture nutrients. An
experimental factory i in Jamaica is already producing syn-
_ thetic foodstuffs, and similar projects are being set up in
other countries. In the 1930's German factories turned
out tons of synthetic fats.
. ESPITE these known facts the Malthusian theory
‘De has supporters, As theories have often done, it
~ survives the facts which contradict it because it can be
‘used to rationalize various interests and situations. Dur-
ing the nineteenth century, for example, the Malthusian
theory was used to justify starvation wages. If wages
were raised above subsistence levels, it was argued, the
birth rate would rise, and eventually there would be
“overpopulation” and famine. Just recently William
Vogt, a prominent neo-Malthusian, author of ‘‘Road to
Survival,” asserted that starvation in China and else-
where was ‘‘desirable” from the point of view of keeping
population and food supply in balafce. In one form or
ther this view is today widely held in the West.
Leaving aside the question of “‘desirability,” there are
‘ebruary 16, 1952
=
peas ty.
| ALOLIC
A eR ee ea
. Sethe
H Ow, of at birth rate. In the first place, outing the popu- ‘
lation down to meet the size of the available food supply
is about as logical as tailoring the man to fit the suit. The
second, more important, reason is that starvation does
not teduce population growth. Contrary to popular be-
lief, starvation actually causes overpopulation instead of
being caused by it. Paradoxical as it may seem, if we
were to feed the hungry in India and other places, the
birth rates in those nations would begin to drop. China,
India, Egypt, and the Latin American countries, with the
lowest nutritional levels in the world, have the highest
rates of population growth. In contrast, the populations
of countries which boast a high standard of living are
declining because the birth rate is falling.
Although starvation reduces the sex drive, people who
are subject to persistent malnutrition are sexually stimu-
lated. The psychological effect of chronic hunger is to
increase the importance of sex in compensation for the
loss of nutritional appetite, The high fertility index of
undernourished persons has a physical cause. Enough is
known about protein metabolism today to enable us to
trace the actual process by which protein deficiency
leads to increased fertility, Fecundation in women is
closely related to the amount of estrogen produced in
the system, Now since the liver controls the amount
of estrogen which is put into the blood stream, anything
that impairs the natural functioning of the liver will
affect fertility. Proteia deficiencies lead to cirshosis and
fatty degeneration of the liver, which in turn cause the
release of more estrogen and an increase in reproductive
capacity. Sexual appetite, a determinant of fertility, also
depends on the amount of estrogen in the system.
A comparison of the rates of population growth in
Japan before and after the last war confirms the belief
that starvation is one of the main causes of increased
reproduction. At the end of the war the average ration
for the civilian population in Japan was only about 1,000
calories a day. (The Medical Division of the Bombing
Survey reveals that in Kyoto, which had not been
bombed, the adult population had lost an average of ten
pounds per person, while 65 per cent of the total popu-
lation had lost about twenty pounds each.) Two years
after the beginning of the Allied occupation the daily
ration had been increased only to 1,240 calories a day, still
almost a thousand calories short of the required mini-
mum, And yet from 1945 to 1949 the increase of births
over deaths was 5,100,000—an increase without prece-
dent in the demographic history of Japan. This fact
alone refutes the neo-Malthusians, who view starvation
as the answer to the “threat” of overpopulation.
The empty sleeve of the Malthusian scarecrow has
flapped in the winds of prejudice for a century and a
half, but science and history have finally shown that no
one need take it seriously.
157 |
FE =<
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2 ET
BOOKS and th ARTS |
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_ Documentary of Evil
_ SPARK OF LIFE. By Erich Maria
Remarque. Translated from the Ger-
man by James Stern. Appleton-Cen-
tury-Crofts. $3.75.
RICH MARIA REMARQUE'S new
novel represents another instalment
in the payment of his membership dues
in the human race. It is an utterly un-
compromising and courageous book, the
_ more so because its subject matter is such
that it cannot be transferred to the
screen, as were ‘All Quiet on the West-
ern Front” and “Arch of Triumph”;
nor is it calculated to win a wider read-
ing public for Mr. Remarque, since de-
spite its idealism “Spark of Life” is one
of the most brutal books of our time.
It is an unsparing account of life and
death in an imaginary German concen-
tration camp in the spring of 1945.
Every act of physical hideousness of
which human beings, alone among the
_ animal kingdom, have been proved cap-
able during the past two decades is ré-
counted in revolting detail by Mr. Re-
marque, who seems to have been driven
by a fury to set down all of the facts
which it is to be hoped future genera-
tions will find difficult to believe.
The scene is a “mild” camp (without
crematorium) nestled in the hills above
a picturesque German town. While the
inmates are being beaten, clubbed,
starved, tortured, and shot, Allied artil-
lery rumbles beyond the horizon like the
distant voice of doom for the unheed-
ing Nazis. Finally the bombers come,
the town is destroyed, and the German
_ dead lay heaped beside their victims as
The suspense in the story hangs on
which of the camp “veterans” who, as
free men will, have banded together for
mutual protection will be able to hold
out until the collapse of their tormentors.
One by one they go, until only Prisoner
509, a ten-year man, and his imme-
diate group ate left to fan the feeble
spark of life in their bony breasts. We
are reminded that it was those whose
lives had purpose and direction, the re-
ligious Jews, the Catholics, the liberal
158
idealists like 509, and the Communists,
who were best fitted to outlast the camp
commandants. (We are further reminded
that the Communist prisoners themselves
were opposed to the camps, not in prin-
ciple, but only because they felt that the
wrong people were running them; it is
one of the implied purposes of the book
to warn that humanity is continuously
engaged in a running battle against
totalitarian tyranny that did not end
with the dissolution of the Nazi terror
apparatus. )
There are shades of good among the
prisoners, ranging from pathetic at-
tempts at fellowship to deeds of pure
heroism, but Mr. Remarque’s conception
of evil is narrow and obvious, unre-
lieved by serious probing into the inner
mental workings-or the pathology of -
the bestialized Nazis. We know that
there were men like Camp Commandant
Neubauer, the rotten and soulless petit-
bourgeois opportunist, and Breuer, the
textbook sadist, but we do not learn
from Mr. Remarque why they existed
or what made them as they were. He
comes down heavily upon the sickening
irony of the Neubauers cultivating their
flower gardens on the margins of the
torture centers—but this we knew al-
ready, and the dark inner reality of evil
he does not illuminate beyond a docu-
mentary enumeration of its physical ap-
paratus.
It is Mr. Remarque’s basic article of
faith that there are always men who are
truly human, in the face of the most
unspeakable degradation, and _ that
nothing can extinguish the spark of
humanity that is passed from genera-
tion to generation. What is more hor-
rifying about his novel than the descrip-
tions of moral purulence and physical
violence, however, is that it is a failure:
his faith is coldly contradicted by the
facts of the case as he himself presents
them. For Prisoner 509’s survival until
the verge of liberation is in the. last.
analysis due not to his unquenchable
humanity—except in isolated dramatic
instances—but only to sheer blind luck;
he and all of the other veterans could
have been exterminated—and if the war
had lasted for several more months,
would surely have been—at the pleasure
of the monsters who ran the state.
Since life would be intolerable if we
did not share, to one degree or another,
Mr. Remarque’s faith, it must be con-
cluded that it is not that faith which is
‘faulty in this shattering book but only
the artistry with which it is at-once ex-
pressed and negated.
HARVEY SWADOS
Israel’s Problems
ISRAEL: THE BEGINNING AND
TOMORROW. By Hal Lehrman.
William Sloane Associates. $3.75.
ETERNAL STRANGER. By Lawrence
Resner. Doubleday and Company. $3.
R. LEHRMAN’S survey of con-
temporary Israel is in several re-
spects first-rate as well as first-hand re-
porting. His book is lively, tart, and
eminently readable. He analyzes the
major problems besetting the new state,
such as party conflicts, church versus
state, the Arab dilemma, and so on, in
a workman-like fashion, shrewd and in-
formative. In his discussions he pains-
takingly presents contending points of
view and ostensibly offers the reader the
luxury of making up his own mind. The ~
blurb on the jacket characterizes the
book as “impartial,” and Mr. Lehrman
states his credo in a sentence which
recurs with variations throughout the
study: “The truth, as usual, Jay in be-
tween.”
This elaborate and hypothetical im-
partiality constitutes the book’s weakness
rather than its virtue. The “truth” rarely
locates itself so conveniently in the mid-
dle or on the fence; and though much
may be said on both sides, the mere —
process of equating arguments of op- —
posing factions is a form of judgment. _
Where claims are mutually exclusive,
by placing both on the scales as of |
equal worth the analyst has not escaped —
the responsibility of weighing their re-
spective merits. More likely, by this —
equipoise he may have dignified false- —
hood or error. q
The NATION -
¢
YS SS |S Se
2 e-
ea
yy =
eae septs in al and
the role of organized labor. He studi-
; “ously presents the arguments pro and
con and concludes: ‘Now it is not neces-
_ sary for this reporter to make a categoric
_ judgment on the merits of the Histadrut
case. Our problem here is to expose to
general public attention a basic prob-
lem hitherto treated gingerly or over-
looked entirely in objective American
public discussion. Sooner or later that
problem had to be soberly confronted
for Israel to become a flourishing market
for private foreign investment.” Of
ourse, categorically or diplomatically,
the author has pronounced judgment,
and only the most naive of readers will
fail to note that if cooperative enter-
prise comes off second best in the en-
counter, Mr. Lehrman’s marshaling of
‘the evidence has considerably con-
_ tributed to the defeat.
The charges against the Socialist
_ Mapai and organized labor (Histadrut)
exhaustively reported by Mr. Lehrman
are the usual ones of “statism,” “‘dic-
_tatorship,” “incompetence,” always
leveled by ideological opponents and
_drearily familiar to all who recall the
barrage against the New Deal or the
British Labor government. In Israel so-
cial planning is even less utopian and
more of a sober necessity than elsewhere.
If Solel Boneh, the building cooperative,
gets preferential treatment in the alloca-
tion of scarce materials, it is because
Solel Boneh is ready to construct roads
or lay pipe lines in dangerous and
financially unrewarding circumstances,
If Solel Boneh is willing to construct a
toad in the Negev while Mr. Blank
wants to erect a fancy, though highly
profitable, restaurant in Tel Aviv, Solel
i oneh will get the cement. Similarly,
in view of the dollar shortage, hard cur-
rency will first be allocated for under-
akings which are essential to the coun-
ty's development and the population’s
welfare.
No one appreciates the need for en-
souraging the flow of private investment
beter than the Mapai leadership from
2n-Gurion down. Special inducements
being offered to private capital?
fa d has no doctrinaire commitment
one economic formula, But the
ates offered the private investor cannot
od
a - . ce > _—--—_—_——
Ne =. by a ae ee
es
————————
PB nk Re eel
9 any
t terprise may'be too high in terms of
the country’s primary interests. As one
surveys Israel's history, one is forced to
the conclusion that the diffidence of
private capitalists is due not to the
power of the labor movement, as Mr.
Lehrman suggests, but rather the re-
verse. The strength of the pioneer co-
operative sector, since the beginnings of
Zionist colonization, has stemmed from
the lack of idealism on the part of the
private investors. The characterization of
“private” and “national” capital applies
to goals as well as sources.
Mr. Lehrman’s accounts of favoritism,
government inefficiency, and bureauc-
racy, though exaggerated, have their
basis in fact. Israel suffers from inex- ©
perience and human failure under ex-
cessive pressure. But these difficulties are
superficial, In time the machinery of
government will function more smooth-
ly. A more fundamental question raised
by Mr. Lehrman’s survey is whether this
government will continue to be led by
abor or whether the growing threat
from the right, spearheaded by the Gen-
eral Zionists, will materialize.
One of the more intriguing aspects of
Israel is the variety and size of the im-
migrant influx. The demographic char-
acter of the state is changing rapidly.
Already the majority of the new im-
migrants are Oriental Jews, strange in
speech, customs, and background to the
Western Jews who till recently-had been
the dominant element. In “The Eternal
Stranger” Mr. Resner describes the
desperate plight of the Jewish commu-
nitics of North Africa and Asia Minor.
His account of the Neo-Destour move-
ment in Tunisia and of rising Arab
nationalism in North Africa as well
as the Middle East is particularly
pertinent. He offers grim evidence for
the bitter words af a Moroccan Jew:
“No Jew feels at home in a Moslem
country.”
Mr. Resner’s circumstantial if pedes-
trian picture of the sufferings of Jewish
communities from Bagdad to Casablanca
amply explains their flight to Israel.
It also indicates how vast and complex
are the problems of cultural fusion as
well as economic assimilation which
the young state has bravely undertaken.
MARIE SYRKIN
NEXT WEEK IN “The NATION”
MIDWINTER
BOOK ISSUE
UE
ao
THE WRITER’S DILEMMA
An Essay by Vincent Brome
AMERICAN CAPITALISM —
by J. K. Galbraith
Reviewed by Keith Hutchison
NEW HOPES FOR A
CHANGING WORLD
by Bertrand Russell
Reviewed by Ernest Nagel
NATIONS HAVE SOULS
by Andre Siegfried
Reviewed by Albert Guerard
QUIET PLEASE
by James Branch Cabell
Reviewed by
Joseph Wood Krutch
THE SEVEN-LEAGUE
CRUTCHES
by Randall Jarrell
Reviewed by Stephen Spender
LESLIE STEPHEN
by Noel Gilroy Annan
Reviewed by
Morton Dauwen Zabel
ASIA AND THE WEST
by Maurice Zinkin
Reviewed by
W. Norman Brown
BROOKS ADAMS
by Thornton Anderson
Reviewed by
Richard Hofstadter
RECENT BOOKS ON
THOMAS JEFFERSON
Reviewed by George Genzmer
ee
Music by B. H. Haggin
Art by Manny Farber
Sa
Myths and Fairy Tales
THE FORGOTTEN LANGUAGE. An
Introduction to the Understanding of
Dreams, Fairytales and Myths. By
Erich Fromm, Rinehart and Com-
pany. $3.50.
N HIS new book Erich Fromm tries
to reintroduce dream interpretation
as a basic human value. This art held a
& prominent and cherished place in all
early civilizations but had entirely dis-
appeared from public interest at the
time that Freud discovered its applica-
tion to psychoanalysis. As a result of his
work, dream interpretation was revived
at least in professional circles, especially
among psychiatrists. Unfortunately,
however, it was effectively prevented
from spreading further into socicty,
since the final result of Freud's theoriz-
ings was to render dreams morally and
socially abhorrent. They were in Freud's
~ own words “a pathological product,”
and their complex, baffling shapes were
created to shield from our sense of de-
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cency their incestuous content and whol-
ly lawless attitude. .
Although Fromm accepts the preva-
lence in dreams of forbidden impulses,
he takes a position essentially the reverse
of Freud's. He claims that dreams re-
veal, along with our worst traits, pro-
founder perceptions and nobler feelings
than we are capable of even during our
waking life, where the influences sur-
rounding us inhibit our sincerity and
close off spontaneous reaction, Dreams
contain “important communications
from ourselves to ourselves.” They ad-
monish us when we turn away from
our true natures, and they advise us,
instruct us, as to how we may preserve
our happiness and moral well-being.
Dreams, moreover, embody each change
that we as individuals undergo, and to
the skilled interpreter they point the
direction in which our maturing psyche
wishes to take us. Fromm quotes these
beautiful words from the Talmud: “A
dream which is not understood is like a
letter which is not opened.”
It becomes Fromm's difficult task to
justify his own positive approach to
dreams and to demonstrate that Freud's
approach was primarily false. To ac-
complish this, he utilizes his own experi-
ence as a therapist (this case material is
particularly impressive), a mumber of
theoretical reformulations of standard
Freudian principles, and his own special
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conception - eked genie: tee
argument may be said to rest upon these
two principles:
First, that the unconscious Freud de-
scribes, which supposedly supplies the
psychic energy for the dream and deter-
mines its real meaning, does not exist.
The unconscious is not a separate, lo-
calized compartment of the mind. It
is more natural and believable to assume
that in sleep our waking, conscious mind
continues its thought processes in an al- .
tered form. We are biologically at rest,
and the unconscious amounts to nothing
more than the mental consequence of
this change. The new content of our
mind—the dream meanings—is in real-
ity the content that we ignore or dis-
sociate by day. This content belongs to
our adult personality; it is not, as Freud
maintains, a mass of infantile strivings
unrelated to ourselves as adults and nor-
mally banished to the unconscious. The
significance of this reformulation is that
it permits dreams to reflect every pos-
sible variety of impulse, good or bad,
wise or foolish. For our own mind, that
part of our thinking controlled and
manipulated by ourselves, creates the
dream—not our unconscious.
Second, Fromm develops the propo-
sition that symbolic language, as it ap-
pears in dreams and many literary forms,
is an authentic and purposeful means of
communication. He is convjnced that
dream symbols are designed entirely to
convey information, not to conceal or
mislead. To Freud the dream was a lav-
ish masquerade party, and chiefly be-
cause of the guests’ devilish cunning the
sleeping mind never suspected their real
identity. Fromm believes that the rev-
elers at the party are what they appear
to be. In symbolic language—the lan-
guage of our dreams—we synthesize
and transmute the materials of reality so
as to body forth psychic impulses that
could find no other form of expression.
Symbolic language by its nature over-
throws all the ordinary laws of logic;
“not space and time are the ruling cate-
gories but intensity and association.”
The masquerade party is a carefully and’
_ magnificently constructed representation
of our thoughts during sleep.
Of special importance to Fromm are
“universal” symbols. Freud neglected
these, Fromm claims, in his eagerness to
track dream down to its source in child-
hood | strivings.
The NATION —
iW
et & ee = gs os «ss —s
Characteristic of his —
1S Bs
|
|
I
{
¢
Pe
-
_ ’ welcome.
b
;
i
}
F
Beil oe ie . qesctcere tere .
tile wish for exhibitionism. Freud did
not constler that nakedness may also be
a symbol of the desire to be truthful
and sincere, to show oneself in one’s
ait
true colors. Through a knowledge of
universal symbols Fromm believes that
we are brought close to the sources of
our humanity. These symbols, Fromm
_ shows us, are produced by all people,
irrespective of the era they belong to or
the society in which they dwell. Inter-
estingly enough, subjects who have
never heard of Freud and who in their
waking state make no sense of their
dreams are found under hypnosis to
interpret symbols as readily and per-
_ fectly as any psychoanalyst.
The individual chapters that compose
“The Forgotten Language,” especially
the two dealing with the technique and
history of dream interpretation, make
excellent sense. But the relationship be-
tween chapters is often unclear, and
there is a monstrous disproportion in
emphasis. The technical details of the
Freud-Fromm controversy are discussed,
for the intended lay audience, to ex-
haustion, and there are several unnec-
essarily prolonged analyses of the myth
(King Oedipus), fairytale (Little Red
Ridinghood), Biblical narrative (Jonah
4g and the whale), novel (Kafka’s “The
Trial”), and religious observance (the
Sabbath). These last analyses are ex-
cerpted from previous works by Fromm,
and have only a very indirect place here.
No one cafi help appreciating the warm
humanism that informs this book, just
as it did “Escape from Freedom” and
_ “Man for Himself.” But a little mis-
_ anthropic balance, order, and scientific
caution would have been equally
CHARLES SPIELBERGER
Books in Brief
‘THE UNIVERSE: ITS ORIGIN, NA-
| TURE, AND DESTINY, By Laban
_ Lacy Rice. Exposition Press, $2.50.
_ Seventy-six pages have seldom been
__ asked to cover as much ground as in this
‘book by the former president of Cum-
berland University. Cosmological notions
from those of the ancient Egyptians
through Einstein, de Sitter, Eddington,
et al. and down to the recent much-
publicized theories of Hoyle are first sur-
February 16, 1952
- sd
le oe oe ee
T hgh Lead
astute
eyed, In the process abstruse concepts
including relativity, space curvature, and
the possible significance of the “‘cosmo-
logical constant’ are tossed about in
giddy profusion. Finally the author, re-
jecting both a supernatural beginning
for the universe and the inevitability of
its ultimate death through entropy,
comes up with a speculation “in a sense
beyond the purview of science.” “Why
not suppose that in some inexplicable
manner space will integrate that dissi-
pated energy and .. . use it catalytically
to reactivate the ‘dead’ atoms?” Mr,
Rice’s wide reading and gift for popular
exposition make it impossible to dismiss
“The Universe’ as a mere crank book.
DANCE TO THE PIPER. By Agnes de
Mille. Little, Brown, $3.50. An ebullient
autobiography by the choreographer of
“Oklahoma!” that gives a lively picture
of the difficulties, the disappointments,
the iron discipline, and the incredible
amount of hard and patient work that
go into the making of a dancer.
THE PECULIAR WAR. By E. J. Kahn,
Jr. Random House. $2.75. A collection
of this top-flight reporter's New Yorker
pieces on the Korean war. Kahn has a
sure eye for the off-beat incident and the
revealing anecdote, and his articles are
still good reading,
PRISONERS ARE PEOPLE. By Kenyon
J. Scudder. Doubleday. $3. The Cali-
fornia Institution for Men at Chino was
started in 1940 as an experimental
prison to demonstrate the possibility of
taking hand-picked prisoners from other
California penitentiaries and putting
them to work on a twenty-six-hundred-
acre farm with a maximum of privileges
and a minimum of restrictions. This
book by the superintendent of Chino
describes the theory and practice of the
plan, and the excellent results that have
been obtained, A useful volume for
everyone interested in the rehabilitation
of the criminal,
BLOODY PRECEDENT, By Fleur
Cowles. Random House. $3. The associ-
ate editor of Ouick and Look describes a
rather interesting and fairly close paral-
lel between the present dictator of
Argentina and his wife, and an equally
unscrupulous pair of predecessors a cen-
tury ago. Included is a brief but inti-
mate glimpse of Evita at home.
for factual, truthful,
timely reporting
and comments that
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JOSEPH
Drama | 09"
KRUTCH
NY old-timer will tell you that
“smart comedies” are not as good
as they used to be. Most new-timers
will add that they never were, and a
Noel Coward or Somerset Maugham re-
vival usually tends to suggest that the
_ mew-timers are right. But S. N. Behr-
man’s “Jane” (Coronet Theater) is a
knock-down argument on the other side.
Nothing like it is to be seen on Broad-
way; Mr. Behrman himself has not writ-
_ tea anything else half so good in many
_ years. And Mr. Behrman’s best is very
3 indeed.
Way back in the thirties he was op-
_ pressed by the fear that ours was no time
for comedy. With increasing seriousness
he experimented with quasi-comedies on
weighty themes, and when they did not
quite jell he turned to translations and
adaptations which, though sometimes
pleasant enough, were a waste of his tal-
ents. Now he has returned to himself
again and proved that there is always
time for comedy as sparkling and as
_ deft as “Jane.”
The program acknowledges a sugges-
tion from a story by Maugham about a
. rich frump from Liverpool who marries
a young architect and becomes the rage
a we *k Kk *
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162
u
= Sep sation soci
ing directness. of her Sacks appa “not f A suspect
Seal psc ee
Se an ae pee me
a aes
% = 2
mordant wit when the speaker is proper-
ly costumed and the surroundings are
properly elegant. Now this sort of thing
is much harder to bring off in a play
than in a story, because it is easier to
say that someone scintillated than it is to
make him scintillate. Mr. Behrman bold-
ly faces the difficulty, builds up to the
moments when his Jane is to give a
.taste of her quality, and then, almost
miraculously, she does it. His method is
as rash as that of the joke teller who
begins by announcing that you are going
to die laughing at the funniest tale you
ever heard in your life. But Jane does
not let you down.
Some of the charm as well as the
suavity of the production must be
credited to Edna Best's warm playing of
the leading role and to notable support
from both Basil Rathbone as a skeptical
writer strongly suggestive of Mr.
Maugham and Howard St. John as the
blustering newspaper peer set up for
Jane to deflate. But the whole manage-
ment of the play is just right, and I
think that it will owe a good deal of the
success it will probably enjoy to the fact
that its tone is, in subtle ways, not so
nearly identical as it may seem to be
with that of the standard “smart
comedy.” “Jane” has a warmth, a
geniality, a fundamental kindliness and
humanity which such plays generally—
and deliberately—avoid. The difference
is not explicit or overt like the one Mr.
Behrman set up in plays like “Rain from
Heaven,” where the grim facts of a
disordered world were permitted to in-
vade the enchanted ground of a comedy
drawing-room. ‘Jane’ remains persist-
ently concerned with nothing except the
private lives of privileged persons, and
the only reminders that this is not the
1938 when the action takes place are a
few prophetically ironic references to the
absurd fuss being made about such re-
mote nonsense as the war in Ethiopia.
But what used to be called the “brittle”
tone is not quite so satisfactory to any
of us as it used to be. Pure cynicism,
egotism, and mere “‘brilliance’”’ leave a
slightly bad taste in the mouth. And Mr.
Behrman has brought smart comedy up
to date by endowing his heroine with a
certain humanity which is subtly em-
phasized by the fact that most of his
other characters are old-fashioned
processed from the recording made with
might have anticipated from any pre-—
liminary account. It is more up to date
than it seems to be.
B. H.
HAGGIN
Records
OTTE LEHMANN'’s Parlophone
records of German lieder (which
Decca issued here in the thirties, and
which I hope it will reissue on LP)
and the records she made for Victor
and Columbia up to 1941 or ’42 docu-
ment not only the unique gifts but the
serious faults of those earlier years—not
only the luscious voice but the con-
stricted, shrill high notes resulting from
defective technique; not only the emo-
tional warmth that suffused the singing,
but the explosive vehemence that often
tore the phrase apart. Around 1943 the
need of skill and care in the use of an
aging but still remarkably beautiful
voice began to be evident not only in
unconstricted and agreeable high notes
but in the refinement and subtilization
of the singing, which now achieved ex-
pressive effect through inflection of the
continuous line of the phrase. For two
or three years her Town Hall concerts
offered unforgettable experiences of this
perfected art; then the programs began
to include more and more of the songs -
that lent themselves to the increasing
archness and cuteness in the perform-
ances to which her adoring public re-
sponded ecstatically, and the concerts
began to include goings-on that needed
a stronger stomach than mine. I there-
fore stopped going to them a few years
ago; and thus it was that I missed the
climax of this public love affair—the
celebrated scene of renunciation and
farewell at the recital of February 16,
1951. Thus it is also that the extraneous
noises immortalized by the recently is-
sued Pembroke recording of that occa-
sion don’t include the gritting of my
teeth.
The two LP records (skilfully
the equipment in Town Hall) will
enable future generations to hear Leh-
mann make her intermission speech, hear — .
her say at the end of the concert that
The Nation”
ae ee . = Oe ae 66a lel eee ee ee
=
d
nat at this last recital she sang a good
rien ending with a group of songs
from Schubert’s “Die schéne Miillerin,”
| that her voice, after warming up in the
opening Schumann group, was still
| amazingly lovely, and that in most of
the songs she used it with beautiful art,
| but that there were a few exceptions: an
| excessively tumultuous performance of
_ Wagner's ““T'riume,” a vehement per-
_ formance of Schubert’s “Die liebe
Farbe,” and a concluding performance
of his “Des Baches Wiegenlied” too
’ slow in pace and with expansive re-
_ tardations that destroyed the effect of
| the quiet steady movement of the song
_ —the effect produced, for example, in
| Lehmann’s wonderful performance in
the old Columbia recording.
_ In the Schubert songs that Schlusnus
_ sings on a London record his voice is
_ still very fine and his performances are
_ effective.
Many of Wolf’s songs are, for me,
only skilful underlining of the words
that I don’t find musically interesting;
but among the songs on a Urania record
ate a few which are more than that:
“Gesellenlied” and “Im Frihling,”
perbly sung by the tenor Roswinge;
“Uber Nacht” and “Gesang Weyla’s,”
sung by Margarete Klose, whose rich
contralto is shrill in part of the first
song; “In der Friithe,” ““Kennst du das
Land,” and “Wie glanzt der helle
Mond,” sung by the soprano Annemarie
Simon, whose voice is unpleasantly sharp
‘and tremulous. The last song on each
de is distorted; and there are noisy
urface defects,
| A number of fine songs by Purcell
| atid Dowland are on a Period record
sung by the baritone John Langstaff, who
has a rather dry voice but uses it ef-
ectively in sustained phrasing which
creates continuing life in the progres-
) sion of music and words,
Recent books about ballet include
p low to Enjoy Ballet” by the inde-
fatigable and fatuous Arnold L. Haskell
Morrow, $3) and Dorothy Samach-
on’s “Let’s Meet the Ballet” (Schuman,
4), which is a little better but not a
= ee
} pees these books undertake to do
mernersl reader is done by Edwin
bray 16, 1952 :
d book either in itself or for its pure
“i it begi
_ dancers dancing” nde it continues,
has the reader in effect seeing through
Denby’s eyes what the dancers do. And
this—the essential for the reader’s ap-
preciation of ballet—he will not see
through the eyes of Haskell or Mrs.
Samachson, or with their factual infor-
mation about what goes into the creation
of a ballet, or with her interviews with
Danilova and Lazovsky.
Two very poor books are William
Chappell’s “Fonteyn’” (Macmillan,
$4.50), which is largely about the
author, with photographs by Cecil
Beaton that are mostly perverse and ir-
relevant; and Robert Lawrence’s ‘‘Victor
Book of Ballets’ (Simon and Schuster,
$3.95), poor in its inclusion of ballets
that nobody is likely to see again (e. g.,
“Namouna,” “Thamar,” “La Tragédie
de Salome,” “HP,” “Les Cents Baisers’’)
and omission of some now being per-
formed (ec. g., “The Four Tempera-
ments,” the ballets of Petit and
Babilée), its comment on the ballets, its
selection of photographs (e. g., a photo-
gtaph of Babilée in his undiscussed and
unidentified ‘“Tyl Eulenspiegel” to il-
lustrate the Nijinsky ballet; photographs
of Zorina and Morosova in ‘Le Beau
Danube,” but not of Danilova).
Haskell turns up again as the writer
of the text for “Baron at the Ballet’’
(Morrow, $10), a book of photographs
taken in England and assembled for the
English public, and therefore including
many of English ballets and dancers that
are of no interest to Americans. More-
over, there are fifteen pages of photo-
gtaphs of Petit’s “Carmen,” nine of his
“Le Jeune Homme et la mort,” and
ample documentation of Tudor’s “Pillar
of Fire,’ “Romeo and Juliet,” and other
works; but the entire documentation of
the Balanchine ballets performed in
London in the last fifteen years or more
is a meaningless leap by Alonso for
“Waltz Academy” and an inaccurate
pose by Marjorie Tallchief and Skibine
for “Concerto Barocco,” And the selec-
tion of photographs of dancers is simi-
larly questionable, With all that there
are of course a fair number of photo-
gtaphs of important ballets and great
dancers, But this book and others like
it make me want to see a collection of
the superb ballet photographs of Fred
Fehl,
“The Fairy’s Kiss” are not being pre-
sented by the New York City Ballet in
its present season, his “Four Tempera-
ments,” ‘Card Game,” ‘Concerto
Barocco,” ‘“Sinfonie Concertante,”
“Symphony in C,” and “Bourrée Fan-
tasque’”’ are still to be seen; and his new
“Divertissement Classique’ (to Mozart's
Divertimento K.287) promises to be one
of the most extraordinary things he has
done.
CONTRIBUTORS
————————————————— ee
HARVEY SWADOS has _ published
stories and reviews in various magazines.
MARIE SYRKIN, author of ‘Blessed
Is the Match,” has made extended visits
to Israel.
CHARLES SPIELBERGER has pub-
lished stories in Partisan Review and the
Yale Review.
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163
ei haat Baleachiable “Apollo” and
ea a ee
Ne Ea
ee a A a a
Where Segregation
Means Death
{The following examples of discrim-
inatory practices in hospitals, sent to The
Nation by the Southern Conference Ed-
ucational Fund of New Orleans, prove
that the case cited by Alex Gottfried in
bis article, Death by Jim Crow, which
appears in this issue, is not an isolated
incident but belongs to a pattern of
segregation which is general in the
South and which can also be traced in
other parts of the couniry.—EDITORS
THE NATION. ]
N August 27, 1950, three men were
injured in an automobile accident in
Hardinburg, Kentucky. They were taken
to Breckinridge Hospital, where they
were left lying on a bare floor for over
three hours because the hospital had “no
facilities for colored people.” The only
medicine given them was morphine; they
received no other treatment. One of the
victims, Leroy Foley, died at the hospital.
PERSO Weare: A ths,
NEW STATESMAN reader, feminine, Bu-
ropean background, would welcome com
enial correspondence. Box 249, c/o The
ation. eo: ees
IF UNMARRIED AND MATRIMONI-
ALLY MINDED, WOULD LIKE TO
MEET SOMEONE WHO MIGHT LIKE
TO MEET YOU? Write for free copy-
righted pamphlet. Address Personal Intro-
duction Service, 2112 Broadway, New York
City 23.
exit loneliness
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you would like to Know,
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We can help you find a richer,
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164
Write for booklet, or phone
or at the publisher's price plus postage
John H. Smith, who had a broken back,
and Jesse Wallace were eventually
moved to the Louisville General Hospi-
tal. Foley's family received a bill for the
use of the Breckinridge Hospital floor
on which he died.
In the winter of 1946 a colored
woman in labor was refused admission
to a church-sponsored hospital (Sibley)
in Washington, D. C., when she could
no longer continue on her way to the
Gallinger General Hospital. Her baby
was delivered on the sidewalk in front
of the hospital.
On March 6, 1951, Mis. Emma Dan-
gerfield was brought to the Jefferson-
Hillman Hospital in Birmingham, Ala-
bama, in critical condition. Her Negro
doctor, who was not allowed to practice
at the hospital, had made arrangements
with a white doctor to look after his pa-
tient. Both physicians understood there
was a bed available for Mrs. Danger-
field. But when her husband tried to get
her admitted he was told that he must
make a $100 cash deposit before she
could be considered. Although Mr.
Dangerfield had $50 in cash with him,
his wife was covered by insurance, and
his employer promised to pay the other
$50 the following morning, the hospital
refused to admit Mss. Dangerfield.
After lying on a stretcher for over two
hours, she was taken in an ambulance to
her home, where she died an hour later.
The hospital defended its action on the
grounds that (1) “‘Jefferson-Hillman al-
ready has unpaid accounts on its books
of more than $300,000, and it does not
wish that sum to be enlarged if it can
help it’; and (2) all the Negro beds
were filled.
On February 15, 1951, the physician
of a young Negro, Robert Hudson, tried
to get his patient admitted to one of the
three hospitals in Akron, Ohio. He was
told that they were all filled but that he
could put Hudson on a waiting list.
While Hudson was waiting to be ad-
mitted to a hospital he lapsed into a
coma; his mother called an ambulance,
and he was taken to City Hospital,
where she was told there was no room
for him. He died early the following
morning. A spokesman for the hospital
claimed that there were no beds avail-
able. Actually there was one empty bed,
but it was in a room occupied by a white
man.
Commendation from
Congressman King
Dear Sirs: It would be quite desirable
if many commentators and writers of
articles on this subject [the tax-evasion
scandal} were as well informed as your —
Norman Redlich is in his article Inter-
nal Confusion in Internal Revenue, pub- «—
lished in The Nation of January 19. For '
the limited space used, it covered the
very involved and complicated vale
in most excellent fashion.
Washington, D.C. _CECIL R. KING,
Johnson’s Stand Praised
Dear Sirs: Senator Edwin C. Johnson's
artidle U. M. T.—Booby Trap, which —
appeared in your January 26 issue, is 4
perhaps the most clear-cut, cogent argu- ©
ment against U. M. T. I have ever read.
Both Senator Johnson and The Nation*
should be congratulated for attacking the
supporters of U. M. T. on their own
ground. \j
Senator Johnson’s article is a telling ,
refutation of the case for U. M. T. be- |
cause he demonstrates the inability of
such a system to achieve its stated goals
and the grave possibility of losing ~
through U. M. T. the very things for
which we are fighting.
HAROLD B/ EHRLICH
New Brunswick, N. J.
ts eae we
Prudential’s Wealth
Dear Sirs: The article If Your Agent
Doesn’t Call [The Nation, December
22, 1951} overlooked several vital facts |
about the Prudential Life Insurance ©
Company. Do you know, for instance, —
that Prudential has total assets of more
than $9,000,000,000? or that 31,000,-
000 policy holders carry some $40,000,-
000,000 worth of insurance? of that —
Carol M. Shanks, president of Pruden- |
tial, testified before a House committee ©
that in 1949 his corporation took in an
average of $3,000,000 a day of new
premium money?
Out of its vast wealth Prudential
offers its workers a $3.11 weekly in-
crease. It’s about time for insurance”
companies to equate their wage scales —
with other billion-dollar enterprises. In
fact, it’s about twenty years too late. ©
New York KATHERINE T. WEISS
Te ee
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The NATION
BY FRANK W. LEWIS
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ACROSS
1 See 21 down.
10 It’s not hers to lop off. (7 )
11 Dedication of ocular libation.
(2, 5)
12 It’s the Jaw that one should have
ns around one.
13 They’re not worth much now! (How
times have changed!) (5)
14 Goeth before many a fall. oy
16 Curly? He’s generally revolution-
ary! (8)
. 19. renee a fate worse than death.
20 a little boys? Quite the opposite!
22 Tebaceo can take away the alterna-
tive. (5)
23 Listens to candidate Smith again,
8 dag for practice. (9)
o such people have unique if fatal
taste? (7)
26 The Order of the Moose in different
and unpleasant condition. (7)
Bury in an aartistically striking
manner, between two objects. (13)
DOWN
2 4 shape of nothing plus nothing.
$3 Implies both friends and relations.
(7, 8) [ y
requests to Puzzle Dept.,
Readers are Invited to send for a free copy of Mr. Lewis's “
The Nation, 20 Yesey Street, New York 7, New York,
4 Located a a famous town in Ger-
many. (6)
Gilbertian version of solitaire? (8)
Is the previous message in process
of getting turned out? (15)
5
6
7 Certainly not short stories. (4, 5)
8 Awkward pose used in getting mar-
ried. (8)
9 See 21.
15 The sort of lemon with a superior
odor. (9)
17 Ended up with confused instruments
in full color. (8)
18 How to secure an opening. (Or
where to look for the lintel? (4, 4)
21, 22 down, 1 across, 9 down. Im lyin,
several have moved up to defile, i
good-looking. (6, 4, 4, 2, 1, 6, 4)
22 See 21 down.
24 oe that do usually become 26.
5
. eee .
SOLUTION TO PUZZLE No, 451
ACROSS :—1 ANTISEPTIC; 6 SPAR: 10, 27
and 8 THE LINE OF LEAST RHWSISTANCH;
11 DRAGONS; 12 PARSNIPS; 13 IMAMS;
15 OPHRA; 17 AMERICANA; 21 TOPIC; 23
SIRED; 28 ABOLISH; 29 and 25 SIDH
SHOWS; DW ASSESSMENT,
DOWN :—1 ANTS; 2, 26. 19, 24 across, 3 THD
FACE THAT LAUNCHED A THOUSAND
SHIPS; 4 PREDICATH; 5 INDUS; 7 PRO
RATA; 9 SATIRIST;
ARCADIAN;
RULED; 22’ PENSIVE; 24 TITUS.
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— Wire-lapping: |
! ‘Supreme Court vs. the FBI
BY ALAN F. WESTIN
Soviet Wicd Today
BY ERNEST J. SIMMONS
+
| MIDWINTER BOOKS
ne Writers Dilemma in Britain - - - Vincent Brome
| ae Faith of a Liberal - - - - ~- - Ernest Nagel
| rm and Feeling - - - - - - - Stephen Spender
| e Asian Revolution - - - - W. Norman Brown
ner Reviews by George Genzmer, Joseph Wood Krutch,
Keith Hutchison, Richard Hofstadter
i
1
i ta
|
1 3 A COPY - EVERY WEEK SINCE 1865 * - 7 DOLLARS A YEAR
sa
THE SHAMEFUL RECORD
IN THE BRIDGES CASE
Harry Bridges, Australian-born
president of the International Long-
shoremen’s and Warehousemen’s
Union, has been under attack since
1934,
Throughout the years of his lead-
ership of Pacific coast waterfront
workers, he has been the object of a
campaign unparalleled in American
history. Only the 22-year imprison-
ment of Tom Mooney lasted longer
than the attempts to persecute, frame,
deport and imprison Harry Bridges.
1934—The U. 8S. Dept. of Immigra-
tion sought to deport Bridges as an
undesirable alien. This launched a
campaign of surveillance, wiretap-
ping, police investigations, and other
methods to “get Bridges,”
1939—When the Immigration Dept.
brought charges to deport Bridges,
Dean James Landis of the Harvard
Law School, was named by President
Roosevelt as a special hearing officer.
Landis ordered the charges dropped.
1941—Congress amended Immigra-
tion Act to “constitutionally” deport
Bridges. Judge Charles B. Sears
with long anti-labor record, named
to reopen case and found Bridges
“euilty.” Board of Immigration Ap-
peals, in unprecedented action, over-
ruled Sears’ judgment. But U. S. At-
torney General Biddle upheld Sears
by moving for deportation neverthe-
less. The case went to the courts.
1945—The U. S. Supreme Court
found deportation action against
Bridges “unlawful.”
1945—Bridges applied for citizen-
ship papers. Proudly became citizen.
1949—Bridges was brought to trial,
in an atmosphere of hysteria, ac-
cused of pore when applying
for citizenship. Sentenced to 5 years
in prison. J. R. Robertson, Henry
Schmidt, fellow union leaders who
were witnesses te naturalization, sen- |
tenced to 2-year terms. The case now
is on appeal,
Advertisement of the
BRIDGES-ROBERTSON-SCHMIDT
DEFENSE COMMITTEE
160 Golden Gate Ave., San Francisco 2, Calif,
i ODAY Harry Bridges faces a new threat to his freedom and—through him— |
to the wages and conditions of the working people he represents, Unity and cooper< . —
ation of all organizd labor—together with thousands of clergymen, teachers,
professional people in all walks of life who are concerned with attacks on demo-
cratic rights—defeated the first frame-up attempt in 1937. Such unity aided the °
victorious decision of 1939. and helped win the historic Supreme Court decision in
1945 which enabled Bridges to obtain his citizenship.
Today the new “crime” for which Bridges stands accused is that of “perjury”
when filing his application for citizen-
ship in 1945. The claim is that Bridges
lied when he denied Communist affilia-
tions—despite a U. S. Supreme Court
decision on this question.
Thus the frame-up pattern against
Bridges—thrice repudiated by courts
and examiners in the past 18 years—
continues,
Climax of Long Persecution
Within the next few weeks, Bridges
and his two associates—Robertson and
Schmidt—face the climax of the fourth
frame-up attempt. The Appellate Court
of the 9th Circuit in San Francisco will
hear oral arguments and make its deci-
sion, The bias of the prosecution is shown
in many ways including its attempt to
circumvent the statute of limitations.
Today—the Bridges case is a front-
line in America in the defense of civil
liberties. If Bridges goes to jail, the en-
tire defense of American principles of
dissent receives one of its most serious
setbacks,
We Accuse Anti-labor Forces!
The Bridges-Robertson-Schmidt De-
fense Committee states that the attack
on Bridges today is no different from
the attacks on this labor leader in past
years. We accuse the Dept. of Immigra-
tion, the Attorney General, corrupt pol-
tticians and anti-labor forces who have
sought to destroy effective unionism of
this conspiracy. We accuse enemies of
American democracy of attacking—not
only one man—but the democratic prin-
ciples and living standards of American
working people.
We appeal to all liberty-loving Amer-
cans: speak out against this fourth at-
tempt to “get’’ Bridges, Please use the
coupon below—TODAY!
To the BRIDGES-ROBERTSON-SCHMIDT DEFENSE CON
150 Golden Gate Avenue, San Francisco 2, California
I have written to the President and the Attorney General, to urge an end to the
persecution of Harry Bridges and his associates, ————__________
You may use my name in the defense of these persecuted union leaders.
I enclose my contribution to the fight to preserve civil liberties through defense 4
of Bridges-Robertson-Schmidt,
NAME
AS eR
“Bridges’ own statement of his polit-
ical beliefs and disbeliefs is impor-
tant. It was given not only without
reserve but vigorously as dogma and
faiths of which the man wag proud
and which represented in his mind
the aims of his existence,”
—DeaNn James M. LAnpbis
December 28, 1939.
“The most significant feature of the
inquiry, as it seems to me, is the
paucity of the evidentiary product as
contrasted with the magnitude of the
effort expended in producing it.”
—JUDGE WILLIAM HEALY, 1944
“They revealed a militant advocacy
of the cause of trade unionism, But
they did not teach or =") » 7*> >> 24-
vise the subversive
demned by the statut
—JusTics WILL
June 18, 1945
“The record in this ,
forever as a2 monum¢
tolerance of man. Se
the history of this n
been such a concerte
crusade to deport a
cause he dared to e>
dom that belongs to |
being and that is gu
by the Constitution. taht Vagal
—JUSTICH FE
June 18, J
7 tn
‘
;
&
wt
Oo fs
ty
VOLUME 174
‘THE DEL VAYO CASE
HEN J. Alvarez del Vayo, The Nation’s
foreign editor, and his wife returned from
"| Europe on Friday, February 8, they were taken
| } direct from the pier to Ellis Island. There they were
|} held incomunicado until the following Monday
| | evening. During their detention they were not per-
| | mitted any communication with publisher or coun-
| | sel. They were not advised of any charges against
| them, and when they were finally released,
| | parole,” they still had no idea of the cause of their
detention.
Mr. del Vayo, who was Foreign Minister of
| Spain’s last republican government, came to the
| United States in 1940 and three years later was
granted permanent resident status. As foreign
| editor of The Nation and an accredited United
}} Nations correspondent, he has visited Europe every
_ year since 1945, writing on post-war developments,
with full freedom of exit and reentry. When he
arrived in New York last week, on the French liner
| | _ Liberté, after covering the sessions of the General
Assembly in Paris, both he and his wife carried
validated reentry permits given them before they
left the country in August.
_ The whole affair is incomprehensible. When the
I} facts become known to us, we will report them
I) fully to our readers. In the meantime it is a satis-
| faction to be able to record that during the Del
Vayos’ period of detention those who knew about it
were quick to express their dismay and indignation,
be Shape of Things
NEITHER SIDE WANTS THE KOREAN TRUCE
italks to collapse and full-dress war to begin, So the
ver bal duel goes on, long stretches of slow-motion wran-
) gling punctuated by moments of hope when one team or
he other concedes a point or when, ta avoid total dead-
lock, the talks shift to some new item on the agenda.
This past week the Communists offered slight conces-
ns on the exchange of war prisoners and the repatria-
aot displaced civilians, though they stuck to their
ys Be
od
~AMERICA’S LEADING LIBERAL WEEKLY SINCE 1865
a
NEW YORK + SATURDAY * FEBRUARY 23, 1952
NuMBER 8
central, unacceptable demand that all prisoners, without
regard to individual choice, be returned within two
months after an armistice. But the chief attention of the
negotiators was fixed on two more fundamental issues.
The first was the Communists’ proposal that one of the
three “neutral” nations designated by them to supervise
enforcement of a truce should be the Soviet Union. This _
was quickly sat upon by the U. N. representative, al-
though the other two nations named by the Communists,
Poland and Czechoslovakia, were accepted. But a more
important question concerned the political conference to
be held after the start of an armistice. Rejecting the
Communist proposal that such a conference should deal
with general Asian differences, the U. N. is insisting on
an agenda strictly limited to a Korean settlement. As the
week began, the Communists seemed likely to accept this
view, only an ambiguous “et cetera” standing between
their position and that of the U. N. But the obdurate fact
behind all the talk is that a true peace in Korea, as the
Communist claim, can be achieved only as part of a
solution embracing other Asian problems, at a minimum
the future of Formosa and relations with Peking. And
this presupposes a general negotiated settlement between
the United States and Russia. Toward this goal no per-
ceptible progress has been made,
+
OUT OF THE SOUTH LAST WEEK CAME SOME
good news mixed with tragic. In Fair Bluff, North Caro-
lina, in an action which may presage a broader federal
attack on the KKK, the FBI arrested ten klansmen for
kidnaping and flogging a white couple. But in Ocala,
Florida, Walter Lee Irvin, Negro, was sentenced to death
for the second time by an all-white jury for alleged rape
of a white woman, The United States Supreme Court
had reversed the first conviction on the ground that the
trial had been conducted against a background of vio-
lence and bloodshed. There was no violence during the
Ocala proceedings, but from this distance there appears
to have been little justice either. The state’s case was
powerfully attacked by a reputable criminologist who
charged that the prosecution had fabricated plaster casts
of footprints, a white witness who swore that the alleged
rape victim had admitted to him that “because it was so
dark” she could not identify her attackers, and defense
counsel, who pointed out that no medical evidence was .
- IN THIS ISSUE °
EDITORIALS
The Del Vayo Case 163
The Shape of Things 165
Eisenhower As Symbol 168
ARTICLES
Communists in Unions by Willard Shelton 170
A Talk with Padilla Nervo
by J. Alvarez del Vayo 171
Wire-Tapping: Supreme Court vs. FBI
by Alan PF, Westin 172
Britain's Secret Sterling Balances
by Andrew Roth 174
Soviet Writing Today by Ernest J. Simmons 175
Harold Ross: A Professional Tribute
by M. R. Werner 178
BOOKS AND THE ARTS
The Writer's Dilemma in Britain
by Vincent Brome 179
The Victims A Poem by Kathleen Raine 180
Cabell’s Brief Hour by Joseph Wood Krutch 180
The Faith of a Liberal by Ernest Nagel 181
Fable A Poem by Stephen Stephanchev 181
Form and Feeling by Stephen Spender 182
The Asian Revolution by W. Norman Brown 183
The Case of Brooks Adams
by Richard Hofstadter 184
Economic Power by Keith Hutchison 185
Quantity vs. Quality by S. Lane Faison, Jr. 186
Mr. Jefferson by George Genzmer 187
Books in Brief 189
Drama by Joseph Wood Krutch 189
Music by B. H. Haggin 190
LETTERS TO THE EDITORS 192
CROSSWORD PUZZLE No. 453
by Frank W. Lewis Opposite 192
EDITORIAL BOARD
Editor and Publisher: Freda Kirchwey
Editorial Director Director, Nation Associates
Carey McWilliams Lillie Shultz
Managing Editor: Victor Bernstein
Foreign Editor Literary Editor
J. Alvarez del Vayo Margaret Marshall
Financial Editor: Keith Hutchison
Drama: Joseph Wood Krutch Music: B. H. Haggia
Assistant Editor: Charles R. Allen, Jr,
Copy Editor: Giadys Whiteside
Assistant Literary Editor: Caroline Whiting
Staff Contributors
Andrew Roth, Alexander Werth, Howard K. Smith, Carolus
Business Manager: Hugo Van Acx
Advertising Manager! Mary Simon
The Nation, perined weakly eetlieos and copyright, 1952, in the U, S,
by The N , Inc., 20 Vesey Street, Now York 1, N. z
Entered as pacona cline matter December 13, 1879, at the Post Office
ot Ne New York, N. ¥., under the act of March 8, 1879. Advertising
Circulation Representative for Continental Europe: Publicitas,
Subscription Prices: Domestic—One year $7} Two years $12; Three
years $17. Additional postage per year: Foreign and Canadian $1.
Change of Addresa: Three weeks’ notice is required for change of
ae which cannot be made without the old addreas as well as
e new.
Information to Librartea: The Nation is indexed in Readers’ Guidg
to Periodical Literat Book ew Digest, Index to Labor
Articles, Public Affairs ‘ormation Service, Dramatic Index,
ol
#1 ) show tha hat rape had «
by these polake might paige tes :
jury pause; not so the Ocala jo, whith
dict in one hour and twenty-three min :
the spot have added a special twist to yas case: <a ay
that Florida authorities, uneasy because of the unfavor-,
able publicity the state has been receiving on this and
other cases, offered Irvin a life sentence if he would
plead guilty. Irvin, it is said, heroically refused the offer. —
If this is so, here is another vindication of the stand —
taken by those who believe, like The Nation, that justice i
is everybody's business and not a community monopoly— ~~
whether the community be Ocala, Fair Bluff, or Cairo,
Illinois. The “unfavorable publicity” which today leads
racists to attempt to bargain with justice will, at long
last, cause them to succumb to it.
+
WHEN WHITE RESIDENTS OF ALTAMONTE.
Springs, Florida, found their voting majority threatened *
by Negro residents, they got rid of the threat by ruling . .
the Negroes “out of town” (The Nation, December 15, - ‘4
1951). Atlanta, Georgia, a bigger and more sophisticated — Gy
community has chosen not to rule Negroes out but to rule’ ”
more whites in. Acting on a master-plan for “municipal
improvements” approved by the Talmadge-controlled Ak
legislature, the city proclaimed last New Year's Day as
“Greater Atlanta Day,” establishing new municipal a
boundaries which include eighty-two additional square
miles of territory. This “jimcrowmandering” increased |
the percentage of the city’s white population from 67 to
72 and—what is more significant—boosted the ratio of
white voters to Negro voters from two to one, to three to
one, But there is evidence to show that the creation of
Greater Atlanta also represents a forward step in munici-
pal government, including the elimination of consider-
able patronage, a more efficient school system, and other ~ .
items. It is heartening to reflect that, long after the preju-
dices which created it have been wiped out, the better
school system will still be there, serving tomorrow’s ”
young generation of Atlantans without discrimination. fu
+ Of
AS THB WEEK BEGAN, IT SEEMED CERTAIN jf
that the government of Edgar Faure would win the sup-
port of the French National Assembly, enabling it to par-
ticipate in the Lisbon conference of NATO which PRE
opened on Wednesday. But in order to obtain the votes fir
of the Socialists, without which its fall was assured, the fim
government made important modifications in the resolu- [fis
tion pledging French support for a European army ins fe!
cluding twelve German divisions, Last week-end the fir,
Americans and British went a long way to meet the most ffi:
important condition put forward by the French: West ffi
Germany, they agreed, would not be admitted to NATO fin’
“for the time being.” The debate in Paris showed that} \’
The Nation.
fw
eae :
e Tf
Ee BS ps
he
f th
marae
of the stridency with which —
Ss cently been stating its conditions, Deputies
Parties voiced the fear that a rearmed Germany
uld come to dominate Western Europe and might
entually drag it into a war of revenge against the East.
n an attempt to allay such fears the modified resolution
ict a promise of equal treatment for West Germany
_ with a declaration that this could not include admission
to NATO, which in view of its “exclusively defensive
character should only include states which have no inter-
est in territorial demands.” In addition, the resolution
_ fequested American and British guaranties against the
_ fisk that West Germany would pull out of the European
_ afmy once it was reestablished as a military power.
Clearly the gap between French conditions for participa-
tion in a European army and those of Bonn—sum-
_ marized in these columns last week—is a wide one.
_ Possibly the Lisbon conference will find means of bridg-
_ ing it, but at present the ancient rivalry between the two
countries appears to be a more potent factor than their
common fear of Russia. *
_ WHILE THE ATTENTION OF THE WORLD HAS
_ been riveted on the German rearmament problem, the
_ financial situation of France has been daily growing more
_ critical. The steady fall of the franc in the black market
—it touched 467 to the dollar last week compared with
_ an official rate of 350—shows that speculators are expect-
ing a new devaluation. With the adverse trade balance
mounting month by month, foreign-exchange reserves
have been reduced almost to zero. Now the government
‘| has announced sharp cuts in imports together with a
Af plan to subsidize exports. But these are measures which
| will not become fully effective for some months and then
| only if action is taken to reduce the internal inflation
_ which has pushed French prices far above those of com-
| peting countries. This requires in the first place heavier
_ taxes. M. Faure, who is Finance Minister as well as
Premier, is asking for new levies totaling 182 billion
francs. Since a more modest request led to the downfall
| of the previous French government, his chances of sur-
1) vival must be rated as poor.
»| +
A PRESS PHOTOGRAPHERS AND REPORTERS
4 were barred from accompanying Senator Taft on his
4 fecent tour of a paper mill in Wisconsin Rapids. Since
y his successful 1950 campaign in Ohio, Taft has placed
e| great stress on the importance of plant meetings. But
,j ¢ ring a recent visit to Janesville, he was greeted by cat-
calls in a Chevrolet plant, and. twocworkers refused to
hake hands with him, Another worker was fined $25
for “disorderly conduct” while asking a question about
> Taft-Hartley act. At Wisconsin Rapids reporters
wit —_ 23, 1952
f Germany ~ had were. told to “see Henry Baldwin” when they objected
to being turned back at the gates. Mr. Baldwin turned
out to be the Republican County Chairman as well as
coordinator of plants and processes for the Consolidated
Water Power and Paper Company, owner of the plant
which Senator Taft was visiting. Asked for an explana-
tion of the ban on the press, Mr. Baldwin said: “Our,
policy is that politics stops at the gates.” Asked why
under such a policy Taft was permitted to speak in the
plant, Baldwin replied that the Senator was visiting as
“a statesman rather than a politician.” We hope Senator
Taft continues to have plant officials, who are his local
political henchmen, turn out the employees as ‘‘captive
audiences.” The more workers forced to listen to him
under these circumstances, the fewer votes he is likely to
receive. Even so, it seems pretty harsh treatment for the
workers: what ever happened to that lost freedom—the
freedom mot to listen? xe
WHEN GOVERNOR DAN THORNTON OF
Colorado approved the continuance of a Survey Commit-
tee on Migrant Labor early last year, he was not troubled
by any intimations of future embarrassment. But when the
committee recently submitted its findings, the Governor
took noisy exception to one part—condensed into a book-
let entitled “Colorado Tale’—which painted a rather
dark picture of the conditions of migratory labor, “It’s
bad publicity,” he said. The committee took the hint, and
distribution of the booklet was not pushed. The sequel
was interesting. Under the law Colorado's General As-
sembly in even-numbered years can consider only appro-
ptiations and legislation specifically recommended by the
Governor. Last week Governor Thornton presented a
thirteen-point program to the legislature which omitted
mention of migrant Jabor. Evidently the powerful sugar-
beet industry, which employs most of the state’s migra-
tory workers, has lost little of its influence at the state
capitol in Denver. %
THE IRAQI PARLIAMENT HAS RATIFIED A
new agreement with the Iraq Petroleum Company—
which comprises British, French, Dutch, and Ameri-
can interests—providing for a fifty-fifty split in profits
between company and government. With this point set-
tled, the company proposes by 1955 to raise output five-
fold as compared with 1950 and to increase the capacity
of its pipe lines to the Lebanon coast of the Mediter-
ranean from just over 100,000 to 500,000 barrels a day.
Meanwhile an expert commission sent out by the World
Bank has recommended the adoption by Iraq of a five-
year economic-development plan requiring an investment
of $470,000,000. The heart of this plan is the con-
struction of irrigation works to make possible the cul-
tivation of large areas of rich soil on which landless
peasants could be settled. The mission also proposes im-
167
ere aed
= ee a
nanan
_ a pee
a sie
cal plant in the Kirkuk oilfield which would use natural
gas and local gypsum as its chief raw materials. On paper
this plan, which can be financed wholly from prospective
oil royalties, appears well designed to give the country
a start toward the productivity its natural resources war-
rant and toward raising the dismally low living standards
of its masses. But many obstacles lie between the blue-
i print and its realization, The United Nations could per-
_ laps provide the technicians required, but they would
have a heartbreaking task combating the inertia, ineffi-
ciency, and corruption of the Iraqi bureaucracy. An even
_ more serious difficulty might be sabotage by the large
- Jandowners, who would not welcome a scheme that
offered their exploited laborers and sharecroppers a
chance of escaping to the new farms and factories.
ye
THE SUCCESS OF IRAQ IN OBTAINING AN
equal profit-sharing agreement, like that of the Sheik
of Kuwait, may owe something to the intransigence of
the Iranian government, although the pattern was set
over a year ago when Aramco acceded to Ibn Saud’s
demands for a revision of its contract on similar lines.
But whether or not these and other Arab governments
have reason to be grateful to Premier Mossadegh, they
mow have no particular interest in seeing him win his
battle. The fact is that since last June increased pro-
duction in Kuwait, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, and some smaller
fields has completely filled the gap in world supplies
that opened when Iranian oil ceased to flow. Thus if the
World Bank were successful in its present efforts to per-
suade Mossadegh to accept a workable compromise, and
Iranian oil again became available, there would be a
threat of overproduction which would make things
awkward for other Arab countries and the oil com-
panies operating in them. Any reduction in output which
led to a considerable fall in oil revenues would create
__ fpolitical reactions; on the other hand, oil storage facili-
ties are limited, and a large surplus exported from the
Middle East would upset markets elsewhere. The oil
companies might, of course, cut prices which are based
on United States Gulf Coast quotations, with a view to
creating new demands. They could easily afford to do so,
since production costs in the Middle East are much
lower than in Texas or Louisiana. And undoubtedly
cheaper oil would do a great deal to accelerate the eco-
nomic development of Asia, Nevertheless, there will be
tremendous resistance to the adoption of this solution of
the problem, for it would require revision of a world
price structure that the great international combines have
long and profitably maintained. For all these reasons, the
‘demands of conflicting national and economic interests
seem likely, in the months ahead, to outweigh the ideals
of Moslem solidarity.
168
portant industrial developments, iciiniag a big chemi-
_ The answer would seem to be that he has become a kind
a ie
>
INCE the appearance ae Geneeal Reaiaivc
statement of January 7, the public has been onvvidell
with several summaries of his views on matters foreign —
and domestic. We believe these summaries are sufficient -
to reveal the political nature of the man behind the uni-
form. To be sure, the General has spoken in meaningless
generalities on many important questions and on others
he has remained silent. But he has said enough to give
a fairly consistent impression of his opinions and his . —
approach.
As to Eisenhower's general political views, we concur
with Joseph C. Harsch of the Christian Science Monitor,
who wrote on November 26 last that they are “to the
right of center—perhaps even farther right than those of ~
Senator Robert A. Taft... . The sum total would seem
to be that while General Eisenhower's foreign policies
amount to a much more eloquent and persuasive version
of the Truman policies, his domestic thinking is har-
monious with that of Senator Taft.” On domestic issues
the difference between Taft and Eisenhower seems to be
principally in the quality of their thinking. Senator Taft
is a convinced reactionary; General Eisenhower, on the
other hand, seems to have improvised himself into one.
On most issues his aim apparently has been to adopt the
position least likely to arouse controversy and opposition,
Senator Taft is reactionary by conviction; General Eisen- |
hower is reactionary out of expediency—and few Ameri-
can public figures have been more skilful in avoiding
criticism.
Although the General's entire career has been spent in
the oldest, most extravagant, and most inflexible of
bureaucracies, he nevertheless regards “bureaucracy” and -
“raids on the Treasury” as more dangerous to American
security than any external threat. He is opposed to fed-
eral aid to education and has defined a liberal as “a man
in Washington who wants to play the Almighty with
your money.” He believes it is impossible to have a
democracy without free enterprise, He regards the profit -
motive as sacrosanct. He is afraid the people might be
lured into a dictatorship through hand-outs. He has
scoffed at cradle-to-the-grave social security; in fact he
regards the craving for security as degenerate. If all that
Americans want is security, he has said, “‘they can go to
prison.’’ In this connection it is interesting to recall that
while Eisenhower has spoken with scorn of the “cloying
effect of subsidy,” his entire career has been spent in a
service which provides complete economic security at
public expense.
The puzzle about Eisenhower is how, holding these
views, he can be such a genuinely popular national figure. f |
of “dream image” of what the average American likes |
and admires. He is sociable; he is modest; he is in-} |
The NATION} }\,
yy
quality; he likes people and wants them to like
nim; he has a friendly, outgoing personality; and he is
pleasantly naive—even his admirers refer to his political
views as being sometimes “immature” and “uncompli-
cated.”
_ His most striking personal characteristic seems to be
_ his ability to “get along” with all kinds of people—even
at a price which some might regard as too high, On this
score, the General’s testimony before the Senate Armed
_ Services Committee on April 2, 1948, was most reveal-
_ ing. He began by saying that “there is race prejudice in
_ this country” which creates “social problems on a post,”
| particularly “if you have a dance for your soldicrs.”
Besides, if Negroes wete to be integrated through-
_ out the services rather than kept in separate platoons,
which he approved, competition would relegate them to
_ the menial positions because they would not be as well
educated as other groups. Such problems, in his view,
could not be solved ‘‘merely by passing a lot of laws to
force sonreone to like someone else.” When Senator
Richard Russell proceeded to cite misleading statistics
about the Negro crime rate and the incidence of venereal
‘disease among Negro troops, the General sat silent and
= Bae tcc Te:
BBR
ee
( *ebruary 23, 1952
i
oD ae y ne o 7? ie -
ave a warm, “inspira- —
“«SNT THERE A MOVEMENT WHERE THEY
DANCE BACK To BACK ?”
“NOT THESE PEOPLE.”
HKE'S SQUARE DANCE CLASS
attentive. Only at the close of the hearing, and then only
in the mildest way, did he voice some disagreement, and
he managed to do this in a way that won Senator Rus-
sell’s “complete” consent.
The danger is not that in electing General Eisenhower
to the Presidency the people might be buying “'a pig in
a poke” but rather that he is so perfect a symbol of the
country’s collective political fantasies that he might
easily sweep with him into office a bevy of Senators and
Representatives who would give us the most reactionary
Congress in decades. Franklin D. Roosevelt was another
dynamic symbol, but Roosevelt was at all times fully
aware that he could unite only those elements that had
certain common interests; he never sought an all-embrac-
ing unity. The “unity” for which Eisenhower appeals is
spurious because it ignores the conflicts inherent in con-
temporary politics, because he belongs to the right and
if elected will inevitably be the right’s President. As the
symbol of a spurious unity he could easily be used to
commit us to ends that no evil-purposed Machiavelli
in the White House could ever sell us. The question,
then, is whether we want “dynamic” leadership of the
charismatic variety or leadership based on democratic
understanding.
World C ht.
By arrangement with Daily Herald
169.
Se et ee Nis sae aa
—
2 ne
pre Py
aka
=f . _
Communisis in Unions
BY WILLARD SHELTON
Washington, February 14
SENATE labor subcommittee headed by Senator
Humphrey of Minnesota is opening hearings next
week on the problem of Communists in labor unions.
The committee’s approach has been the exact opposite to
_ McCarthyism. Its staff members have sought information
and advice from union leaders, defense officials, man-
agement spokesmen, civil-liberties champions, and others
Wie as to whether or not Communist control of certain unions
iis a major security threat and, if it is, what can be
done about it. The public hearings are intended to fur-
nish light, not heat, and the subcommittee is in the hands
of liberals.
No honest person can deny that a number of unions
in strategic industries are still under pro-Communist
leadership, though the C, I. O. expelled unions which
allegedly followed the Communist Party line and
chartered new unions to compete with them for members,
The new C, I. O. International Union of Electrical and
Radio Workers has captured most of the membership of
the departed United Electrical Workers, but not all.
In secret balloting under NLRB processes the U. E. has
held the workers in key Westinghouse and General
Electric plants. Communists still occupy high positions in
unions of miners, maritime workers, and workers on
secret defense projects,
Any outside attempt to purge unions of Communist
leadership must be at the cost of civil rights and demo-
cratic union procedures, It cannot be assumed that this
cost would necessarily be balanced by a corresponding
gain to national security. But even from the point of view
of those who do assume this, the non-Communist-affi-
dayit provisions of the Taft-Hartley law have been worse
than useless. Suspected Communists simply file affidavits
of non-membership and keep on running their unions,
The Department of Justice has not been able to bring
successful perjury indictments against suspected Commu-
nist union leaders.
Undeniably a problem exists. In the event of war with
the Soviet Union, individual Communists in defense in-
_ dustries can be expected to commit sabotage. They may
even now be guilty of espionage. The question is how to
deal with the danger. The recommendations forwarded to
the Humphrey subcommittee in response to its inquiries
ate of three general kinds, William Green of the A. F.
of L. and Philip Murray of the C. I. O, oppose special
legislation. The problem, in the opinion of these top
union officials, can be handled by tightened security regu-
lations, the repeal of Taft-Hartley restrictions, and self-
sleansing processes within the union,
Other informed persons agree that there should be
170
sai
Commy
ae anti-C eeu
oe at administrative p procedu i suet Id be al ere
so as to deny bargaining rights to Communist-led 1i0
in defense industries, The Atomic Energy
has already refused contracts to employers that bargained
with the U. E. and the old United Public Workers, Its
action was not wholly arbitrary, for it offered the unions —
a hearing. Benjamin Signal, counsel for the U. E., has —
made the interesting suggestion that tripartite boards —
be created, on which labor, management, and the public —
would be represented, and that these boards be empow- —
ered to hold hearings and make findings. If a union were
found to be Communist-controlled, procurement agencies _
would be instructed not to issue contracts to employers
on defense projects who bargained with it. ¥
A third group maintains that legislation is needed —
to deprive all Communist-dominated unions of bargain- —
ing rights. Such unions would be treated as if they were —
company unions: to bargain with them, even though they =
were chosen by a majority of workers in a plant, would
be an unfair labor practice. '
The Humphrey subcommittee has already proved its —
usefulness. By taking the initiative it has assured that —
decisions about Communist-controlled unions will not be |
left, by default, to crackpots and reactionaries. It is ap- —
proaching the problem carefully and apparently without
preconceived notions. For a democracy to study whether ~
its security is jeopardized by Communist leadership of —
key unions and what, within the limits of our Consti-
tution, should be done for self-protection is not “red- —
baiting.” We have recently been warned, however,
that measures designed to safeguard individual rights —
may be distorted and turned into instruments of oppres-
sion. When President Truman set up his loyalty-security
program in 1947, it was considered better for him to
authorize a minimum program than for the Eightieth
Congress to pass more drastic legislation, But the Tru-
man program itself became steadily more severe, though ~
it still did not satisfy the fanatics and fear-mongers.
The presence of Communists in trade unions gives rise
to two separate problems. The first is that of Communist-
control of the union. Presumably, the danger here is that
Communist leaders might precipitate strikes and general —
labor unrest for political reasons. En passant, it thight be
pointed out that Communist labor leaders are not the —
only ones who have precipitated such strikes in the past.
But in any case is it right, merely in anticipation of such ©
danget, arbitrarily to discriminate against men who may
have been democratically elected to positions of leader-
ship?
The second problem is that of the ordinary union —
man who is a Communist. Actually, such a worker could -
well be in a position to do more harm than a union presi- §
dent; a lathe offers more opportunities for sabotage
than a desk. Yet no liberal could support the thesis that
> ne
VILUTLISSIOL
ina
fe oe
e
-_- e737 2 Se 5s ee.’
c.
The NATION :
ad Of the war, ior aaa and tin to te UNited ofates and using oO:
; ; may one
f 1945 and £908,-
out of every six dollars thus earned, Malaya makes the
Re teares of the dominions and of pemee Eae area coun-
| tries fluctuate, on the whole in a downward direction;
_ only the colonies have invested more every year in
Britain.”
In 1951 Malaya was permitted to import from the
United States and Britain only about 40 per cent of what
it exported to those countries. Its inability to use freely
the currency it earns has set back badly its long-overdue
development plans. In Singapore in the boom year of
1951 only a third of the housing planned was built. Less
than a quarter of the sum budgeted for medical services
was expended, and only eleven out of twenty-three
e projected government schools were built. Steel, cement,
| and other imported commodities were very scarce, but
| thad Malaya been able to use its dollar earnings in bid-
ding for them it probably would have got a much larger
share.
In other words, Malaya is doubly exploited. In selling
NE of the troubles with Soviet literature today is
that it is the reflection of a revolution grown old
end conservative against a backdrop painted in official
wp[ght radical colors. The genuine fervor that inspired
early poetry and fiction with revolutionary idealism
vad the emergent sense of a world reborn has vanished.
During the early 1920’s the Soviet literary scene presented
a striking contrast to that of today. Freedom—one might
almost say a certain degree of anarchy—prevailed among
writers. Numerous literary groups sprang up, each with
its manifesto declaring a variety of artistic aims and
ideological loyalties. Instead of dictator, the Communist
Party played the role rather of referee in the major
~ literary struggle of the time—that between the several
left-wing proletarian groups which demanded hegemony,
party sanction, and government support for the develop-
ment of literature, and the right-wing and fellow-traveler
gtoups which insisted upon creative freedom.
_. This position of the party in the matter of literary
_ controls was no doubt connected both with the social
_ and economic conditions of the country at the time and
_ ERNEST J. SIMMONS is chairman. of the Department of
Fh Slavic Languages and professor of Russian literature at
_ Columbia University. He is the author of critical biographies
Te, of Pushkin, Dostoevsky, and Tolstoy.
a February 2 23, 1952
largest dollar contribution to the sterling pool. It con-
tributed $415,000,000 in 1951. And it is not even per-
mitted to get needed goods for the sterling equivalent of
its dollar contribution,
During the election campaign Oliver Lyttelton, who
did not then think he was going to become Colonial Sec-
retary, scoffed at Labor’s claim to have aided Britain’s
colonies through such paper projects as the Celombo
Plan. The Labor government, he declared, had actually
intensified exploitation of the colonies by compelling
them to pile up sterling balances instead of supplying
them with goods. Since entering the Cabinet he has
dropped this theme, After all, if the Prime Minister
complains that the Labor government should have
welched on its debts to former colonies, Mr. Lyttelton
can scarcely suggest that a Conservative government
should generously refuse to allow its colonies to accumu-
late debts. Even at the present level of United States
aid, it is only by such forced loans from its colonies that
Britain can stay afloat economically.
Soviet Writing Today
BY ERNEST J. SIMMONS
with the struggle for power within the party. However,
with the triumph of Stalin over Trotsky and the inaugu-
ration of the First Five-Year Plan in 1928, the party
felt able to move farther in the direction of regimenting
literature. And by 1932 the party boldly dissolved the
powerful Russian Association of Proletarian Writers and
various other literary groups and two years later set up
one big organization of writets for the whole of the
U. S. S. R.—the present Union of Soviet Writers. Divid-
ing the opposition in order to conquer it is a familiar
party tactic, but so also is the device of combining
fractions into one large organization in order to control .
diverse activities more effectively. In a field so resistant
to control as culture, this latter device is possible only
when the party has great power, and by 1932 the party
had reached that stage. Far from conferring mare free-
dom upon writers, as was widely imagined at the time,
the establishment of a single union made for more
sweeping controls, There is good reason to suppose that
Stalin played a personal role in this move.
From 1932 until the Nazi invasion of 1941 Soviet
literature developed in an atmosphere of conformity to
party dictates. In general, the party still preferred to re-
main behind the scenes, exercising its controlling influ-
ence largely through the medium of the party fraction in
the Union of Soviet Writers. Some critical battles were
A
concerned mostly with the problem of how to adorn so-
cialist realism with the trappings of Marxism, and such
samovar tempests invariably took place within the
bosom of the family, that is, under the aegis of the all-
inclusive Union of Soviet Writers. In short, after 1932
_ critics were asserting in concert that only an author with
a Marxist-Leninist-Stalinist world view could correctly
portray life in the Soviet Union and abroad, and hence
only literature written from this point of view could be
considered real art. The Marxian interpretation of so-
_ cialist realism ended in the closed and vicious circle of
us declaring that only the reality of socialism is real and
___ that therefore everything hostile to socialism is unreal.
Such a position was the logical outcome of party dicta-
tion, and its relation to the truth of art in literature is
well summed up in a typical statement of one of the
critics, M. Serebryansky, in 1938: “Artistic truth is the
ability to tell everything necessary but to tell it correctly,
that is, from a definite, Bolshevik point of view.”
URING the war, no doubt because of a shift in
propaganda emphasis from the Communist Party to
the unity and patriotism of the multi-national peoples of
the Soviet Union, one could detect a relaxation of party
controls over all the media of art and intellectual life.
And at the end of the war a public report of the tenth
plenum of the Executive Committee of the Union of So-
viet Writers recorded frank expressions of hope by
prominent authors that interference in the arts would be
discontinued.
These hopes were blasted by the resolution of the
Central Committee of the party on literature shortly after
the war (August 14, 1946) and by the subsequent speech
of the late Andrei Zhdanoy, in which he not only plainly
indicated what literature was considered anti-Soviet but
also defined the kinds of books that ought to be written
by post-war authors of belles-lettres. This resolution, as
is now well known, touched off a vast frontal attack by
the party on all aspects of Soviet artistic and intellectual
life. In this period of ‘‘the gradual transition from social-
ism to communism,’’ the shift in the ideological line must
be understood as a reflection of the new post-war national
ae and international policy of the party. In the “‘purifica-
tion” drive that followed there were no doubt several
_ objectives, but certainly one of them was the determina-
_ tion that all intellectual and artistic effort must be utterly
_ subservient to party control and should have as one of
‘its aims the exaltation of the Soviet Union and its ac-
complishments over the capitalist West and America.
Perhaps the most obvious feature of the interference in
belles-lettres in the post-war period, as contrasted with
the earlier ones, is the direct and openly declared domina-
_ tion of the party in the total direction of literary things,
The party now demands that all writers adhere strictly to
176
fought out in the press uae this See but they wont ee Sei =
it, the writer can give a truthful and ater er
trayal of reality in its revolutionary development only if
he is guided by the policy of the Soviet state!
By now a formidable control apparatus has been de
veloped in the Soviet Union to enable the party to carry
out its declared intention of using literature for its own
purposes, Since the whole manufacturing process of the
printed word—paper, presses, publishing houses, dis-
tribution—is ultimately under government control, the
party has an economic strangle-hold on the output and
content of literature. The propaganda line that deter-
mines the broad direction of literary content is usually in-
itiated in the Politburo and announced by the Central .
Committee in resolutions which have almost the force of
Jaw. The Propaganda and Agitation Department of the
Central Committee has as one of its main duties to com-
pel active observance of the ideological line in literature |
and to expose what it considers important deviations |
from it. From time to time it may also promulgate a
new aspect or interpretation of the line or emphasize the
need for special concentration on some theme, This is
ordinarily done through inspired articles in Pravda,
the Literary Gazette, or some other party organ.
Lower down in the hierarchy of controls, though
capable of bringing more immediate pressure to bear on
authors, is the Union of Soviet Writers, which is divided
into committees corresponding to the various branches of
literature. Though Communists do not predominate i
the membership of the union, they occupy most of the
key posts and control it. Authors are encouraged to
read their works in progress to the relevant committee of
the union, and there the critical emphasis is on whether
the writer has embodied in his work the true spirit of
the party line. A further check takes place in the editorial
offices of the so-called “thick” magazines, for the best
literature, even novels as serials, appears first in these
publications. Their editorial boards in turn are made up —
largely of Communists, and one of their principal func-
tions is to pass on the ideological correctness of manu-
scripts submitted to them. The same is true of the
editorial boards of the huge government book-publishing
firms. Finally, all literary work that appears in print
must receive the approval of the official Severna cen-
sorship office (Glaviit).
Should a literary work pass safely through this
formidable array and be published with some unde-
tected ideological impurity, which occasionally happens,
it is almost certain to be pounced upon by reviewers—
literary magazines as well as books are reviewed. And
if there is any hesitation to review the work, wh
is sometimes the case, or if reviewers have failed to not
and criticize ideological faults, an officially inspired
The Natio
ae age
— cy -IS$
ed
; Peaiee Kony the author aed
the Union of Sak Writers, the editorial.
P cad ‘os the responsible magazine or publishing house,
| the careless reviewer, and often from the editor of the
| ~publication in which the erring review appeared.
T IS safe to say that few of the notable artistic works
of Soviet literature of the past—and there have been
some very fine ones—would be officially acceptable if
offered for publication in this post-war period of tight
_ fegimentation. When they are occasionally reprinted,
_ textual changes are introduced in order to bring them
“up to date” ideologically. Even so recent a production
as Simonov’s war poetry, enormously popular and en-
| thusiastically reviewed when first printed seven or eight
| years ago, was violently attacked a few months ago when The Union Committee Listens to a Work in Progress
_ feissued in a collected volume. \ |
Thus literature in the Soviet Union since the war has Since fiction is sold in enormous quantities in the
necessarily been devoted largely to the greater glory of | Soviet Union, one naturally wonders how the average
;
.
!
}
-|
of character is hopelessly stereotyped, plainly and tire- survivals,” as the truly realistic portrayals.
dq]
;
- |
|
|
S
| life and was in no position to enforce one. Today the laborers in the factories. In its post-war development
— impulsiveness, pride, a desire to abandon the collec- _ the party no doubt hopes—will stand in their personal
te ‘temedies, Soviet literature today prides itself on portray- both as a reflection of Communist aspirations and as an
i} ing only average men and women,.but it casts them in opiate to minister to its discontent—that Soviet literature
@ — the official i image of idealized positive Communist heroes _ today can best serve the purpose of the social historian
and heroines. seeking to make use of it as evidence of Soviet life.
Pel 23, 1952
_ the Communist Party. If imaginative literature tends to Soviet citizen reacts to these “average” heroes and
| exalt its subject as the most adequate mirror of life, heroines and to the idealized life they lead. The present
! Soviet literature today exalts it as a mirror of idealized | writer has been conducting a study of certain features
Soviet life. In such recent fiction successes as V. Az- Of Soviet literature, through interviews and question-
hayev’s “Far from Moscow,” S. Babayevsky’s “Light over naires, among Soviet D. P.’s here and abroad, some of
the Land,” V. Zakrutin’s “Floating Station,” G. Niko- them former members of the Writers’ Union, The nearly
layeva’s “The Harvest,” and A. Kozhevnikov’s “Life- | uniform answer to the point mentioned above is that the
giving Water,” real problems of Soviet daily living are | average Soviet citizen reads between the lines of such
dealt with, and often against carefully described back- novels and develops “an unusual virtuosity’ in dismiss-
grounds of village or town, of factory or huge con- ing positive heroes as unreal and accepting the so-
= tuction effort. However, the psychological presentation called negative characters, motivated by “bourgeois
somely manufactured out of the whole cloth of official It is almost too much to expect, however, that such
ideology. In the past, fiction reflected with varying de- virtuosity in interpretation should be very common.
grees of faithfulness the central problem of Soviet life | among the masses of Soviet readers. Some allowance
—the tragic struggle between the old and the new in the = must be made for tlie effectiveness of the propaganda
fietce effort-to build a socialist society. Party motivation element in belles-lettres. Then, too, the unfailing success-
was nearly always present, but the reality of the abiding _ story of novels and plays today, a socialistic variation of
conflict was rarely sacrificed to Communist doctrine. The — such endless Horatio Alger themes as are found in “Luck
?p psitive hero in this earlier fiction moved in an arena and Pluck,” “Sink or Swim,” ‘Survive or Perish,” must
of activity that often had the authentic ring of real life, serve psychologically as the wish-fulfilment of countless
for the party had not yet found a formula of idealized hard-pressed peasants on the cooperative farms and
positive hero of fiction is nearly always a Communist, Soviet literature has become the perfect propaganda in-
Cast in the father-image of Stalin. He may have certain _strument, for it is presenting for popular consumption ©
‘weaknesses, often the only element of dramatic conflict a series of consistent, idealized Communist heroes who—
_ tive and do everything himself, hostility to innovation, _ lives, heroic actions, and unswerving loyalty to the
ailure to educate a wife lacking his Bolshevik virtues. regime as instructive models for the average Soviet citi-
Tn the end, however, these weaknesses are always ovet- zen. It is through this negative sense of reality—the
come by an application of stereotyped ideological idealization of life which the party foists upon the public
177
Fisstl Ross
A Professional T: ribute
BY M. R, WERNER
} OSS, as he was called by everyone who knew him,
ie AR oo and off the New Yorker, seems to me to have
made a great success in American journalism because he
_ set definite limits to his scope and exhibited both integ-
_ fity and ingenuity within those limits, I had the privilege
Raviok professional association with him for many years,
beginning when he got out his prospectus for the New
' Yorker and ending only with his death. I never knew
him intimately as a friend, but I developed higher respect
_ for him as an editor than I have felt for any other
t if editor in the United States.
_.__ Anybody who worked for Ross was bound from time
to time to be exasperated, He worried a great deal about
ideas and the words in which to put them, and in that
way he was like his writers. Sometimes he did not “get”
what one was trying to do. Sometimes he seemed to want
to alter too drastically the way it was done. But for all
his expletives, Harold Ross was a reasonable, and there-
fore tolerant, man. When he was wrong, you could
usually convince him, for he was completely without
arrogance, unlike many editors and other entrepreneurs.
Once you had convinced him you could accomplish some-
thing with him—never unless you had.
Ross was a profoundly serious man. He often grinned,
and I daresay his intimate friends heard him laugh; I
never did. One of the limitations he accepted for himself
and his enterprise at the outset was that it would never
even pretend to have the whole answer for any problem.
When in doubt he preferred to shy away from a sub-
ject. Once when we had a rousing argument about a
piece with political implications, he said to me: “We
don’t want to get serious, Werner,” meaning the maga-
zine. That was an illusion of his. He thought originally
that he was going to run a “comic” magazine. By the art
of improvisation, which was one of Ross's greatest gifts,
_ the New Yorker turned into the magazine that had more
effect than any other ever published in the United States,
-s mot only on American manners, but also on the in-
_ gtained habits and worn-out customs of other editors.
Sloppy reporting. gave Harold Ross nightmares, and
muddy language made him profane. His comments
on the margins of proof, of which much has been
ously funny. He was often wrong in those comments, but
he was never neglectful, and-he must have, more often
than not, saved his magazine serious errors by them, He
M. R. WERNER is the author of biographies of Barnum and
Brigham Young.
178
He much admired ‘elicty.
said since his death, were valuable and at times hilari-
Ross would have shuddered if he had ever set the
world on fire” with the New Yorker. Crusading he pre
ferred to leave to men much more sure of themselves.
And yet Ross and many of the men in and out of his
office to whom he gave opportunity and whose work he
influenced have had a profound effect on the develop-
ment of American decency.
It usually takes a maniacal streak, or, if you prefer, a
touch of genius, to become a great editor in the United
States, and in that sense Ross
qualified, along with Horace
Greeley, both James Gordon
Bennetts, the elder Joseph
Pulitzer, E. W. Scripps, and
Joseph M. Patterson. Many
editors have tried to copy Ross,
but none have succeeded, part-
ly because the effort was half-
hearted and partly because
none of them had the New
Yorker's relatively limited but
generally sophisticated audi-
ence,
Ross's audience enabled him
to escape the domination of
big advertisers. So many peo-
ple with perfumes, clothing, books, jewelry, music,
liquor, and vacations to sell needed the New Yorker
more than it needed them that the magazine’s writers and
artists mever had to look over their shoulder as they
wrote or drew what pleased them. No church or politi-
cal party has ever had any influence on the New Yorker,
although no doubt the customary attempts, mild or angry,
have been made.
Through the efforts of Harold Ross and the men he
had the good judgment to use and appreciate, the New
Yorker has originated more devices for expressing human
events and characteristics than any other journal ever
published in the United States—or perhaps elsewhere.
Ross realized the simple fact that the man who was fe-
porting was vital to what he was reporting, even though
it was important that he should not distort his subject
matter by an ill-grounded bias. The greatest tribute that ff”
could be paid to Ross and his magazine is that readers are
quick to complain when they think an issue is not as ex-
pert as they have become accustomed to expect. No one
sees any difference between one issue of Collier's or iy
Newsweek, for example, and another.
Since Harold Ross died at the age of fifty-nine, there .
has been much speculation about whether the New
Yorker can go on long without him, My guess-is that —
it will—unless it should sometime bow to pressure, finan-
cial or intellectual, as he would never have done.
Harold Ross
The NATION {
T IS curious how many successful
authors make austere pronounce-
ments about the value of hardship to
_ young writers. Dos Passos joined the
f
yf
_ aty journalism is virtually extinguished.
.
-
tradition some time ago: “Young writers
who believe in themselves should be
_ willing to starve in a garret once more.”
I have no idea whether Dos Passos grad-
uated to his present distinguished old
age through a garret, but I wonder
whether anyone undergoing starvation
in a garret at the moment would say
that it was a prerequisite of creative
writing. Hardship recollected is usually
romanticized. From the comfort of the
high places the discomfort of the low
becomes the splendid condition of any
_ “fundamental writing.”
Yet in a world where human beings
are struggling to get away from nature
in the raw—which tended to make them
a pretty sorry lot—why hold the writer
fast in his own private jungle? Ideally,
in a sensitive democracy the novelist,
dramatist, or poet would tend to find his
own level, and if the toughness of the
_ breed did not vary drastically, the rest
of this article would be pointless; but
_ it does vary.
Men of the caliber of Shakespeare,
Tolstoy, and Melville will continue to
_ make themselves felt against the worst
_ adversity, Men of genius, even men of
_ tremendous talent, are rarely over-
_whelmed by environment. It is the
_ writer of considerable talent, enjoying
| his own peculiar vision but not com-
pletely possessed by it and lacking the
_ spiritual toughness to survive intermi-
e nable frustrations, who finds the present
} state of publishing—periodical and
_ book—so difficult in Britain.
The word understates the situation
for many young and serious writers.
,| 8 ocating would be better. Time was
in Britain when serious writers could
eatm a reasonable living from literary
‘Journalism and produce their books in
between articles and stories. Now liter-
February 23, 1952
ee _
att
Yaa
b
t
BY VINCENT BROME
With the death of Horizon and New
Writing, those two fiercely contested
remnants of a literary heritage dating
back to the Edinburgh Review, the scene
was left desolate. Reviews remain, of
course, like the Cornhill and the Fort-
nightly, but neither is literary in the
sense that Horizon was. Scrutiny does
not offer much scope to young writers,
and the Times Literary Supplement
takes us into the world of reviewing.
Once a second means of sustenance,
reviewing is now very limited, largely
because of the cost of paper, and is
often so poorly paid that those who
have any truck with it are looked upon
as literary hacks, Not so long ago papers
like the Daily Chronicle carried long re-
views of books every other day and paid
reasonable rates for them. Now half a
dozen books are lumped together into
a thousand words once a week, and one
man lives by it instead of four.
The short-story field is no happier.
The market for serious work hardly
exists. Even the ‘popular’ short-story
magazines have collapsed; the Argosy
alone survives. And now in the last year
the elasticity has gone out of British
book publishing too. What with no
short-story magazines, defunct literary
periodicals, and publishers so aware of
imminent crisis that they eye every
promising newcomer with fresh skepti-
cism unless he has the attributes of
Shakespeare, a best-seller, or both, the
word “suffocating” does indeed seem
justified.
One small glimmer appears on the
horizon. The BBC Third Program has
given John Lehmann one hour a month
to produce a miscellany of new writing,
and in one sense this may go some way
toward filling the gap created by the
death of Penguin New Writing. The
. Third Program apart, what is a fledgling
writer to do? Retire to his garret and
feed on his own fine sentences? The
caloric value of inspiration is not very
high, but it is said that inspiration of
THE OS DILEMMA IN BRITAIN
the right intensity will sustain vitality in
something approaching a corpse. There
is only one objection to this. Garrets at
ten shillings a week which once shel-
tered colonies of bohemians in London’s
Greenwich Village are now three and
four times that much, and can no longer
serve as the cherished seat of inspiration
for the impoverished. More or less van-
ished, too, is the way of life in which
one pound a week kept a writer at least
alive in the center of London, while he
rose at noon, consumed inordinate quan-
tities of sausages and mashed, drifted
industriously from coffee to coffee, and
somehow contrived to write, The eco-
nomics of survival have been revolution-
ized under inflationary pressures. Three
pounds would be nearer the mark today.
IF NOT the garret, what then? In the
familiar scale of possible ways of life
conjured up by the inartistic for the
benefit of writers and their like, the
part-time job ranks high, Those who
feel that the arts and writing are trivial
excrescences on the reality of living
would like to see every writer a spare-
time writer and they hint at the health.
giving life of the mines: the two-way
tradition, a very high one, made Field-
ing a police magistrate, Trollope a post-
office official, and—serenest reach of all
—Spinoza a lens polisher. In modern
times the British civil service has nout-
ished big and small talent, but the civil
service, like Bohemia, has changed its
character since the war, and the easy ten-
to-four day has given place to am ex-
hausting forty-five-hour week. But if the
casual ways of the civil service have
changed, and the Humbert Woolfs
might be hard put to find time for their
poetry, the part-time job which sustains
life and energy enough for creative
work has also suffered serious curtail-
ment, As society has become more and
more intensely organized and efficiency
has undermined Bohemla itself, part-
time jobs have either been swept away
179
wat —-~- PtP senna ee ee = =
a ' ay Ro Te ? 4 ac ~~
s b ar , ee Soe, 4. Phe ~ pac. rs"
«i PRE-VICTIMS ea
They walk towards us willingly and gently, ; aes .
Unblemished, the white kid, the calf,
Their new-born coats scarcely dry from the amniotic waters.
Each hair lies in its new place, ripple-marked
By the rhythms of growth, the tides
That washed them up onto the shores of time.
Their young eyes, unsurprised, look towards us.
We see them stand, beautiful on spring grass,
And know that the upgathered perfect form must pass,
‘ Those intricate knots of ganglia and veins,
The rhythmic heartbeat, and the breath of life.
We first receive their wounding in our hearts
With all the inexpressible guilt of love,
For the first worshiping touch of our tragic hands must soil -
And trouble the unconscious unicorn
That does not even know it stands on earth.
We offer them bunches of buttercups and young grass
With all the inexpressible love of guilt.
We give, even as we look,
The first wound of sacrifice.
or have evolved into what is called
casual labor, a form of activity constant-
ly threatened with cessation, Ask famous
ag writers today what part-time job they
- covet and they tend to retire into a
world of fantasy. “I would like to be a
station master on a small country branch
"3 ny
cs “1 b/ a ee
Ze
‘aoe
____ to the starting point and write, starva-
: line (single track),”
says John Betje-
an. “A rich wife,” says Cyril Con-
nolly. C. Day Lewis is more down to
earth: “For the novelist who needs a
wide range and diversity of personal
contacts, medicine, the law, or commer-
cial traveling... .”
As for patrons, the last went out
with the nineteenth century. So the pa-
tron is dead, publishers less inclined to
take risks with new writers, secondary
jobs more productive of frustration than
inspiration, and the state—the very
e word rings like a knell. The state and
writing seem natural enemies.
There is nothing for it but to return
_____ tion or not. But even then what happens
in Britain? A man may spend nine
months writing a novel and never get it
an published. Or he may have the novel
¥ accepted six months after writing it, and
_ receive £100 advance royalties. Another
year elapses, and the book appears.
Some time in the following year he may
receive another £100—for a year’s work
£200, considerably less than his typist is
paid. And he is far less fortunate than
180
KATHLEEN RAINE
his typist, for the £200 is paid over two
and a half years not one year. If he is
among the fortunate, the £200 becomes
£500, and whenever a star appears in
the East one novel comes out of the ruck
and achieves four figures.
[This is the sequel to two earlier
articles by Mr. Brome, in The Nation of
December 1 and January 12. The first
was devoted to book publishing, the sec-
ond to periodicals and the press.)
Cabell’s Brief Hour
QUIET PLEASE. By James Branch
Cabell. University of Florida Press.
Distributed by Farrar, Straus and
Young. $3.
AMES BRANCH CABELL had pub-
lished unread books for fifteen
years when he woke one morning in
1919 to find that “Jurgen” had made
him famous. It was, or at least it ap-
peared to be, no mere success of scandal.
Magazines and newspapers which had
scarcely been aware of his existence
broke out in a flood of articles critical
and informatory. His earlier novels were _
reissued, finally in an eighteen-volume
collected edition, and the textbooks en-
shrined him as a classic. A few suc-
ceeding books sold on his notoriety, but
it was not very long before his works
were again falling from the presses al-
Seidel Cabr “voted to ¢ be
sympathetic pages, but so far as the ¥
publishing trade, the general reader, or —
the present-day intellectual is concerned,
he no longer exists. The only compara-
ble recent example of a writer who rose
so high like a rocket and fell unnoticed _
like its stick is the late Edgar Lee |
Masters. Yet “The Spoon River Anthol-
ogy” is not so nearly forgotten as
“Jurgen.”
Cabell’s fate was a cruel one because
few things can seem so utterly lost as
fame, and the once famous can take lit-
tle satisfaction in saying, “I have had my
hour,” since an hour of fame may be
no fame at all. It would be interesting
to know how the victim of such a fate
feels about it, and—though I am by no
means certain its author would accept
the statement—this is, in a way, the sub-
ject of “Quiet Please.” I say “in a way,”
because Mr. Cabell discusses many
things, including the origins of his
books and his present way of life at
seventy in St. Augustine, Florida.
Moreover, he has by no means simpli-
fied a style full of strangely displaced
phrases—for example, “To the contrary,
there, almost always, I believe, is a cer-
tain smugness,” etc.—which sometimes
achieves an elaborate neatness and some-
times descends to the level of a school-
master's jocose involutions. But what he
actually does say about his career may be
reduced in simple words to something
like this: He has always enjoyed writing,
even books which did not sell, even
books which he never intended to pub-
lish. Yet he has never been able to write
anything except the particular thing .
which at that moment he wanted to
write. He despises the esteemed writers
of today, he can read with pleasure very
few of those of the past who once de-
lighted him, and he found his hour of
fame distressing because of vulgarities
incidental to it which he could not whol-
ly avoid. Yet he has had, in a way, a sat- °
isfactory life, partly because the amatory
adventures attributed to the characters in
his fiction were not always based upon
pure fancy. And he still holds that wis-
dom prescribes a contempt for the ways
of the world together with a willingness
to adjust oneself to them when the cost
is not too great.
The an
1
«ae
ot
usually thought. On the lakes hand,
_ there is ng use in arguing the safe con-
tention that the eye of eternity will see
him as worthy of less admiration than
_ the twenties accorded but of more than
_ the fifties are willing to grant. But per-
: haps it is worth while to point out that
if the erotic naughtiness of “Jurgen”
_ was precisely what a brief moment
wanted, everything which he now has to
offer consists of things which the spirit
of the age resolutely wants none of,
and that, consequently, even if he were
as good as his admirers once thought,
excellence would not win him much
esteem. Anatole France had been longer
famous when a generation definitively
tejected him, but he is hardly less likely
_ to be praised as once he was. An es-
_teemed writer today may be direct or he
_ may be devious, but he may not be man-
} ered in that particular way. He may
| be utterly pessimistic concerning the
| past, present, and future or he may be
utopian. But he cannot say, as Mr.
Cabell and Anatole France both said,
_ that human life is not very satisfactory,
that it will never be any different, but
_ that, nevertheless, “it will do.”
‘ In “Quiet Please” Mr. Cabell is still
}
|
_ trying to find acceptable ways of saying
__ just that. But he is probably not unaware
‘of the fact that, at the present moment,
ere is no way of saying it that is likely
prove widely acceptable.
JOSEPH WOOD KRUTCH
Faith of a Liberal
YEW HOPES FOR A CHANGING
WORLD. By Bertrand Russell.
_ Simon and Schuster. $3.
TRADITIONAL office of philoso-
phy is to provide a critique of pre-
ling tendencies and values, to portray
a way of life that can redirect human
gies from unworthy to ennobling
uits, and to supply a perspective
in which personal and public ad-
etsity may be faced with resolute cour-
e. This moral role of philosophy has
can been of intimate concern to
| Bertrand Russell, even in that long
, period of his life when he was most ac-..
, tively engaged in those abstract and
_ Seemingly remote logical analyses which
has repeatedly
_ expressed his high esteem for the prac-
tical guidance and exemplary fortitude
that books like Boethius’s “The Con-
solations of Philosophy” contain; and in
a long series of essays and volumes, be-
ginning with his famous “A Free Man’s
Worship” down to his latest book, he
has given overt proof of profound pre-
occupation with central moral and social
issues. His explicit objective in the pres-
ent volume is to outline a liberal faith
for the modern world and ‘to generate a
creative hope in the realization of the
ideal constituting that faith, For he be-
lieyes it is the absence of such an ideal
which is largely responsible for the
sorry predicaments of our time; but he
is also convinced that the grave dangers
confronting us cannot be surmounted as
long as fear dominates our thought and
paralyzes remedial action. He rejects as
incompatible with the most warranted
conclusions of critical thought the ‘two
great systems of dogma lying in wait
for the modern man when his spirit is
weary’’—the systems of Rome and of
Moscow. He maintains that when men
are liberated from the primeval terrors
they acquired in the jungle and acquire
instead the spontaneous belief that their
happiness depends upon harmony with
other men, then “‘not only their personal
problems but all the problems of world
politics, even the most abstruse and dif-
ficult, would melt away.” He therefore
proposes with all the arts of persuasion
at his command an ethic of “‘encourage-
ment and opportunity for all the im-
pulses that are creative and expansive,”
an ethic which will “let the imprisoned
demons escape and the beauty of the
world take possession.”
Mr. Russell states his hopes for a
better world with moving eloquence,
and against a background of a synoptic
world history in which he examines the
achievements and follies of men with
characteristic insight and ironic wit.-He
distinguishes three major types of con-
flict which have marked the evolution of
mankind: the conflicts between man and
nature, between man and man, and be-
tween man and himself. Modern science
and technology supply the means for a
limited but sufficient mastery of nature,
and only the persistence of obsolete
moral and political ideas stands in the
way of assuring the material conditions
for a good life to all men. But this
mastery is made practically ineffective in
many parts of the world by a disastrous
over-population. Indeed, Mr. Russell is
inclined to hold that the habit of a low
birth rate is the most important value
Western civilization has to offer to man-
_kind at large; and there is perhaps no
single thesis he affirms so emphatically
as his conviction that unless human fer-
tility is artificially controlled in what
are now the underprivileged areas of
the world, all of us are in mortal dan-
ger of being swallowed up in a new
flood of ignorance, destitution, and war.
It is in the struggle for food and
FABLE
Fire-drunk, winged Icarus
Essayed taut, gull-wheeling space
To time his pulse by a god’s smile.
Alas, its music burned away
In gales and altitudes of light!
Struck, the wax wings fell like snow,
Gently, where blinded Icarus
Saw self, a stone’s will, tear the sea,
STEPHEN STEPHANCHEV
by Gordon Rattray Taylor
A brilliant study of the
frustration of industrial
man, his lack of emotional
satisfaction in his job and
need for a greater sense of
participation and creative
achievement in his work —
for anyone concerned with
what is happening to west
ern society. By the author
of Conditions of Happiness.
$3.00
Houghton Mifflin Company
181
Mr. Russell finds the main cause for the
wars of history, for the development of
moral codes, and for the changes in
modes of social organization. This strug-
gle still continues, though according to
him needlessly and in consequence of
the incongruity between our outworn
political and economic ideas on the one
hand and the actual physical and eco-
nomic unity of the world on the other.
The sole alternative to this suicidal con-
flict is some form of effective world
government. But Mr. Russell appears
to be unclear in his own mind as to how
such a government can be realized. He
suggests at times that a peaceful sur-
render of national sovereignty can be
achieved by mutual agreement; and yet
he also declares at other times that
international order will replace inter-
national anarchy only when the victors
of another world war impose a modern
equivalent of the Pax Romana upon the
entire globe. He exhibits a similar inde-
cision in his comments on the present
struggle between Communist Russia and
the West. He argues that these social
systems embody incompatible concep-
tions of life and that therefore a fatal
conflict of arms between them can hard-
ly be avoided; however, he also claims
that but for the occurrence of mutual
suspicions engendered by irrational but
eliminable fears the two systems can
coexist peaceably. In any event, it is
clear that Mr. Russell is not a starry-
eyed optimist, and his view of the im-
mediate future is on the whole grim
though not despairing. But like the rest
of us, he sometimes engages in what
certainly appears like whistling in the
dark.
Mr. Russell’s conception of the good
life is an essentially pluralistic one, and
he is generous and sensitive to the vari-
_ ety and range of human capacities. He
foresees an endlessly bright future for
mankind, if only we can be persuaded
to surrender our “fear morality” of
guilt and sin, and to adopt an outlook
which is favorable to the maximum ex-
ercise of our disciplined powers. In his
frankly worldly attitude toward the
- sources and rewards of the moral life,
in his passionate distaste for all mystery
_ mongering, in his serene confidence in
the possibility of human progress
through rational effort, Mr. Russell thus
shows himself to be an eloquent spokes-
182
other primary necessitigs of life that
of the ie of the French I a tmakay ca
lightenment. Indeed, there is a distine-
tive eighteenth-century air about his use
of purely psychological explanations
in interpreting socio-historical changes,
though it is not always evident whether
he is entirely serious in adopting such
psychological categories. There is also
some ground for questioning his neo-
Malthusian views. Undoubtedly there is
much substance in his warnings against
the dangers of over-population; his dis-
cussion nevertheless sometimes suggests
that there is an optimal maximum popu-
lation size, independent of the state of
technology and mode of social organiza-
tion—an assumption that is highly de-
batable, to say the least. But despite
such reservations concerning many links
in his argument, Mr. Russell has writ-
ten a stimulating and inspiring book. It
is a sermon on the life of man, which
articulates without unction and with in-
sight a noble vision of human excel-
lence. It achieves what Mr. Russell set
out to do, for it makes attractive to both
mind and heart the faith underlying a
liberal social philosophy.
ERNEST NAGEL
Form and Feeling
THE SEVEN-LEAGUE CRUTCHES.
By Randall Jarrell. Harcourt, Brace
and Company. $2.75.
HIS volume is divided into three
sections called Europe, Children,
and Once Upon a Time. The poems in
the first section seem for the most part
to revolve around some experience in
Austria which has great significance for
the poet. They are full of a poignant,
nostalgic Austrian atmosphere:
At the path out into the wood, a deer
Stood with stars in the branches of its
antlers.
This is beautiful, and there is a good
deal like this. But when the poet gets
close to the center of his experience, the
effect tends to become blurred:
I saw, in your eyes beside my eyes,
A gaze pure, yearning, unappeasable.
The poems seek the rhythm of the
speaking voice, and in this there is
something very personal about Mr. Jar-
rell’s utterance. His is the voice which
knows pity and despair. At present it
seems a little submerged by a mixture of
ee poems is one ok sities
Tristan Corbiére. It is as eid ann
feeling Mr. Jarrell has for Corbiére’s
poetry had heightened the tone of his
own utterance, which tends to become a
little monotonous in the poems of pure
sentiment.
Mr. Jarrell is one of the most interest- -
ing poets living, and one of the most
alert critical intelligences. He is alsoa |
difficult and even baffling poet. Difficult,
not because his poems are obscure, but — ,
because he combines an extreme critical
self-consciousness with a certain naivete
of feeling and occasional fumbling of .
technique. At least, I think this is the
case, though his occasional lapses are so
surprising that I am left wondering
whether they are intended to achieve
some effect which I have failed to fol-
low. For example, a poem called The
Island begins with the confident rhythm:
While sun and sea—and I, and I—
Were warped through summer on our
spar,
I guessed beside the fin, the gull,
And Europe ebbing like a sail
A life indifferent as a star.
The meter continues like this for three
stanzas and then in the fourth stanza
breaks into
Frosted or salted with its curling smile
The printless hachures of the sand...
I lay with you, Europe, in a net of snows:
And all my trolls—their noses flattened
into Lapps’
Against the thin horn of my windows—
wept:
However often I read it, the line “And
all my trolls—their noses flattened into
Lapps’” spells for me the breakdown
of the poem. To say this, in connection
with a poet who considers his effects so
carefully, may show my own obtuseness.
I have to leave it to the reader.
This volume seems to me to feprésent
what is perhaps a transitional state of
development. I draw attention to a lapse
because I think that such defects are
characteristic of an experimental stage —
while Mr. Jarrell is moving forward to -
a new and simpler narrative style of |
writing in which he will succeed very -
powerfully. There are—to my mind— —
lapses in feeling as well as in technique.
The heavily larded, over-simple German —
introduced into the poems about Austria
The NATION
ence which ee not el communi-
ate itself to the reader, shows an ad-
_ mirable seriousness and courage.
__ The book is particularly interesting in
_ showing how an undigested experience
_ expressed too emotionally in the early
_ poems—or a parallel experience—be-
comes memorable when it is viewed
more from a distance and fused more
_cold-bloodedly into more conventional
_ forms. La Belle au Bois Dormant seems
to include all the pent-up emotional
_ quality of the Salzburg poems, and yet
_ to move in a serene air of pure detach-
_ ment.
-_- Despite his great powers of criticism
and self-ctiticism, I suspect that Mr. Jar-
rell is a poet who does not always gain
complete control over the very strong
feelings he expresses. What makes him
so interesting is that he has these feel-
| _ ings, as well as intellect. But on the
whele he seems at present to be most
successful when he hits on a very happy
| subject, as here he sometimes does—for
| example The Black Swan or the delight-
ful lines about the postman in A Sick
Child. Without such a discipline of sub-
ject and form, when he is writing freely,
he tends to be overwhelmed by his re-
markably exposed sensibility to the hor-
rors of the world. There is a kind of
_ sobbing despair in many of these poems
for which one can only feel the greatest
respect but which somehow gives the
_ impression of a great deal of material
_ which has not been adequately dealt
with,
What Mr, Jarrell is trying to do,
however, is wholly admirable: to write
» a poetry which hovers between the lyric
and the narrative (he always brings me
back to thinking about Browning), and
_to give utterance to the horror of our
art
=~
om
feet =}
et B age. He does not shirk the terribly press-
.¢ ¥ ing terrible subjects of Germany and
gt | Burope. At present, though, he has not
it posed a way of writing about them with
“might have done)—that is, with a kind
of desperate abandonment to the subject
eq itself which makes form seem irrelevant,
gi- } and therefore justifies all freedoms; nor
jot. | does he manage to control them in the”
ass crystalline form which he achieved in
some earlier poems. His problem is to
eented | sieteseele
; uations (the oppressed, the eee) which
are always there but which, artistically
speaking, are hardly ever completely real
—that is, completely personal experi-
ence—to anyone. But although he might
be reproached for at times not writing
more personally about his feelings, I
think his attempt to penetrate to the
center of a suffering outside himself is
right. For that suffering is so present in
the world today that it demands to be
exorcised by art, STEPHEN SPENDER
The Asian Revolution
ASIA AND THE WEST. By Maurice
Zinkin. Institute of Pacific Relations.
$3.50,
HIS volume treats the major aspects
of the socio-economic organization
of Asia, the condition of the several na-
tions there, the needs to be met for
giving them an adequate development,
the state of their trade, and their re-
quirement of dollars. Through it runs
the theme of the Communist advance in
the struggle for the minds of men. Be-
cause of the scope of the work each
topic is treated in very few pages; yet
the author has given a great deal of
specific information and bolstered it
with many tables.
The book starts by contrasting the
village agricultural life of Asia with the
urban and industrial development of the
West. The standards of living are wide-
ly apart, and Asia, overpopulated in
relation to its production, has been in-
cited to emulate the West. Herein lies
the basis for the Asian political revolu-
tion, which may prove, the author says,
when seen in perspective, to have been
more important during the past decade
than the war and the changes it has
caused in Europe.
The major part of this work was writ-
ten in 1949 and the Postscript some
time toward the end of 1950. At that
time Mr. Zinkin viewed China and
India as respectively the protagonists of
communism and democtacy in Asia. He
points to the shift in loyalties in Asia
during the past few decades. Formerly
they were to a religion (Islam, Hindu-
ism, or some other); when he wrote he
saw them as being to a region. This is
true within limits, though in Pakistan
the religion of Islam still has a power-
pe. one, $e
-
“ful part in shaping national purpose,
while in China the force of religion was
not so strong as in India, Today the
shift has moved farther than when Mr.
Zinkin wrote. In India the recent elec-
tions seem to show that to an impressive
extent the electorate responded to secu-
lar economic inducements as offered re-
spectively by Congress, the Communist
Party, and the Socialist Party, The ap-
peal of political parties based upon re-
ligion was if anything less than ex-
pected. The issue now seems clearly
joined there between communism and
the democratic parties on the question
of which will do more for the people
economically.
At this point the United States must
look to its purposes in Asia, and we
must brace ourselves for the expendi-
tures we must make if we are to fulfil
them. If we want India, Pakistan, Cey-
lon, and the countries of Southeast Asia
to be democratic rather than Commu-
nist, we shall have to assist their govern-
ments to develop them economically. It
will cost us money to do so, but as Mr,
Zinkin remarks, not so much as to
finance a series of Korean actions. His
description of the large needs of each
Tho timeless story
a thrilling and
mysterious phenomenon,
the great annual migration
of ducks
told with lyrical
beauty by the author
of City of the Bees
FRANK S.
STUART’S
Wild Wings
$3.50
At all bookstores
McGRAW-HILLBOOKCO., Inc.
330 West 42nd St., N. Y, 36
183,
ose ihn: tnt ie Ges Saas
available resources none of them are
self-sufficient but all need supplementary
help. The economic situation in Asia is
a difficult one; to see it in concrete terms
with respect to each country his separate
chapters are a suggestive, informative,
and useful sequence of introductions.
W. NORMAN BROWN
The Case of Brooks Adams
BROOKS ADAMS: CONSTRUCTIVE
CONSERVATIVE. By Thornton
Anderson. Cornell University Press.
$3.75.
N BROOKS ADAMS Mr. Anderson
has an enviable subject, one of the
most interesting and prophetic minds at
work in this country during the period
from 1890 to the First World War, and
still, despite excellent essays by Daniel
Aaron, R. P. Blackmur, and Charles A.
Beard, an unduly neglected thinker. The
first essential about Brooks Adams was
his Jast name. From the days of John
Adams the men of the family, possessed
of a powerful sense of the symbolic
value of their family story, had been im-
bued with a strong need to intel-
lectualize and universalize their experi-
ence. In the generation of Brooks and
Henry Adams these qualities were sup-
plemented by an unhappy awareness of
the family’s progressive failure to
“adapt,” as Brooks would have put it, to
an American environment which had
in many ways coarsened too much to
accommodate the Adams integrity. With
Henry, who had the more tempered
mind and style of the two, this concern
with adaptation and failure was internal
and personal. Brooks, who was a more
concentrated and original thinker, ex-
ternalized it and expressed it in his his-
torical and political theories. ‘‘Nothing
is commoner,” wrote Brooks, “than to
find families who have been famous in
one century sinking into ubscurity in the
next ...” And it is clear from the pas-
sage in which this sentence appears that,
much as Brooks’s social inquiries were
directed toward finding a policy and a
strategy for the United States, they were
also, perhaps even primarily, an inquiry
into the question: why had the Republic
shunted its best men aside into places of
no real prominence or power?
Brooks Adams’s earliest political in-
terests were much like those held during
184
type that was being elbowed into posi-
tions of slight public importance by the
rise of corporate industrialism and the
decline of that old-style republican state-
craft that had put two Adamses in the
White House and made a third minister
to the Court of St. James. Brooks always
had that high-minded interest in public
service that characterized the Mugwump
type, and with it, at first, the same rather
marrow reading of social issues that
helped to limit its influence. In the raw.
age they were born into, such men as the
Adamses could serve their country only
in marginal posts, or in the office of
critic or moralist. It was difficult for
any ambitious man to accept such a
modest and unsatisfying role, and with
the exalted and demanding traditions of
the house of Adams behind one, it was
all but impossible. (It is significant that
Brooks prepared a biography of his
grandfather which he suppressed and
started a study of his father which he
could not finish.) The depression of the
nineties, which struck a blow at their
personal fortunes and convinced Brooks
and Henry that their world was going to
smash, seems at once to have completely
soured Brooks's spirit and galvanized
his mind. It precipitated that hatred of
the moneyed class, and particularly of
the usurer, that animated his study of
“The Law of Civilization and Decay,”
and set in motion an inquiry lasting
many years into possible pédlicies by
which the United States might escape —
from the processes of decadence.
There were many aspects of Brooks's
work that led him down what will seem
today to be extremely destructive ways of
thought. He could not free himself from
an admittedly parochial frame of refer-
ence (“My nation, my race, my blood
confine my affections,” he frankly
wrote); he was convinced of the inevi-
tability and desirability of wars, and
urged the country on into the imperialist
dog fight that was just beginning among
the powers. There was none the less
about his thinking a certain magisterial
disillusionment and freedom from con-
vention that make him, read in retro-
spect, a writer of constant marginal sug-
gestiveness. He was one of the first
among American conservatives to realize
the need for a national social policy; he
was perhaps the first to understand fully
‘ministrative ae was the:
early prophets of a realistic ee ,
the study of law and a fresh approach —
to the tasks of education. Neither the u
survival in his work of nineteenth-cen-
tury metaphysical notions nor the sin-
ister and almost totalitarian cast given
to his insights by his desperately cynical . _
rhetoric will conceal from sympathetic
modern readers the many points at
which his mind broke through the veil | _
of temporary issues and seized upon es- _
sential probiems.
Mr. Anderson's much-needed and
valuable book, based upon a study of
Adams's letters as well as his published ©
writings, affords a lucid summary of the
development of his ideas and some dis-
criminating if timorous criticism. As a
personal study it fails to realize the pos-
sibilities of its subject. Brooks was a
tragic example of the havoc a society
can wreak by rejecting and insulating
its finest leaders. The earlier Adamses
had always had a passion to plan things
for America, and if they had failed in
their grandest designs, they had at least
been able to influence the course of
events. That Brooks and Henry were un-
able stemmed from no failure of per-
sonal capacity but from the inability of
post-Civil War America to make use of
men of their qualities. It was, although
quite understandable, fatal to the
Adamses of the fourth generation that
they lacked the courage of their nega-
tions. Their need to stand in an effectual
and, as they saw it, “realistic” relation-
ship to the power centers of their age
overcame, in a measure, their primary
sense of values—not enough, unfortu-
nately for them, to change their values ~
and push them into the main stream, but -
enough to raise in their own minds the
constant suspicion that the fault lay in
themselves, in some fatal lapse, as —
Brooks used to suggest, in their nervous
organization. Hence the wearisome but
not altogether insincere self-depreciation
of “The Education of Henry Adams’;
hence Brooks’s: “I do not know that —
anything I have ever done, or ever shall ©
do, will be of much moment’; hence his
incessant, self-punishing emphasis on*
adaptability of mind.
Brooks was overwhelmed at his own
audacity and at his isolation, as he saw
it, after the publication of his heretical f.
The NATION —
book on “The Gold Standard” in 1894,
“I begin to feel as if people pointed at
me in the streets. Every great interest,
the whole power of this mighty engine is
there to crush me, to ridicule and sup-
press me, ... I feel that I am deliberate.
ly driving the last nail in my social cof-
fin.” Unheard, as he felt himself to be,
he took refuge in a kind of morbid natu.
talism, whose formal doctrines were
taken out of nineteenth-century evolu-
tionary materialism but whose mood
arose from a sense of total futility. “Iam
not aware,” he confided while revising
one of his books, “that I am anything
more than an automaton, I certainly have
NO Conscious volition, and yet the stuff
comes one way, only always more so, and
blacker and gloomier.” “I see that we
made no impress,” he once wrote to
Melville M. Bigelow concerning an is-
sue that had stirred them, ‘even on the
minds of so small a society as Boston.”
There were times when he felt that even
Henry was closed to his message, when
he felt totally alone in a world which
he described as “‘a chaos . . . with which
man is doomed eternally and hopelessly
to contend.”” When he shaved, as Mr,
Anderson tells us, it was his habit to
sing, to the tune of an Irish ballad, three
words over and over: “God damn it]
God damn it! God damn it!”
RICHARD HOFSTADTER
a fliers of Socialism
history,
Special attention Is given to the
$0-called Socialist Party and to its
leaders — from Hiliqult to Norman
Thomas, In devastating fashion, the
“respectable” leaders of the “Socla}.
{st Party” are shown fo have ad.
vocaled everything from anarchism
and violence to New Dealism,
A lively, spirited work ihat ts
MUST reading for Students of
Socialism who want to know how
® genuine Soclallst movement can
avoid the pitfalls of reformism
and betrayals by misleaders of
labor,
208 Pages—iilustrated
Completely Indexed
Cloth bound ——— $2.00
Paper covers —————=— 50
POSTPAID
Economic Power
AMERICAN CAPITALISM: THR
CONCEPT OF COUNTERY AIL.
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ments, is apt to assume that economic
‘theory requires a specialized intelligence
and to dismiss it as a subject beyond his
Comprehension. It is incumbent upon
‘Sconomists, therefore, to try to overcome
| this Widespread allergy.
__ Professor Galbraith is one of the pro.
/fession who Fecognizes the responsibil.
ity. Now teaching at Harvard, he
served in Washington with distinction
February 23, 1952
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The primary task that Professor Gal-
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isfied most of us. How is this contradic-
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Part of the trouble, he thinks, is the
obvious divergence between the ideal
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SPINOZA
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UNITED STATES
SAVINGS BONDS
for CHIEF Sater
186
tries if we do not have monopoly
have oligopoly—dominance by a hand-
ful of huge firms which enjoy a large
measure of control over prices. These
firms may compete in advertising, styl-
ing, and other ways, but they uniformly
observe the convention outlawing price
warfare, since the use of this weapon
would mean common ruin.
Professor Galbraith points out that
the anti-trust laws have not proved an
effective remedy for this situation. How-
ever, he believes that concentration of
economic power not only has certain
advantages but has produced important
compensating forces. For instance, while
the incentives operative in the typical
American industry no longer tend to
produce maximum output at minimum
prices—the test of efficiency in the com-
petitive model—they do encourage tech-
nical innovation, which has become
“one of the important weapons of mar-
ket rivalry.” In fact, Professor Gal-
braith demonstrates, only large firms
with market power to protect the fruits
of development can stand the heavy
costs involved.
He illustrates this point by contrast-
ing the “admirably competitive’ but
technically backward coal industry with
the semi-monopolistic but extremely
progressive oil industry. And he sug-
gests that the inability of the individual
farmer to control his prices explains
why agricultural research and technical
development have had to be “‘social-
ized.”
Still more important as a safeguard
against the dangers of oligopoly is the
development of what Professor Gal-
braith calls “countervailing power” on
the opposite side of the market.
The fact that a seller enjoys a measure
of monopoly power, and is reaping a
measure of monopoly return as a result,
means that there is an inducement to
those firms from whom he buys or those
to whom he sells to develop the power
with which they can defend themselves
against exploitation. It means also that
there is a reward to them, in the form of
a share of the gains of their opponents’
market power, if they are able to do so.
In this way the existence of market power
creates the incentive to the organization
of another position of power that neutral-
izes it.
It is impossible in the space of a re-
view to do justice to the evidence, such
as the growth of the chain stores and
mail-order houses, with which this con-
Pa.
a paltackes %
than mention Profesor ¢ a
ysis of the role of the ¢ ent i
this development, a ihe < pi reco
incidentally, thanks to failure to recog-
nize the nature and function of counter-
vailing power. ‘
Nevertheless, history may support
Professor Galbraith’s belief that the ju-
dicious fostering of countervailing A |
power has become one of the two major
economic functions of the federal gov- —
ernment. The other is the task of assur-
ing stability at a high level of produc-
tion, a problem succinctly discussed in §
the final chapters of this book. Professor |
Galbraith’s conclusion is that, with the —
aid of Keynesian prescriptions, the dan-
gers of deflation can be overcome. But
he recognizes the difficulties of using +
Keynesian remedies, sound as they may | |
be in theory, to combat inflation, which
he sees as the most serious danger to *
American capitalism, |
Conservatives and liberals alike will |
probably challenge many of the ideas int f
this book. The first will not relish the § ,
author's justification of labor’s develop-
ment of countervailing power and will |
violently dispute his thesis that the pro- !
gressive income tax is a stabilizing de-
vice. Liberals, on the other hand, may
consider that he is too complacent about -
the effectiveness of countervailing power
as a brake on monopoly. But only the
most bigoted of both persuasions should
fail to admit that he has written a most
stimulating book,
KEITH HUTCHISON
a
i
fi
b
th
tr
F tse
"
the
Moe
DD
Quantity vs. Quality 4
THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. Text
by Maurice Raynal. Translated by
James Emmons. Skira. $12.50.
DEGAS. Text by Daniel Catton Rich,
Harry N. Abrams. $10.
ooo two books offer an interesting
contrast in quantity as against qual-
ity. The first attempts too much: a cover- ‘Yn
age of thirty painters from Goya to J; 7
Gauguin in sixty-four color plates with fj,
running text. The text is inevitably }, .
chopped up into sections with ambitious — Hi
titles but little development. Some seem Trey
interpolated like afterthoughts. The
faults of this book are similar to those of |
Qe
P ind
ss
CO
bs
ip
[
De
the third volume of the same publishers’ | Pe
series on modern painting. The plates |
are often garish (Ingres’ Odalisque and | :
th
The NATION
ely anes Pigeon gay). aa
metimes shockingly bad (where are
the springtime greens in Manet’s
‘Déjeuner sur I'herbe, where the Delft
blues and slate grays of the Déjeuner
_ dans I’atelier?). The deep olive ground
_ of the Fifer Boy is here bleached to a
_ pale putty, and the top and bottom so
_ badly chopped as to destroy the relation
_ between the figure and its inclosing
_ rectangle. Many of the plates are good,
_ but the unsuspecting reader may be
| trapped into thinking the quality is con-
___ sistently so.
It is a relief to turn from the vulgar
color plate of Degas’ Café Concert aux
_ Ambassadeurs in the Skira volume (page
} 120) to that on page 73 in Rich's ad-
| mirable study of Degas: here the sub-
_dued beauty of Degas’ tonalities are
properly echoed. On the whole the fifty
} color plates are acceptable, even good.
. The chief complaint must be that the
dusty texture of pastel cannot be caught
| in the mirror surfaces of glossy paper.
| ~~ While Rich’s study is necessarily gen-
b eral, it takes the reader far into Degas’
") life and art. It penetrates the grim
facade of the first to the veiled splendor
of the second. It is a readable and
| gracious account, and it surpasses many
_ books on Degas in following him into
| the later years, in the time of his failing
eyesight, when he gradually developed a
_ few pictorial language, decreasingly de-
2
/
|
pendent on the precision of Ingres and
the early Italian masters, and more and
more sympathetic to the sonorities of
| Delacroix and the Venetians. The reader
will find an honest critical guide in the
| director of the Chicago Art Institute,
" _» and he may be confident that he has
seen and learned the best in Degas.
“In the analysis of certain pictures I
could. wish for more attention to the
“empty” shapes between solid objects.
Degas projects the bird-like grace of
some of the dancers and the swift tor-
sion of one of the nude bathers as much
_ by the shapes surrounding the figure as
‘| “by the outlines of the figure itself. In
_ his accent on elegance Degas often chose
yi forms with very acute angles: hence the
My Many umbrellas. But there are many in-
adj Visible umbrellas in Degas to reward the
uff persistent observer.
ah $, LANE FAISON, JR.
id
;
BY February 23, 1952
THE PAPERS OF ea JEFPER.
SON, Volume I: 1760-1776. Edited
by Julian P. Boyd; Lyman H., Butter-
field and Mina R. Bryan, Associate
Editors. Princeton University Press.
$10.
JEFFERSON AND HIS TIME. Vol-
ume II: JEFFERSON AND THB
RIGHTS OF MAN. By Dumas Ma-
lone. Little, Brown and Company. $6.
THOMAS JEFFERSON: A BIOGRA-
PHY. By Nathan Schachner. Apple-
ton-Century-Crofts. Two Volumes.
$12.
HOMAS JEFFERSON, it is said
from time to time, still survives.
That classic remark has sometimes been
an expression of hope rather than a self-
evident truth, but it has proved to be
an enduring and dynamic hope. One
might even venture to call it the Ameri-
can faith, for it was Jefferson who
dreamed the American dream and for-
mulated the American creed. He sur-
vives because, over and above his states-
manship and other achievements, his
vision of an ideal United States has
made him first and most telling
critic of the reality. Ever since the Con-
tinental Congress cut from the Declara-
tion of Independence his angry denun-
ciation of black slavery, he has been a
kind of national conscience. We might
put him to additional uses—his signifi-
cance is not to be comprehended in a
few sentences—but so far we have made
only a beginning.
Almost a generation ago, in the aspir-
ing early years of the Wilson Adminis-
tration, interest in Jefferson began to re-
vive. Instead of flickering out, as such
movements usually do, it has continued
with increasing strength, and one may
speak of it without exaggeration as a
Jefferson renaissance. It is now ap-
proaching its first culmination with the
publication of the “Papers of Thomas
Jefferson” and of biographies more am-
bitious and inclusive than any since
Henry S. Randall’s of 1857. Randall's
work was done in the great decade of
American literature and is worthy of it,
but it does not satisfy the needs of our
time.
A biographer of Jefferson, like an
actor called on to play Falstaff, knows
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in advance that more will ea demahded
of him by his audience than mortality
can deliver. Until the life-span of a
sedentary scholar is extended consider-
ably, there will be no “definitive” biog-
raphy: that is, one that undertakes to say
everything worth saying, answer all
questions, allay all controversies, and do
it all in just the right way. Partial
studies, disclaiming completeness or
finality, are the rule and must remain so
until the great enterprise in progress at
_ Princeton is nearer its goal.
Within certain manageable limits
Dumas Malone seems destined to ap-
proximate the ideal. ‘Jefferson and His
_ Time” began handsomely in 1948 with
a first volume subtitled “Jefferson the
and the second volume,
“Jefferson and the Rights of Man,”
covering the years in Europe and the
first three in Washington's Cabinet, is
even better. The biography expands as it
advances, despite various signs, already
apparent in the previous instalment, that
_ Professor Malone was having to com-
_ press his materials more than he had
- anticipated. Even so, the four volumes
originally announced have proved insuf-
ficient; the completed work will extend
to at least five.
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188
aR he Wee a eee
is
ceher doperts of” Jelcsoeats Meee?
dinated though by no means neglected.
Mr. Malone is well aware of them, and
his understanding of Jefferson is deep-
ened by his appreciation of their sig-
nificance for the interpretation of Jeffer-
son’s ultimate purposes, which were not
confined to the realm of politics.
Mr. Malone is equal to his theme at
all points, but he is at his best where the
progress is roughest and there is most
need for his rigorous historical tech-
nique and delicate insight into the work-
ings of Jefferson's mind. From the time
when Jefferson entered on his duties as
Secretary of State, he is enveloped in the
smoke and fog of partisan controversy,
through which students have groped un-
certainly. Mr. Malone penetrates the
smog as an infra-red ray. Since historical
facts are hardly separable from the
values attached to them, the acrimonious
old debate will doubtless continue, but
here is the clearest, most searching ac-
count of the matter yet written. Its con-
tinuation will be awaited eagerly.
My general observation about the
state of Jefferson's biography should be
remembered in judging Mr. Schachner's
closely printed, well-filled volumes. His
work has been in preparation over a
period of twenty years—laborious years,
it is quite evident—during which he has
also produced able, rather controversial
studies, on the whole the best so far
published, of Aaron Burr and Alex-
ander Hamilton. His masterpiece is also
controversial, but the controversy should
not obscure its merits.
With the possible exception of the
ever useful Randall, who wrote while
Jefferson’s personal archive was still
preserved intact, it is the most inclusive
collection of information about every
aspect and period of Jefferson's life that
has ever been worked up into a biog-
raphy. An astonishing amount of it has
been collected from unprinted sources,
the harvest of Mr. Schachner’s inde-
pendent, wide-ranging study of the
basic materials for Jefferson’s life. This
feature alone would insure a long pe-
riod of usefulness for this biography,
which is highly readable and generally.
well documented.
Mr. Schachner has not contributed as
much to our understanding of his sub-
ject. His admirable collection of infor-
him For the most part h wr pu
it succinctly, in the spirit of Mentsigac
Although such an attitude has excellent
biographical uses, it is not the best way
of looking at Jefferson: some underesti-
mate of his stature becomes inevitable.
Even this attitude is not maintained
steadily, for at times he lapses into
harsh judgments and a willingness to
believe the worst about Jefferson. These
lapses, though unfortunate, are not char-
acteristic of the biography as a whole; it
clears Jefferson of many a long-standing
and sometimes plausible charge. What
one misses is that firm grasp of Jeffer-
son's underlying character that would
have warned his biographer when he
was on treacherous ground.
“The Papers of Thomas Jefferson,”
publication of which began in May of
1950 and has proceeded at a steady
pace, is the most elaborate and signifi-
cant edition of an American writer ever
undertaken,
needed. The publisher states that “no
previous edition has included more than
15 per cent of the total, and only about
a fifth of the documents included in this
edition have ever been published any-
where.” If these unpublished documents
—to locate them the five continents
have been explored—were of interest
only to a company of historians and
their pupils, one could bridle one’s en-
thusiasm. But Jefferson is, or should be,
a precious part of our cultural heritage.
Because of the occasional nature of his
writings it is necessary to sift them all
and, in Nietzsche’s meaningful words,
“to read him philologically” in order to
understand the man and the nature and
course of his thinking. Such sound work
as has been done in Jeffersonian studies
has been accomplished under heavy diffi-
culties.
There are compensations in having
had to wait so long for an authoritative
edition. The art of the historical editor
has attained a clear understanding of its
function and has instruments for its use
unavailable not so many years ago. Nor
could such an edition, monumental in -
the best sense, be executed, or even
planned, until an auspicious intellectual -
climate had formed. The old view of
Jefferson as a statesman, law-giver, and
party founder with an amusing string of
foibles and recreations had to yield to a
The NATION
ia a
and it is the one most —
3 ne E ee that understanding per-
ve vades the entire work, Consummate edi-
torial skill is united with sympathy with
_ every least detail of Jefferson’s thought
| and activities. The result could not he
happier. Few writers have been so well
presented to a world that needs them.
GEORGE GENZMER
_ Books in Brief
~ UNAMBO, A Novel of the War in
‘Asrael. By Max Brod. Translated by Lud-
wig Lewisohn. Farrar, Straus and
- Young. $3. The newest addition to the
gtowing library of novels about Israel’s
wat of independence was apparently
“written in the midst of the struggle by
the Israeli man of letters who seems
"fated to be remembered primarily as
| Kafka’s friend and literary executor. The
ii stirring events are seen through the
| double vision of a sensitive film director
| who, by means of a supernatural gadget
| —Unambo—given him by the devil,
Beads simultaneously a positive existence
kr apes for the new state and a negative
one consorting with black-marketeers
anda shady movie actress, Despite an in-
| triguing portrait of the actress and some
| good battle scenes, Mr. Brod’s new
novel is muddy, weakly constructed, and
in the main unsuccessful as an analysis
_of the clash of good and evil at a critical
| point in recent history.
LONDON LADIES. TRUE TALES OF
| THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. By
‘Lucy Poate Stebbins. Columbia Univer-
| sity Press. $3. Brief lively sketches of
| six ladies, all except Jane Carlyle of the
eighteenth century and all except the
‘same lady among the not too well
_ | known. They include the amiable and
_ | talented Martha Ray who comforted the
| life of her lover, Lord Sandwich, until
|she was shot down on the street by
a love-crazy divinity student; the beauti-
} ful but chilly Elizabeth Inchbald who
came to London from a farm to scrib-
ble farces and translate the sensational
. plays of Kotzebue; and the tragic
daughters of Mrs. Siddons, both loved
|
1
|
is
|
i by the painter Lawrence, whom. the,
é , younger could never marry because of a
_death-bed promise extracted by the
February 23, 1952
, a for h het
writes briskly and anes the cream of
picturesque and dramatic incident from
her wide reading. There is no attempt
at great profundity, psychological or ~
otherwise, but there is a good deal that
is genuinely entertaining.
JOSEPH
Drama | 20°
KRUTCH
dag old saying about two planks
and a passion is receiving its ulti-
mate illustration during the present sea-
son. It seemed astonishing enough that
the First Drama Quartet could fill a
theater, but the Quartet’s production
was lavish compared with the “Readings
from Dickens’ which Emlyn Williams
is offering—all by himself—at the Cor-
onet Theater. Moreover, the whole thing
has reached the proportions of a Trend.
Cornelia Otis Skinner is scheduled to
appear soon in a one-woman drama, and
Mr. Laughton is to offer readings from
assorted classics. Before long those two-
character dramas which occasionally ap-
pear will scem positively cluttered, and
some day we may have, by way of
variety, that ultimate theater proposed
by an enthusiast in one of George Kauf-
man’s comedies: ‘‘No actors, no text, no
audience; just scenery and critics.” A
good many people have expressed the
fear that modern man was forgetting
how to read. Perhaps he has already for-
gotten and perhaps he is developing a
taste for being read to, And that sug-
gests an idea for TV. Has anyone yet
tried televising a printed page? With,
perhaps, a voice dubbed in for those on
whom the intricacies of type impose too
much of a strain.
None of this is intended to minimize
the fact that Mr. Williams’s perform-
ance is a tour de force remarkably suc-
cessful from every standpoint, including
that of the audience, which, at the per-
formance I attended, stayed behind to
applaud until the performer made a cur-
tain speech. Obviously this is no casual
parlor stunt but a virtuoso demonstra-
tion very carefully worked out to pro-
vide great variety where little variety
seemed possible and to employ all the
resources of voice, facial expression, and
a fluid pontine which aos fase
short of acting properly so called. Mr.
Williams appears, not as himself, but
as Mr. Dickens, complete with whiskers,
white gloves, and the geranium in his
buttonhole. He advances with great dig-
nity to the replica of that somewhat
Rube Goldbergish reading desk which
Dickens himself devised; he slowly re-
moves his gloves, carefully selects a vol-
ume, and then suddenly plunges into a
baroque presentation of the baroque
characters and baroque language of his
original,
In some curious way the fact that Mr.
Williams is not reading Dickens but
pretending to be Dickens reading Dick-
ens is essential to his success. The device
seems to constitute some kind of apol-
ogy. It suggests that the whole thing is
offered as a sort of period piece and that
therefore an audience which might con-
sider itself too sophisticated to attend a
“reading” and, for that matter, too
sophisticated to be either amused or
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189
touched by Dickens’s old-fashioned hu-
mor and old-fashioned pathos may per-
mit itself to enjoy the whole thing if it
is allowed to regard it as quaint. But
having thus saved its face, this same
audience settles down to enjoy precisely
what its grandfathers enjoyed somewhat
more directly.
To call the performance a ‘‘reading”
is inaccurate in at least two respects. In
the first place, no page is presented
straight through. These are ‘‘adapta-
tions” which link bit to bit and which,
despite the fact that the matter is by no
means confined to dialogue passages,
actually constitute set pieces. In the sec-
ond place, Mr. Williams does not read,
he recites. As a matter of fact, his
method, far from being novel, is almost
precisely that employed for a generation
or two on the Chautauqua circuit and
taught at various institutions, notably
the Emerson School of Oratory in Bos-
ton. He varies his voice and his facial
expression to fit the character or even
the tone of a descriptive passage. He
also interprets in gesture not merely the
action of the speakers but even inani-
mate objects, as when, for example, de-
scribing the corpulent épergne on Mr.
Podsnap’s table, the one which, you may
remember, was “blotched all over as if
it had broken out in an irruption rather
than been ornamented,” he raises his
joined hands over his head and imitates
The NATION
FOR YOUR CONVENIENCE
for our aes this repulsive but cost!
object. Perhaps if he were seacieclig
any other author Mr. Williams would
seem to be overdoing things a bit. But
Dickens happens to be a writer whom
it is almost impossible to overdo, and as
an admirer of his works I can only say
that Mr. Williams actually does succeed
in making a Dickens passage produce
precisely the effect which the writer
of it intended.
Since the present performance seems
assured of great success, certain vertigi-
nous possibilities are suggested by the
thought that some ambitious actor may
some day be inspired to imitate Mr.
Williams imitating Dickens. There are,
moreover, even more disturbing possi-
bilities. One-man shows might promise
to solve the problem of the self-defeat-
ing costliness of normal theatrical pro-
duction, but unfortunately there seem
to be no solutions to the problems of
our times. If whatever is expensive leads
to bankruptcy, whatever is inexpensive
leads to unemployment. No doubt
Actors’ Equity will awaken to the threat
as the stage hands’ union awoke to it
long ago. I envisage in the not distant
future a back-stage and a below-stage
crowded by an orchestra of twenty
pieces, a group of four or five featured
players, and eight or ten ordinary actors,
as well as by the now familiar comple-
ment of unnecessary stage hands. They
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a
& rill
che at ae ngle + :
“e
‘imple & dro
actor will "be ‘cipal wie
liams, impersonating Dickens, imper-
sonating Paul Dombey.
Music
Ro A while, at the beginning of the
concert by the Budapest Quartet
B. H.
HAGGIN
that I attended at the Y. M. H. A, I’
enjoyed the fine performance of a
Haydn quartet in which Roisman’s tone
was clear and agreeable and effectively
completed the sound for which Mischa
Schneider's wonderful cello-playing pro-
vided the foundation. But as the concert .
proceeded with Mozart’s Clarinet Quin-
tet and Schubert’s Quartet Opus 161
Roisman’s tone was frequently coarse |
and scratchy, with damage to the joint ~
performance. Clark Brody's playing of
the clarinet part in the Mozart piece
was admitably sensitive.
At a Carnegie Hall concert of the
Boston Symphony I sat too close to the
stage to be able to hear whether the
blended sonority of the entire or-
chestra was what it used to be; but the
continuing refinement of its execution
and style was something I could per-
ceive and delight in. Ansermet, usually
the steadiest of musicians in Mozart,
this time produced a performance of
the G minor Symphony which had no
continuity of pace or momentum. But
after Bartok’s Viola Coneerto and
Hindemith’s ‘‘Nobilissima Visione,”
neither of which I found interesting,
the concert ended with a brilliant per-
formance of one of Stravinsky's most
beautiful and fascinatingly contrived
scores, “The Fairy’s Kiss.”
On the radio I have heard Cantelli
conduct performances of Beethoven’s
Fifth with the New York Philharmonic,
of Tchaikovsky's “Romeo and Juliet”
and works by Vivaldi with the N. B. C.
Symphony, in which every precisely
modeled phrase has fallen into place in
the beautifully shaped, continuous, and:
effective progression.
London’s previously issued recording
of Act 2 of “Die Meistersinger” (two — |
LP records) has been completed with
Act 1 (two records) and Act 3 (three
records). This makes it the most ex-
The NATION
na State Opera cast includes
Sffler as Sachs, Edelmann as Pogner,
‘Den mota as David, Gueden as Eva, and
_ Treptow—his voice as yet undamaged
by the constriction in his singing—as
Walther. The performance is repro-
duced with London’s characteristic
“spatial depth, with the balance of
singers and orchestra that Act 2 didn’t
have, and with clarity in the dense
‘Wagnerian texture; and the spreading
‘of the performance on seven records re-
sults in the sound remaining clean to
the ends of the sides (distortion at these
points is the thing to watch out for if,
as is rumored, the completed perform-
_ ance is later put on six records). There
are some defects: Knappertsbusch’s
_ tempos—often too slow, often unco-
_hesive (most obviously in the Prelude);
the dryness of the violins, the muffled
sound of the brass in the Prelude to
_ Act 3, the blanketing of Gueden by the
other singers near the end of the
quintet. But their sum is small in com-
parison with the excellences, The re-
cording, finally, gives the entire work
_ without any cuts; and the listener will
be confused by the Metropolitan Opera
cuts in the accompanying libretto.
Another of London's operatic hodge-
podges, Vienna State Opera Concert,
_ offers the fresh rich bass of Edelmann
_ again in Pizarro’s Ha, welch’ ein
| Augenblick from “Fidelio” and Fal-
staff's Ehis taverniere from “‘Falstaft’’
_ (in German), together with excerpts
| from “'Tannhiuser” and “The Barber of
| Bagdad.” On the reverse side are the
| _ {ntroduction to Act 2 and Florestan’s
| : atla from ‘Fidelio’ with Patzak—his
| voice hard but his singing effective in
_ the slow portion, the voice less agree-
able and adequate in the fast portion;
| and excerpts from “The Tales of Hoff-
}~ -mann.” The Vienna Philharmonic is
} conducted by Bohm and Moralt.
___. London also has issued the complete
_ Bayreuth Festival “‘Parsifal” of 1951.
__ This recording was made under the dis-
| advantageous conditions of a public per-
| formance—disadvantageous above all
| for proper balance, The solo _ trumpet
at the beginning of the Prelude is
blanketed by the strings and wood-
: vinds; the orchestra in the Good Fri-
Ow ebruary 23, 1952
passages in "addition to these—only as
e only a few
much as was necessary to be able to re-
port that the cast includes two superb
singers, George London and Ludwig
Weber, as Amfortas and Gurnemanz,
Hermann Uhde as an excellent Klingsor,
Wolfgang Windwassen as a_hard-
voiced but adequate Parsifal, and
Martha Médl as a tremulously shrill
Kundry who occasionally manages a
clear climactic high note; that the wood-
winds, and especially the flutes, are
again shockingly poor and inadequate
for the radiance which.the score calls
for them to produce; and that Knap-
pertsbusch’s tempos are again unco-
hesive and destructive of momentum in
the flow of the music. I listened only
to these few passages because I could
not bring myself to listen to more and
would not ask anyone else to do so,
The philosophical pretensions, the ver-
bal jargon, and the endless declamation
of the ‘“‘Ring’’ are hard enough to en-
dure; but Wagner’s dramatic theme in
“Parsifal’—this sensualist’s exaltation
of chastity decked out in religious
mumbo-jumbo—I find extremely re-
pellent (1 would expect a religious per-
son to be outraged by it); and though
the music includes pages as miraculous
as the Good Friday Spell, most of it
reveals an astonishing and boring en-
feeblement of the powers of invention
and development that are so prodigious
in preceding works,
From Urania a complete recording of
Smetana’s engagingly melodious ‘‘The
Bartered Bride,’ sung in German by
Béhme (Kezal), Traute Richter,
Sebastian Hauser, and other good
singers with the chorus and orchestra of
the Berlin Civic Opera under Hans
Lenzer’s direction. The brilliant over-
ture is played with less than the speed
and verve it calls for; but after that
the performance is well-paced and ef-
fective. The singers sound too close to
the microphone; but the balance of
singers and orchestra is good. The
German text in the libretto often doesn’t
correspond with what is sung.
Sayao’s somewhat over-expansive per-
formance of Ah! fors é lui and superb
performance of Sempre libera from
“La Traviata” of several years back have
been issued on a Columbia LP, with a
Villa-Lobos piece,
CONTRIBUTORS
VINCENT BROME is the author of
“H. G. Wells, A Biography.”
KATHLEEN RAINE is an English poet
who has just published her “Selected
Poems.”
ERNEST NAGEL is professor of phi-
losophy at Columbia University.
STEPHEN SPENDER is the author of
“The Edge of Being,” ‘Poems of Dedi-
- cation,’ and other books. His latest book
is his biography, “World Within
World.”
W. NORMAN BROWN is the editor
of “India, Pakistan, Ceylon.”
RICHARD HOFSTADTER is the au-
thor of “The American Political Tradi-
tion and the Men Who Made It.”
GEORGE GENZMER is working on a
critical biography of Thomas Jefferson.
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Students’ Petition
to McGrath
Dear Sirs: Your readers may be inter-
ested to know that the Committee
Against Violence in Florida at Central
Michigan College has obtained from a
student body of 1,600 approximately
559 signatures to a petition which was
sent to Attorney General J. Howard
McGrath on January 20 demanding that
the Justice Department take action
against the recent violence in Florida.
The committee has also prepared a
pamphlet entitled “Democracy as Prac-
ticed in Florida’’ which has been sent to
the editors of 118 college newspapers
in the Midwest.
The Nation deserves applause for its
splendid exposé of the products of re-
action in Florida and elsewhere.
THE COMMITTEE AGAINST
VIOLENCE IN FLORIDA,
Central Michigan College
Mount Pleasant, Mich.
Governor Stevenson’s
Record
Dear Sirs: The article by Len Schroeter
in the February 9 issue of The Nation
on racial violence in Cairo, Illinois, does
not give an accurate account of the role
of Governor Adlai Stevenson and the
Illinois Commission on Human Rela-
tions.
It may be true, as Schroeter suggests,
that the Governor did not reply directly
to a telegram from Roy Wilkins, but he
answered it by being closely and per-
sonally in touch with the brewing vio-
lence in Cairo. The director of the
Illinois Commission on Human Rela-
tions, Russell Babcock, was in Cairo on
January 26 and intermittently afterward.
As a professional race-relations adviser
with vast experience with racial violence,
he was not foolish enough to tell any-
body that—as Schroeter says—‘there
was nothing to worry about.” Indeed,
Schroeter, before making these serious
charges against the Governor and Bab-
cock, did not talk with either of these
gentlemen.
The tragic fact is that. the Cairo
school board has been breaking the state’
law for years in maintaining segregated
public schools and that after some Ne-
gro children enrolled in ‘“‘white” schools
in January, there was violence; and there
is still high tension in the community.
For this, many are to blame, and prob-
ably no governor and no official com-
mission can do enough. Yet two days
after the bombing, four white persons
were arrested, and the Governor and his _
commission have been doing a great
deal to establish law and order—and
justice—in Cairo. Thus in our judgment -
Schroeter is mistaken in asserting—
whenever he wrote his article—that —
“more energetic action might have been
looked for from the liberal Governor °
Adlai Stevenson.”
Nobody is perfect, but we were tre- —
mendously impressed with the vigorous
and courageous role of Governor Steven-
son and the Ilinois commission during
and after the race riots in Cicero last
summer. We have continued to be im-
pressed with the role of the Governor
and the Illinois State Employment Serv-
ice in recently eliminating all discrim-
inatory job orders. And in the handling
of the Cairo tension and violence the
Governor has not marred his enviable
record.
WAITSTILL H. SHARP, Director,
Chicago Council Against Racial
and Religious Discrimination;
EDWARD MEYERDING, Executive
Secretary, Chicago Division,
American Civil Liberties Union;
FAITH RICH, Chairman, Educa-
tion Committee, Tlinois State
Conference, N. A. A. C. P.;
HOMER JACK, Minister, Unita-
rian Church ef Evanston
Chicago, Ill.
Reprint of Educational Series
Dear Sirs: 1 am sure that I speak on be-
half of many professional workers in
education when I extend to you and
Dr. Theodore Brameld my sincere thanks
and congratulations for having pub-
lished the timely and importafit séries
of articles on public education entitled
The Battle for Free Schools.
It has been good to learn that this
series has now been published by Bea-
con House in pamphlet form. It is a .
much-needed and stimulating addition:
to any school-of-education of university
library.
HERBERT K. WALTHER,
Chairman, Department of Education,
University of Denver
Denver, Colo.
The NATION
2. ee ee Ge bee Gr< oe Oe ee oe eo _.. ~~ _ =
Se eae
—
-_
a
27
ACROSS
1 Ethel’s per from Mississippi?
9 See 15 across.
10 An end for the one who repairs
wires or tackle, perhaps. (7)
11 Look forward to an event (not nec-
essarily blessed). (6)
Figures, perhaps, on being repre-
sentative. (8
Sixth most famous Madonna? (7)
45, 9, 5 down, 21 down. Implying the
testament is invariably associated
with means. (5, 6, 1, 4, 6, )
‘1 One of these might be just dandy!
% {)
49 Fresh, if official. (7)
21 Wet wash rather than dry clean-
ing. (8)
23 Famous gates where a truce talk
is 7g interrupted? (6)
“’ 5 NHH (7)
26 See 20 down. (T)
27 Shrubbery, and long-lived; some
_ might think id make a perfect
_ Picture. (6, 8, 5)
DOWN
: Going after oil? 1 across is! (3-6)
2 ae Greek ship set out igen it. (7)
_ 8 Setting up practice?
4 ‘Tentmaker or Bradley? ce
-
Tax,
sssword Puzz
BY FRANK W. LEWIS
ola N Fe Pete
e No. 453.
5 See 15 across,
6 Something that can be held both
ways. (5)
7 Is violence merely an inclination to
take our time? (7)
8 Just look for it in a million lyrics!
(4)
13 car right stand for Adam,
0 2, 3)
15 ‘ the wish comes true, I’ll eat it!
16 His business reputedly belongs to
nobody. (9)
18 There isn’t a single answer to this
roblem. (7)
20 gf — ae went to 26 in ’33?
er
21 See 15 across.
22 Continuous progress of a singer.
24 Seridact a foot examination, (4)
° ° Bie °
SOLUTION TO PUZZLE No, 453
ACROSS :—10 SHORTEN; 11 TO CHLIA; 12
ORDINANCH; 13 MITHS; 14 SUMMER R: 16
SCHUYLER; 19 DISHONOR; 20 MISSES; 22
HUMID ; 23 REHHARSAL; 2s VALIANT: 26
NOISOMW; 27 IN TERPOSINGLY.
DOWN :—3 OVOID; 3 ENTENTH CORDI-
ALE; 4 OWNING; 5 PATIENCE; 6 HXCOM-
MUNICATION; 7 TALL TA LBS; 8 BS-
POUSED; 15 MUSKMELON ; 17 RESULTED;
18 DOOR STOP; 21, 22, THINGS HAVH
COME TO A PRETTY PASS: 24 SPOIL.
Readers are invited to send for a free copy of Mr, Lewis's ‘ground rules,” Address
- requests to Puzzle Dept.,
EBRUARY 23, 1952
be
)
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rae
iF A PREVIOUS statement in The Nation I told
* the readers of this magazine something about why
I and no commercial publisher brought out my new
novel, Spartacus, I feel that it is of great impor-
tance now to detail something of the history of this
book since its publication not so long ago. For the
history of this venture becomes more than the
story of just a book.
When I made the decision to publish this book
myself late in October of 1951, I ordered a thousand
copies to be printed, to be sold by subscription at $5
apiece. While the manuscript was still being cor-
rected, these thousand copies were sold, and I in-
creased the first printing to 2500 copies. However,
these books were so quickly subscribed to that while
the book was still on press I ordered a second edi-
tion of 7500 copies.
T still had not plated the book, nor did I yet con-
sider it in terms of mass publication. People who
had no idea of the contents or the value of the book
were ordering it and sending money in advance
to pay for it. However, there were sufficient of these
amazing orders for me to decide to makes plates
and to go to press with a third printing.
Plates were manufactured, and at the end of
December I ordered a third printing of 5000 copies,
bringing the total now printed to 15,000 copies. At
the same time Liberty Book Club had ordered its
own edition of 6500 copies, so I could say that 20,000
copies of the book were already in print. By Janu-
ary 15 the bulk of the 15,000 copies I had ordered
for myself had been sold, and I ordered a fourth
printing of 3600 copies.
By February 1st it became apparent that these
8600 copies would soon be exhausted, and at the
time of this writing I am giving instructions for a
fifth printing of 5000 copies. Thus only a few days
after the official date of publication, there are 23,-
600 copies of Spartacus in print, not including the
Liberty Book Club Edition.
The price of Spartacus, clothbound and in a dust
wrapper, is $2.50. Use the coupon below. Send
check, money order or cash. If sending cash, 50¢
in stamps may be enclosed along with the bills.
Ne ES eZ
EH HOWARD FAST, Box 171, Flanctarium Sta., N.¥. 24, N.Y.
copies of Spartacus. I &
5 Please send me
BH enclose
Hi Name
B
B Address
B
SPARTACUS
The Strange Story of a Book
-
m a!
a
—— a
a aa 3
iF x ya“ - *
he eek ae
i vo
I do not wholly know how to account for the —
strange success of this book. But I realize that in ,
publishing it I have had an experience unique to .
American writers, for over 4000 letters have been
written to me concerning this book and my writing
in general.
From these letters I came to understand that
through my own life and struggle, books I write
have symbolic importance in terms of the struggle
for American culture and for the rich American
traditions of freedom and democracy. Reading these
4000 letters has been one of the most moving ex-
periences of my whole life. From them I learned .
enormously. I came close to people who read books —
and who know what they want in reading.
I had gentle and generous and warm and good.
advice from the very old, the very young, the
worker, the professional, the housewife, the artist.
I have nameless letters from people in government
service, and heart-rending letters from young men —
in the armed services. I have letters from Negro :
people, from Jewish people, from Americans whose
ancestors came over on the Mayflower, and from
Americans whose ancestors came over in steerage
a generation ago.
From these letters I have learned a tremendous
lot, and I am profoundly grateful for them. I have
quoted many of them, but now there are too many
to quote from here, and I do not think that there is
too much point in quoting.
Spartacus is a book which tells of struggle, of the
fight for human dignity, and of the age-old and
timeless resistance to tyranny which will some day
liberate all of mankind. It is a book which people
have not been afraid to buy. Storekeepers, who only
a year ago were intimidated, are carrying this book
on their shelves, and already more than two hundred
public libraries have ordered it directly from me.
Now I want to use this book, if it is possible, to
batter down some of the ramparts of ignorance,
intolerance and censorship that have been erected
in America over the past several years. J already
have some indication that this book, which com-
mercial publishers were afraid to publish, may be
a unique best seller of our times. But that depends,
in the last analysis, upon you.
I urge you to order Spartacus, to read it, to let
me know what you think of it and how it ean he‘
distributed even more widely in a land where so
much of the process of distribution is concentrated
in the hands of a few.
Tt am not simply asking you to help me. I am ask-
ing you to help in a mutual struggle upon which
so much depends.
a
be = TS
; =u
a
,
*
mms 55
Corporate Cupid—Juanita Tanner
Nation
March 1, 1952
The Fifth Freedom
) Our Paper Curtain - - Fowler Harper
| The Nazis Come In - Milton Friedman
| Passport Procedures - - - - A Report
LF Ree a eee et i er oe ~ ——-
, + |
| |
_ Needed—a Victor Hugo |
i. BY J. ALVAREZ DEL VAYO |
| . |
“ Asbon: Peace or Provocation?
"if BY FREDA KIRCHWEY
|
.
Se
’ “
pe
EVERY WEEK SINCE 1865 * 7 DOLLARS A YEAR:
“CENTS A COPY
7
a Lawmakers on
Re Television
Oklahoma City
a | rpaevision has had a multitude of
“firsts” as it has integrated itself
Pi, into the life of the nation, but perhaps
Ps the most important was marked up by
_ WKY-TV in Oklahoma City when it
televised the proceedings of the Okla-
homa legislature twice weekly during the
whole past sessien. Considered an ex-
periment by many, although not by
station manager P. A. Sugg, who con-
ceived the idea, the program was so suc-
cessful that it will undoubtedly be con-
tinued, and perhaps expanded, in the
future.
The first of these telecasts was made
on January 2, 1951, when the outgoing
governor, Roy J. Turner, addressed the
opening session. The cameras were on
hand again to cover incoming Governor
Johnston Murray's address a week Jater.
The following week the lawmakers
granted the station permission to begin
its twice-weekly telecasts.
Several of the legislators objected to
having their actions exposed to the
candid eye of the TV camera. “It’s the
silliest thing I ever heard of,” one said.
“We have some ham actors in both
houses,” he went on, ‘“‘and if one man
gets up and makes a fool of himself, the
people back home will think we’re all
that way.” Another complained, ‘The
press and radio are continually harassing
us every time we open our mouths. I
don’t see why we should let television
do it too.”
The state’s newspapers were jokingly
pessimistic. The Shawnee News-Star
said that house members would have to
decide among themselves who were to be
_ the heroes and who the villains of the
show and make their roles clear—‘‘the
public doesn’t like to be puzzled.”
J. Leland Gourley, publisher of the
Henryetta Daily Free-Lance, declared:
“All may go well at first, but just wait
until the lawmakers start getting their
fan mail and their constituents tell them
what a bunch of jackasses they are.”
Aotually the conduct of the legislators
before the cameras was exemplary. Tele-
vision even accomplished, on its first
‘day, what the lieutenant governor had
ia a ba e.g, -
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ra
AROUND THE U.
been unable to do for sixteen years.
Senators marched into the house in a
body for the house-senate joint session.
The reaction of the public soon
dispelled the fears of those who had
worried that television might give a
false view of them. It was seen that
there could be no bias or political preju-
dice in the report of a session by direct
telecast.
Television, of course, cannot follow
all the work of the legislature, for much
is done in committee meetings, and some
sessions last all day. The WKY-TV
telecasts were scheduled from 2 to
3 p. m, each Tuesday and Thursday.
House and senate leaders tried to dis-
cuss the bills of greatest public interest
during those hours, but the audience
still caught only a brief glimpse of what
the legislature was doing.
One of the most valuable results was
the stimulation of public interest in
government. As all journalists know,
people are always eager to read about
something they have seen happen.
“When WKY-TV started its telecasts of
the legislature we had a great increase
in calls about the bills they were de-
bating,” reported Ralph Sewell, city
editor of the Daily Oklahoman. “View-
ers who had been watching the debate
on a bill would call up to find out what
had finally been done about it.” Tele-
vision also helped clarify some of the
parliamentary procedures that we had
been trying to explain for years—such
as the difference between the ‘commit-
tee of the whole house’ and the house
itself.”
WKY-TV’s news bureau chief,
Ewing Canaday, handled the commen-
tary for the telecasts and interrupted the
continuity only to identify a speaker or
explain a complicated parliamentary
procedure, He usually had the clerk of
the house on hand to help him do this.
Preparing for the one-hour telecast
required about six hours’ work by three
or four engineers. WKY-TV has a
special mobile unit for remote telecasts,
but after it was parked outside the Capi-
tol building, engineers had to carry in
hundreds of pounds of equipment—
cameras, tripods, and cables—and set it
up in the house galleries. The micro-
wave telay parabola also had to be
oA
lined up with a relay station on top of
a downtown skyscraper, from which the 4
signal could be sent to the transmitter
building north of the city. Technical ~
direction was handled from the contrallg
room in the mobile unit. 2
Skepticism about the legislative tele-_
casts among the lepislators changed to —
wholehearted. approval in a short time. '
Representative Kessler of Oklahoma —
City said he only wished it were pos-
sible to have a camera and microphone |”
in every committee room so that no
secrets could be kept from the public.
Another member of the house called
the program a great step toward bring- “|
ing the people and the legislature closer |
together, “and that, of course, makes , |
for better government.” He recalled how |
difficult it used to be, in the days of bad |
roads and poor communications, for the t
people to keep in touch with their rep- |
resentatives. ‘About all they could do
was elect a man, send him to the legis-
Jature, and hope he would do the right —
thing. Instead, most of them did as a
pleased.”
During the past session one member,
when asked if he would yield the floor, ;
answered, ‘No, I'm not going to yield. ~
I've got five minutes on television and |
I'm going to use it.” RAY SCALES
RAY SCALES is a member fs ‘he Alby
of Station Ve we Pe
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Prospects in t Pete cers P
special referghisis Sa een
in Wisconsin 9) Sekt reat
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WHAT'S Beas 3 : KS a
OUR As ; a
By Le) A
An attempt to answer some of |
the questions posed so insistently by
the recent succession of airplane
disasters. Mr. Engel writes on scien- |
tific matters for The Nation a ay
other magazines,
oy mee foes hi
— ™N AH
AMERICA’S LEADING LIBERAL WEEKLY SINCE 1865
Vouume 174
i .
Ihe Shape of Things
FINAL RESULTS OF INDIA’S FIRST GENERAL
election since attaining independence are still to
come, but one thing is clear: a bold democratic experi-
ment has been triumphantly vindicated. Universal suf-
frage, introduced by the new constitution, raised the
electorate from 30 to 176 million men and women, 85
per cent of them illiterate. Yet the polling was carried
out with complete order, and there have been very few
t reports of fraud or corruption. Moreover, the right to
vote was exercised by more than 50 per cent of those
eligible—a greater proportion than in our own last
Presidential election. As anticipated, the Congress Party,
headed by Prime Minister Nehru, won a large majority.
In the central Parliament, or House of the People, it will
have about two-thirds of the seats, and it will control
most of the state assemblies, The chief surprise was the
oncentrated strength shown by the Communists and
heir allies in certain districts, particularly in the south
of India. They will apparently form the second-largest
party in Parliament, and if they can obtain the support
of a few independents, should be able to organize gov-
ernments in ‘two important states—Madras and Travan-
core-Cochin. Both of these mainly rural states are
exceptionally poverty-stricken, and the Communists suc-
cessfully exploited the long-smoldering discontent of
millions of peasants owning little or no land, On the
other hand, the Communists made no headway in indus-
trial areas like Bombay, where they might have been ex-
| pected to do well. Their victories, therefore, are a warn-
ing to the Nehru government to tackle land problems
>more vigorously. It should be the better able to do so,
| and to meet this new challenge from the left, since the
extreme right-wing, orthodox Hindu groups were heavily
defeated. *
IN. MAY 15, 1941, ACCORDING TO TESTIMONY
eveloped at the Nurnberg war-crimes trials, a Luftwaffe
dhysician wrote to his friend Himmter asking for “two
t three professional criminals” to be used as guinea
| pigs for medical research. The physician got his two or
ee; in a matter of days the number grew into two
t three hundred; in a matter of months, into thousands
id tens of thousands—all drawn from Himmler’s in-
ible store of concentration-camp humanity. Thus
ed in one of the most fiendish chapters of Nazi
BP is = Se
ee Pp
NEW YORK « SATURDAY +« MARCH 1, 1952
NuMBER 9
history. The great tradition of German science degener-
ated into senseless butchery in the hands of Nazi “re-
seatchers.”’ The Roentgen ray became a weapon for mass
sterilization; the discoveries of Koch were harnessed, not
to the cure of disease, but to its propagation. The re-
searchers froze their victims, cooked them, crushed them
in vacuum cabinets, inoculated them with diseases known
and unknown, Reports on the experiments were sub-
mitted regularly to German army and S. S. medical
leaders, including General Walter P. Schreiber, com-
mander of the German Military Medical Academy, who
on several occasions himself assigned doctors to this kind
of experimental work. Today Dr, Schreiber, brought to
the United States by the army, is teaching at the Air
Force School of Aviation Medicine at Randolph Field,
Texas. A group of Boston physicians, their consciences
outraged, are demanding his prompt expulsion and an
investigation of his admission to this country. The
Boston Globe and other newspapers and individuals have
taken up the fight. It is inconceivable that any American
should want to stay out of it.
+
THE LARGEST WHITE-COLLAR STRIKE IN
history ended last week when 15,000 members of
the Insurance Agents International Union (A. F. of L.)
voted by a narrow margin to accept a compromise set-
tlement offered by the Prudential Life Insurance Com-
pany. The workers had asked for a $20 increase in their
weekly minimum wage. What they got was an average
increase of $5.36—not in their minimum wage, but
in commissions and expenses—plus a per capita lump
payment of $150. Moreover, the increase was provided
for in a two-year contract which is not subject to wage
review. This was the best that could be offered, ap-
parently, by a company which had spent $5,000,000 in
advertising to fight the strike and which in the course of
the dispute was able to lend the International Business
Machine Company $115,000,000. The workers did win
compulsory arbitration of grievances, pension-plan con-
cessions, and under certain circumstances the right to
work week-ends on other jobs. But they lost their demand
” said a
for a union shop, “Our most significant gain,
strike leader, “was the fact that we now have a union
fecognized by the company as well as the workers.”
It is apparently a tough union, too; the rank-and-file
vote to return to work ran only three to two after a
e
r}
|
e IN THIS ISSUE °
EDITORIALS
The Shape of Things
Lisbon: Peace or Provocation?
by Freda Kirchwey
ARTICLES
Needed—a Victor Hugo by J. Alvarez del Vayo
The Fifth Freedom
Our Paper Curtain by Fowler Harper
The Nazis Come In by Milton Friedman
Passport Procedures
France in Torture by Alexander Werth
Ocala: Echo of Injustice by Stetson Kennedy
Corporate Cupid by Juanita Tanner
BOOKS AND THE ARTS
General Willoughby and the Sorge Spy Ring
by W. MacMahon Ball
The Victorian Ethos by Morton Dauwen Zabel
Early Virginia by Oscar Handlin
Anchor to the Past by Harvey Swados
Art by Manny Farber
Records by B. H. Haggin
LETTERS TO THE EDITORS
CROSSWORD PUZZLE No. 454
by Frank W. Lewis
ee ES
EDITORIAL BOARD
Editor and Publisher; Freda Kirchwey
opposite
a
4
is
Be
Assistant Editor; Charles R. Allen, Jr.
Copy Editor: Gladys Whiteside
Assistant Literary Editor: Caroline Whiting
Staff Contributors
Business Manager: Hugo Van Arx
Advertising Manager: Marty Simon
The Nation, published weekly and copyright, 1952, in the U. §
'e
of New York, N. Y., under the act of
the new.
Periodical eo
Articles, Public Affairs Information Service, Dramatic Index,
by The Nation Associates, Inc., 20 Vesey Street, N
Entered as second-class matter, December 13, 1879, eae vee Ones
193
195
206
207
208
209
209
210
211
212
Editorial Director Director, Natiow Associates
Carey McWilliams Lillie Shultz
Managing Editor: Victor H. Bernstein
Foreign Editor Literary Editor
J. Alvarez del Vayo Margaret Marshall
Financial Editor : Keith Hutchison
Dramat Joseph Wood Krutch Masic: B. H. Haggia
Andrew Roth, Alexander Werth, Howard K. Smith, Carolus
A,
Me
I March 8, 1879. Ad i
and Circulation Representative for Continental Europe: Cabins
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Information to Libraries: The Nation is indexed in Readers’ Guide
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re &
ee
» ee
TAs eee
; ar ‘ 5 a -
nee ery ae
_have a fight.” Consider, for example, recent remarks by
oe *
a
ai is : r > ‘. “* mS yn » D3 .§
strike that lasted eighty-one days, The Prudential strike
have shown that the white-collar worker will not for-
ever remain the orphans of the trade-union movement,
* s
WHOLESALE ARRESTS IN ARGENTINA ARB ©
being justified by stories of conspiracies and assassination —
plots directed against President Perén and his wife, —
Evita. A more probable explanation is that Perén, unable ‘
to arrest the inflationary crisis produced by his economic
policies, is seeking to prevent in advance the organization —
of an effective opposition to take advantage of growing —
discontent. Since 1949, when the government announced —
that wage-price relationships had been stabilized, prices 4
have risen at least 80 per cent. For a time real wages —
kept pace with this increase, but in recent months they |
have been declining and they seem destined to drop |
still more since Perén is being forced to reverse his
agricultural policies and pay farmers higher prices in an 4
effort to check the steady fall in production of wheat and %
meat. Hitherto the Institute for Promotion of Foreign,
Trade has bought these and other commodities for much
less than the prices at which it sold them to foreign
markets. The profits accumulated in this fashion have |
been used to stimulate industrial production and finance ;
grandiose public works, Thus the urban workers, or-
ganized in Perén’s trade unions, have been kept happy.
Farmers, however, have cut back production, while in the
past two years output has been further reduced by severe
drought. As a result exports have declined sharply and
Argentina's trade deficit has attained record proportions.
Now Perén, in an attempt to save the situation, is calling
for austerity, to be signalized by two meatless days a
week, and has promised the farmers a 33 per cent in-
crease in prices. But if he is to check further inflation,
he will have to clamp down on the expansion of urban
investments, which will cause unemployment, and limit .
new wage increases. Evidently, under these circumstances,
he is not sure how far he can rely on the loyaity of the
“shirtless ones” who have been the mainstay of his
regime, 3 ;
THE AMERICAN ISOLATIONIST IS A QUEER
political animal. He is not really opposed to war; he
merely wants others to do his fighting for him. Like the
late Henry Ford, the isolationist says, “Let’s you and him.
y
Senator Taft about American policy in the Far East. -
He would arm and equip not only the Nationalist
Chinese on Formosa but also the anti-Communist forces
in Burma, Thailand, and other Asian countries, But
under no circumstances—that is, “unless we were abso- |
lutely sute of winning”—-would the Senator favor |}!
sending American forces to the areas where American- —
equipped Asians are fighting the good fight against Com- —
The NATION |
if An Lm seh fe
it was ‘clear the “anti-Communist” forces
uld-not hold out alone, the Senator replied: “No, they
ould just have to fall.” Asians, both Communist and
nti-Communist, will surely take note of this cynical
oma k. +
\ WELCOME SIGN OF GROWING MATURITY
n the political arm of American labor was seen early
is year when the C. I. O.’s Committee to Abolish
imination and the United Automobile Workers’
Practices and Discrimination Department partici-
pated in hearings before Secretary of the Interior Chap-
aan on the proposed regulations governing contract
telations between Indians and their attorneys. Apparently
labor has finally recognized the political importance of
i) alliances with “‘have-not” groups. So far as the memory
i of living Westerners extends, this is the first time or-
| ganized labor has taken a stand on behalf of American
W Indians. Behind this departure is the significant fact
hat Indians, formerly denied the franchise, are now vot-
ing in several Western states, and that their vote could
| represent the margin of victory in a close election. Inci-
;
:
|
dentally, the Indians and their allies, including the
National Association for the Advancement of Colored
People, the American Jewish Committee, the American
Bar Association, and the unions, won a sweeping vic-
ory, convincing Mr. Chapman that the proposed regula-
tions should be withdrawn,
isbon: Peace or Provocation ?
BY FREDA KIRCHWEY
AFTER so much initial pessimism it was natural that
L \ the decisions at Lisbon should have been greeted
in the American press with almost breathless enthusi-
asm. On paper at least, a step of revolutionary signifi-
cance was taken in the handsome Parliament building
which ordinarily serves such narrow and formal uses.
The unborn European defense community with its still
more embryonic six-nation army was unanimously in-
dorsed by the fledgling North Atlantic Council against
Dolitical odds which had recently seemed too great to be
‘overcome. How great were these odds is. made evident
yy Alexander Werth in his story this week of France’s
ionized retreat on the issue of rearming Germany. The
esult at Lisbon was an American victory, and the gen-
tal in command was Secretary Acheson. Whatever sort
f history was made there, the chief credit or blame will
e his.
But Lisbon is a small paragraph in a long tale, most
f it still untold. The next chapters will open in the far
lore real parliament halls of the Allied powers, and at
onn, where the neatly dovetailed plans must be ratified
arch 1, 1952 ,
AER OS SS Am
=
a
Ss
=
‘should be sent to.
- AP Bucy ate to be anything but votes recorded on Pr
That ratification will mean an even tougher fight than —
the pre-Lisbon debate reported by Mr. Werth, is indi-
cated in the prompt defiant statements issued by the
chief non-government parties in France, both left and
right, In Germany a different but almost equally bitter
struggle is promised; its next rounds will take place in
the negotiations over the new “contractual relations” be-
tween Bonn and the chief Western Allies. And beyond
ratification, if it is won, lie the monumental problems
of financing and bringing into physical and political
being the European-NATO defense system. Viewed in
the context of Europe’s economic crisis and the pro-
found instability it has bred, the prospect is one which
should provide sober second thoughts to the most ex-
uberant editorial page. The fact is, everything but the
decisions remain to be accomplished, and the real ob-
stacle to accomplishment is the feeling, first, that the
danger of Soviet attack is not great enough to warrant
the fantastic effort and sacrifice demanded by the Amer-
ican program and, second, that it may be increased
rather than exorcised by the creation of an armed alli-
ance stretching from Turkey to Norway— including the
Germans.
This feeling, voiced in the French Assembly even by
Jules Moch, the bitterly anti-Communist former Defense
Minister, can hardly have been diminished by the
analysis of Russia’s aims and intentions which the North
Atlantic Council deputies submitted to the NATO For-
eign Ministers at a “highly restricted” session at Lisbon.
Summarized in the New York Times by C. L. Sulz-
berger, the unpublished report presented a picture of
intensified cold-war activities on the part of Russia, rang-
ing from efforts to “prevent harmony in ideas between
Western Europe and the United States” and neutralize
and unify Germany, to an attempt “to extend Communist
influence over India,” reinforce Soviet bonds with Com-
munist China, neutralize Japan, “foment tension in
Southeast Asia,” sap Western influence in the Middle
East, and “encourage anti-imperialist moves in such
areas as Egypt and Morocco.” The significance of the
analysis, described by Mr. Sulzberger as ‘‘exceptionally
important,” is obviously not in its familiar ingredients
but in the fact that it was prepared as a basis for deter-
‘mination of policy by the Western alliance. As such,
it is truly an astonishing document, for it offers no hint
that Moscow plans to carry out its purposes by military
means—not even in Asia, While the report declares that
Russia’s policy is, in Mr. Sulzberger’s words, “revolu-
tionary, expansionist,” and aimed at establishing a
“world Communist system under Moscow's domina-
tion,” it also insists that Moscow wishes “at all costs to
avoid ‘excessive risk’ to the Soviet Union itself.” As a
result Soviet policy “is always sensitive to the real or
imagined fears of encirclement and preoccupied with the _
195% 3
sae eee
Sag eK Re SS
Vv enter 1
. Bee
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“exceptionally important analysis”
_ what earthly relevance it had to the revolutionary scheme
ee a
~
‘security of the highways leading to the Eurasian land
ass.” The document also ascribed to Moscow “‘the de-
sire not only to prevent the rebirth of Europe's economic
development but then, afterward, to push Communist
governments to power in that area.”” While the report
sees no likelihood that the Soviet Union intends to with-
draw from Germany to support its unification propa-
ganda, it considers as certain Moscow's refusal to permit
a “rearmed and unified” Germany to associate with the
West.
One could not read Mr. Sulzberger’s outline of this
without wondering
of an integrated, armed “free” world agreed upon in
unfree Portugal. Rather it was an argument for modera-
tion in military planning, a warning against the creation
of a German army, a clear call for positive, democratic
solutions in Asia and the Middle East. It made a case
for diplomacy rather than force alone; for an effort to
dispel compulsive fears and suspicions, rather than
match and top them. In fact, the NATO deputies pro-
‘duced a document which could be better used by an op-
position party in the French Assembly than by M
Schuman.
The same copy of the Times reported the collapse of
the Mexican-United States talks on military aid. The
headline blamed “red pressure,” but Mexico's resistance
to any agreement which commits it to “the defense of
democracy” throughout the world needs no nudge
‘from Moscow. Next day Indonesia’s Cabinet fell on the
same issue; some eight nations are balking at the con-
ditions imposed by the Mutual Security Act. Even more
_ pertinent perhaps is the challenge to military commit-
ments abroad contained in the Berry resolution adopted
last week by Congress and on the foreign policy debate
in the House of Commons. From one side of the world
to the other men and governments question the validity
of American insistence that arms come first and all
else, even food and shelter and independence, comes
only after Russia and its “revolutionary, expansionist”
purposes have been contained. There is the further sus-
_picion, spread not by Moscow agents but by men in
our own Administration, in Congress, and in the armed
services, that containment means the active instigation
and support of counter-revolution, that no matter how
much we talk of “defense” and. “peace” we plan the
ultimate rolling-back of Soviet power. To such a pro-
gram few nations will voluntarily commit themselves,
the less if they feel themselves directly in the way of
that power.
An interesting if unintended commentary on the pre-
conceptions of American policy was made by John
Foster Dulles on the very day the Lisbon agreement
‘was announced. Demanding a revival of “dynamism” in
our international relations, Mr. Dulles said that Soviet
196
-up the struggle. His love of liberty and hatred of op-
retirement to an ivory tower in the face of injustice
Err 4 rt Sh atin
lames | 24
— rt’ me N fe n
a aa bg = iu Sar sees A eee rere
oe oa Se 9
communism “repecsctly cay Weta your ele
. selves
ment, and the free world represents the static, p
element.” Although he may fully approve of an armec
Europe and surely disapproves of Moscow, the State
Department's Republican adviser declared that com-
munism had won its victories primarily through social —
ideas and that almost no part of its expansion had been: ;
due to the old-fashioned method of open military ag-
gression. Pointing to our vast expenditures on arms and |
for loans and -grants to other countries, Mr. Dulles ||
emphasized the urgency of “non-material” methods,
“Today,” he said, “a revolutionary spirit grips over
half the human race, There are passions that cannot be
allayed by oil royalties or suppressed by foreign guns.”
The statesmen assembled at Lisbon drew up a plan that —
makes sense only if Russian “dynamism” is harnessed ;
to a policy of old-fashioned, open military aggression, |
On any other assumption it is a self-defeating monstros-
ity, for it stands squarely in opposition to those social”
and political changes which, if Moscow's purposes are
being accomplished chiefly by ideas rather than war,.
alone could check the expansive force of communism
and counter its revolutionary appeal.
Needed—a Victor Hugo
BY J. ALVAREZ DEL VAYO
N THE present state of the world—with former
fascists and collaborators regaining power and anti-
fascists persecuted or pushed aside—no literary figure
of the past century has a more pertinent message for
us than the great Victor Hugo. It is appropriate, there-
fore, to celebrate the centenary of his exile, which
was an event of primary importance for France and all
Western Europe, and to listen again to his formidable fj,
voice, denouncing not only the tyrant but even more
the cowards who always find some pretext for giving
pression are an inextinguishable flame.
Victor Hugo was above all one of those embodi-
ments of the French spirit in whom thought and ac-
tion are one. He was not satisfied simply to “agree in
principle” with the people’s aspirations and express his
resistance to arbitrary power in disillusioned and im-
potent verse, He denied that a poet could excuse his
by claiming to be too sensitive to enter the political
arena or too sophisticated to agitate for a cause. “If in
our epoch of social and revolutionary change,” he
wrote a century ago, “an author feels that he is re- |
quired to defend the people’s rights, he must accept the |”
requirement, unless he would betray the people, as an | :
order to perpetual combat.” But for Hugo there was
an even lower category of intellectuals than the ones
The NATIo
aaa their country” or pretending that their
first duty was to prevent anarchy.” Change “anarchy”
0 “communism,” and his words are beautifully ap-
plicable today.
Goethe believed that a poet should turn his back
on the turbulence and pressures of contemporary life and
construct a private Olympus, where his sensibility would
= protected from the clamor of the masses. Hugo,
e Voltaire and Rousseau and the more enlightened
leaders of the French Revolution, threw his whole being
into the great battle of the age. His political develop-
nt was extremely significant. He came from a
tonservative family, his father having been a general
ander Napoleon, and in 1818 the young Hugo was a
1 Beis: In 1824 he called himself a royalist-liberal, in
1827 a liberal, in 1828 a liberal-sociahst, in 1830 a
liberal-socialist-democrat, in 1849 a liberal-socialist-
democrat-republican.
It was in this last year that he became the poet par
cellence of the struggle for liberty; Péguy called him
later a pagan prophet. His anger at the intervention
French troops against the Roman Republic in aid
of the Pope completed his ideological progress from
) conservatism to extreme radicalism. After that he joined
(the left leaders, Alexandre Ledru-Rollin and Jules
Favre, in defending the republic in fiery speeches. When
al fighting broke out, he abandoned the usual
weapons of a writer of his rank—the platform and the
press—and helped man the barricades across the Paris
boulevards, where the people challenged the govern-
ment’s armed forces.
) He was @ statesman; underlying his virulent im-
ly precations against tyranny were the constructive ideas
of a man eminently qualified to rule. He used his pen
‘>with a unique mixture of aggressiveness and charm
| Pagainst the Emperor and the intellectuals who would
ee liberty betrayed rather than risk their careers.
|) When he referred to Napoleon the Little, in contrast
* }to Napoleon the Great, he used the phrase to castigate
the moral pettiness of the regime, If someone re-
minded him of what he owed to France, he replied
that he placed devotion to justice and to the common
n above conventional love of country. In his poetry
$s coined the language of the people’s tribunal. He
yas at the same time prosecutor and judge. He brought
‘the accusation and passed sentence. He disregarded a
Sublic opinion “artificially created by using the money
f the rich to distort the truth.” “That is not the voice
f the people,” he said; “that is the voice of lackeys.”
While he became more and more radical as time went
fon, his early writings expressed a sense of humanity
§ | which made his evolution entirely logical. His dramas,
8 especially “Cromwell,” which denounces the greed fot
:
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power of the English revolutionary leader, and “Ruy
Blas,” in which a commoner dares to oppose the no-
bility, and his powerful novel, “Les Misérables,” still
read with emotion by European workers, are clearly the
precursors of the new theater and the new social novel.
“Les Misérables’ was admired by both Tolstoy and
Dostoevsky and strongly influenced Russian literature of
the late nineteenth and early twentieth century.
But it was as exile that Victor Hugo attained his
full grandeur. When he crossed the Belgian border
dressed as a workman, his disguise symbolized his iden-
tification with the proletariat. He had the worker's
determination never to give up, no matter what tem-
porary defeats he might suffer. His exile did not lessen
his ardor. It only made him a stronger, more resolute
fighter and heightened the splendor of his burning
lyrics. His finest poems were composed in exile. When
his companions fell prey to dejection and fatigue, they
could always be roused by his words, In one of his
poems he said: “If we are a thousand—magnificent;
if we are five hundred, here we are; if we are only a
hundred, that hundred will fight; and if I alone re-
main, I will keep the banner of liberty flying.” He
rebuked the pessimists who despaired because for the
moment the French people were so apathetic: “You may
think the French are dead. But that is not so. A people
needs a long time to digest a revolution. A people which
has devoured a monarchy is like a boa which has swal-
lowed a tiger. It sleeps, but beware! It sleeps, but it
will wake.” Attacking the stupidities of clerical reac-
tion, he wrote: “Does anyone believe that the in-
stinct of liberty, the Europe of Luther, the France of
Voltaire, can be destroyed by the blows of a cross?
What idiocy!”
With his keen political sense he understood that he
must wage war simultaneously on the monarchy and the
papacy. Bonapartism and clericalism were two aspects
of the same despotism, and if for Bonapartism one
reads fascism and if one perceives the parallel be-
tween the support given to Napoleon the Little by the
Catholic church and the support now given by that
same church to reaction everywhere, Victor Hugo's
glorious exile seems an episode of our own time.
The stage is set again for Victor Hugo, In “Histoire
d'un Crime,” which he wrote during his exile, he de-
scribed the betrayal of the French people. Today he
could tell the story of the crime committed against
the spirit of the Liberation, which aroused such great
hopes at the close of World War II. His irreverent
and incisive pen would find abundant material in @
period like the present, when reaction, recovered from.
its defeat in 1945, is again gaining ascendancy over the
confused and divided progressive forces. Victor Hugo
would not abandon the struggle. As in 1852, he would
rally the people to new efforts.
197.
Last year President Truman, speaking to the
American press but addressing President Nikolai
M. Shvernik of the U. S, S. R., urged the Kremlin
to permit freedom of travel. But it is not the Krem-
lin which has arbitrarily barred hundreds of dis-
tinguished foreigners from our shores in the last
few years. Nor is it the Kremlin which, by adminis-
trative decree, is preventing hundreds of Ameri-
cans, distinguished and ordinary, from traveling
abroad. In truth, the marvel is not that President
Truman's excellent advice has not been heeded by
the Kremlin; the marvel is that it has gone un-
heeded by our State Department and Congress.
Freedom to travel is by no means an exclusively
American concept. But it is one especially cherished
by us. It was at American insistence that Paragraph
OUR PAPER CURTAIN
Be BY FOWLER HARPER
» «QC OMEWHERE in the neighborhood of a quarter-
ry million American citizens apply each year for pass-
ports to travel in foreign countries. A much smaller
but nevertheless substantial number of foreigners apply
for American visas to come here. All sorts of people
travel abroad for all sorts of reasons. Business men,
artists, scientists, students, scholars, writers, foreign
correspondents, and invalids travel in the pursuit of their
business, their profession, or their health; still others
merely in the pursuit of happiness.
But a foreigner can pursue none of these things in the
United States, nor an American abroad, without the con-
sent of the State Department. Last spring Dr. Ernest
B, Chain, a British chemist, a Nobel prize-winner and
co-discoverer of penicillin, was denied a visa to come
to this country on business of the World Health Organi-
zation, of whose antibiotics committee he is chairman.
In the late fall he was again denied a visa when he
wanted to attend a dinner in New York in honor of the
seventy-seventh birthday of the President of Israel.
In 1947 Dr. Martin Kamen, professor of biochemistry
and radiation physics at Washington University, St.
Louis, and a distinguished scientist, was denied a pass-
port to go to Israel, where he had been invited by the
Weizmann Institute of Science to deliver a series of
lectures. In 1948 Dr. Kamen was denied a passport
to attend a scientific conference in Paris on isotopic
FOWLER HARPER is a member of the faculty of the
Yale Law School. 7
198
national conference in Paris as an observer for the
2 of Article 3 was included in the United Nations
Declaration of Human Rights: “Everyone has the
right to. leave any country, including his own, and
to return to that country.” For a variation of the
principle, known as the freedom of the seas, we
have fought long and bitter wars. And having
defended it successfully against Barbary pirates,
British men of war, and German U-boats, it seems
inconceivable that we should now be losing it to
Washington bureaucrats moving in obedience to
arbitrary rulings and legislation born of cold-war
hysteria,
In the three articles below The Nation presents
a broad review of several aspects of this threat to
the “fifth freedom,” together with a program
designed—in part at least—to remove it,
exchange and molecular physics, sponsored by the
Rockefeller Foundation. In the same year inability to |
get a passport prevented him from accepting an invitation ;
from the Australian government to be a visiting profes-
sor at the national university at Canberra. In 1950 he
was, for a fourth time, denied a passport, on this occa-
sion to attend a scientific symposium in England.
It seems pretty clear that the professional work of
these two scientists has been seriously interrupted and
their careers interfered with. What is more important,
perhaps, the progress of science, which knows no politi-
cal or geographical boundaries, has been retarded, In
the case of Dr. Kamen, the usual reason was given by
the Passport Division—that his travel abroad would not
be “in the best interests of the United States.” In the case . %
of Dr. Chain, no reason at all was given. Presumably,
however, he was refused entry because the State Depart-
ment did not think his visit here was in the best interest
of the nation. These, of course, are not isolated cases,
Corliss Lamont, scholar and writer, was recently denied —
a passport to travel in Italy and France in connection with
his work. In 1948 Representative Leo Isaacson, a member
of a political party headed by an ex-Vice-President of ©
the United States, was not allowed to attend an inter-_
American Council for Aid to Démoctatic Greece, al-.
though passports were granted to several members of the
Council. In 1950 Paul Robeson, singer and lecturer,
was prevented from fulfilling engagements abroad by —
revocation of his passport, =
On September 10, 1951, the International Congress 9
of Pure and Applied Chemistry opened its meeting in |
New York, but a dozen of the world’s leading chemists,
ee
The NATION
ae visas. oe them were te 4 See
uled to deliver important papers. One was Profes-
sor L. Ruzicka, a Swiss chemist, a Nobel prize-winner,
and one of the distinguished scientists awarded an hon-
oraty degree at the Harvard Tercentenary Celebration in
1936. Another was Mile Marguerite Perey, discoverer of
chemical element 87, called Francium. Ironically, Presi-
dent Truman, a few days befere, in a message to the
American Chemical Society on the occasion of its
Diamond Jubilee, had writtem: “It is a striking tribute
fo our democracy that so great a number of scientists
m assemble here free from suspicion of one another,
and free from fear of outside interference. This kind
of personal freedom is our most precious national asset.”
It is too bad that the President’s speech writer does not
always know what the chief of the Passport Division
is doing.
Chemistry is not the only science that is suffering from
he current dearth of American visas, According to the
New York Post, scientists of international reputation
have been barred from attending recent sessions of
nuclear physicists and geneticists. The Post, moreover, re-
potted that the American Psychological Association,
which planned in 1954 to play host here to the Inter-
national Congress of Psychology, will transfer the ses-
sions elsewhere unless “the McCarran act is changed in
uch a way as not to embarrass our guests.”
|
|
|
HE Internal Security (McCarran) Act prohibits the
issuance of a visa of any kind to anyone who is or
ever has been a member of certain described organiza-
ions, which of course include the Communist Party and
he Nazi Party. The law as to passports is not so clean-cut.
The McCarrah act forbids the issuance of passports to
ind their use by persons who are members of “Commu-
Rist-action” or ‘“Communist-front” organizations after
they have registered as such or have been ordered to reg-
\lister by the Subversive Activities Board, as provided in
‘ |‘the act. But to date no organization has registered or been
fordered to register by the board, and when such an order
is issued, the case will go all the way through the courts.
Wit is clear that the State Department, in denying pass-
jports to Dr. Kamen and hundreds of other American
it Weitizens, has not acted under the McCarran act.
0 \ What, then, is the source of the Passport Division’s au-
i \thority to deny American citizens the right to leave the
te \ puntry? The “‘authority,” if such it be, is pretty slim.
sVAn act of Congress originally passed in 1866 mercly
tovides that the Secretary of State may issue passports
(Oey
‘Wander rules and regulations made by the President. The
Lis He etary, through the Passport Division, handles these
Al atters under an Executive Order from the President
om nich empowers him to deny passports or restrict their
iope and use in accordance with the “best interests”
Dé ‘the United States. The department has interpreted
arch 1, 1952
— 1+ =
"oa
this order as vesting in the Secretary of State unre-
stricted discretion, subject to the review of no court
in the land, to say who may and who may not travel
abroad. In practice, this means that the Passport Divi-
sion has that power—except in the rare instance when,
owing to the political pull of the applicant or other
reason, a higher official overrules it.
On some occasions—when the applicant has been
convicted of crime or when a traveler abroad engages in
criminal or highly immoral activities—the division will
assign specific reasons for refusing or canceling a pass-
port. But if the grounds are political, the applicant is
merely advised that his exit from the country is deemed
not in the “best interests” of the United States.
People who want to leave the country are advised by
the department that “any applicant who has been te-
fused a passport may request further consideration of
his case and may present any additional evidence or
information which he may wish to have considered.”
This sounds fair enough so far as it goes. But it does not
go very far. When an
applicant is merely .
told that his attend-
ame at a_ scientific
meeting in Paris or ac-
ceptance of a visiting
professorship in Swe-
den is not in the “best
interests” of the
United States, what
“additional evidence
or information” can
he submit which
would have a bearing
on whatever reason
may be in the Pass-
port Division’s indi-
vidual or collectivey
mind? There are many
disappointed —appli-
cants to testify that if they try to pry into the matter,
they get the run-around. Thus all they can do is guess.
Dr. Kamen guessed it was because he had been ac-
cused of releasing classified information concerning
the Manhattan Project, on which he worked during the
wart. He had denied this vigorously. The Un-American
Activities Committee found that he had, in fact, made
some such disclosure but also found that he had done
so innocently. In any event, his present scientific inter-
ests have nothing to do with atomic research, and the
Atomic Energy Commission advised the State Depart-
ment that it saw no objection to his going abroad. But
the Passport Division did.
An applicant for a visa is, if possible, even more in
the dark about the reason for refusal. He is told nothing
except that he cannot get the visa. Dr. Chain guesses
199
eee
Senator McCarran
that since he has never engaged in any political activity
at all, it is because he went to Czechoslovakia for the
World Health Organization to restore a penicillin plant.
It is surmised that Professor Ruzicka was considered a
threat to the security of the United States because he had
failed to resign from an academy of science in one of the
Iron Curtain countries to which he had been elected
before the curtain was dropped. And Mlle Perey is
apf, thought to have been excluded because she had invited
Mme Marie Curie to the dedication of her research
laboratory some ten or a dozen years ago.
The unsuccessful applicant for a visa gets no
semblance of a hearing. All he can do is try to pull
wires if he is lucky enough to know somebody who
knows somebody, In the case of the citizen who is
denied a passport, it is pretty clear that such hearing as
he gets is not worth much. He finds himself in the
intolerable position of having to convince somebody
that it is in the “‘best interests” of the country for
him to leave it when an adverse decision has already
been made for reasons he is not told. It is little wonder
that the Passport Division seldom changes its mind
once the exit permit has been refused.
Bad as it is, the McCarran act is much fairer in this
respect. Members of subversive organizations are forbid-
den to use passports, But before an organization is
proscribed, it has a full hearing before the Subversive
Activities Board, with an opportunity to cross-examine
adverse witnesses and the power to subpoena favorable
ones. Thereafter the organization is entitled to full
judicial review. The assumption that Congress, in au-
thorizing the President to issue passports, intended to
vest in him unbridled discretion to deny them without
a hearing is hardly consistent with the elaborate safe-
guards provided by the Internal Security Act.
Before World War I anybody could leave the country
and travel almost any place without a passport. Most
countries now refuse to grant a visa for entry unless the
applicant holds one, and so long as the national emer-
gency continues, it is a criminal offense for a citizen to
leave the United States without a passport. Thus,
one of the great liberties recognized and protected by
_ the common law, freedom to go where one wants as
long as one does not interfere with the person or prop-
erty of somebody else, is arbitrarily restricted by a pro-
cedure that has none of the safeguards usually associated
with due process of law.
Nor is it an answer to say that it is a “privilege” and
not a “right” to leave the country. When the applicant’s
ptofession or business depends in large measure on his
chance for foreign travel, something more than a
privilege is involved. To be sure, all or at least most
legal rights are qualified. They may be restricted when
the public good so requires. And no one will deny that
the national security is a public good of the highest
200
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# ® ;
a
' they enrolled. But the ninth proviso, third section, of the
_ vention of the National Association of Manufacturets.
Ahn
‘oe
rege
oF ae
yise ee
& Be ae vA ones iu ae ee bi f wa
order. But in finding that a ‘Collet Lanes ora
Robeson would be more of a threat outside than it
side the country, the government must act =e
modicum of respect for the decencies of legal pra
cedure which have prevailed since Magna Charta. And |
while a foreigner has no right to visit us without — m
our permission, arbitrary discrimination without explana-
tion does not foster that good-will in other countries —
which we so sorely need today. We can hardly expect | |
the French or the Mexicans to take seriously the notion . |
that a transit visa for the rector of the University of Paris *
to fly from LaGuardia Field to Mexico City to attend’
the four-hundredth anniversary of the University of —
Mexico would be a threat to the security of the United —
States. The State Department took it very seriously,
THE NAZIS COME IN
BY MILTON FRIEDMAN
AZIS and others with bona fide fascist records are
experiencing little difficulty with the United States,
visa regulations which are keeping from our shores so ~
many distinguished democrats. It is true that there is a
paper barrier against fascists. An amendment to the |
Internal Security Act of 1950 bars all present or former |
members of “totalitarian” parties except those who were
coerced into joining or were not more than sixteen when
Immigration Act of 1917, which gives discretionary
power to the Attorney General to admit “otherwise in-
admissible aliens applying for temporary ‘admission,”
makes the barrier very fragile indeed, Moreover, the
Central Intelligence Agency is empowered by Congress
to import annually 100 aliens who possess strategic skilis,
It is not required to divulge their identity.
The ninth proviso and the C, I. A. are affording
avenues of admission to some interesting people. Dr. .
Walter P. Schreiber, former commanding officer of the
Department of Medical Science of Hitler's Supreme
Command, to whom some unflattering references were
made at the Niirnberg war-crimes trials, recently arrived
to join the faculty of the United States Army Air Force
School of Aviation Medicine at Randolph Field, Texas. 9° *
Dr. Otto Reuleaux and about fifty other Germans were
granted visas to attend an international meeting of in- §f
dustrialists held in New York in connection with a con: § ©
Dr. Reuleaux held the Nazi title of Defense Econ: ||
omy Director and is on the original 1945 War Depart- §, f
ment list of those who participated in and benefited from P
the Hitler regime. Some of his colleagues who accom- be
MILTON FRIEDMAN is chief of the Washington News | ay
Bureau of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. 4
The NATION’
er,
+»
4 \
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fee)
My n
Te.
to New York we: ere also Nat Paty member
at
eneficiaries of the regime.
Andrija Artukovic, war-time Minister of Justice
of the Nazi puppet government of Croatia, traveling
under an assumed name, entered the United States as a
visitor on July 16, 1948. His signature is recorded on
anti-Semitic decrees, and he is charged with zealously
implementing Hitler’s extermination program. -His tem-
porary visa was extended three times. To escape extradi-
tion, Dr. Artukovic has applied for status as a “refugee
f fom communism.” Another Balkan collaborator cleared
by the immigration service is Viorel Trifa, who partici-
pated in the pro-Nazi revolt in Bucharest in 1941 as a
Teader of the Iron Guard and also played a role in anti-
emitic activities.
Although the Displaced Persons Act expired last De-
ember 31, the official-machinery has been kept function-
ing to admit 54,774 additional Volksdeutsche from
Eastern Europe. Many of these people, according to Rabbi
rving Miller, ex-president of the American Jewish Con-
gress, “volunteered for service with the execution squads
which gassed and otherwise exterminated six million
Jews and millions of other faiths.” When Congress
amended the D. P. act in 1950 it provided especially for
‘immigration visas for General Wladyslaw Anders’s
Polish Corps. Among those who joined Anders’s group
after the war were such personalities as Roch Mankowski,
commander of the Nazi concentration camp at Krems;
1) Father I. Nahajewski, chaplain of Hitler's Ukrainian
S. S. division, which murdered thousands of civilians;
Dr. Wladyslaw Dering, named on the international list
of war criminals for surgical experiments on living
human beings at Auschwitz; eee Gutman, com-
|
:
. visas were issued to Anders’s men, who were Se omed
j/ under the Statue of Liberty as part of the “huddled
‘Masses yearning to breathe free.”
PASSPORT PROCEDURES
_ [The American Civil Liberties Union, disturbed by restric-
5 | tions on freedom of travel imposed by the United States,
“| last week published an extensive memorandum on the sub-
m4 | yect, including in it a series of suggestions for amending
W\ passport-issuance procedures. An abridged version of the
TTA, C. L. U. recommendations is printed below.}
;
Coney
| THE Secretary of State should be asked to ap-
}
fe point a commission of three eminent citizens to
pexamine the files of the Passport Division, the Secre-
gh tary to use [the commission’s report}as a basis for the
oe formulation in advance of standard grounds for denial
Beer and for the creation of administrative ma-
y for conducting a review.
: . While the A. C. L. U. recognizes that the United
Eo
Marc 9.1, 1952
a aes
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ene
ae government must have the power to protect the
nation against any “clear and present danger” (and
under present circumstances perhaps also against dan- .
gers which are neither wholly clear nor demonstrably
present), the “right to travel’ should be recognized
subject only to reasonable restrictions and safeguarded by
due process of law. No restriction is reasonable unless it
is expressed in clear criteria defined before the event.
An Act of Congress is needed which will make the
issuance of a passport to an American citizen mandatory,
and will prohibit its revocation, except for specifically
stated reasons.
3. The A. C. L. U. is convinced that the Department
of State has on occasion denied or revoked passports for
reasons connected with the applicants’ political beliefs or
associations, as in the case of members of extreme left-
wing groups who wished to go abroad to attend con-
ferences or to fulfil speaking engagements. While the
union recognizes that criticism of the United States
by citizens traveling abroad has some tendency to im-
pair the prestige of the United States, and that many such
cfiticisms are untrue and unfair, it sees no reason for
foreclosing abroad utterances of the sort that consti-
tutional guaranties permit within the United States. On
the other hand, if the State Department has evidence
from which it can reasonably infer that the passport will
be used for the purpose of engaging in conspiratorial
activities against the peace and security of the United
States, refusal of the passport would be proper.
4. The passport provisions of the McCarran act, in
their present form, should be repealed, because a pass-
port should not be denied solely on the basis of mem-
bership in an organization.
5. Whether or not clear and comprehensible stand-
ards for the issuance os denial of a passport are
established, procedural safeguards against abuse of dis-
cretion are urgently needed, A formalized procedure
should therefore be established within the Department
of State to review initial determinations respecting pass-
ports; the department should be required to reveal the
basis for denials or revocations (except when it ap-
pears and is demonstrated to the satisfaction of a
court that the applicant may be involved in espionage
or sabotage and that the disclosure of sources might im-
pede counter-intelligence) ; and judicial review of abuse
of discretion should be provided.
6. Appropriate cases should be selected or insti-
tuted to test (a) the constitutionality of the denial of
notice and hearings of any sort to persons refused pass-
ports; (b) the constitutionality of denials or revocations
of passports on the basis of political beliefs and associa-
tions; (c) the applicability of the Administrative Pro-
cedure Act to the issuance of passports; and (d) the
extent of right of judicial review, independent of that
act.
201
; was
ae
ray Mb
France in Ti ore
Paris, February 20
DYING man, supporting himself on crutches,
made his way to the rostrum of the National
Assembly and told of his experience in Buchenwald—
he had been a cripple ever since, and now, very soon,
going to die. “We Frenchmen who survived
Buchenwald swore that never again should Germany be
ie, allowed to build up its military power. I have come here
be to renew that oath, I am going to die, Mr. President.
I am going to die because of what the Germans did
to me. I warn you, do not trust the Germans!’’ Deeply
"g moved, the whole Assembly rose and cheered. Men had
t ’
tears in their eyes as they watched George Heuillard, a
Radical deputy, painfully make his way down the steps
and start back to the hospital.
- + In terms of practical politics this kind of scene has
a
*
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ie
f
by:
T
|
no weight, But emotionally it has a great deal, and it
was typical of the atmosphere of the five-day debate on
the European army. “The gravest decision since Munich,”
“the most difficult problem France has had to face since
the war”—that was the way many of the speeches began.
Philippe Barrés, Gaullist deputy, said that not in all its
long history had France been called upon to make a sur-
render like this,
The critics of the European army showed the greatest
conviction and self-assurance; the government spokesmen
were defensive, dwelling continually on the “lesser evil.”
Even the soprano trills of that prima donna of the
M. R. P., Pierre-Henri Teitgen, sounded out of tune, for
those who formerly sponsored “Europe’’ have lost their
ardor since hearing what Adenauer means by “Europe.”
One of Adenauer’s underlings recently told the Monde
correspondent: “Just wait till we have fifteen divisions,
and we'll talk a different language to France.’’ And
Adenauer himself said at Hanover last December 13:
“Our chief reason for wanting to enter the European
army is to be able to recover our eastern territories.”
ane
“Europe” cuts no ice any more, now that Churchill
has made plain the British position. “Yes, we wanted
_ Europe, but we don’t want this abortion of a Europe,”
_ Jules Moch said, A Europe—or a European army—with-
out Scandinavia, and especially without Britain, made no
sense at all. Britain alone could give it balance. Without
Britain, there was only a Franco-German téte-d-téte in
which France would become, before long, the junior
partner. M. Schuman must be absolutely firm about not
allowing Germany into NATO, M. Moch went on. Ger-
many was bursting with territorial ambitions and only
too ready to provoke a war with Russia. He (M. Moch).
202
> > Sa a <% area ON : ‘ ew Pe
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‘ uy a J, aeee m3 ¥
; . :
- looking more and more unhappy. “The paradoxical thing —
§
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ins iJ,
4
BY ALEXANDER WERTH |
was one of the authors of the Pleven plan, but now he -~
felt like “denying his paternity of the European army.”
He warned that if the government did not take sufficient .
notice of the wishes of the Assembly, or was ovet-
tuled by the United States, the Assembly would in the «©
end refuse to ratify the European-army treaty, :
M. Moch made two other important points. He said
it was essential to obtain an Anglo-American guaranty: ~
that the Germans, if “‘integrated’’ into the European
army, would not “at the signal of a clandestine General
Staff” suddenly break loose and declare themselves au-
tonomous. And since the Russians were willing to talk
disarmament in the U, N. Disarmament Commission, it
was only right to give the commission a chance to make
its report on June 1 without sabotaging its work by
hasty decisions on German rearmament.
The theme that there was no hurry about this rearma-
ment ran through many speeches. M. Daladier horrified
the government by expressing the view that the “‘peri-
pheral defense” of Europe by the United States air force
was not a myth at all but on the contrary the best solution
for France. The Americans would in any event not send
many troops to Europe and would therefore rely on the ©
Germans to do the dirty work—and, by heaven, the work
would be dirty! As for Germany, it could very well
remain disarmed and kept under four-power control;
unfortunately, the Western powers had never taken
seriously suggestions to that efiect. Daladier, like others,
said that if the United States wanted to rearm Ger-
many, at least France’s hands should stay clean.
M. Delbos, speaking for the government, was con- —
scious of the danger that the Germans might suddenly |
detach Bailes. from the European army—leaving it, —
as another speaker put it, as empty as a lobster shell—and
insisted that integration would ‘more or less protect us
against such danger.’” Government spokesmen found it ff
equally difficult to cope with another argument: the
original Pleven plan had provided for “gradual” integra- [J y.
tion; now the whole business (except for overseas @
troops) would be handed to the Germans on a platter. @..
The discussion went on for days, with the government.
is that the German people as a whole are not keen on: fp,
rearmament,” one speaker remarked. “But Adenauer is
able to get more and more insolent every day because he |
sees the United States on its bended knees begging him ©
teofeacm:” Zz
In the end M. Schuman got his vote, but he was not.
given carte blanche. The Socialists consented to save the
The NATION
C s to be nied aut anti all paw have rati-
fiec d the European army treaty and a common organiza-
tion has been set up; (2) no inclusion of Germany in
_ NATO; (3) further attempts to be made to get direct
British participation in the army.
= February 25
And now Lisbon. Schuman had to present certain
_face-saving demands, buttressing them with accounts of
| the high feeling in the Assembly and emphasizing the
) danger that no agreement would be ratified if the terms
+ were too stiff. He did succeed in obtaining acceptance
_ of the principle that no German soldiers would be re-
Miami, Florida
T THE order of the United States Supreme Court,
Florida gave Walter Lee Irvin a brand-new trial,
_ featuring the same prosecutor presenting the same testi-
_ mony with the same witnesses, a jury as white as ever
_ feturning the same verdict, and the same whittling judge
handing down the same sentence—death.
There were, however, certain differences from the
earlier trial, State authorities, hoping to get a convic-
_ tion that would stand up, had the trial shifted from Lake
County to Ocala in neighboring Marion County, and
had a few Negroes summoned as prospective jurors. The
white population affected a lack of interest in the pro-
ceedings to preclude charges of mob influence, and the
local press confined itself to desultory comment.
The story of the “Groveland Four,” of whom Irvin
_was the only one whose fate remained in doubt, began in
Groveland, Florida, in 1949 when Willie Padgett met
| * his wife, Norma Lee, coming home after dawn with
| tavern-keeper Lawrence Burtoft. Both Mr. and Mrs.
} Padgett said that she had been abducted the night before
by four Negro youths, but it was not until sorne time
} later that she added the charge of rape.
_ -Mrs. Padgett’s charges precipitated a wave of violence,
, "The Ku Klux Klan led a mob which shot up the Negro
ws | Section, burned three homes, and drove all Negroes from
ea } the town. When Irvin, Samuel Shepherd, and Charles
inf steenlee were arrested, the mob demanded that Sheriff
5 t Willis McCall surrender them for lynching. Instead, he
#4 deputized the mob and sent it on a man hunt for a fourth
sth ‘ F Suspect,” Ernest Thomas, who when found was killed
uaF
b
ie
re
L “S
_STETSON KENNEDY, author of “Palmetto Country,” has
y 0 | described the current racial violence in Florida in several
earlier articles.
4) March 1, 1952
spetited until the agreement had been ratified by all six
parliaments. This means that the formation of a Euro-
pean German army is postponed for about a year, which
is perhaps the most the French could have hoped for.
For the rest, Lisbon was less satisfactory to France. In
practical terms Germany becomes a member of NATO.
Great Britain refused to yield to the urging that it some-
how join the European army, And France obtained no
guaranty against the danger of Germany breaking away
from the European army. Le Monde said bitterly: “Those
Frenchmen were right who foresaw that the Atlantic ©
Pact implied that Germany would first rearm according
to American wishes and later according to its own,”
Ocala: Echo of Injustice
BY STETSON KENNEDY,
by a fusillade of bullets. Irvin and Shepherd were
subsequently tried and sentenced to die; Greenlee, only
sixteen at the time, was given life imprisonment, Upon
appeal to the Supreme Court, the convictions of Irvin
and Shepherd were set aside (Greenlee disassociated
himself from the appeal, fearing to antagonize the
court) on the ground that Negroes had been sys-
tematically excluded from the jury, which moreover had
been influenced by the mob and an inflammatory press.
While being transported to a new trial originally —
scheduled for Tavares, Shepherd and Irvin, handcuffed
together, were each felled by three bullets from the gun
of Sheriff McCall. Shepherd died instantly; Irvin clung
to life by pretending to be dead, In the hospital Irvin
charged that he and Shepherd had been shot down
in cold blood, McCall insisted his prisoners had at-
tempted to escape. A coroner's jury, closing its eyes to
a score of holes in the case for McCall, exonerated him,
A new trial was then set for Ocala, opening February
11. Defense counsel argued that Circuit Judge Truman
Futch, who had pronounced the original death sentence
after presiding over the first trial, should disqualify him-
self for the second, But Judge Futch rejected the plea,
asserting that far from being prejudiced he was merely
“familiar with the case.” Throughout the proceedings
the Judge whittled on a succession of cedar sticks.
Retained by the National Association for the Advance-
ment of Colored People to defend Irvin were Orlando ©
attorneys Alex Akerman, Jr., and Paul Perkins, Thur-
good Marshall, the N. A. A. C. P.’s chief counsel, and
his assistant, Jack Greenberg, both of New York, were
also permitted by the judge to participate, but not until
they had been.castigated by the prosecutor as “outside
agitators” engaged in “‘vilifying our state.”
Ocala’s white folks joined in a tacit gentleman’s
2052315
i ae i A ae eee
' ae Ste i,
agreement to ignore the courthouse; seldom was the
white section of the courtroom more than two-thirds
full. Those who showed up maintained a facade of im-
partiality. But the prejudice was there. A poll prepared
by the firm of Elmo Roper was offered in evidence to
support the defense plea for a change of venue. Based on
_ interviews with 518 whites in Marion County, the survey
_ indicated that 43 per cent were “positive” of Irvin's guilt,
an additional 20 per cent had also prejudged him to be
guilty but were not quite so certain, while 25 per cent
admitted they did not know. Qnly 1 per cent thought him
AI
“probably”—not positively—innocent. As for the pos-
sibility of mob action, 84 per cent of the 151 Negroes
queried thought “something might happen” if: Irwin
_ were freed, but only 16 per cent of the whites would
admit as much. Apparently this was the first time a pub-
lic-opinion poll had been submitted as court evidence.
The judge rejected it as hearsay,
The prosecution sought to answer the poll by parading
_ a dozen witnesses across the stand to affirm that Marion
County represented the millennium in harmonious race
_felations, Among them were five Negroes, well-to-do
professional men, who outdid the whites in praise of
local conditions. Dr. L. R. Hampton, dentist, spoke of the
“love and respect” in which local whites held Negroes,
adding that he knew of no Ocala white who was preju-
_ diced against Negroes. Asked under cross-examination if
he did not think the refusal to seat Negroes on juries
_ was a manifestation of prejudice, Dr. Hampton replied:
_ “I don’t know if we are properly intellectually informed
enough to serve on juries.” In a more cryptic vein the
Reverend L. N. Anderson declared: “Marion County is
the only county I would put up against Jerusalem in
Christ’s time.” Only Mr. Anderson knows whether he
was likening the trial of Irvin to Pontius Pilate’s sur-
render of the innocent Jesus to the mob for crucifixion.
Of the hundred prospective jurors summoned, seven
were Negroes. With Negroes constituting 50 per cent
of the county’s population, it remains for the Supreme
Court to decide whether this represented systematic ex-
clusion. Of the seven called, two excused themselves on
_ the ground that they had opinions about the case; two
__ said they were opposed to capital punishment; three were
_ dismissed by peremptory challenge of the prosecutor.
_ While the state rested its case on the identification of
rvin by the Padgetts, the defense introduced two new
_ witnesses. The first was Pfc. Burtoft, who flew in from
_ Fort Jackson, South Carolina, to testify that when Mrs.
_ Padgett arrived at his tavern she had said nothing of
being raped, and moreover had said she could not iden-
tify any of her abductors “because it was so dark.”
The second new defense witness was Herman Ben-
nett, private criminologist from Miami, who declared
that in his opinion the plaster casts made of footprints at
the scene of the alleged attack had been made by
|
!
‘
:
era survey in which Fortune gravely used its yardstick
ae he shots : saa cen emf pty v the
the tracks were made! This was strongly indicz ed, he
said, by the fact that the soles were sharply snchied as
though the shoes had contained shoe-trees rather than
feet. Deputy Yates, who had made the casts although he
admittedly lacked training for such technical work, ad-
mitted further that he had made them after having |
obtained the shoes from Irvin’s home. To discount
Bennett’s testimony the state merely brought out that he
had been employed by the N. A. A. C. P.
Already the N. A. A. C. P. has moved for a new trial +
in the circuit court. Actually a pro forma requirement, —
the move will certainly be denied, and the appeal will °
then be addressed to the state Supreme Court. In es- _
sence the defense charges that Irvin was deprived of a
fair and just trial. Among the errors cited are the court's
refusal to admit the testimony of the Roper poll and to
grant a change of venue.
Irvin's tragic plight is heightened by the fact that the
state, mindful of the unfavorable publicity the trial
would bring, tried to induce him to plead guilty in ex-
change for a life sentence—which, with time off for
good behavior, could mean parole after seven years. His
attorneys left the decision to him, He made the only
choice that would leave him at peace with his own
conscience, “If I had pleaded guilty,” he told reporters
later, “I'd just be lying on myself.”
.*
—- e
= ‘ a ~ ots ca
sen tiie - -
- SS S| lle ee eee
Corporate Cupid
BY JUANITA TANNER -
LUCE magazine survey would hardly be expected
A to have the voltage of a Kinsey report, but For-
tune’s survey on “The Wives of Management’ in its
issues of October and November, 1951, turned out
to be quite engrossing. The magazine’s own editors
say that it gave them the “heebie-jeebies.” What startled
them was the eagerness of the wives interviewed to
adapt themselves to the requirements of the corporations
for which their husbands worked. .
That such amenability should astonish and alarm-the
editors of Fortune seems a little odd in view of the —
magazine’s basic premises and the results of its previous
surveys of women and business. These have dealt chiefly
with the girls as consumers or as employees, but they 7%
have been revealing. For instance, there was a depression- *
on the height of hemlines and showed statistically that 4
skirts and the stock market rose together; hems dipped / [Mi iy.
to the ankles in hard times, when manufacturers needed Btw.
JUANITA TANNER is the author of "The Intelligent Man's
Guide to Marriage and Celibacy.” :
The NATION
2 gees much as the Victorian father regarded his
- daughters—pleasant creatures to have around to feed
P the male ego in those later, harsher years when reassur-
ance is required,
___ Taken together, these earlier surveys should have given
_ @ smart trend-spotter all he needed to forecast the re-
_ sults of the recent one on corporation wives. The report
on style changes proved women’s infinite adaptability,
The executive views of the feminine function in business,
_ with their implication that salaries are defined in terms of
_ daughterly allowances, made it certain that the brighter
gitl would seek another kind of career. Balked in her
_ expectation of equal pay for equal work she will find a
way to command a man’s salary even if it involves marry-
_ ing the man and buttering up his boss.
The gentlemen, then, were warned. And if Fortune
now finds such an embarrassing pliability in the girls
that it heads its editorial conclusions “In Praise of the
Ornery Wife,” what was to be expected of women
_ denied direct rewards yet asked to be the equals—the
survey stresses this—of alert, aggressive, and “dedicated”
executives? Does anyone seriously suppose that a demand
| for wives who will keep up with husbands described as
_ willing to knock themselves out in the company’s inter-
_ est can do other than produce women able to outdo their
} husbands in yessing management?
Does this show the girls really mean it? Don’t be silly.
_ A woman who does what she can to increase her hus-
_ band’s earnings is simply, like the corporation, exploiting
| the worker. Her interests and those of the corporation
_ ate, as Fortune somewhat wonderingly observes, identi-
_ cal up to a point. The wife may well object to the over-
exploitation which kills the worker; her interest, unlike
' the company’s, is for life. In the same way a sea captain’s
' wife may question the tradition which invites the captain
; to risk his life to save a company ship, But that doesn't
-mean she wants her husband to relax on the bridge—or
* around the office.
t Only business conservatism could so long have over-
looked the obvious alliance. Even now the companies are
proving on wives’ doing their part with little prompting.
salesman’s wife may win a deep freeze as a reward for
: “cooperation in record sales, but no company offers Paris
4 | frocks or Elizabeth Arden treatments or diamond brace-
_ lets for wifely aid. Nor do the corporations as yet fe-
. cruit wives in the women’s colleges in the way that they
«i | 0 after the bright boys. But since a girl’s suitability
at | : Shows earlief—as the surveyors remark, the attitude is
fostered in nursery schools—we may yet see manage-
a i ment’s talent scouts observing the tonduct of Cynthia,
aged four, and Shirley, six.
_ Halfway through the survey the magazine began to
| Mave misgivings. The second article confesses some re-
March 1, 1952
—_*t
Jack Morley
gtets over the whole undertaking; perhaps too many
wives read Fortune, An even more dangerous possibility
is surely that men, given the lowdown on how their
wives groom them for jobs, will balk. What man
smart enough to be a big executive wants surveillance
in the company’s interest for twenty-four hours a day?
Will not men with enough gumption to be useful to
industry shrink from marrying a female of the foreman
type? If divorce were the only result, corporations, the
Fortune sutvey showed, would not object, but a revolu-
tion against marriage would be different. Masculine coy-
ness might have to be countered by incentive raises and
marriage-counsel bureaus, the beginnings of which can
already be discerned in the more elaborate corporations.
But surely, if the present trend continues, the occasion for
Marriage counseling in the sense of teaching a man to
distinguish one woman from another will disappear.
The survey emphasizes the standardization of women to
the point of interchangeability, like car parts.
Surprisingly, it is this standardization which Fortune,
in its final editorial pronouncement, seems to deplore.
What do the gentlemen want? You can’t out wives to a
pattern and then object to their lack of individual char-
acter. It is somewhat as if a successful Lothario should
complain that the girls were too easy. Some things, such
as freedom of thought and expression, must be given up
in efficient conporate organization, state or business.
Women are realists. And so any time the corporation
gets disgusted with the wire-pulling of wives, it should
know what to do. Give the smart secretary—who ad-
mittedly makes the ideal executive’s wife—a chance at
the top executive job herself, with a man’s pay. Test the
plan by asking, in strictest confidence, which she would
really prefer—marriage to a vice-president or a chance
at a pay check and expense account of her own, on even
the lower, $10,000 level? Then watch fashions ia
feminine aspirations change again,
205
- neighbors
some Soviet spy ring, since Soviet spies
are everywhere and are very clever. They
do not usually openly proclaim their
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General Willoughby and
P the Sorge Spy Ring
| SHANGHAI CONSPIRACY. By Major
General Charles A. Willoughby.
ba E. P. Dutton and Company. $3.75.
ILE he was Chief of Intelligence
for General MacArthur in Japan,
rc Willoughby got access to the
- _ Japanese police records on the activi-
_ ties of the “Sorge spy ring.” According
to these records, Dr. Richard Sorge was
an extremely successful agent for the
_ Soviets in Japan from 1931 to 1941,
_ when the Japanese police at last caught
up with him. While in the custody of
the Kempetai and the special higher
police, Sorge made a long confession.
_ He was then secretly tried and duly
_ hanged. General Willoughby’s story is
_ mainly based on his confession and the
confessions made by his associates in
similar circumstances. It is a rattling
good spy story.
Yet General Willoughby, like Gen-
eral MacArthur, who writes the preface,
considers it to be much more than
that. They feel that it is of immense sig-
nificance to every good citizen. It should
excite burning indignation against men
_ like Sorge and his assistants, for their
work was “‘sinister’ and ‘vicious’; it
was sabotage and betrayal. And the
_ story should make good citizens per-
petually vigilant lest their friends or
be secretly working for
"devotion to communism and the Soviet
~ Union, and if they speak Russian they
tend to conceal it even from their
x intimate friends. General Willoughby
_ finds all this pPaightening.’ “One begins
_ to wonder,” he writes, “whom one can
E trust, what innocent-appearing friend
_ may suddenly be discovered as an
enemy.”
_ While there can be no doubt about
the genuineness of General Willough-
by’s indignation and anxiety, it is often
hard to trace the roots of his emotions.
According to his account Richard Sorge
was sent from Shanghai to Japan in
: Sees
BOOKS oy the ART.
1931, when it seemed that Japan’s at-
tack on Manchuria might be the prelude
to more ambitious aggression. Mainly
through his own intimacy with the
Nazi diplomatic and military representa-
tives in Japan and through the intimacy
of his chief
Konoye, Sorge was able to assure Mos-
cow that Japan would not attack Rus-
sia. It was this assurance that enabled
Russia to withdraw its troops from the
Far East for the desperate and successful
defense of Moscow. If General Wil-
loughby’s account of this is authentic,
it would seem that Sorge played a criti-
cal part in enabling the Soviets first to
halt and then to defeat Hitler's invading
army. Surely all the Allies should feel
gratitude to the man whose skill and
courage contributed so much to the
Allied cause at such a critical phase of
the war. It is not clear from his ac-
count of this period whether General
Willoughby recalls that in 1941 ‘the
Soviet Union was Britain’s ally and
Nazi Germany Britain's enemy. In 1942,
if my memory is right, General Mac-
Arthur declared that the hopes of the
civilized world rested on the courageous
shoulders of the Russian army. Maybe
Sorge felt the same way in 1941. It is
puzzling to know why General Wil-
loughby is so indignant.
Many things are puzzling in this
book. General Willoughby states that
Sorge, through his influence over Ger-
man embassy officers in Tokyo, was “a
primary architect of the Tripartite Anti-
Communist Pact of September 1940,
which inevitably hastened the war.”
This is bewildering.
It is just as hard to discover the prin-
ciples by which General Willoughby
evaluates evidence as to discover the
principles governing his moral judg-
ments. The great body of evidence he
produces against Sorge, and against
assistant
those who he alleges worked in “'the
ring,’ comes from the confessions ex-
tracted by the Japanese police. In his
preface General MacArthur mentions
that his command worked against Com-
munists with the “modernized” Japanese
police force during the Occupation, but
the force had not been “modernized” in
with Prince -
1941. General Willoughby expresses his
admiration of the Japanese authorities
for giving “the most dangerous spies
ever captured” “the benefit of every pro-
tection offered by Japanese law” and for
sentencing only two of the twenty
“guilty” men and women to death when
all had earned the death penalty under
Japanese law. He concedes that the
police may have treated some of the ac-
cused a bit roughly.
Is General Willoughby really as in-
nocent as this? Have his researches not
given him any fuller information about
the methods of refined and sustained
mental and physical torture which it was
the established custom of the police to
use in order to extract confessions from
political prisoners? Would General Wil-
loughby accept as authentic the confes-
sions which Soviet courts extract from
political prisoners? Does he know of any
important difference between the Soviet
and Japanese methods of getting con-
fessions? It is impossible, from reading
his book, to know what evidence Gen-
eral Willoughby considers necessary to
establish guilt. It would seem that he
places great confidence in the notion of
guilt by association. Against some of the
people whom he charges with Soviet
espionage this seems to be the main, or
only, evidence he produces. But the peo-
ple who associated most intimately with
Sorge and who trusted him most com-
pletely were the senior men in the Ger-
man embassy, including the Gestapo
chief. Is it not possible that some of the
Americans or British who associated
with Sorge were equally geo of his
mission ? 2
It is true that General Willoughby at-
tempts to supplement and strengthen his
evidence by vague references to reports
by the Shanghai Municipal Police, and
by publishing a statement by four
lawyers in Tokyo who seem to take his —
report on the Sorge activities seriously.
It would still be impossible for a reader
of this book who has even an elemen-
tary training in the appraisal of evidence —
to reach firm conclusions about the truth
of the General’s assertions. For some of —
his statements the evidence seems strong _
if not conclusive; for others it seems —
The Natio a
appro:
ghly charged with spleen and
pettiness to win easy assent from any .
E pt those who already share his per-
sonal and political attitudes. It is hard
to get excited when he considers it
y vorth while, as part of his indictment
pf some British or American writer, to.
“reveal that this writer, at a time when
the Soviet Union was our ally, had
some articles published ia magazines for
which known Communists also some-
times wrote. Yet this is the sort of evi-
dence which General Willoughby seems
| to feel a rich reward for his researches.
It would stiil be wrong to take his
book too lightly. It has some impor-
tance. It is important, not for what it
proves or fails to prove about indl-
viduals whom it charges with Soviet
espionage, but because it reveals so
clearly the professional standards and
the political values of the officer in
whom General MacArthur presumably
placed full confidence to help him
-assess the military and political situa-
tion in the Pacific from 1941 to 1951.
_ General Willoughby is right in believ-
ing that he has written a frightening
book. W. MACMAHON BALL
| The Victorian Ethos
| LESLIE STEPHEN: HIS THOUGHT
| AND CHARACTER IN RELA-
TION TO HIS TIME, By Noel Gil-
roy Annan. Harvard University Press.
| $5. .
ii A em rigors of the Victorian fate have
| worked grimly with Leslie Stephen.
5 In his own age he was a man of signal
sank: heir, product, and apostate of
eS Evangelicalism; member of
the “‘aristocracy of intellect” that rami-
fied the tangled genealogies of Arnolds,
Huxleys, Mills, Macaulays, Trevelyans,
| of Wilberforces, Darwins, Thackerays,
J Peloseps, Stephens; editor of the Corn-
} hill and the “Dictionary of National
| Biography”; author of “The Science of
| Ethics,” “An Agnostic’s Apology,”
“Hours in a Library,” the monumental
ein of English Thought in the
| i ighteenth Century,” and a long list of
s @ literary studies; husband first of Minny
——- art > =.lUlc(
=z
Ss
| The eray and then of Julia Jackson
o I Duckworth; friend of Meredith, Mor-
én ley b easdy, James, and a virtual pan-
ka b Si. of illustrious contemporaries; a
hero of liberal rationalism, an arbiter of
| March 1, 1952
a. Be
avtieaieges the cots conscience and
noblest scruples of his era, As such he
was commemorated in F, W. Maitland’s
admirable memoir of 1906. Yet he who
rebelled against the generation of his
fathers was in turn rebelled against by
the generation he fathered. Except to
‘ specialists he survives today less as a
hero of his time than its victim; less as
its conscience than as its spirit grown
vexed, morbid, and mortified.
Meredith probably initiated this rue-
ful verdict when he drew his friend, in
Vernon Whitford of “The Egoist,” as
“Phoebus Apollo turned fasting friar.”
Lytton Strachey elaborated it when, in
a sweeping devastation of Arnold, he
used Stephen as a peg on which to hang
the whole Victorian ineptitude in aes-
thetics, its ‘‘essential and fatal weak-
ness,” its “incapability of criticism’—a
judgment later seconded by J. W.
Mackail and Desmond MacCarthy. And
when Virginia Woolf, who knew her
father’s virtue as intimately as his fail-
ings and had testified to it in her Mr.
Hilbery of “Night and Day,” created
her Mr, Ramsay of ‘‘To the Lighthouse”
—the egotistic, thought-dried skeptic in
whom rationalism has become intro-
verted and life-resenting—the verdict of
Bloomsbury seemed complete. Stephen,
it appeared, had found his appropriate
legend, and it was a legend of frustrated
spirit and the “undeveloped heart.”
This legend Mr. Annan has under-
taken to correct in a book that proves to
be one of the most attractive studies in
the Victorian ethos yet produced by the
conflict between sanity and sensitiveness,
the accounts left standing in the red by
“Eminent Victorians.” In the first full
examination Stephen’s thought and
mind have yet had, he assesses the de-
fects but also the worth of the Clapham
heritage; the honesty if also the aridity
of Stephen’s agnosticism; the austerity
but also the sustaining vision of his
moral ideal of man and society; the
conflict between sanity and sensitiveness,
between a self-sufficient philistine ethic
and an intense emotional hunger, that
found release less in Stephen's irritable
devotion to his brilliant family than in
the strenuously mystical Alpinism which
drove him to conquer that Schreckhorn
in whose “spare and desolate figure,”
“quaint glooms, keen lights, and rugged
trim,” Hardy, in his moving tribute son-
net, saw a “semblance” to his friend's
personality.
He examines with particular care
Stephen’s caliber as a critic of literature:
not only the inflexible suspicion of its
“feminine” or “singular” elements that
deprived him of any intimate experience
of Donne, Keats, Coleridge, Tennyson,
or lyric poetry in general, but the severe
sense of moral and social values that
enabled him to write estimates of cer-
tain Elizabethans, of Defoe and Eliot,
above all of his hero Wordsworth,
which, if they lack Arnold’s finer per-
ception, still succeed in defining the
moral relevance of art, in correcting the
excesses of aestheticism, and in suggest- !
ing valid social bearings in a way that
makes them crucial documents in mod-
ern criticism. Mr, Annan admits
Stephen's incapacity in treating poetry,
but when he meets the Strachey-Mackail-
MacCarthy charge of total insensitive-
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Arnold-Eliot,”’
as
» “he
Y
ness by suggesting that “he had not too
little, but too much poetry in him and
drank it in such draughts that he could
not savour the delicacies or tell the vin-
tages,” he begs the question in his effort
to cope with the self-denying contempt
in which Stephen held both criticism
(“After all, what does a real genius
ever learn from criticism?’’) and litera-
ture itself (‘Literature is, in all cases, a
demoralising occupation, though some
people can resist its evil influences. It is
demoralising because success implies
_ publicity. A poet has to turn himself
inside out by the very conditions of
his art, and suffers from the incessant
stimulants applied to his self-conscious-
ness”
The defense of Stephen's criticism
_ made by such apologists as the Leavises,
like the place Mr. Annan accords him in
“the judicial tradition of Johnson-
rests, finally, less on
what he wrote directly about literature
than on the force of his moral serious-
ness, the severe ethical and personal
honesty in which he framed his judg-
ments; more on the scholarship and ra-
tional method—derived from his other
hero, Mill—of his non-literary investi-
gations than on the direct experience of
poetry or prose he deliberately hindered
by a moral suspiciousness from which
he never could or wished to free it.
“A rationalist is always a bad life if
“one wants to insure against the short
memory of posterity,’ Mr. Annan con-
cludes. It is “muddlers like the imagina-
tive Coleridge, intricate minds like F. D.
Maurice . . . prophets, seers, even char-
Jatans,”” who “have a longer life.” But
that fate, he believes, “‘a positivist such
‘ as Stephen” would accept. To him a life
is “well spent in destroying superstition
and selflessly working for the future’;
ie his “future insignificance is a sign that
others have built on his work and
profited by his blunders.” Lowes Dick-
__ inson, for one, would not admit this
martyrdom to be the appropriate sen-
tence on such sons of Cambridge as
aE Stephen, Henry Sidgwick, and Maitland.
For him they constituted “a type un-—
worldly without being sentimental .
able to be skeptical without being para-
lyzed; content to know what is know-
able and to reserve judgment on what is
not. The world could never be driven
by such men, for the springs of action
lie deep in ignorance and madness. But
; 208
de Wren ree
a =
tempest, and they are more, not less,
needed now than ever before.”
This judgment Mr. Annan has docu-
mented with tact and sympathy; and his
book, enhanced by some fine unpub-
lished photographs of Stephen, his
wives and children, and of Henry
James, does sound justice to a character
whose worth now reemerges from post-
Victorian strictures to declare its value
to its own age and to ours.
MORTON DAUWEN ZABEL
Early Virginia
BEHOLD VIRGINIA: THE FIFTH
CROWN. By George F. Willison.
Harcourt, Brace and Company. $4.75.
MERICAN history began at James-
town; the earlier settlements up the
Atlantic coast and the Spanish outposts
in the Far West were out of the main
stream of the developments from which
the American nation grew. The poor
plantation of the Virginia Company,
which struggled for decades at the edge
of disaster, laid the foundation upon
which an independent nation was built
170 years later.
Yet the early years of the Virginia
colony have remained obscure. Despite
the meticulous research of a generation
of scholars, Virginia is still, in the popu-
Jar mind, enveloped in a vague haze of
legends in which John Smith, Pocahon-
tas, and the gallant cavaliers are hope-
lessly confused. Perhaps the Virginians
lacked the flair for public relations by
which New Englanders spread the fame
of the Puritans and Pilgrims; certainly
this history is not as well known as it
should be.
George Willison’s book is therefore
welcome. In concise, readable form he
tells the story of the establishment of
Jamestown and the emergence from it
of a mature and stable culture. With
proper emphasis on the difficulties and
hardships of the process, upon the di-
versified quality of the early settlers, and
upon the knavery and greed from which
so many miseries proceeded, he traces
in lively and entertaining manner the
coming into being of what the Crown
had hoped would become its fifth
dominion.
The book falls into two uneven sec-
tions. The first twenty chapters, dealing
with the years of establishment from
| ae oe
it is they who see dines ta he
"bq os cee
1607 to 1624, are So led, to
curate, and well written. Thee ie
in Willison’s understanding of re
ject even through these pages, but me
displays here the knack of incorporat-
ing contemporary statements into his —
narrative and imparts to his account an
authentic flavor of the times.
In its last eight chapters, however,
the book falls apart. This section at- .
tempts to cover the century and a half
between 1624 and the American Revo-
lution. It is disappointingly cursory and
unsatisfying. Perhaps this section fails
because there are not readily at hand the |
convenient compilations of documents
which Willison quotes on the earlier pe-
riod; his information in these last chap-
ters seems haphazardly gathered and
incomplete, A more important reason for
the failure is the author's incomplete
comprehension of the forces that were
involved in the trials of early Virginia.
Willison has rejected of course the
once-traditional glamorous view of the
first families. But he has gone to the
opposite extreme and regards the sub-
jects of his story with undisguised con-
tempt. Those who were not gullible
fools were dishonest rogues or stupid
money-seekers. No scheme ever worked
as it was intended to; disaster attended
every enterprise; and the company and
the colony “made the same mistakes
over and over again.” Yet out of the
confusion and darkness, out of the
greed and ignorance, there did emerge a
substantial community in which a civil
and social order took root and de-
veloped. This was furthermore a com-
munity that by the middle of the
eighteenth century would advance to the
conceptions of human rights and dignity
that animated its statesmen of the Revo-
lutionary era. How, from such drab
origins, did these grand results ensue?
In “Behold Virginia” there is regret-
tably no hint of an answer to this
question.
The art of history is not simply that
of telling an interesting story. There .
is a larger purpose to it—to present to
men the knowledge of their past .
through which they may be able to ar-
rive at an understanding of themselves.
Through most of this book Willison —
tells a story that will hold his readers’
interest; but he misses the opportunity —
of doing them this larger service.
OSCAR HANDLIN
The NATION
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ae
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t
,
¢ ye
‘Lit e, Brown and Company. $3.
Fj HIS book is a life-size portrait of a
4. vanishing American—the conserva-
ive Midwestern small manufacturer who
seemed in the past—particularly
to himself and to many of those just
below him in the social hierarchy—
to embody all the civic virtues. It is a
retrospective “‘autobiography” dictated
at the suggestion of Jefferson Selleck’s
physician, after he has survived a
coronary occlusion, and one of its real
assets is its admirably successful convey-
ance of the illusion that Selleck has told
us everything about himself there is to
know.
_ The style is determinedly flat and
factual. This emphasis on daily state-
ment has its use as social comedy when
Selleck ruefully enumerates, item by
item, just what happens to his twenty-
thousand-dollar annual income (he
winds up in the hole every year); but it
can also be tedious and unrewarding, as
when he grimly repeats the platitudes
_ by which he claims to have lived.
It seems to me that one’s reaction to a
painstaking and painful portrait photo-
graph such as this must be directly af-
fected by one’s opinion not merely of
the figure who sat for the portrait but
rather of the wall upon which it hangs,
and indeed of the entire house; for
_ Jefferson Selleck is not so much a person
as a collectior of attitudes toward Amer-
ican life which are for the most part nar-
_ fow and uninspired, and the author's im-
plied sentiment is one of wry sympathy
_ verging on the patronizing for this hero
_who got along with his wife, loved his
children, hated Roosevelt, and was in
favor of the great outdoors and Bob
_ Taft. Indeed, Jeff Selleck himself is at
~ his best when he gives us a genuinely in-
| dividual insight into his relations with
_ an earlier generation with which he was
not wholly in sympathy but which he
felt had much to offer in terms of the
continuity of the American experience,
_ What Mr. Jonas is saying can perhaps
be summarized in something like the
following terms: the generation of mid-
dle-class Americans who were born intd
comfortable circumstances, who voted
Harding, Coolidge, and Hoover,
| who were bewildered by the depression
nd angered by Roosevelt can be seen
ch 1, 1952
i.
Aj
4
Bs
”
a ‘ »
SON SELLECK. By Carl Jonas.
in fetrospect as men who, if limited
intellectually and shallow culturally,
were good fathers, good members of the
community, and good Americans, essen-
tial weavers of the fabric of American
life. This basically warm attitude of the
younger generation toward boom-and-
bust parents, overlaid with a bittersweet
irony that has reminded virtually every
reviewer, for obvious reasons, of J. P.
Marquand, may account for the excellent
reception which the book has got from
critics and public anxious for an anchor
to the past not too obviously incrusted
with the barnacles of conservatism.
For me “Jefferson Selleck” is like an
extended love-letter from the author to
his father. I do not mean this in any per-
sonal sense—which would be both un-
fair and irrelevant—but rather as a
somewhat exaggerated indicator of the
vast distance separating writers like Mr.
Jonas from theic immediate predeces-
sors, who looked upon their fathers as
symbols of repression and whose books
were instinct with rebellion against the
entire success myth. Jefferson Selleck’s
children have gone beyond the success
myth; they mock their father’s stuffiness,
but they love him and in the end they
respect him. Only the most unsophisti-
cated members of the upper middle class
will resent this skilful and profoundly
conservative novel.
HARVEY SWADOS
%
MANNY
FARBER
Art
AMES BROOKS'S three-dimensional
kaleidoscope scenes at the Peridot
reveal him to be about eight times more
thoughtful and fluent than any other
Manhattan abstractionist. Brooks usually
achieves something with tangled lines
and geologic textures that looks like the
cross-section of a cock pile—but a rock
pile sledged out of a cathedral. He
works simultaneously in all parts of
the picture—including the reverse side
of the canvas—troweling, blotting,
kneading, evaporating the pigment with
a sensuality that sinks his imagery into
the very threading of the linen. How-
ever he does it, he handles his medium
with more respect and feeling than I
can impute to any of the more prominent
daubers in the Rorschach League, What
you see from a distance is a rich chunk
of harmonized, understressed oranges or
greens, curious for its poetically ambigu-
ous intermixing of wetness and dryness,
earthiness and restraint. When you get
closer, the density of the color fades —
away into dustiness and gauziness, and
the picture, though still compositionally
alive, seems as thin as a Brooks Brothers’
shoulder. As he works from plane to
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209
plane over his Euclidian field, rather
than in, out, and around volumes,
Brooks falls into a wheel-like motion
that leads to hypnosis through rhythmic
repetition, contrast, balance. The Pol-
locks, Poussette-Darts, and deKoonings,
more nervous and more emotion-ridden,
have set out to destroy this sort of con-
mectivism by a reliance on roughness,
complication, and the anarchy of hap-
penstance; yet perhaps it is Brooks—
meat, subtle, and quietly profound—
_ who strikes closest home with his skil-
_ ful, analyses of the Gatsby personality.
Everybody has said all there is to say
about the John Sloan retrospective at the
Whitney. The formula is this: the early
canvases are somber, humanistic, near-
masterpieces out of a conservative but
prolific era in American art, and as
for the rest, especially the last experi-
mental works, one either admires or de-
plores them, depending on one’s opinion
about awkward honesty. My own stand
here is affirmative; and I find Sloan
an admirable example of the unloved
lachrymose plodders of art.
Alfred Leslie, at the Tibor de Nagy
_ gallery, is a pseudo-roughneck who likes
to thumb his nose at polite art cus-
_ toms. In trying to shock he offers among
other things a twelve-foot picture of
opaque, brownish-black scum with a
three-foot white stripe in the bottom
____ left corner; an incoherent self-portrait
constructed vaguely around the four
letters of a dirty word; and a tangled,
smeary abstraction half on paper half
on convas, fastened together with black
plumbers’ tape. “‘Oh, to hell with it all”
seems to be his guiding emotion and
LE Lo PULITZER PRIZE and CRITICS’ AWARD
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with MYRON McCORMICK
MAJESTIC THEATRE, 44th St, West of B’way
Evenings 8:30. Matinees Wed. & Sat., 2.30
Monday Eves. only. Curtain at 7 sharp.
7) eS =?
+75 .-F
soe
. oe a
,
, lag ae
a
ultimate goal in peinting abt ar
Bronx cowboy sisted Leslie car-
ries his scorn for “training” to the
farthest point, a place where color can
never be deepened beyond the simplest,
quickest mixture, where paint must
never, never be put on smoothly, where
the “rough, untrammeled” look and sim-
ple bedraggled light-dark harmony are
the only possible things to be tried for.
Despite the clutter and primitivism,
some of the pictures have a nice worn
luminosity, as though a shadow had been
pummeled and kneaded by other darker
or lighter shadows. Each painting looks
half painted, but upon closer observa-
tion it comes together into a harmony
of delicate flickering curves and light
His most successful works are
seven-tenths empty and three-tenths as
busy as Times Square.
waves.
B. H.
HAGGIN
Records
HREE unfamiliar works of Vivaldi
on a Decca LP—the Concertos
in A major and G minor for strings
and cembalo and Gonverto in D minor
for oboe d’amore, strings, and cembalo
—have the distinctive poignant lovcli-
ness and charm of his music; a fourth,
the Concerto in G major for strings
and cembalo, I find interesting. The
performances by the Virtuosi di Roma
under Renato Fasano are excellent, even
with a bare-sounding bass line which
results from the use of a harpsichord,
audible mostly only as a timbre, to fill
in the harmony. The recorded sound,
which requires stepping up of bass,
is somewhat coarse.
Mozart’s Piano Concerto K.503° is
performed on a Decca LP by Carl See-
man with the Munich Philharmonic un-
der Fritz Lehmann. This is the work
Tovey chose to illustrate his famous ex-
position of the Mozart concerto form;
yet it is the least played and least known
of the great examples of that form;
and the reason is that its first move-
ment sets out to affect the listenet’s ear
and mind not with the usual succession
of immediately appealing melodies, but
with grandeur of style, and a now
dramatic, now subtle play with tonality
to which the eighteenth-century ear
was more sensitized than ours. These
. Bae af
Ae
-
" hea ring io
ercise their effect; but it must be hear-
ing of effective performances; and in §
the Decca performance the music doesn’t
have the required grandeur (as it hap-
pens the recorded sound lacks solidity),
nor is the play with tonality projected
effectively. Bass must be stepped up;
surfaces are poor. Seeman doesn’t play
any more sensitively in Mozart's Varia- |
tions K.455 on a theme of Gluck, which
still retain for me the additional at-
tractiveness they acquired from Balan-
chine’s “Mozartiana’’; and there are
cuts in the slow variation near the end.
The beautiful Andante movement of
Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante K.364
provides the occasion for one of Balan-!
chine’s most wonderful creations; and,
his choreography is probably one rea-_
son why I find the other movements’
more engaging than I used to, The
solo violin and viola parts are played
on the Decca record by Joseph and Lil-
lian Fuchs—with superb mastery of
their instruments, but with an expansive
vehemence which doesn't seem to me
suitable to the music; the orchestral part
is played well by the Zimbler Sin-
fonietta, a group of Boston Symphony
musicians, The solo instruments are well
reproduced; the sound of the orchestra
is harsh.
On a Period record are Mozart's
Divertimento K.247 for strings and
horns, mostly quite charming; the en-
gaging March K.248; and the early
Symphony K.182, with lots of flourishes
and bustle and a few lovely and startling
details in the first movement, a charm-
ingly graceful middle movement, and
some striking details again in the finale.
The performances by the Ton-Studio
Orchestra under Hans Michael and
Gustav Lund are very fine; the re-
corded sound is now veiled, now a lit-
tle sharp. One side of my review record
wavers in pitch,
Two brilliant works of Berlioz, the
Overtures to “Benvenuto Cellini’ and —
“Le Corsaire,” seem to be played well on ~
a London record by the Paris Conser-
vatory Concerts Orchestra under Miinch; ‘
but the recorded sound is muffled and
indistinct. Ravel’s “Bolero” is on the fF
same record. t
Dvorak’s engagingly melodious Sym-
phony No. 4 is excellently performed
by the superb Amsterdam Concertge- §,
bouw Orchestra under Szell. The re- —
es PCUIre :
4
|
The NATION},
|
|
i
ie densely polyphonic, wonderfully
nd. subtle writing that is heard in ©
Debussy’s “Iberia” is also to be heard
in “Gigues” and “Rondes de printemps,”
the other two pieces in the set of
“Images” that are almost never played
here, All three are played by the San
Francisco Symphony under Monteux on
an RCA Victor LP; and the perform-
ances make me wonder all over again
at the to-do in recent years about
‘Monteux as one of the giants to whom
fecognition has come belatedly. For
they seveal again his lack of feeling
for cohesiveness of tempo and con-
tinuity of momentum, especially in
“Iberia,” which in addition is heavy,
praceless, and almost uninterruptedly
loud. The recorded sound has the char-
acteristic Victor warmth and richness,
but not all the brightness it should have
on top, unless one can step up the treble
considerably.
In its Treasury series Victor has issued
an excellent LP dubbing of the 1936 re-
cording of Toscanini’s beautiful per-
formance. of the Brahms-Haydn
Variations with the New York Phil-
harmonic. His performance of Beetho-
ven’s First Symphony with the B. B. C.
Symphony comes off the same record”
With the first movement bright and
tlear, the other movements not.
_ Another Treasury LP dubbing repro-
duces Casals’s playing in Dvorak’s Cello
oncerto excellently; and the orches-
tra is brilliant in the first movement, but
dim in the last. And still another
Bives us the different sound of Casals’s
playing in the much older recording of
the Boccherini Concerto, with Bruch’s
"Kol Nidrei’” on the reverse side,
CONTRIBUTORS
iW. MACMAHON BALL is professor
a the University of Melbourne and
wuthor of “Japan: Enemy or Ally?”
MORTON DAUWEN ZABEL, profes-
_ por of English at the University of Chi-
ago, is the author of “Literary Opinion
ir America” and editor of “The Portable
Henry James” and “The Portable Con-
|:
\ AR HANDLIN, a member of the
History Department of Harvard Uni-
fetsity, has recently published ‘The Up-
ed ”
VO -
1 q
Ma ch 1, 1952
in
\
{ rbthc
" marae
Where the Voter Is Worse
Than the Politician
Dear Sirs: The antecedents of Republi-
canism in Oregon stretch a good deal
farther back than one would suppose
from reading Richard L. Neuberget's
entertaining article on the Webfoot State
in The Nation of January 26.
Except for Portland and its environs,
Oregon was settled by Southerners, most-
ly from eastern Tennessee and Arkansas.
In 1860 its Governor Lane was on the
extreme pro-slavery ticket with Brecken-
ridge. During the Civil War sentiment
was strong for the “Republic of the
Pacific.”” The war over, Oregon refused
to ratify the Fourteenth and Fifteenth
Amendments until 1930, In 1924 the
state went completely under the control
of the Ku Klux Klan, tried to organize
economic eviction of Jews, and abol-
ished all parochial schools—an act
which was later declared unconstitu-
tional by the United States Supreme
Court, Six years later Oregon seems to
have had a fit of remorse, for it gave
Julius Meier, a Jew, and a candidate for
the governorship om an independent
ticket, more votes than were received by
the Republican and Democratic candi-
dates combined. Previous to Meier's
election, an anti-Communist law was
passed by the state legislature which
makes the Smith act appear quite liberal.
What is important to understand about
the political scene in Oregon is that
the voter is much more reactionary than
the politician, This fact is borne out by
the frequent rejection of reform meas-
ures passed by the legislature and sub-
mitted to the people in referendums.
ERNEST M, WHITESMITH
Denver, Colo.
Is Duplessis for...
Dear Sirs: The Nation of October 20,
1951, contained an article, Quebec’s
Bitter Brew, by Henry Montcalm. The
paragraph dealing with “the crux of the
matter” says ‘Duplessis’s role in the
axis is to insure that the French
Canadians submit to conscription, to
. heavy taxation, and if necessary to for-
eign war.” Dr. Eugene Forsey, in The
Nation of December 29, points out that
“Mr. Montcalm does not offer a tittle of
evidence to support this statement,” but
in his reply Mr. Montcalm avoids the
issue.
If Henry Montcalm has the slightest
shred of evidence that Premier Duples-
sis's role “is to insure that the French
Canadians submit to conscription,” it
is his duty to reveal it, because there
is plenty of evidence to the contrary,
and it would profoundly affect the re-
sult of the coming elections. A great
many people are going to vote Union
National simply because of the con-
scriptionist record of M. Lapalme’s
Liberals, and because they believe it is
precisely the existence of M. Duplessis’s
government which, since 1945, has stood
between them and “the bitter brew” of
conscription.
GORDON 0, ROTHNEY
Montreal, Canada
... or Against Conscription?
Dear Sirs: Ym sure Professor Rothney
knows his Quebec far too well to expect
Premier Duplessis to document his posi-
tion on conscription or discuss it at press
conferences, But the fact that all men-
tion of opposition to conscription, na-
tional registration, compulsory training,
or wart has been dropped from National
Union propaganda during the past year,
and even talk of provincial autonomy,
that Premier Duplessis conspicuously re-
frains from attacks on the St. Laurent
government, while directing his fire at
the Provincial Liberals who have made
some effort to dissociate themselves from
Liberal foreign policy, is evidence that
the decision on conscription has been
made, All emphasis now is on coopera-
tion with Ottawa, and on the great ben-
efits which Duplessis has conferred on
Quebec in the way of industrial develop-
ment. I agree entirely that if the people
of Quebec realize the changed role of
the Duplessis government, it will have a
profound effect on the election. But
none of these matters, I think, will be
brought out clearly until Duplessis in
Quebec and the Liberals in Ottawa are
safely in power for another five years.
Then we shall see. I refer Dr. Rothney
to the following passages quoted from
Devoir, the Montreal Catholic daily,
doubtless already familiar to him,
Is there a non-aggression pact between
M. St. Laurent and M. Duplessis? Na-
tional Union had always fought the for-
eign and military policy of the Mackenzie
King regime, and exploited the grievances
of the French Canadian against this pol-
icy in the electoral campaigns of 1944,
211
4 ‘ e
ie
. s a nm
1948, 1949. But confronted with the in-
vasion of Korea, N. U. did not react. The
Minister of Roads in the Duplessis Cabi-
net even talked of building strategic
routes. It was widely rumored that M.
Duplessis had given orders not to oppose
the military policy of the Federal Govern-
ment in the by-elections held last fall in
Quebec. That seemed rather unlikely.
But now [after the St. Laurent speech
praising Duplessis] the wiseacres will not
fail to cry that they were well informed
when they affirmed that M. St. Laurent
would observe a sympathetic neutrality
with regard to M. Duplessis.—February
28, 1951.
The new Quebec-Ottawa axis passes
through Washington. M. Duplessis will
show us that is the best way to Rome.
Mr. Howe agrees. Vive American national
unity.—March 1, 1951.
TRAVEL
OO I
University of Washington, Seattle 5, Wask.
°
ART CULTURE HISTORY
CONTEMPORARY PROBLEMS
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212
For considees ticle 0: Ae ‘nee
M. St. Laurent has believed he must
teach an understanding with Premier
Duplessis. What are these considerations?
—of an international order, the wish to
avoid Quebec resistance to the participa-
tion of Quebec in eventual war? of an
economic order, exploitation of Ungava
ore and canalization of the St. Lawrence?
It is not clear as yet, but the desire for a
rapprochement with M. Duplessis is evi-
dent and admitted by all the chief inter-
ested parties at Quebec.—March 1, 1951.
HENRY MONTCALM
Montreal, Canada
A Partial Victory -
Dear Sirs: In your issue of September
22, 1951, you printed an article on the
Pechan bill then under consideration by
the Pennsylvania General Assembly.
Readers of that article may be interested
to know that teachers and other public
employees in Pennsylvania have weath-
ered the storm of reaction which set in
during the 1951 session.
In January, 1951, a bill was intro-
duced in the legislature which author-
ized a state-wide investigation of sub-
versive activities, and another which
required registration of “subversive per-
sons’ with the Attorney General. Later
in the session a bill was submitted, writ-
ten by Supreme Court Justice Michael A.
Musmanno, outlawing members of the
Communist Party and “other” revolu-
tionary organizations. In a wave of hys-
teria the Musmanno bill was passed by
an overwhelming majority. But bills
aimed specifically at public employees
fared differently.
As a result of a widespread campaign
initiated by the Teachers’ Union of Phil-
adelphia, only one of these latter bills
finally got through the legislature.
That bill was the Pechan “‘loyalty
oath” bill which was heavily amended
during the closing days of the session.
While up for consideration this bill was
under constant attack from over a hun-
dred organizations—the Pennsylvania
Association of Universities and Colleges,
the state A. A. U. P. chapters, the Pri-
vate School Teachers’ Association, the
Pennsylvania Federation of Teachers
(A. F. of L.), and so on—which sent
over eight hundred lobbyists to the capi-
tal to fight the bill. The only groups
which favored the measure were the old-
line veterans’ organizations and the
D. A. R., and even they faced rebellion
from local affiliates.
The American Legion, which had
boasted that it would march 6,000
legionnaires to Harrisburg to lobby for
the bill, delivered about 200 men, in
ir ih
which oo at marches ive
rotunda of the Capitol while the Hews
of Representatives was in session. Vet-
erans representing the A. F. of L.,
C. I. O, and church and teachers’
groups opposing the bill outnumbered
the legionnaires.
The measure itself is a bad piece of
legislation. Under its provisions a pet-
son can be found to be “subversive” if.
he belongs to an undefinably “subves-
sive’ organization. But the pressure
brought to bear against the bill did
modify some of its provisions. For in-
stance, “reasonable doubt’ of loyalty
was struck out of the bill as a cause for
discharge of a public employee (includ-
ing teachers), although it was retaine
as a cause to deny employment to new,
epplicants; a provision which would
empower the state Attorney General to
require sworn answers from public em-
ployees to questionnaires to be drawn
up at his discretion was dropped from
the measure, as was the use of the
United States Attorney General's list of
subversive organizations as a means of
discharging employees. The bill was fur-'
ther amended to allow a hearing for,
anyone accused of being “subversive,”
at which court rules of evidence must be
adhered to.
The Teachers’ Union of Philadelphia
has launched a campaign to provide
legal aid for victims of the Pechan act,
to test the constitutionality of the act,
and to rally support in the legislature
for the act’s repeal during the next ses-
sion. First step in the repeal campaign
is the state-wide circulation of a special
issue of the Teachers Union News,
which contains the full text and anal-
ysis of the Pechan bill. Copies can be —
had by writing to the union, 13 South
Twenty-first Street, Philadelphia 3.
Philadelphia § FRANCIS P. JENNING
Exchange Opportunity _
Dear Sirs: Several years ago I stake
for several hundred of your subscribers
to exchange copies of The Nation with
subscribers to the New Statesman and (,
Nation. 1 still receive requests for The
Nation, and if any of your readers’
want to make the exchange I shall be
giad to help. P. DENIS GOODALL
Basingstoke, England
Correction
In Willard Shelton’s article, Commu-
nists in Unions, in last week’s issue the
line “Benjamin Signal, counsel for the
U. E.” should have read “Benjamin
Sigal, counsel for the I. U. E.”
The NATION” |
’ >
ie thas Sua
a
i~—te J
—_—
o.. -= a’ °
-_-——
i ACROSS
1 See 3 down.
4 on seldom plan on their coming,
l 9 In common surroundings, it returns
= nothing. (9)
, | 10 Despite the proper total, across
b and 21 are common examples. (5)
| 11 Keeps the heat out with it, unless a
¢ different sort is found. (9 )
) | 12 Not so fast! (5)
18 The wrong pool is o en—does it
Suggest a a explorer’s
| ‘bearers? (4, 6
) 17 Caucasian, acs the sort of Asians
that follow a performance without
us. (10)
21 See 6 Aas
22 Take aim with a double gin, and
Shake well. (9)
23 One of the mee Abdul the Bulbul
might have. (5)
24 A bad actor rode out of this place
fin Paris. (9)
35 Numb? Don’t infer so much! (9)
26 Call up. (5)
DOWN
‘1 Dine al fresco, (6)
2 Don’t hit me again, even if I’m
negligent! (6)
B and 1 across. A series of coastal
; oy does for the grumpy. (11)
Readers are invited to send for a free copy of Mr. Lewls's “ground rules.” Address
requests to Puzzle Dept,, The Nation, 20 Vesey Street, New York 7, New York.
BY FRANK W. LEWIS
et ee
HBEREEHEEHE Ss
4 See 6 down.
5 The pioneer movement was depend-
ent on them, (9, 6)
6,4 down and 21 across. Belied by
Priam’s experiences, though a chest
examination would have been more
preventative. (4, 4, 1, 4, 5, 2, 3, 5)
7 A nice tour to make, if in need of
a steadying influence. (8)
8 Is the Brooklyn Bridge held in it?
8
14 One who pitches in a boat, or goes
mae (8)
ow to make a German miss the
French in an ae way. (8)
16 Traveller? (3,5
18. The value of 3.14167 (6)
19 .... and its application to an em-
peror in the dramatic field. (6)
20 An Italian loses his head? Pay no
attention! (6)
° Be .
SOLUTION TO PUZZLE No. 458
ACROSS :—1 FATHER OF WATDRS;: 10
LINEMAN; 11 PXPHCT; 12 STATUARY; 14
SISTINE; 15, 0, 5, 21 WHBERH THDPRY’S A
WILL THERN'S A WAY; 17 DUDES; 19
SHPRIFF; 21 ABLUTION; 23 PHARLY; 25
AMMONIA; 26 CHICAGO; b7 LAUREL AND
HARDY.
DOWN :—1 FAT-HEADED; 2 THESPIS; 8
EXERCISES; 4 OMAR; 6 TENET ; 7 RAM.
PAGE; 8 ONLY; 13 FIRST OF "ALL; 15
WHITEFISH; 16 ‘HVERYBODY; 18 DILEM-
MA; 20 FOR FAIR; 22 TENOR; 24 SCAN,
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“TOO FEW FACTS ON KOREA’ —
That was the headline on an article by Hanson
Baldwin in the New York Times on October 2,
1951. The communiqués from the Far East, he
wrote, “smacked too much of propaganda and too
little of fact .. . . censorship in Korea has been
severe and often captious.”
Now, at long last, you can learn the truth. From
American and U. N. documents, from the leading
American and British newspapers, the hidden his-
tory of the Korean War—the inner connection be-
THE HIDDEN HISTORY of the KOREAN WAR:
by I. F. STONE
Leading publishers in the United States and England found I. F. Stone’s HIDDEN
HISTORY OF THE KOREAN WAR terrific—but too hot to handle. The editors of
publication was essential in the fight for peace. We
Monthly Review read it and felt its
decided to publish the book ourselves.
The retail price will be $5—too steep for the wide distribution the book should have.
publication, we can sell the book at considerably
less than $5. We are, therefore, making these offers:
However, by direct sales in advance of
1. PRE-PUBLICATION PRICE OF $3.00
The book is scheduled to appear in April. Send in $3 in advance of publica-
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will give you a year’s subscription and send you the book postpaid, as
soon as it comes off the press.
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significant trends in domestic and foreign affairs. It is edited by Leo Huberman and Paul M. Sweezy.
MONTHLY REVIEW
66 Borrow Street, New York 14, N. Y.
I enclose:
1 $3, the pre-publication price of Stone’s book.
0 $5, for a one-year sub to Monthly Review and
Stone’s book.
for books (5 or more) at
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Z
s
,
Wee cs es ee ee ye ee Ss eee
Address
City. Zone. State. =.
Nd
erie ee erin ec slicer es auaiooes umes aa
-(May, 1949, said:
tween war, propaganda, and politics—has been
ferreted out. Only an experienced and fearless
newspaperman could have done the job. A schol- —
arly reporter, with extraordinary tenacity and
patience, has done the digging that was necessary.
Nation readers know him. The former Washing-
tion editor of the Nation and PM, now the bril-
lant crusading columnist of the Compass, has writ-
ten a book as exciting as a detective story and as
documented as a lawyer’s brief.
/
uit)
Professor Albert Einstein, in his article “Why By
Socialism” in Vol. 1, No. 1 of Monthly Review,’ @
“Clarity about the aims and | i.
problems of socialism is of greatest significance in‘
our age of transition. Since, under the present cir- .
cumstances, free and unhindered discussion of —
these problems has come under a powerful tabeo,
I consider the founding of this magazine to be an
important public service.”
- [i
)
,
. @
March §, 1952
Some Plane Facts
+ BY LEONARD ENGEL
ee 1 FF: *
ere eters s ose
/ = ">
_attimore Fights Back,
Four Pages of Testimony
Primary Curtain Raisers
nother Crisis for Ike - - - - - - Willard Shelton
ay .{ix-up in Minnesota - - - - - Carey McWilliams
et,
vi Jinical Study in Queens - - - - Charles R. Allen, Jr.
lathan Straus on Housing—A Review by Dorothy Rosenman
AACENTS A COPY : EVERY WEEK SINCE 1865 : 7 DOLLARS A YEAR
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ur .
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; 6 ee ; “| 7” a U a .
bs . IN a : t ty A ‘ * i Sa z Ae pS
. , J me > a yeny m4 oF ; he,
AAMT iI,
AMBASSADOR TO THE VATICAN? _
PRAYERS IN THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS?
FEDERAL AID TO PAROCHIAL EDUCATION?
| RELEASED TIME FOR RELIGIOUS INSTRUCTION? =
os CENSORSHIP OF "SACRILEGIOUS" FILMS AND PLAYS? 4
4 are some of the problems raised today by the campaign to breach the constitutional
wall which has traditionally separated church and state in this country. These are the issues _
_ which are creating serious tensions between religious groups in America and are high on the |
agenda of public concern.
In its Issue of March 3rd
Congress Weekly
the country’s foremost Jewish publication on current affairs, presents a comprehensive analysis by the
nation’s leading authorities of the problem of church-state relationships in the United States today.
a
s See counerest mae _——s ss
To understand the background and status of one of the most controversial and widely discussed
political issues make certain you receive this special issue of CONGRESS WEEKLY.
—CONTENTS—
Current Threats to Separation Is the Public Scho ;
JOSEPH M, DAWSON , CONRAD H. MO
Church and State Today Danger of Religiou 4
PHIL BAUM MILTON R. Ké :
Religion in the School The Attack on Put
V. T. THAYER JUSTINE WISE
Sunday Laws Are Religious Laws Victims of Sectaria.
FRANK H. YOST LEO PFEF
and reviews of important books by Guy Emery Shipler, Glenn L. Archer ant»
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=
VoiuME 174
-
be Shape of Things
IF PRESIDENT TRUMAN WAS SINCERE IN
saying a few weeks ago that he did not like the Franco
fegime, he should like it even less today. The scanda-
lous trial of the strike leaders of Catalonia, which pro-
voked a storm of indignation throughout Europe, has
| been followed by word, not yet officially confirmed, that
the death sentences against nine of the thirty defendants
have been carried out. It is significant that most of the
condemned men belonged to the anti-Communist
National Federation of Labor (C. N. T.). In a great
protest meeting in Paris called by organizations and in-
dividuals representing widely diverse political views,
speeches were made by Camus, Silone, Sartre, and other
Outstanding intellectuals. Sartre said: “How can we
‘claim to be democrats if we remain silent in the
“presence of Spain—this concentration camp of the
“Western democracies?” In London the opening of the
| festival of Spanish dances and songs under the auspices
Ks of Spain’s ambassador, Miguel Primo de Rivera, was
< converted into a demonstration of protest, the crowd
| shouting “Down with Franco the Murderer.” Among
) the Many organizations protesting strongly against the
| new wave of terror in Spain, of which the recent death
| sentences are only a sample, is the International Federa-
4 ion of Free Trade Unions at Brussels, to which both the
. F. of L. and the C. I. O. adhere. We hope American
Habor will join in this public condemnation of a regime
} to which our government is daily drawing closer in spite
) of Mr. Truman's expressions of platonic disapproval.
+
)A SOLID PHALANX OF SOUTHERN SENATORS
back ed by exactly half the Republicans present succeeded
jon February 28 in blocking further progress on the
aska statehood bill. By a majority of one the measure
as returned to committee so that consideration could be
iven to a fantastic plan for “dominion status.” This
me, which is almost certainly unconstitutional, would
low Alaskans to vote in Presidential elections, to have
esentative in the House, and to elect one non-
Senator. Strangely enough, this cynical proposal to
ve intact the veto powers of the Southern bloc
ed by Senator Taft, who argued that Alaska
NEW YORK + SATURDAY +» MARCH 8, 1952
i MERICA’S LEADING LIBERAL WEEKLY SINCE 1865
NuMBER 10
was still an “economic dependency” of the federal gov-
ernment and that the 1948 Republican platform had
merely promised “ultimate” statehood. However, the
Ohioan joined with Senator Knowland in seeking to
have the Hawaiian statehood bill taken up as next busi-
ness, thus giving point to Senator O’Mahoney’s charge
that he was “on both sides of the statehood question.”
That seems to be true of other Senators, including
Majority Leader McFarland, who supports the Alaska
bill but has been using every possible parliamentary
maneuver to head off the Hawaiian measure, Thus the ~
aspirations of both territories are being made the foot-
ball of party politics. It may be that neither will succeed
in casting off the shackles of colonialism until their
inhabitants make it clear that if they cannot obtain full
statehood, they will demand independence,
+
AN ATTEMPT TO INCREASE TAXES TO PAY
for defense has proved the downfall of the government
headed by Edgar Faure as it did of its predecessor.
This does not mean that a majority of the French As-
sembly is hostile to rearmament, When the Premier
asked for a vote of confidence on a resolution providing
credits for the French contribution to NATO and for the
Indo-China war, he secured a majority of 512 to 104,
Nevertheless, a few hours later his plan to increase
taxes was defeated by 309 to 283, and his resignation
followed, M. Faure fought hard to achieve a balanced
budget. “If you refuse your confidence,” he told the
deputies, “you will be favoring inflation, which is the
highest and unfairest form of tax”—an economic truism
with which the French people have become painfully
familiar. Nevertheless, the pressure of special interest
groups adversely affected by one or another of the tax
proposals moved some thirty of Faure’s fellow Radical
Socialists and numerous members of the Independent
and Peasant parties to join forces with the more or less
permanent opposition composed of Communists and
Gaullists. The collapse of yet another effort to maintain
a stable centralist coalition revived the idea of a Gov-
ernment of National Union, comprising all major
groups except the Communists. However, when the
veteran Paul Reynaud sought to organize a Cabinet of
this kind, he found the way blocked by the unwilling-
ness of the Socialists to cooperate with the anti-labor
~
ye ra
Pistes essen ee ee)
ed. Oe ee
en ot
eS
ea
o A ~
e
ty
° IN THIS ISSUE »
EDITORIALS
The Shape of Things 213
ARTICLES
x, Lattimore Strikes Back 216
Cre. Germany and Lisbon by Carolus 220
ei A Blow to Disarmament by J. Alvarez del Vayo 221
ba : Another Crisis for Ike by Willard Shelton 222
Ri Al Mix-up in Minnesota by Carey McWilliams 223
a Clinical Study in Queens
ca by Charles R. Allen, Jr. 225
; Bx: Tito’s Unique Yugoslavia by Fritz Sternberg 226
rf i Some Plane Facts by Leonard Engel 228
cS Gold “Hedge”—with Thorns
by Keith Hutchison 230
od BOOKS AND THE ARTS
: Fallacy of the Folk Soul by Albert Guerard 232
; An Unread Classic by Frances Keene 233
Dee Housing, Public and Private
we by Dorothy Rosenman 234
’ ne Understanding Blake by Ruthven Todd 235
a. Prisoner of War by Warren B. Walsh 235
j 5 Books in Brief 236
1a Art by Manny Farber 236
it Drama by Joseph Wood Krutch 237
Ch Ballet by B. H. Haggin 238
me LETTERS TO THE EDITORS 239
i CROSSWORD PUZZLE No. 455
by Frank W. Lewis
AE es a
EDITORIAL BOARD
Editor and Publisher: Freda Kirchwey
Opposite 240
Deere <>
} Editorial Director Director, Nation Associates
fi Carey McWilliams Lillie Shultz
. Managing Editor: Victor H. Bernstein
ee Foreign Editor Literary Editor
ee J. Alvarez del Vayo Margaret Marshall
zi Financial Editor : Keith Hutchison
Drama: Joseph Wood Krutch Music: B. H. Haggia
Assistant Editor: Charles R. Allen, Jr.
Copy Editor: Gladys Whiteside
Assistant Literary Editor: Caroline Whiting
Staff Contributors
Andrew Roth, Alexander Werth, Howard K. Smith, Carolus
Business Manager: Hugo Van Arx
Advertising Manager: Mary Simon
The Nation, published weekly and copyright, 1952, in the U.
_ by The Nation Associates, Inc., 20 Vesey Street, New York 7, N, ¥
Entered as second-class matter, December 13, 1879, at the Post Office
_ of New York, N. Y., under the act of March 3, 1879. Advertising
and Circulation Representative for Continental Europe: Publicitas.
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Information to Libraries: The Nation is indexed in Readers’ Guide
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214
ca ,
— b i
: i ath =
9 na nti |
he
Ra a a A RSE EE AE RR Ee
TA 7% oping h
republican | jaullists Nor would the G
rti ipate in a go ernme - which exc ide q _ 3
ists, which suggests that their aims are such that they
wish to sterilize in advance any non-Communist oppo-
sition, ;
iz ;
SOMETHING MUST BE DONE QUICKLY IF
internal and external insolvency is to be avoided, French
foreign-exchange reserves are now so low that an em- ~~
bargo on all dollar imports may become necessary, 7
cutting off industry from supplies of raw materials,
Moreover, advances from the Bank of France to the |
Treasury are nearing the limits fixed by law, and the, 7
next government may find itself without funds to
pay salaries and other bills. Nevertheless, it is hardly —
correct to describe the French economic situation as ©
“tragic”—the expression used by former Premier Paul }
Reynaud during the Assembly debate. The agriculture ~
and industry of France are highly productive, and as the ©
country is still largely self-contained, its economic posi- ~
tion is fundamentally less precarious than that of Britain, ||
French troubles are not organic but nervous. Chronic |
mishandling of finance has led Frenchmen to hoard ©
wealth instead of using. it productively, Tucked away ~
in safe hiding places they own billions in gold and dol- ;
lars—more than enough to give France one of the ~
strongest economies in the world. But these hoards will
not see the light of day until France has a stable govern- |
ment and a balanced budget. Neither of these objec-
tives is in sight, and it may be that they will not be
achieved without some kind of political explosion,
+
THE AGREEMENT BETWEEN THIS COUNTRY #,
and Mexico under which Mexican nationals are re- [By
ctuited for employment here has been extended for
three months to give Congress time to consider new .
legislation for reducing the traffic in illegal or “wetback”
immigrants. A similar “emergency” extension, followed fy.
by protracted “hearings,” was used last year to jockey ff}.,
the Mexican government into consenting to a continu- §
ance of the agreement before the terms had been fully
approved. Last year more than 518,000 illegal entrants
were arrested, 7 per cent more than in 1950, and some
50,000 of them were “air-lifted” back to Mexico at a
cost of $1,500,000, Even should Congress enact pending
legislation aimed at curbing the wetback traffic, the j
damage will have been done, for by the end of the three-
month period the new season will be under way, and
further extensions will be in order. As a hedge against,
the possibility that Mexico will refuse to extend thefy
agreement, the Associated Farmers of California havejmy
opened negotiations with the South Korean government.
According to H, W. Stroble, secretary-treasurer of thelf.”
D
|
|
iM
(
,
o
Be
i
ny
Gy
The Natio a Nor
- er
1 Farme on - South Korean
st of caring for the Korean
id would give at least some of them a chance
“to see how democracy works.” How Mr. Stroble thinks
a democracy ought to work was clearly exposed in the
report of the 1940 LaFollette investigating committee
‘on the smashing of the Salinas lettuce strike in 1936, a
semi-military maneuver directed with great skill by Mr.
‘Stroble. >
“VENEZUELA SHOULD JOIN THE COUNTRIES
“Which Work Their Own Oil,” reads a recent headline
‘in El Universal, leading daily of Caracas, capital of a
dictatorship. in which anything written about oil can
hardly escape censorship by the ruling Junta. Moreover,
the opinions quoted in the article are those of Ven-
‘ezuela’s chief oil expert, Dr. Ezequial Monsalvo Casada
‘of the University of Caracas, who in 1949 was a member
of a diplomatic oil mission abroad. Thus the shadow of
Tranianism falls across the holdings of Standard Oil and
‘Shell on the shores of Lake Maracaibo, the world’s big-
gest single oil-export area. Dr. Monsalvo argues that
Venezuela has enough competent man-power—much of
‘it schooled in Texas and Oklahoma petroleum institu-
tions—to run its own oil industry and urges nationaliza-
tion in three steps: (1) action “to repair the grave
injustice” of the present practice of refining all Ven-
ezuelan crude in the neighboring Dutch islands of Aruba
_ (Standard Oil) and Curacao (Shell Oil); (2) building
| up of Venezuela’s own tanker fleet; (3) “the exploiting
companies must drag out by the roots the colonial preju-
dice with which they still regard us and treat us.” This is
| a large order, especially—as Iran has already found out
and as Dr, Monsalvo undoubtedly is aware—the build-
| ing up of a tanker fleet. It is a fairly safe bet that Dr.
i; ‘tion but in dangling the threat of it before Shell and
‘Standard in order to wangle better terms. But it is a
dangerous threat to use, for regardless of whether the
3 ape take it seriously, one day the aay of
+
d§)IN A SERIES OF AMUSING EDITORIALS,
| William T. Evjue, editor-publisher of the Madison
Capital-Times, has been lambasting the latest political
ih) Shenanigans of the National Association of Manufactur-
tts. The N. A. M. is not only sponsoring a coast-to-coast
#) chain of “workshops” and “clinics” on “freedom” but
diigoing in heavily for “old-time” religion. A recent
amphlet entitled “Christianity and Capitalism” de-
: * elops the thesis that Christian ethics can flourish only in
sie and altruistic environment of a capitalist
ny religious “fronts” active in the Middle West, such
. March 8, 1952
; : en ;
. The same theme runs through the publications of ©
a as the Christian Freedom Foundation and the American
Council for Christian Laymen—the latter run by Verne —
P. Kaub, recently retired from the public-relations office
of the Wisconsin Power and Light Company anda mem-
ber of the advisory board of Allen Zoll’s National Coun-
cil for American Education. Individual corporations,
such as the Texas and Pacific Railway, are harmonizing
with the religious note through full-page newspaper ad~
vertisements which drive home “sound” economic prin-
ciples under the guise of an “institutional” religious
message. All this has emboldened the Republican Na-
tional Committee to hire, for the first time in its history,
an official party chaplain. He is the Reverend W. H.
Alexander of Oklahoma City, who claims that the Lord
gave him direct orders to be a candidate for the United
States Senate in 1930. “I will do my best,” he told the
press after the announcement of his new appointment,
“to win a victory for Christian America.” The “Christian
American” section of the Republican National Commit-
tee intends to use Mr. Alexander in small towns and
rural areas where the “old-time” religion is still strong.
As Mr. Evjue suggests, the N. A. M. and the Republican
high command are out to prove that the Lord is a Taft
Republican, s
SOUTHERN REACTION TO THE FBI ARREST OF
the ten Klansmen in North Carolina has been encourag-
ing. From the governor’s mansion ia the Tarheel state,
Kerr Scott said, “I think people all over the state are
pretty happy about the arrests,” and the mayor of Tabor
City in Columbus County—where the arrests occurred—
declared that “Columbus County is just like the rest of
the nation, and we feel that there is no place for this
outlaw action, Any organization that tries to break up
democracy is riding for a fall.” Superior Court Judge
Henry A. Grady of New Bern, North Carolina, who was
the state’s Grand Dragon of the KKK when it was dis-
banded some twenty-five years ago, commented, “There
is no place in North Carolina for the Ku Klux Klan...
if those fellows are guilty, I think they ought to suffer
the severe penalty of the law.” Elsewhere throughout the
South similar editorial and civic commendation for the
government’s swift justice appeared. William G. Cole,
editor of the Whiteville News Reporter, and the Rev-
erend T. C. Gant, Baptist pastor, warmly applauded the
event. Other publications, such as the Charlotte Ob-
server, the Raleigh, North Carolina, News and Observer,
the Richmond, Virginia, Tinzes-Dispatch, and the At-
lanta, Georgia, Journal, also favored the federal police
action. Perhaps this small measure of positive news from
a South so recently shamed by racist outrages in Florida
and Texas might provide the United States Department
of Justice with the incentive needed to bring the
perpetrators of the Moore murders before our courts
of law.
: 215
Lb?
WEN LATTIMORE spoke for all free-minded
Americans when he launched his lusty counter-
attack on the McCarran Internal Security subcommittee.
Indeed, he did better than that, for his testimony must
have put heart into many Americans who have been
cowed by the campaign of insinuation, bullying, and
‘slander conducted from the privileged sanctuary of
House and Senate hearings. It takes courage these days
to march into battle bearing the weapons of outraged
patriotism and a clear conscience; too many of those
attacked have been reduced by fear to humble protesta-
tions of innocence or apologetic alibis, Lattimore is a
man, not a frightened bureaucrat. And if his blazing in-
dignation led him into small inconsistencies or lapses of
memory, the broad truthfulness of his testimony remains
undamaged,
But Owen Lattimore, besides proving that courage
still breathes in America, has performed another major
service. He has challenged the courts to test the accuracy
of the charges against him, and his own honesty. The
McCarran committee, like the House Un-American Ac-
tivities Committee, has welcomed the testimony of the
most suspect witnesses—men and women processed by
the Communist Party machine who have recanted and
turned state’s evidence. The reputations of high govern-
ment officials and other citizens of standing have been
laid waste by a word from such witnesses. Undoubtedly
the conviction of Hiss helped spread the feeling that
denunciations by informers constitute valid proof. Their
power has been further fortified by the backing they
‘have had from committee members and counsel, from
Joseph R. McCarthy, and from outside pressure groups
like the China Lobby, The result, as the New York
EXCERPTS FROM
On “Perjurer” Budenz
LL kinds of attempts have been made to depict me
as a Communist or a Soviet agent. I have in fact
been falsely identified as a fellow-traveler, sympathizer,
or follower of the Communist line or promoter of Com-
munist interests. Now I want to make my position clear.
I am none of these things and have never been....
One of the most shocking things that has happened in
the proceedings is that not one of the witnesses against
me has ever been asked in examination or cross-exami-
nation a question that would test his motives or his
reliability. Most shocking in this respect has been the sup-
pression or at least the bland ignoring of evidence already
of record. The counsel of this subcommittee, Mr. Morris,
216
t Tati more Sikes Back
_ Budenz’s accusations of me before that subcommittee were
Times said last Saturday, has been to build up “a corro-
sive atmosphere of mistrust and suspicion throughout the
country and particularly within the government of the
United States.” a
We have seen the by-products of this evil business in
the growing timidity of officials in Washington and the’ |
foreign service, In the name of “Americanism” the Con- ,
gtessional inquisitors have deliberately undermined the |
nation’s integrity and effectiveness and diminished us in‘
the eyes of democrats in all countries. Panic is not the
full explanation of this miserable business. It stems —
largely from crude motives of political advantage, exag- —
gerated by the oncoming Presidential contest. i
The methods of the various Congressional loyalty in- .
quiries have nothing to do with “security”; on the con- u
trary they dangerously distort the whole question. by ©
making security procedures appear synonymous with ~
police-state techniques. This distortion and its evil re- ©
sults Professor Lattimore has challenged. No doubt he*
has done so in his own behalf, but if the committee suc-
ceeds in catching him in a misstatement they think might _
be construed as perjury, the bigger issue also will be.
fought out where it should be—in a court of law with |
proper democratic safeguards. And if he wins a victory
there, it not only will clear his name but will defeat the
plans of McCarthy, McCarran, and Company to bring
down bigger game than Lattimore. For without question
their real targets are Ambassador Jessup and_/Secretary of
State Acheson—and through them the Administration as
a whole.
It is in the context of these broad political purposes
that we present the sections of the Lattimore testimony
which follow. FREDA KIRCHWEY
>
a
>|
HIS TESTIMONY
was the counsel of the Republican minority of the Senate
subcommittee on Foreign Relations (the Tydings com-
mittee) and therefore had intimate knowledge of this
record evidence. It has also been widely reported in the
press. I will cite just one example, a rather striking one
—that of Louis F. Budenz,
The proceedings of the Tydings committee show that
a complete fabrication concocted for the specific purpose
of his appearance there. They show (1) that until he was
recruited to tell his fantastic yarn Budenz never men-
tioned me to the FBI despite hundreds of hours of testi-
mony (transcript, p. 1116); (2) that in 1949 when he
wrote an article for Collier’s denouncing many persons
for their participation in the Chinese situation, Budenz If. ei
The NATION pn
of m D ; (3) that
is ; 1950 aeling with the same
o reference to me in his manuscript,
E ng | a passing mention only after I was publicly
ked by Senator McCarthy. All of this material was
available to your committee, and your counsel, Mr,
Morris, was thoroughly familiar with it, but not
e syllable of it was entered in your record, nor was
. Budenz asked a single question concerning it.
- connection with this man Budenz, Senators, I ae
your attention to the fact that the personal history and
acter of Louis Budenz was thoroughly gone into in
the hearings before the Tydings committee in 1950.
_ exposed him as a liar before the Tydings committee.
‘Since then a distinguished newspaperman, Mr. Joseph
Alsop, has publicly challenged him as a perjurer, and has
demanded of this committee that the record of Budenz’s
testimony be sent over to the Department of Justice for
examination to see whether he should be prosecuted ror
p erjury. owe
aa
On Freedom of the Press
_ I want to say clearly that in my own work as editor of
Pacific Affairs {official publication of the Institute of
Pacific Relations} from 1934 to 1941 I was not domi-
mated or directed or influenced in any way by Commu-
}/mist or pro-Communist people or attitudes. Pacific
|| Affairs was not an American publication. It was an inter-
|| Mational publication.
|| Tall your attention to my analysis of Pacific Affairs
; || during the years I edited it which appears on-pages C 1
li to C5 of my statement of May 2, to the Tydings com-
s |) Mittee, which I have just handed to you, and from which
1 ‘Ty ish to quote a few paragraphs.
R ODE
May I remind you that throughout this period there
was nothing reprehensible or even unusual about the
. occasional publication of significant left-wing views or
_ the analysis of left-wing movements in Far Eastern
ye | Countries? Such views and analyses appeared in all the
4 =| leading journals of the United States and the whole
Western world. In those days, before Kohlberg, Mc-
,| “atthy, and Budenz undertook to revise the American
; ES tradition of free inquiry and free speech, nobody
| dreamed of accusing an editor or publisher of being a
_ Russian spy because such views were printed.
I have made a new tabulation for you of all material
publ ished in Pacific Affairs under my editorship. Of a
total of 250 contributions, only 17—written by 11 per-
ould possibly be called, by anyone, left of center
e of facts or opinions favorable ‘to Russia, Chi-
nese Communists, guerrillas, or leftist movements in
g| Asia. Remember this was an international magazine.
ety-four articles were definitely right of center, and
3 either dealt with non-political and non-economic
ad ee ¥ a - f ay
“subjects « or cael pucely neutral points of view,
| There was nothing even remotely like a “mobilization”
of Communist or leftist writers.
I would also like to point out that the same 11
people who’ contributed the 17 articles I have men-
tioned as representing left-wing positions contributed, |
during the same years, a total of at least 204 articles to”
reputable non-Communist periodicals, including the
Saturday Evening Post, Reader's Digest, Literary Di-
gest, American Mercury, Fortune, and the Atlantic
Monthly. .:.
By promoting the publication and discussion of im-
portant facts and opinions the J. P. R., in my opinion,
was making and is still making a valuable contribution
to our shockingly meager information about the Far
Fast. To use political intimidation to curtail or eliminate
the free market of facts and ideas to which the I. P. R,
has contributed would be a catastrophe to the best inter- -
ests of this country.
In a free country the discussion of foreign policy can-
not be monopolized or patrolled by the government. The
people of a democracy and the officials who handle for-
eign policy in the government need to be able to draw
upon a wide field of academic and private research, done
by people who are not subject to bureaucratic controls, It
is right that the Congress should interest itself closely
in both the issues and the conduct of foreign policy,
but it is mot right that the Congress should make
itself the censor of aeqalemnic: research and personal
Opinion, ,..
On a Strong State Department
I believe that it is as important to the welfare and
safety of this country to have a strong State Department
and an able foreign service in our diplomacy as it is to
have effective military forces. I believe that the useful-
ness of our foreign-service personnel has already been
jeopardized by the work of this committee—both direct-
ly by attacks on irreplaceable personnel and indirectly by
impairing the confidence of the nation and our foreign
allies in our State Department and by instituting a reign
of terror among our foreign-service personnel.
First, as to the direct injury: it is a fact that almost all
the few men with outstanding experience and knowl-
edge of China have already either been eliminated from
the Department of State or are working in other parts of
the world, in the hope of keeping them out of the line
of fire of a bitterly partisan political fight and out of
range of the venom of men who are determined to find
evil where none exists,
The three outstanding examples of men sacrificed to
the hysteria that has been whipped up in this country by
the China Lobby—a hysteria to which this committee, I
am sorry to say, is contributing—are John Stewart
217
‘Service, O. Edmund Clubb, and John Carter Vincent.
Any one of these men would have been capable of hold-
ing, in our Far Eastern policy, the kind of respected posi-
tion that is held with regard to Russian policy by George
Kennan; but where are they now? .
Each of these men is a loss to the State Department—
and there are few men of the same caliber left. The in-
| _ direct damage to the conduct of our diplomacy is even
greater. The more politically controversial our problems
of diplomacy are, the more vital it is that the experts in
the State Department should be able to discuss them
Bs: fully, frankly, and without fear, and should be free to
consult with academic experts. But we have reached a
_ point of general intimidation at which our diplomatic
_ gepresentatives must feel under great pressure to report
‘back to Washington only what it is safe to report, and
make only those policy recommendations that they feel
sure will not result in political attacks on their careers.
I am reminded, Senators, of something that once hap-
pened to the Russians. In 1939 they invaded Finland,
sure that they were going to have a walkover, but suf-
fered serious military defeats and tremendous damage to
their prestige. Does anybody doubt that this was because
_ political intimidation had made yes-men of the Soviet
diplomats reporting to Moscow? Communist doctrine
and the party line required them to report that the Finns
were groaning under bourgeois-capitalist oppression and
would welcome the Russian invaders, They dared not
report the truth: that the Finns were a democratic
people, willing to fight against even the Russian colossus
in defense of their liberties. The consequence was that
Russia walked into a booby trap.
The anger of the American people will be great, Sen-
ators, if the political reporting of the State Department
degenerates to this point because of political persecution,
intimidation, and the demand that the China Lobby be
empowered to lay down a line to the State Department.
What booby traps is the China Lobby laying on the road
ahead of us? ...
On Harold Stassen
In 1949 I was invited by the State Department with
about thirty other people to take part in a discussion of
_ Far Eastern policy; and as part of the preparations for
_ that discussion I contributed—also on invitation—a
memorandum of my views. To the best of my recollec-
tion this is the only time, in more than twenty-five years,
that the State Department has asked me for my views,
For the purpose of discrediting the Far Eastern policy
of the present Administration, and presumably to keep
himself in the mewspapers as a perpetual Presidential
candidate, Mr, Harold Stassen has attempted to make
me the scapegoat of this conference.
218
c Wh
ay Xs Narn
Mr. § ‘Sara asouahae 0 ting”
a “prevailing Lattimore group” which adva cate eset
munist line. He then described a “ten-point naan iy
which he claimed I had advocated, Mr, Stassen obviously
did not expect the record of the conference would be . |
made public. Accordingly, he let his imagination run
riot and attributed to me all the opinions expressed at _
this conference with which he disagreed, and some that
he just imagined.
As soon as I learned of Mr. Stassen’s statements I ap-
pealed to the State Department to release the full record
of the conference. I publicly asked Mr. Stassen to join |
me in this request, which he did not do. ;
As soon as I could obtain a transcript of my remarks I
released it to the press, and Jater the full transcript of
the entire conference was released. You have that in
your files, and I ask you to check it against what I say |
here. This transcript clearly showed that I had not advo- |
cated any of the ten points which Mr, Stassen had so *
irresponsibly labeled as a Lattimore program. .. .
In his second hearing, after the full record had been
released, Mr. Stassen backtracked. He did not, of course,
admit error. That would have been out of character for a
Presidential candidate. .. . A member of this committee
did his best to help Mr. Stassen, As “evidence” Mr. ,
Stassen cited the fact that I made the not very brilliant _,
or original remark that there was a “new situation” in
Asia.
“That meant the recognition of Communist China,
doesn’t it?” asked Senator Smith, eagerly coming to his
aid. “That is right,” said Stassen.
How much more silly can the part-time president of a
great university get? ...
at go un cee Fare. ice.
On ex-Communist Wittfogel
I turn now to the ex-Communist, Karl August Witt-
fogel. In his testimony Wittfogel tried to create two im-
pressions—that in the early years of our acquaintance we
were friendly with each other on the basis of mutual
Communist sympathies, and that after he finally stopped.
being a Communist, in 1939, he broke off relations with
me. Both of these pictures, drawn by Wittfogel’s inven-
tive hindsight, are maliciously false... .
The flimsy statements by which Wittfogel attempted
to show that I knew he was a Communist are complete —
nonsense. The chief one is a story that in my presence °
Dr. Woodbridge Bingham had asked him if he had ever
been 2 Communist and he said no. He then tried to sug- ‘
gest that I flashed him a smile implying that I knew that
what he really meant was that he was a Communist. The
truth is that I have not the faintest recollection of this —
whole conversation, but if I smiled at all, it was certainly —
a non-Communist smile. Now I would be willing to be- —
The NATION
| never suppose that it included anything as
ured as a smile. In fact, I thought that these
_ ture—practically as an enemy of the state. If I am
wrong, and if a smile is a secret red signal, I confess
_ that I used to smile a great deal. In the pre-McCarthy
_ days I used to think that life was lots of fun.
_ Wittfogel also made the ridiculous assertion that the
_ fact that I used the terms “feudal” and “feudal sur-
_ vival” in describing Asiatic societies showed that I was a
_ Communist. His claim that these terms are nothing but
_ litmus papers for telling Communists from non-Com-
_Munists is ridiculous. . . .
If the use of terms like “feudal survival” is a test of
communism the following quotation may be of interest.
It is from the American Anthropologist, July-September,
1951, p. 403, and is from a review of a book about
_ Japan: “But here [in Japan] as in Germany, industrial-
_ ization was so Jate and so rapid that many feudal ele-
ments survived.”
The author who thus uses the hideous and forbidden
expression “feudal elements” is Esther $. Goldfrank
_ (Mrs, Karl August Wittfogel). I hasten to say I know
nothing of her political views, and in any event I
wouldn't accuse Wittfogel of anything on account of his
association with his wife... .
On Collaboration with Communists
| One of the principal targets of the China Lobby’s
criticism in the controversy about the history of our Chi-
|) ‘Nese policy has been the proposal for a coalition between
the Nationalists and the Communists—or more properly
for a working arrangement between the two, in order to
avoid a civil war in which, as informed observers knew
_ and as events proved, the Chiang government would be
_ bound to lose. Even General Marshall’s motives have
_ been assailed by the China Lobby because he advocated
* this, in spite of the fact that it is a matter of record that
this policy was first sponsored by Secretary of State
_ Byrnes, who has never been attacked for it and should
not be,
It is nonsense to say, as had been dogmatically as-
setted before this committee, that coalition or coopera-
“tion with Communists always ends with the Communists
taking over.
/The Free French cooperated with the Communists,
_and the Communists did not take over France. Today
p about a third of the French Deputies are Communists.
_ The post-war government of Burma began as a coali-
tion with Communists, but the Communists were later
expelled and armed action taken against them.
_ The Indonesian Nationalist movement began as a
March 8, 1952
gti rim conspirators regarded a smile as a bourgeois ges--
are ee — 4
Shes owe) ¥
ead ye
ao
oi pect aE secret signals, — ‘ united front with Communists, but the nelean gov-
ernment has since taken armed action to suppress them.
The British cooperated during the war with Indian
Communists, but the Communists did not take over
India,
In saying this I do not want to be misunderstood as
advocating collaboration with Communists. This is al-
ways dangerous—as dangerous as a partnership with a
bear. It should be tolerated only where there is no alter-
native, My point is only that coalition is not necessarily
surrender, and that coalition may reasonably be advo-
cated in particular circumstances by persons whose sole
objective is the ultimate defeat of communism. ...
On Preventing War
In defending ourselves against totalitarian aggression
abroad and infiltration within, we must not, despairing
of our heritage of freedom, try to take refuge in the
brutal kind of police state that we fought against when
we destroyed Hitler and defeated Japan... .
War may come upon us, We may have no choice other
than to endure and inflict its horrors. But the moral
values that we are defending cannot be defended if we
take upon ourselves the inhuman and brutal responsibil-
ity of preventive war. The demands of civilization and
humanity are that we make every effort, unless and until
we are forced into war, to protect ourselves and the
values of civilization by means short of war.
The policy which I have described, as well as the pol-
icy to which our government and the United Nations are
committed at the moment, is the policy of containment
of aggression and of building up the conditions and
forces of freedom. ...
Gentlemen, of this I am certain: so long as this pro-
gram of maneuver is our policy, so long as we choose the
difficult and great course of peace, we are completely de-
pendent for success on the validity of our information,
the skill with which we analyze the information, and the
ability not only of our diplomats but of our non-govern-
ment, academic, and private research students and ana-
lysts. We cannot hope to play this dangerous game, and
certainly not to win it, unless we have the facts as to
what is going on. Our observers must be allowed to re-
port the facts as they see them, without the fear that
their motives will be misconstrued if they tell the truth.
We must know the facts favorable to our enemy as well
as those that we like. Of equal importance, we must have
the views and opinions of all who have any special com-
petence. Their views must be freely stated and stoutly
maintained, so that those who have the ultimate deci-
sions to make may have the fullest choice of various
alternatives and so that the people may understand the
issues at stake... .
219
} & hg
= Bonn
HE West German press published the results of the
_ Lisbon conference on Ash Wednesday, and to the
hee man people, who learned they were to be remilitar-
_ ize d whether they liked it or not, the news seemed darkly
tA in keeping with the day. In the Catholic provinces of the
. Federal Republic the carnival season was over and the
_ gloomy petiod of fast was beginning. Two days before,
on Rose Monday, at the climax of the revelry in Cologne,
judgment had been’ pronounced on Lisbon. A million
| People stood in the streets, in front of the ruined build-
ings, to watch the carnival parade. One of the humorous
_ floats was labeled “European Army.” It showed a huge
"amorphous figure mounted on a truck, a futuristic mon-
pi aber, more fantastic than any creature of Picasso's imagi-
- nation. Behind it marched a company of German soldier ors
_ in ragged, crazy uniforms, armied with canes and brooms,
‘ and then came a group of smartly turned-out Allied
. - officers proclaiming themselves “The Victors.” The float
‘was greeted with scornful laughter which turned into
thunderous applause for the German soldiers and then,
at sight of the self-styled victors, into boos and hisses.
__ Every city and town in Germany, one reads in the
local papers, reacted to Lisbon in the same way. The
people are furious that the government, against their
will and without authorization from Parliament, agreed
-_ to contribute German divisions, and billions of marks as
bbe well, to NATO defense. The Social Democratic opposi-
Vy oie 4 is determined that the agreement shall not be carried
_ out and is renewing its demand for a general elec-
tion. It maintains that the Parliament has no right to
create a German army; that the constitution must be
_' changed before that can be done. The constitution, of
urse, can only be changed by a two-thirds’ vote of the
atliament, and the Adenauer government has but a
scant majority. Moreover, the opposition insists, since
he present Parliament was chosen under such different
-citcumstances from those prevailing today, the will of
the people should be consulted in new elections.
_ Six million organized workers support the Social
Democratic position, although Christian Fette, president
f the General Federation of Labor, has declared that
ermany has a duty to the European community and
‘should make a conditional military contribution to its
_ defense. His statement has evoked violent protests, and
revolts against his leadership are brewing in many
hi
CAROLUS is the pseudonym of The Nation’s correspondent
in West Germany.
220
me se
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aA See eae a
¥ ¥es ; a , Vere oe a
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3 ,
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e
BY CAROLUS
unions. The question what can be done if the govern-
ment Majority imposes remilitarization is passionately
discussed by rank-and-file unionists, and occasionally one
hears talk of a general strike, That such a drastic meas-
ure is even thought of shows how severe is the crisis
brought on by the Lisbon decisions and Adenauer’s
acbitrary action.
German democracy will be the first sacrifice to Lisbon,
German social progress will be the second. Bonn has
agreed to spend twelve and a half billion marks a year
on armament, of which something over one billion will
be allocated to Berlin and another billion used for the
existing frontier guards and military pensions. Ade-
nauer’s Finance Minister says he will not raise taxes but
will ask the several Lander to increase their contributions
to the federal government 13 per cent, which will make
them give up 40 per cent of their revenues. That will
mean an end to their public-housing projects and a sharp
curtailment of relief for the nine million refugees from
the east and the even needier pensioners, disabled veter-
ans, wart widows, and orphans, '
If Dr. Adenauer and his ministers are proud of their
success in obtaining a German army, many deputies are
deeply disturbed. Even those representing government
parties recognize that remilitarization will have serious
consequences for both domestic and foreign politics.
Their greatest fear is that it will perpetuate the division
of the country and increase the danger of war. They
might not go so far as to vote against the government,
but in secret they hope that rearmament plans will final-
ly be wrecked on French opposition. Like the deputies
from the middle-class parties, most of the bourgeois
newspapers are skeptical about the results of Lisbon and
assert that Acheson claims a great success for domestic
political reasons.
No responsible politician, no sober journalist, believes
in the much-talked-of fifty divisions. The Bonn General
Anzeiger recalls Géring’s promise before the war that no
enemy plane would penetrate to the skies over Germany
and cautions against underestimating Russian strength.
The Stuttgart Wéirtschaftszeitung says: “Whatever the
Americans do in pursuit of their own aims, and what- —
ever action is ‘taken at Bonn and Paris, we must never
cease to demand that the great powers use this critical
year not only for rearmament but for an earnest attempt
to mitigate the conditions that make rearmament neces-
sary.” The Social Democratic Press Service found the
Lisbon decisions “astonishing,” since they were a virtual
admission that “the United States feared it would be un-
serman Ecbictbation had only made the desired Euro-
pean unity more difficult to achieve. Never had France
and Getmany been farther apart, and passions were
being unloosed in both countries that were widening the
. “New parliamentary elections,” the Social Demo-
“ctatic organ continued, “are of international importance
for the reason that any rearmament measure that the
government forces through the present unrepresentative
Parliament will never be carried out.”
| Many deputies and trade-unionists express themselves
in less diplomatic language. “For the first time,” they
say, “communism has a chance in West Germany.”
A Blow to Disarmament
BY J. ALVAREZ DEL VAYO
United Nations, New York
HE reactions reaching the United Nations from the
capitals most directly affected by the decisions of the
Lisbon conference—Moscow, Paris, Bonn, London—are
still either too scanty or too official to offer a real basis
of evaluation; the Soviet press, for instance, has limited
itself to predicting that the Western rearmament pro-
gtam drawn up at Lisbon will further complicate the
economic situation of member nations. But even in the
present mood of American exultation over “the huge
psychological success,” to use Walter Lippmann’s defini-
tion, achieved at a moment of rather dark anticipations,
when the obstacles within the Atlantic coalition had be-
gun to appear almost insuperable, some signs of con-
cern are perceptible. After all it is only a week or so
_ before the new Disarmament Commission, agreed to at
Paris, will meet here for the first time—under the
shadow of the armament agreements of Lisbon.
The creation of the commission by the Big Four rep-
fesentatives who met privately in the Palais de Chaillot
_ from December 1 to December 10 was in the last analysis
the only positive accomplishment of the Sixth Assembly.
“It was the determination of the small and middle-sized
‘countries to prevent the United Nations from becoming
the major victim of the cold war that inspired the resolu-
tion, introduced by Iraq, Pakistan, and Syria, later
amended by Norway and Lebanon, and finally adopted
“unanimously. I remember saying at the time to some of
the delegates: “This is all very well, provided that before
the commission starts work nothitg irreparable is done
about the rearmament of Germany.”
- Nobody expected a miracle. The new commission
would inherit all the fundamental disagreements that
had hampered the efforts of the Assembly. But from the
Mar b 8, 1952
Mr. Vishinsky announced that the Soviet Union
" Spoud participate there was a feeling that the disarma-
- ment question would at least remain in the area of East-
West discussion. Now, after Lisbon, some of the small
powers that placed more hope in that limited but con- —
crete possibility are asking themselves what the com-
mission can do beyond reviving the well-known spectacle
of reciprocal recriminations,
The answers of such delegates as will comment are
colored by the different ways in which they interpret the
consequences of Lisbon, especially in regard to the
American and Russian positions, since it is evident in
advance that if neither power is willing to make use
of the Disarmament Commission, any attempts the other
powers may make in the direction of a rapprochement
will be fruitless, About America the sentiment is more
clear. It is generally assumed that the United States be-
lieves Russia has already lost the chance to prevent the
development of the Atlantic coalition on the lines laid
down by Washington. Of course as long as billions of
dollars and innumerable sacrifices are demanded from the
parliaments of the various countries, including the
- United States Congress, the menace of Russian aggres-
sion will continue to be the keynote of American policy
within and outside the United Nations, But this does not
conflict with the fact that, since Lisbon, the dominant
American feeling, expressed privately, is that “Russia is
now in our pocket” and while the Kremlin may still
cause a lot of trouble, in Indo-China, in Malaya, and even
in Korea, it will not be able to keep the West from
becoming the most powerful armed combination of all
time. In this state of mind the United States is not likely,
in the coming session of the Disarmament Commission, _
to accept any plan that would imply a diminution of the
balance achieved at Lisbon.
But of course Russia, in Washington’s pocket or not,
is still on the scene, and its reaction is awaited in United
Nations circles with both curiosity and anxiety, One
long-held assumption remains still up in the air, It had
been expected that the Kremlin, while ready to meet the
West on certain other issues and to retreat diplomatically
where necessary, would be adamant on the question of the
rearmament of Germany. But German rearmament sud-
denly dominates the international picture, and, to the
amazement of certain people in the United Nations with
whom I have talked here, Russian diplomacy appears to
be dispersed among various lesser issues, The question
arises whether, instead of a frontal counter-attack, Mos-
cow may not plan a flank movement, making the most
of the undeniable impact that the recent appeal of the
Grotewohl government in favor of a peace treaty has
had on Bonn. In any case, whatever Russia’s reaction to
the Lisbon agreements, it is feared in United Nations cit-
cles that the Soviet representative will not appear in the
Disarmament Commission in a very cooperative mood.
221
er Os ae ae rr ee
* cal ¥ y LRAT wh
Washington
WEEPING political predictions would be unwise
in advance of the New Hampshire primary, which
a will provide the first test of the relative popularity of
ut various candidates, But certain facts may be noted. The
Pree _ Eisenhower forces are seriously in need of a really smash-
a’ ing victory in the Republican balloting. On the Demo-
pe ctatic side, Mr. Truman can afford to lose a few primaries
_ to Senator Estes Kefauver; he can undoubtedly win re-
nomination by his party if he wants to, But an excellent
showing by Kefauver, followed by Mr. Truman’s volun-
tary withdrawal from the race, might make the Tennessee
Senator a factor in the Democratic convention, If Mr.
Truman does decide to step aside, however, his heir ap-
b _ parent still seems likely to be Governor Adlai Stevenson
/ __ of Illinois, who is working just as hard as Kefauver,
though in a different way, to make himself “available”’ if
the occasion arises.
| One primary does not decide a Presidential nomina-
tion, as was proved in 1948 when Stassen swept Wis-
consin and then was abruptly checked in Oregon by
Dewey. But in New Hampshire Eisenhower has little to
gain and much to lose, whereas Taft has much to gain
and little to lose. The Eisenhower people made the mis-
take of claiming New Hampshire for their own. Eisen-
hower was backed by the Republican governor and by
the organization groups that in 1950 renominated Sena-
tor Tobey. But ever since Taft decided to enter the
primary, Governor Adams has been rather irritably deny-
ing to reporters that Eisenhower is a sure winner.
The plain fact is that the Republican organization in
New Hampshire is divided, and Taft is supported by
most of the Republicans who in 1950 nearly succeeded in
throwing Tobey out of the Senate as “too liberal.” If Taft
_ gets from four to seven of the state’s fourteen convention
__ delegates and makes a good showing in the parallel pref-
_ erential voting for candidates, it will be a worth-while
victory.
The trouble with Eisenhower's campaign is that owing
to his absence from the country it has never got off the
ground, Instead, it has run into a series of crises, with
Ike’s supporters here constantly demanding more overt
declarations from him to make up for the failure to
materialize of the “spontaneous” draft they once
dreamed of. Eisenhower handled the first crisis for them
by his “green light’ press conference during a flying trip
WILLARD SHELTON was formerly The Nation’s regular
Washington correspondent.
bi hh Dae
Ltirene te ; ot sag sere =v
decide. Mr. Truman obviously would hate to contemplate _
BY WILLARD SHELTON -
to Washington, when he said, in effect, that he would -
not disavow those who were working for him, In the ~
second crisis he let Senator Lodge announce that as |
civilian president of Columbia University he had de-
clared himself a Republican, confirming Lodge later in‘
a statement issued at Paris.
When a third crisis arose, various Eisenhower sup:
porters began clamoring for him to “come home” by.
May 1, “He can’t win,” they wailed, “unless he cam-
paigns.” Why they imagine that Ike will “come home,”
in the face of his very clear statement that under no
citcumstances would he ask to be relieved of his duty
in Europe, surpasses understanding. But the demand is
a sign of their fear that Taft is about to seize the nomina-
tion by weight of fire power.
They have reason to be apprehensive, Taft is cam- ,
paigning with intelligence and determination, He is the
only front-running candidate in a position to make hard-
headed deals for delegates, to promise patronage and
rewatds and jobs. The Republican professionals who
control delegates are not interested in pie in the sky
or convinced by theoretical claims that only Ike can win
in November. They are beginning to suspect that maybe
Taft can win in November—or at least that only an
alliance with Taft holds out a clear prospect of reward.
Many newspapers are now running syndicated newspaper
articles purporting to explain Eisenhower’s political
creed in his own words. To the delegate-controlling
politicians these will not seem a satisfactory substitute
for Ike’s presence.
Senator Lodge of Massachusetts and Senator Ives of
New York may feel that their own reelection chances
would be ruined with Taft heading the Republican ticket.
But Senators ordinarily do not control delegates; gov-
ernors and state chairmen and party bosses control them.
If Eisenhower has the popular pulling power that is
claimed, New Hampshire is the place for him to show it. —
For the Democrats, nothing will be clear until the
President makes his announcement of intentions, Back
in 1951 he said that he had already made up his mind,
but a few weeks ago he asked reporters to stop bothering —
him about it, because he had a very difficult question to ;
the possible election of Taft, who has already promised
to repudiate the President’s foreign policy, change the
military leadership, and do something different—nobody _
knows just what—in the Far East. Whether Mr. Truman ©
will eventually decide that he has made the Administra- |
tion record and is thus the best person to defend it may —
a
The NATION —
out of the es Bese: as seein
various White | House cronies to hang on
‘0 the perquisites.
Assuming that Truman does not run, the Stevenson
boomlet is at least as important as Kefauvet’s open drive
for the nomination or Senator Robert S. Kert’s role as a
Truman stalking horse in Nebraska. The weak men
around Truman have an abiding hatred for Kefauver as
the “crime buster” who helped the Republicans beat Scott
Lucas in 1950 in Illinois. What actually beat Lucas, of
course, was the over- ripe record of the Democratic Party
in Chicago, its mistake in nominating a wealthy cop for
sheriff of Cook County, and the undistinguished Senate
career of Lucas himself. The cronies will never under-
stand this and they still despise Kefauver. Of more
ete i is the fact that there are not enough primaries in
he country for the Tennessee Senator to get the delegates
1e will need to win against Truman’s open opposition.
eestor Richard B, Russell, who announced his can-
didacy late last week, will have strong Southern support,
but since 1936, when the Democratic National Conven-
tion substituted nomination by simple majority for the
wo-thirds’ rule, the South has held no veto power over
the Democratic nominee. Russell is an able man, far
more statesman-like than most of his Dixiecrat support-
ers, but the Democrats will not nominate an anti-civil-
tights candidate unless they decide to commit hara-kiri.
Northern industrial and Negro votes are more im-
portant to the party than the Southern Electoral College
votes. The real question about Russell is whether, after
being beaten in the convention, he will support the
Democratic nominees or bolt to whatever Dixiecrat
‘movement gets under way,
“a ae the President’s control of the party, he is a
proved vote getter, and he is considered by some White
House strategists to be ideally situated to appeal to the
three groups of greatest importance to the Democratic
Party—organized labor, farmers, and Northern minori-
ties, including Negro voters. He swept Illinois in 1948
by 570,000 votes, when Senator Douglas obtained a
plurality of 407,000 and Mr. Truman one of 33,000. He
' has administered his state honestly and skilfully. Most
important of all, perhaps, he has been getting an excel-
lent press since he visited Truman here last month.
Stevenson will not talk to reporters about his own
Presidential prospects, but he willingly discusses national
issues, and his ideas square well enough with Truman’s,
A Committee of One Thousand, with impressive names
and leadership, is ready in Illinois to back him if the
wotd comes. In Washington, Stevenson's friends have
quietly opened an office under the leadership of a liberal
Chicago lawyer, George Ball.
The President has said he “hopes’’ to make his an-
nouncement before April 29—the last day on which he
can file in Missouri as a candidate for his old job in the
Senate. A probably unreliable rumor is that he may
choose to make his declaration on March 29 at the
Jefferson-Jackson Day dinner in Washington, fourth an-
niversary of the famous dinner at which he confidently ©
told the $100-a-plate party faithful that “the next Presi-
dent will be a Democrat—and you're looking at him.”
Most of his real friends here would like to see the
President voluntarily retire. If he loses in the election he
will feel personally repudiated, and if he wins he will
face four more years of terrible struggle to implement
a program with a divided party.
1X-Up in Minnesota
Duluth
] T IS hard to say just what Minnesota voters will de-
4d cide in the Presidential primary on March 18. A
peculiar combination of circumstances has reduced the
balloting to an absurdity: while six delegations originally
filed, only one avowed candidate for the Presidency is
entered, namely, Harold E. Stassen.
This will be the first Presidential primary under a
1949 Jaw supposed to have been tailored to meet Stas-
3 ,s future political requirements, The law provides
t if a candidate wants to take his name off the ballot
e must sign an affidavit stating “that he is not a can-
ate for the nomination of President for the party
or r which he has been filed and that if nominated by
farch 8, 1952
be | As
-
ee
Pre ea.
BY CAREY McWILLIAMS
such party he would not accept.” Stassen may have had
both MacArthur and Eisenhower in mind when this
tricky measure was drafted.
_ The six delegations which originally filed included
one for Stassen, one for Eisenhower, two for MacArthur,
a favorite-son delegation for Senator Hubert H.
Humphrey, and a delegation for Senator Estes Kefauver.
The last appears to have been a ‘‘stooge’”’ delegation en-
tered without Kefauver’s consent by elements unfriendly
to Senator Humphrey. Kefauver has since said: “I do
not wish to be a candidate in Minnesota; I desire that
my name shall mot appear on the ballot.” General _
MacArthur has also asked that his name be withdrawn, —
but neither Kefauver nor MacArthur has signed the _
aan
Tt
emai Me
. afidayi it which the
statute requires. Last
week Attorney Gen-
eral J. A. A. Burn-
quist ruled the re-
quirement invalid,
and acting on this
ruling, Secretary of
State Mike Helm
struck the Kefauver
delegation and the
one formally pledged
to MacArthur from
the ballot. But a dele-
gation filed for one
Edward C. Slettedahl,
state chairman of the
“Fighters for MacAr-
thur,” who refers to
himself as a “stand-in’’ candidate for the General, re-
mains in the running. Since Senator Humphrey has dis-
avowed any personal Presidential hopes and Kefauver
and MacArthur have succeeded in withdrawing, the
contest is between Stassen and Eisenhower,
The Eisenhower leaders apparently decided to enter
a slate of delegates in Minnesota only after Stassen had
_ barged into the New Hampshire primary. Taft has pow-
erful support in Minnesota but has refused to enter
the primary on three grounds: it is his policy not to
compete with favorite-son candidates; he is heavily com-
mitted in the Wisconsin primary (April 1), which his
supporters regard as crucial, and also in the New
Hampshire primary (March 11); and he believes that
lhe will get many “‘second choice’’ votes from both the
Stassen and Eisenhower delegates. Some politicians here
feel that he is making a serious mistake, since he might
stand a good chance in a three-cornered Taft-Eisen-
hower-Stassen fight.
Early surveys revealed wide popularity for Eisenhower,
In a poll taken among 450 employees in a Minneapolis
industrial plant he received more votes than all other
candidates combined. Democratic strength in the area,
- mormally 51 per cent, was shown to be down to 28
per cent. A poll taken in Northfield, with the college
vote at St. Olaf’s and Carleton excluded, gave Eisen-
hower 274, Taft 195, Stassen 184. A-poll taken by
Dick Bruner of the Mankato Free Press indicated that
Republican county chairmen in the Second District
thought Kefauver would be the hardest Democratic
candidate to beat; Democratic-Farmer-Labor leaders
said that Eisenhower would be the strongest Republican
nominee.
Nevertheless, enthusiastic receptions given Stassen in
- such communities as St. Cloud, Willmar, and Rochester
have apparently disturbed those in charge of the national
224
. Alvin Katz
Harold E. Stassen
4 ee LRN , mF
ies i a t See
HK enhower mp n, Se nator 1 to, & son. —CO-
chairman of the Eisenhower for Presidenk’ He: uarters,
of former Governor Luther Youngdahl. Stassen is re-
has since been quoted as saying that his organization docs
not support the Eisenhower slate in Minnesota. Actually
Stassen’s reception in Minnesota has been hearty largely .
because he is campaigning as a favorite-son candidate in
a state in which he was governor for three terms. Should .
he roll up a big vote in Minnesota, in default of any op-
position, his chances in Wisconsin will be improved, In __
any case, he has precipitated a real crisis for the —
Eisenhower forces, ’
Perhaps the most noteworthy political fact in the. 4
Minnesota situation is that for the first time since 1948
the number of professed Republican voters now exceeds.
the Democratic-Farmer-Labor total. A recent poll indi-
cates that 37 per cent of the voters now think of them-
selves as Republicans, 33 per cent as D. F. L., 23 per
cent as independents, and 7 per cent as interested in
minor groups. The same poll shows a marked movement
of independents into the Republican Party and a similar
movement from D. F. L. into the independent ranks. In _
short, the independent vote is leaving the Democratic ,
Party, although it may of course swing back.
A court action has been filed to disqualify the Eisen-
hower delegation on technical grounds.” Stassen denies |
any hand in this maneuver, but it is widely believed that
his supporters engineered it. One of the persons taking
part is a former Republican Congressman who appeared
on the platform with him when Stassen announced his
candidacy in Philadelphia last December 27. State Rail-
road and Warehouse Commissioner Leonard Lindquist
has denounced Stassen for trying to choke off the Eisen-
hower slate and charged that the “Stassen dictatorship in
Minnesota G. O. P. politics is killing the spirit of
many party workers.” It is interesting that Lindquist,
one of the Eisenhower delegates, is a member of a law
firm of which Orville Freeman, who is expected to be
the D. F. L, candidate for governor, is also a member.
In a number of areas I have sensed a pretty close rela-
tionship between certain D. F. L. elements and the pro-
Eisenhower people.
Stassen has unquestionably lost strength in Minnesota
since 1948. The old-line Republicans feel that in many —
cases he has “used” them and then let them down. On
the other hand, the starry-eyed “‘internationalist’’ Re-
publicans, who were enthusiastically pro-Stassen in 1948, —
are now for Eisenhower, as are many of the followers _
*Postscript: The state Supreme Court has now ruled the Eisen- ‘
hower delegation off the ballot. It will ease the tension for Senator
Edward J. Thy and others who indorsed Ike before they knew that
Harold intended to be a candidate in Minnesota. The Eisenhower
forces seem to have been bluffed out of this primary by the reception
accorded Stassen. The likely effect will be to strengthen Stassen in
Wisconsin and to complicate still further the Eisenhower strategy. |
Yet the latest polls still show Eisenhower a heavy aoe over
i if
i
{
The NATION:
‘ aes * Peake v
ra
th ‘states now aim Harold
, but Pennsylvania would gladly yield to
Minnesota and Minnesota to Pennsylvania. As usual, he
is taking an opportunist line. He is against the “soft
internationalism’ of the Democrats on the one hand
and against the “semi-isolationism of the 1920’s” on the
other. He favors a “dynamic” policy in which we will
vuse “more American ideas and fewer American dollars.”
He wants the gold standard restored and advocates induc-
_ ing corporations to sponsor profit-sharing programs by
‘the grant of tax benefits. Asked how he stood on
‘M cCarthy, for whom he campaigned vigorously in Wis-
HE Fifth Congressional District in the Borough of
SL Queens in New York City, where registered Demo-
-crats outnumber registered Republicans nearly three to
one, has just sent a Taft-minded Republican to Congress
dn a by-election. News of the event was greeted with
considerable apathy by practically everyone in the coun-
try except the chairman of the Republican National
_ Committee, who called it “the handwriting on the wall
for Truman.” That may be putting it a little strong,
especially as the defeated Democrat was almost as vio-
ently anti-Truman as his successful opponent, Never-
_ theless, the cozy little election has its points of interest
for all parties concerned, including the trend spotters.
The Fifth District is a community of modest small
homes intérspersed wtih garden apartments of the hey-
-neighbor-turn-down-your-radio variety. Politically it is
an area in which the Democrats are often more successful
in getting out the registration than the votes. It went
for Roosevelt in 1932 and 1936, wildly for Willkie
sin 1940, and mildly for Dewey in 1948. It elected a
Republican Congressman in 1946 and a Democratic
_ Congressman in 1948 and 1950. In 1949 it sent a Dem-
ocrat to the City Council by a vote of more than two
to one.
The successful Republican candidate in the by-election
was Rohert T. Ross, a veteran of the Eighticth Congress
who was attempting a come-back, The Republican Na-
tional Committee was so determined he should win that
‘tt sent Bernard Lamb, a by-election expert, down from
headquarters to help him. Lamb and Frank Kenna,
bang-up job of machine campaigning. “We hit the
‘people with four separate mailings and reached 75,000
of the district’s 106,528 voters directly by telephone,”
Kenna said. “We figured all we had to do was to get out
"> tng
Revere, ce
many elemen . A story IT. ne
Clinical Study in Queens
chairman of the Queens Republican Committee, did a |
et tel
™
ea
tee
* in 1946, he said: “I feel the cure for McCarthyism
_ is to remove all those who have shown a weakness toward
the communistic attitude’—which is hardly a repudia-
tion.
Some of the ablest political reporters in the state im-
parted to me their secret belief that Eisenhower might
upset Stassen—a possibility which seemed to be antici-
pated with universal pleasure, But there is so little real
interest in the primary that Minnesota must be put
down as a “mix-up,” a puzzle. After studying the curi-
ous situation, John C. McDonald of the Minnesota
Tribune decided that he would “take Red-eyed Sadie N
in the third.” I’m inclined to agree,
BY CHARLES R. ALLEN, JR.
the vote—any vote—and we'd win.” Well, they didn’t
exactly get out the vote; only 30 per cent of the qualified
voters went to the polls, which is not such a hot figure
even for a by-election. But enough of the 30 per cent
voted Republican to make Kenna consider that his
75,000 phone calls were not wasted.
The issues? Kenna summed them up in three words—
“crime, corruption, communism.” He added that some-
times the three words were conveniently wrapped up in
one—"“Trumanism.” He said the word had a magic
effect, even on Democrats, “At first we thought we had
to remind the Democrats, in our approach to them, of
the corruption in their own party. But we soon found out
they knew all about it. After that we just told them,
‘Get out and vote!’ ” .
Did the Democrats vote? Kenna says sure they did—
they voted for Ross. “Look at Forest Hills,” he said.
“Three hundred Democrats are registered there. But
only three votes were cast for the Democratic candidate
on the voting machines. Do you mean to tell me that of
three hundred Democrats, only three voted?” Con-
versely, said the persuasive Kenna, it is impossible to
believe that the 17,000 who voted for Ross were all
Republicans, “Give us a break and say we got out 50 per
cent of our enrolment. That still means we captured at —
least 4,000 Democratic votes.”
Were any other issues placed before the voters in the
course of the campaign—foreign policy, inflation, local
issues? “There was a local issue,” answered Kenna.
“Airplane crashes. We're living here near LaGuardia
Airport just as the Elizabeth people live near Newark
Airport. But I can’t say it was much of an issue. It
turned out the Democratic candidate was just as much
opposed to airplane crashes as our candidate.”
The Democratic candidate was Hugh Quinn, whom
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the district had sent to the City Council i in 1949, Guina
managed his own campaign with no help from the Dem-
ocratic National Committee, Indeed, in the face of ag-
gressive Republican charges of “corruption, crime, and
communism,” Quinn waged an indignant “not me”
campaign, deliberately divorcing himself from anything
that smacked of the Truman machine. He even dropped
tes am
AY "ees
_ the Democratic star from his campaign literature, pos-
sibly because it had exactly the same number of points
ey as the Russian star, Still, his disguise apparently was not
_ good enough. “Truman licked me,” he moaned when he
received news of his defeat.
Well, there it is, But how would the election have
ant . . .
_ gone had Quinn put on an aggressive campaign, wel-
Tito’s Unique Yugoslavia
O STUDY the Yugoslav economic problem one
really needs to visit Yugoslavia—many of the rele-
vant facts are still not- available elsewhere. I spent last
_ September in Yugoslavia, traveling about the country,
es visiting factories, talking with officials; my visit cul-
- minated in a series of long discussions with high officials
i _ in Belgrade in charge of economic policy, After examin-
ing my notes and the material I had collected, I began
to understand why Russia’s systematic efforts to destroy
the Tito regime by an economic blockade are not likely
to succeed; Yugoslavia’s ability not only to free itself
‘i from the role of satellite but to hold-its own against the
_ Soviet Union and the other states in the Russian orbit
was at least partially explained. Answers to other puz-
zling questions also emerged, such as why the revolution
in Yugoslavia had developed so differently from the Rus-
sian revolution, and why the Yugoslavs have been able to
establish their independence of Moscow while the other
Eastern countries remain under Soviet domination, A few
of the factors responsible for the unique situation in
Yugoslavia are analyzed in this article and one to
_ When the Bolshevik Party came to power in Russia
. through the October Revolution, World War I was
practically over, and once the party had consolidated its
control, it was able to carry out a gigantic social transfor-
mation by expropriating the great feudal landowners,
who had played such a decisive political role, as well as
co the relatively small number of capitalists, The imperial
Yugoslav armies were defeated by the Germans in
FRITZ STERNBERG, economist and author, has recently
brought out anew book, “Capitalism and Socialism on Trial.”
His second article on Yugoslavia will appear in an early issue,
226
rer ? ’ oF PT Pa
SCT ea |
coming the Sport oe ates emo q -D at
f a me ae
mittee and making use of the facilities f the
Telephone Company? That is for the trend ‘spotters to
decide, But it does seem that the election showed two:
things rather clearly. The first is that a “not me” cam-
paign will prove no more effective in 1952 than a “me
too” campaign proved in 1948. The second is that the _—
Republicans have decided to campaign, at least on the
local level, on the “Trumanism” issue as the obverse of
the Democratic “McCarthyism” coin. The Democrats
will mow have to decide whether their best counter-
offensive is to change the word by urging Truman to
remove himself from it or to give it another and more
salutary meaning.
BY FRITZ STERNBERG
World War II just as the czarist armies had been in
World War I, but Tito organized his partisan forces
while the fight was still raging. The Germans—like the
Japanese in China—controlled the cities and railroads
but never conquered the whole country. The partisans—
like the Chinese guerrillas—could not be completely
defeated. When Hitler’s occupation forces in Yugo-
Slavia were weakened as a result of German military set-
backs elsewhere, the partisans seized one sector of the
country after another. And since the former Serbian rul-
ing class had cooperated with the invaders, as fast as the
partisans took over an area, they established their own
political regime.
Thus the social revolution in Yugoslavia took place
during the war, almost as a by-product of the war. Tito’s
men ousted those in control because they were col-
laborators and traitors, When the war ended, the revolu-
tion was also at an end, The new Yugoslav government,
dominated by Tito and the Communist Party, possessed
all the economic “commanding heights’’—the big indus-
trial concerns, the railroads, the banks, and so forth. It
was not necessary, as it had been in Russia in 1917, to
catty out a radical social transformation in the wake of
a devastating war; the change had been accomplished by
the partisans in the process of winning the war.
Yugoslavia is the only Eastern European country in -
which victory and revolution were in a sense one. In
none of the present Russian satellite countries was there -
any important revolutionary movement while the war was
going on. Where major upheavals did occur, at the end
of the war or afterward, it was the Red Army that set
them in motion and controlled them. And this brings us __
to the second point which distinguishes the Yugoslav
situation from that of other Eastern European countries,
The NATION a
i a be
one
ol stood on
“0 i d | Stalin foresee what was to.
. they had Goalie ie their thrust against the Ger-
, and at the end of the struggle Tito stood at the
ead of his own battle-tested and victorious forces and
Phiister of his country—just as Mao Tse-tung was master
of China when the civil war was won. Leadership of his
Own army was Tito’s first necessity for staying in power.
But this alone would have been insufficient, He could
have been overthrown after the break with Moscow had
_ mot decisive economic factors come to his aid.
a ALTHOUGH Yugoslavia is still an industrially back-
; BA rata country, it is trying hard to develop its indus-
try to the point where iron and coal can be processed at
_ home: Yugoslavia wants a heavy industry of its own. The
_ effort to make an agrarian, raw-material-producing coun-
_ try also an industrial country is evident on all sides. It can
_ be clearly seen in the more advanced republics, Croatia
and Slovenia, which in many respects are not far below
. the industrial level of Czechoslovakia, and even in
~ Macedonia, whose economic development approximates
that of Bulgaria or Rumania.
In line with this trend there has been a rapid expan-
sion of cities and urban occupations. At the end of the
' war 80 per cent of the people were still engaged in
cultivating the land and only 20 per cent in business or
professions; today the proportion has shifted to 70 per
cent in agriculture and 30 in urban occupations. At the
end of 1945 the unions had only about a million
_ members; today the number has doubled—1,600,000 in-
_ dustrial workers and 400,000 other employees. With in-
_ creasing industrialization Yugoslavia has made a break
_ with its awn past and at the same time thrown off the
-_festrictions by which Russia sought to transform it into an
economic satellite.
_ Before the war Yugoslavia’s development, like that of
most other industrially backward nations, was chiefly
, determined by the influx of foreign capital. Foreign in-
“ vestments increased the output and export of certain
_ ftaw materials, especially minerals, but did nothing to
Sip Yugoslavia achieve a coordinated industrial struc-
_ture, Thus while the country possessed all the formal
attributes of sovereignty, its economy showed pronounced
colonial traits, which of course effectively undermined
its political independence as well. By expropriating most
of the imported capital and taking control of the nation’s
economy, the Tito government sharply changed Yugo-
‘slavia’s semi-colonial status. A Five-Year Plan was set up
which aimed, among other things, at processing more and
"more raw materials at home and using them as the core
of a heavy and light machine industry.
_ Knowing that Russia, after the October Revolution,
had been transformed from a primarily agrarian into a
apravian and industrial country, the Yugoslavs
< it for granted that the Soviet government would
“support their industrial program. Their Five-Year Plan
was, in fact, largely based on the assumption that the
Russians would supply—partially on credit—capital
goods and other necessities which they themselves did
not yet produce.
But Soviet policy in Eastern Europe, as the years have
tevealed, is not concerned with helping the Eastern
countries develop according to their own economic needs,
On the contrary, Russia is evidently determined to gear
the economies of the satellite states to its own and in so
doing increase their dependence, The five-year plans an-
nounced in Prague, Warsaw, and Budapest are in re-
ality part and parcel of the Russian five-year plans, In
1945, however, this policy had not clearly emerged; pos-
sibly it had not fully developed. In any case, Russia and
the other Eastern countries purchased many of Yugo-
slavia's products and supplied their own goods in return,
But they never fulfilled their credit promises; of the
$125,000,000 credit that had been pledged to Yugo-
slavia, only $800,000—less than 1 per cent—was re-
ceived, The execution of the Yugoslav Five-Year Plan
was in consequence seriously hampered. In the period.
just after the war, however, Yugoslavia’s foreign trade
went chiefly to Russia and the Russian satellites. This
was in sharp contrast to the situation before the war.
N 1938 imperial Yugoslavia and Soviet Russia main-
tained no diplomatic relations, and the trade between
the two countries was only 1 per cent of their total —
trade, About 15 per cent of Yugoslavia’s exports went to
Albania, Bulgaria, Poland, Rumania, Hungary, and
Czechoslovakia, and some 16-18 per cent of its imports
were obtained from those countries, In sum, more than
four-fifths of Yugoslavia’s trade was with countries out-
side the Soviet Union and its future satellites, The first
two post-war years showed a very different picture: al-
most three-quarters of Yugoslavia’s trade was with Rus-
sia and Russian-controlled areas,
Although relations between the two governments ptew
more difficult as Russia tightened its economic grip on
Yugoslavia, the Soviet rulers undoubtedly believed that
the strong ties which had been formed were insurance
against rebellion. Just before their’ political break with
Belgrade they had induced the Yugoslavs to shift large
orders for capital goods from the West to Russia and the
satellite states, After the break they imposed a strict
blockade and must have expected it to bring about the
downfall of the Tito government. By 1949, when the
blockade was fully in effect, imports from Russia had
fallen to a mere 1.62 per cent and those from the satel-
lites to 11.6 per cent.
Today Yugoslavia’s trade with Russia and the satel-
lite states stands at zero, The government estimates that
227
Ze eee O67 OS Fh hak
= a, =A
|) } the blockade has cost the country Sans 000,000.
‘That is a small sum by American standards; but since
| _ Yugoslavia’s annual imports total only a little over
- $300,000,000, the blockade, in less than four years, has
cost more than a full year’s imports. One can easily
_ realize how severe was its initial impact; only by tem-
Siiscrscily suspending part of the first Five-Year Plan and
- distributing it over a longer period were the Yugoslavs
_ able to survive the blockade’s effect. They have also tried
_ to offset their losses by boosting their foreign trade with
ntries outside the Russian orbit.
This has not been easy, even though Yugoslavia’s pre-
war trade was, as shown above, predominantly with
- countries outside Eastern Europe. For one thing, Ger-
_ many used to have the leading role, contributing in 1938
_ more than a third of Yugoslavia’s imports. Today Yugo-
Slavia is consciously seeking to consolidate its political
y independence by trading with as many countries as pos-
sible, At the same time the character of its trade has
changed with the new necessity of importing large
amounts of capital goods to speed up the process of
industrialization,
__ A third factor is even more important. In no country
_ outside the Russian orbit have military expenditures taken
__as large a slice of the national income as in Yugoslavia—
is over 20 per cent in 1951 and 23 per cent in 1952. This
"proportion i is not only higher than in any of the Atlantic
Pact nations of Europe but also higher than in the United
os
7 ae
Gd
1.
te ”
_— Plane Facts
HE recent crashes at Elizabeth have raised the
question of moving airports farther away from
a an centers, Although most are already well removed,
‘, nearly all airfields serving large cities, as well as many
in smaller communities, have residential areas close by;
some are entirely surrounded by built-up districts. The
Ey ‘residents of many airport communities, their nerves
_ frayed by the constant racket of low-flying planes and
_ fearful of sudden death from the skies, are demanding
a _an end to air operations in their midst, regardless of the
es jprertiog effect such a development would have on com-
_ The answer to the Elizabeth tragedies is not in mov-
ing airports, but in improving planes and airline prac-
tices. The hard fact is that airline planes are not as safe
as they can and ought to be, Moreover, the airlines, if
_ LEONARD ENGEL writes frequently for The Nation on
Scientific questions of current interest.
228
‘ ae om we ae ce
best war and pre-war years despite new and presumably
b Pred eee 2 ae
tates, where, according t leet estimates
SS oe Ate oe F ap ee ae x .
expenditures will ale ae cent of the American
national income in 1952-53. ty See
At present Yugoslavia's foreign trade is determined
primarily by the rearmament program. Out of $300,-
000,000 worth of imports, about $100,000,000 worth
are armaments. To pay for them Yugoslavia must export
a considerable part of its raw materials, which neces-
sarily slows down its own industrial growth. To under-
stand the nation’s present straits, one must remember
that Yugoslavia, with a population of only 16,000,000,
lost more than 10 per cent of its people in the war;
the country was long a battlefield in the international
struggle, and for even longer civil war raged on its soil.
Then in 1948-49 the blockade was imposed, and in 1950
a drought caused poor crops and near-starvation.
Despite these gigantic difficulties the economic up-
surge is unmistakable. In 1951 the harvest was better
than in any previous post-war year, and there is now food
for everybody in village and town. Despite reports to the’
contrary in some American newspapers, the winter sow-
ing was about the same as a year ago. Complaints and —
resistance have certainly increased, but much of this oppo-
sition is due, not to worse conditions, but to the fact that
since the government began to lift restrictions and de-
centralize its over-all controls, the peasants feel free to
speak out. Things are looking up, and if there is no
war the hardest years are thought to be over.
BY LEONARD ENGEL
they were so minded, could be much better neighbors as
well as safer public servants. No attempt has ever been
made, for example, to reduce noise; the men who run
the airlines brush off every suggestion for changes in en-
gine and propeller design or in take-off and landing pro-
cedure that might make life a little more bearable
around airports. epee
‘ During the past four years the passenger fatality rate
of the scheduled domestic lines has held nearly constant
at about 1.3 deaths per 100,000,000 passenger-miles.
This is an improvement over the years immediately after a
the war. But it is no better than was achieved in the .
safer planes and vast government expenditures for new
airports and navigation aids. Deaths among occupants
of buildings and homes struck by planes, moreover, are
increasing in frequency; such accidents were rare before
the war.
A good many factors have contributed to the airlines’ 2
failure to improve their safety record, One is their re-
The NATION
survive crashes if they sat facing the tail of the
ane so that the back of the seat would take up the
st shock. Post mortems have shown that many persons
__are killed by being snapped over their seat belts; this was
_ the case in sixteen of twenty-eight deaths in a crash at
- Dailas, Texas, in 1949.
_ The basic reason, however, why the air safety record
__ is no better is the stress laid by airlines on ever greater
_ speed and economy of operation. Greater speeds allow
_ more flights per plane per year and a greater return to the
airline. Whatever may be said about customer preference,
this is the reason for the parade of ever faster, larger
ttcraft since the war.
a.
HERE are, in general, two ways to increase the
. speed of a plane. One is to use more powerful en-
_ gines; the other to reduce the plane’s “drag” by such
_ measures as decreasing wing area. Since extra horse-power
costs money, the airlines and the manufacturers who sup-
_ ply their planes chose the second device for increasing
_ speed. Unfortunately, reducing wing area adversely af-
_ fects flying characteristics. Other things being equal, the
_ smaller its wings, the faster a plane must move in order
to leave the ground, and the higher must be its landing
speed.
The Constellation, DC-6, and other new transports
have very small wings in proportion to their over-all
size. As a result, their take-off and landing speeds ap-
proach 100 miles an hour. Such speeds are an imposition
_ on the taxpayer as well as a built-in hazard. They are
_ ome reason why current transport craft require runways
_amile or more in length. They decrease the margin left
_ for pilot error and increase the risk of engine failure
h, Berens the take-off run. And they raise formidable spe-
cial problems, such as how to brake planes to a stop
_ after landing or during a take-off emergency.
- The braking problem is a good illustration of the
difficulties that the wrong approach to plane design can
_ lead to, In the past the main reliance was placed on
__wheel brakes and long runways. Wheel brakes cannot be
q Applied full on in a take-off emergency or at the begin-
ning of the landing run; the tires would blow out. And
_ of course wheel brakes will not hold on icy runways any
been several accidents as a result of planes skidding off
_funways. The airlines found a remedy, but it has caused
as much trouble as the problem it was meant to cure:
Their solution was not a plane with better take-off and
la landing characteristics, but a device to reverse the angle
ot pitch of the propeller blades, thus causing the propel-
lets to act as a powerful air brake. The pitch-reversing
mec anism, which will soon be in use on all major
rah
i
:
iP
Al
the war in icate that many more people —
“more than automobile brakes on icy roads; there have
s, is wonderful when it works: it can in bring planes
already been involved in four accidents—the last two
at Elizabeth and two earlier mishaps which by great
good fortune caused no injuries—although it is sur-
rounded by all sorts of safeguards supposed to guar-
antee that it will operate when and only when it is
wanted,
Another built-in hazard in current transport planes
is the practice of having one engine drive each pro-
peller. As an emergency precaution the Civil Aero-
nautics Board requires that four-engined transports be
able to take off on three engines, and twin-engined craft _
on one engine. Experienced pilots report that the pre-
caution is worth little in a real emergency, since the
stoppage of a propeller causes a violent shift in the trim
of the plane. The difficulty would be obviated by putting
two smaller engines on each propeller shaft—a measure
that would increase initial costs and fuel consumption but
would make the plane easier to handle in case of engine
failure, Smaller engines would also reduce the ovet-
all frequency of engine failure—still a leading source of
accidents and occurring much more often than either the
airlines or their special pleader in the government, the
C. A. B., cares to admit. One major line averages more
than forty failures a month,
The cockpits of pre-war transport planes used to be
cited as the ultimate in complexity. They were simple
then compared to now. The other day I started to count
the instruments and controls in the cockpit of a current
four-engined airliner. I gave up at 210 and I was still
nowhere near done. Many, of course, ate duplicates—
there is a complete set of engine instruments, for in-
stance, for each engine—and all the others can be in-
dividually justified as contributing in some way to the
safe operation of the plane. But the total effect of this
fantastic array of instruments and controls has been to
create two substantial new hazards—plane failure be-
cause of gadget failure, and plane failure because there
are just too many gadgets for the small crews customary
with the domestic airlines to handle. |
Most of the instruments and many of the controls are
electrically operated. It may be treason to the electrical
age to make the remark, but electrical equipment is not
teliable enough for such great trust to be placed in it.
A simple analogy will make clear what I mean. Com-
mercial vacuum tubes have a useful life of about 1,000
hours. This is sufficient for dependable operation of a
_six-tube home radio. It is not enough, as any TV set
owner knows, to assure trouble-free operation of a
TV receiver with five times as many tubes and five times
as great a chance of set failure because of tube failure;
TV sets often need to be repaired several times a year.
Similarly, most of the electrical instruments and controls
on transport planes, taken individually, are fairly reliable,
229
‘complete stop in a few hundred feet, But it has
PE SDE IIOE POS AOE
|
_ & major cause of accidents.
The array of instruments and controls in the cockpit
has also increased the burden of the plane crew beyond
safe limits, And paradoxically, instrament complexity is
itself an outgrowth of the domestic airlines’ insistence
on small crews in the interest of operating economy.
‘Twin-engined planes carry only a pilot and co-pilot;
_ four-engined craft have two pilots and—at the in-
: - sistence of the C, A. B.—a flight engineer. Radio opera-
_ tors are not carried. This has ‘maida necessary the use of
~ voice radio for all communications as well as of devices
_ designed to make radio navigation simple enough’for the
pilot or co-pilot to handle. Code radio and ground
a direction finding, which involve fewer ‘ ms of equip-
- Ment and are more reliable in bad weather, have been
el used with success for years abroad, But they require a
_ sepatate radio operator. Voice radio and our present
_ fadio navigation equipment, moreover, do not relieve
_ the pilots of the communications and navigation burden.
____ Aside from too high landing and take-off speeds, and
_ the substitution of gadgets for man-power and sound
__ basic design, the race for ever greater speed and operat-
_ ing economy has led to too many new types of planes.
_ As against one in the pre-war period, the famous Doug-
las DC-3, five distinct plane types have been intro-
_ duced since the war—the Constellation, the DC-6, the
Di eectaceuiser, and two twin-engined transports, the
- Martin and Convair. As is inevitable with complicated
e high-performance equipment, early versions of most
_ of these planes have had unsuspected flaws in design.
One had its hydraulic lines too close to red-hot engine
_ exhausts; another had glass-wool cabin insulation that
; acted as a wick and spread burning oil through the
plane, thus turning a minor engine fire into a catastro-
phe; a third had a poorly designed wing panel that
_ broke i in a storm. The flaws were eventually corrected,
e but at a cost of more than 100 lives. In the meantime
_ the airlines threw away the unique experience with the
_DC-4, a magnificent plane developed during the war
and flown billions of miles all over the world by the
Bec air force and the airlines on military contract. If the air-
_ lines had stuck with the DC-4—which they regard as too
_ slow—by now they would have a plane that every pilot
knew backward and forward, and from which every
design flaw had long since been eliminated.
ee _ What is needed to make air travel as safe as it ought
_ to be and to relieve fears of another Elizabeth is clear.
Pe The first thing is to make safety again the prime consid-
eration. The second is a type of plane that can take off
and land at airports of reasonable size without the as-
sistance of gadgets. We need a plane with fewer and
simpler instruments and controls, making less for each
member of the crew to do. We need two types of planes,
230
world monetary reserves,
and two only, embodying these characteristics—one for
- > v > r r = e ™ = ¥ o -
on ‘ a We « - , Pe Ml ea) 6 Geer us
ea 7% RS ateee em int 3 3 |
Taken together, the failure rate is high enough to ben ei and | one for £ eeder servi ! neers
cneteepsan Bo erie on cat om will
not be used as unwitting guinea pigs. Curiously, sae
ing model of just such a plane has existed for more than
a dozen years. It was designed by an engineer named
Fred Weick and is called the Ercoupe. It is a two-seat
private plane with ingenious simplified controls that
make it as easy to handle as a car. Everyone who has
ever flown it hails the Ercoupe as the plane of the 4
future. But no one has ever tried to apply its principles
to larger planes -
Gold “Hedge’—nith Thorns
BY KEITH HUTCHISON
N INCREASING proportion of the world’s newly
mined gold seems to be moving into private hoards.
In the year 1950 output of gold in all countries, exclud-
ing Soviet Russia, amounted to 24,300,000 ounces,
worth $850,500,000 at $35 an ounce—the fixed Ameri-
can price. Of this total, $410,000,000 was added to
leaving $440,500,000 for
hoarding and for use in industry and the arts, Assum-
ing that the latter absorbed a quarter of the output—
an afbitrary but generally accepted estimate—about
$228,500,000 remained for the black, gray, and white
markets that supply hoarders. In the first nine months
of 1951 estimated output was $630,000,000, of which
$175,000,000 went to swell monetary reserves. Again
assigning 25 per cent to industry and the arts, we have a
balance of $297,500,000, some 30 per cent greater than
during the whole of 1950, available for hoarders,
The chief reason for this increase has been the sale by
South Africa, which mines more than half the world’s -
gold, excluding Russia, of 40 per cent of its output at
a premium. This is contrary to the rules of the Inter- —
national Monetary Fund, whose policy is. to channel
all newly mined gold, except that genuinely employed
in industry, into monetary reserves at the official Ameri-
can price, which sets the standard for the world. __
Naturally this policy has been unpopular with gold
miners, who finding themselves squeezed between ris-
ing costs and a rigid ceiling price, have long clamored
_ for an upward revaluation of their product. Their dis-
content grew as they noted heavy gold sales in free
markets at prices equivalent to $45 or $50 or more per —
ounce. At several meetings of the Fund’s governors, the
South African representative sought a higher value for
the metal that his country produces in such abundance.
But this proposal was blocked by the adamant opposition
of the United States Treasury, which by virtue of its
ownership of some 60 per cent of the world’s gold
reserves is in a position to dictate prices,
The NATION
fined them to the ionetaly standard, and turned ems
x over to the brokers who cater to the hoarding trade.
Although this was an obvious dodge to get around the
-tules of the International Fund, as was the Canadian
plan of subsidizing high-cost gold mines, that body felt
unable to do more than protest. Finally it seems to have
concluded that since free-market sales could not be
. eoree it might be advisable to reduce the premium by
reasing the supply. Last fall, therefore, the Fund
is issued a statement in which it first reiterated its oppo-
sition in principle to premium sales and then declared
that it was unable to undertake the policing of the in-
_ dustry, Most gold-producing countries, apart from the
United States, took this pronouncement as tacit en-
couragement to follow South Africa’s example. Con-
_ sequently there is now an increasing flow of gold to the
_ free markets, legal and illegal.
_ Franz Pick, in his “Black Market Yearbook for 1951,”
_ published by Pick’s World Currency Report, writes:
}
:
:
Gold, in any form—bars, coins, sheets—remained big
_ business in 1951. Actively traded in the financial centers
of more than fifty countries, including cities behind the
Iron Curtain, gold was the only insurance against mis-
managed paper currency. It protected all its adepts in
Argentina, Austria, Bolivia, Chile, Czechoslovakia, Iran,
Israel, Uruguay, Yugoslavia, etc., where currency de-
preciated more than 10 per cent. And as the currencies
of the world remain overshadowed by inflation, the
yellow metal will continue to be in demand.
_ At the .present time, however, that demand is not
_ keeping up with supply. According to Mr. Pick’s esti-
_ mate, world trading volume of gold was 23 per cent
_ greater in 1951 than in 1950. But as noted above, sup-
‘plies increased by 30 per cent in the first nine months of
|) .1951 alone, and undoubtedly the rate of increase was
_ still greater in the final quarter as other gold-producing
|— countries joined South Africa in feeding the market.
Under these circumstances it is not surprising to find
_ the price of gold declining, even though in many coun-
“tries the process of inflation has been accelerated during
the past year. In Paris, which has become the world’s
“chief gold- trading center since légal restrictions were
lifted in 1948, the price fell from $44.75 per ounce in
\ February, the high of the year, to $41.75 in December,
| according to the tables in Mr. Pick’s “Yearbook.” As I
} write, it has declined farther to $40.75, even though
_ in the past few weeks fears for the franc, which has been
plunging downward, have increased demand for the
metal. These quotations are for gold in bars weighing
a kilogram, the purchase of which is too big a transaction
Mai 7) - 1952
‘more expensive, bet as bar gold is being coined on a
: fairly large scale by both public and private mints im
Europe, the premium commanded by coins is limited.
S GOLD a good “hedge”? How far are those who
hoard it protecting themselves against currency de-
preciation? The data furnished by Mr, Pick in his tables
suggest to me that a good many people have bought this
protection dearly. Suppose, for instance, that a year ago,
when the inflation scare in this country was at its height,
I had turned all the paper dollars I could lay hands on
into gold, thereby risking severe legal penalties. I would
have paid about $44 an ounce. If today, recovering from
my fright, I decided to sell the gold, I would get back
$40 or less. That would mean a loss of nearly 10 per
cent, apart from the fact that the gold would have
earned no interest and that the dollars I received from —
the transaction would have less purchasing power than
those I started with.
Of course, a Frenchman who exchanged francs for
gold a year ago would have protected himself from the
subsequent depreciation of his national currency, But he
could have done better by purchasing dollar bills or
travelers’ checks, The fact is that since the war the trend
of gold prices throughout the world has been downward.
In Paris the high point seems to have been January,
1946, when the bar-gold quotation was $112. Thus
anyone who bought the metal that month has suffered
a shrinkage in his investment of more than 60 per cent.
That is perhaps an extreme case, but the range in the
past five years in Bombay is from a top of $92 per ounce
in December, 1948, to a low of $48 in December, 1951,
and in Buenos Aires from $68.50 in December, 1948,
to $42.50 in October, 1951. A roughly similar picture
is shown in other leading markets.
The one great hope of the hoarders, who have found
their gold “hedges” beset with thorns, is that eventually
the United States will decide that the price of gold
should move in conformity with other prices and will
revalue the dollar. South Africans profess to believe
that this step is “inevitable,” and many gold brokers, I
am told, expect it to be taken within the next two years.
I suspect that this is a case of wishful thinking, Cer-
tainly I can see no advantage, and many disadvantages,
for this country in such a move, It would, for instance, ©
give impetus to inflation by enlarging our credit base. It
would interfere with the rearmament effort by stimulat-
ing gold-mining and thus diverting man-power and
materials from the production of more useful metals.
The sole gainers would be the gold-mining companies
and the private hoarders, Neither group, in my opinion,
needs, or deserves, the unearned increment which they
would automatically receive if the price of gold were
raised,
231
to
i ir
Fallacy of the Folk Soul
_ NATIONS HAVE SOULS. By André
Siegfried, Translated by Edward
Fitzgerald. G. P. Putnam’s Sons. $3.
" KNOW of few more harmonious
- lives than André Siegfried’s. More
ye ian half a century ago he chose his
Career as a political geographer. He has
roamed the whole earth, a keen, sympa-
_ thetic, dispassionate observer. Although
i __ he writes for the press, and enjoys meet-
ing all sorts and conditions of men, he
is not a journalist: his works recall
b Tocqueville’s and Bryce’s rather than
John Gunther’s."A grand bourgeois, a
_ Protestant, an impenitent liberal, he
commands in this country a large and
+ intelligent audience. It happens that I
belong to Siegfried’s generation and
_ that I share, but do not cherish, most of
: _ his prejudices. This gives me the right
to discuss his ideas with the fearless
- critical freedom that he has constantly
sought to promote.
_ There are two books between these
covers. The first chapter discusses The
New Face of the World, the last The
Definition and Destiny of Western
Civilization. They are of capital impor-
Z tance. But the six intermediate chapters
are essays in national psychology: Latin
_ Realism, French Ingenuity, English
Tenacity, German Discipline, Russian
Mysticism, American Dynamism, and it
_ is this aspect that the American title
emphasizes. This cultural nationalism
seems to me both unscientific and dan-
__ gerous. Siegfried grew up at the time
_ when Maurice Barrés was at the height
of his influence: nationalism as “the
ES pending acceptance of a determinism,”
_ the Bll pervading influence of “the soil
and the dead.” (Hitler, Barrés’s out-
standing pupil, called it Blut und
Ee Boden.) The folk soul thus assumed is
a romantic fallacy, wished upon the
world by Herder and Fichte, among
others; it inspired the great historian
Michelet. To good Europeans, survivors
of the Enlightenment, like Metternich
and even Goethe, it was nonsense. But
the wild hypotheses of one generation
even the commonplaces of later ages; so
R232
become the unquestioned truths and -
that men as sane and as well informed
as Alfred Fouillée, Salvador de Mada-
riaga, and André Siegfried use their
keen intellects not in challenging the
Herderian dream but in giving it greater
definiteness.
Siegfried has given up most of the
nationalistic assumptions. He does not
believe in races: all white “races” are
represented in France. He does not fully
accept the heaven-sent geographic unity
of modern countries: France is Mediter-
ranean, Continental, Atlantic; Germany
never had any frontiers. (By the way,
Siegfried thinks that Eastern Germany
belongs with the East. Just as “Africa
begins at the Pyrenees,’ “Siberia [as he
puts it} begins at the Elbe.”) But he
still has faith in national psychologies.
A brief review is not the place to wrestle
with that popular misconception. A
couple of examples will suffice to illus-
trate the nature of my objections. In-
evitably, Siegfried insists on the English
mind's distrust of logic, its deliberate
cult of muzziness, its affectionate in-
dulgence for stupidity (Sir Redvers
Buller, Ernest Bevin, popular because
bovine), its trust in “muddling through
somehow.”” Whoever has conversed with
such truly British thinkers as Julian
Huxley, Harold Laski, Denis Brogan,
knows that British dumbness has been
greatly exaggerated, England has never
muddled through: it has muddled into
disaster, then retrieved itself—tragically
Jate—through clear thinking, definite
action, good organization. The refusal
to think straight, so proudly proclaimed
by the heroes of Munich, is merely the
cleverest alibi when indefensible posi-
tions have to be maintained. Ponder this
list—Bacon, Hobbes, Locke, Berkeley,
Adam Smith, Malthus, Bentham, Dar-
win, Spencer; you will find that most of
the ideas upon which the West has
lived for the last three hundred years,
obscure on the Continent, had to be
formulated, clarified, systematized in’
England. I like to call myself a Vol-
tairean, and I know that Voltaire is Eng-
land’s best gift to France.
As for French psychology, permit me
to smile. Traits inherited from “our an-
cestors the Gauls,’ forsooth! We donot
know how large an invading minority
the Gauls were, or to what racial stock
they belonged. Described by the Romans
as tall and blond, they must have been
Teutons. And what is it that “we” owe
to them? Is it Celtic mysticism and
_ melancholy? Is it Gallic wit? Is it the
heavy plodding thrift of the Auvergnat
peasant? Are all the French Cartesians?
If so, were they not French before
Descartes started his revolution? Did
not the classics themselves proclaim that
“reasoning may banish reason,” and
that “the heart has its reasons that rea-
son does not know’? Did not the
eighteenth century, so delightfully
French, extol Bacon at the expense of
Descartes ?
Where, today, is the France that is
supposed to have a soul? Among the
Communists, the Gaullists, or that loose
array of weaknesses called the Third
Force? Who is “the Frenchman”? Is it
Fernandel, as an amusing album would
have us believe, or is it Pétain, De
Gaulle, Laval, Herriot, Claudel, Gide?
Is it the Protestant and Teutonic André
Siegfried? Even in the same province
the sharpest contrasts are seen. “Numa
Roumestan” (a caricature ‘of Gam-
betta), Thiers, Guizot, Charles Maur-
ras, were all politicians from the South.
No, nations are not persons, and do
not have souls. This might lead us to
wonder whether the individual himself
has a clear-cut, constant psychology. The
sane reach a precarious balance, or im-
pose a formal order upon a welter of
impulses: but everyone harbors in his
heart a whole menagerie, the tiger and
the lamb, the dove and the serpent, the
ant and the ‘possum. We are different
in different atmospheres. The Nazi
engineer of mass murders may have ©
been gemiitlich at home; the captain —
of industry is no hypocrite when he ~
attends a Christian service.
I enjoyed these middle chapters for
their wealth of concrete information, *
shrewd observations, brilliant epigrams,
while rejecting the romantic fallacy that
they implied. The first and the last
chapters seem to me profound—all the
more profound because they are incon:
clusive: the true philosopher never an.
The NATION ©
alee to the age of tools
1 dicrafts; but the machine revo-
ynized the conditions of life. It has
e rugged individualism obsolete:
“The new age is based on collective or-
ation.” America is fast adapting
tself to the new conditions which it did
t originate; probably because it was
than the Old World from the
of tradition. But it insists on
aching an ideology absolutely out of
eping with its practices and with the
very spring of its strength. Siegfried
fully indorses Gerald Tanqueray Robin-
aj “America is facing the crisis with
he military equipment of 1950 and the
i Bectogy of 1775... . Technology is the
mother of the Biro undertaking
ind the grandmother of state interven-
tion; the pursuit of efficiency leads to
the same collectivist nexus in Pittsburgh
as in Magnitogorsk.” The U. S. A. and
EB U. S. S. R. together are at the same
time the promise and the menace of the
w World.
_ We do not need, we cannot afford,
) feaction on the materialistic plane; we
|” cannot return to the age of handicrafts,
© the economy of the sturdy village
blacksmith, who “owes not any man.”
|) There is no greater virtue in the oxcart
than in the airplane. What we need
is to save our freedom of thought by
anscending practical efficiency, by
denying Caesar the things that are not
Caesar's; and*Caesar at present is not
he bureaucrat or the politician but the
auckster, the advertiser, the gambler,
he profiteer. “The souls of nations”
are but totalitarian idols. The soul of
man can be preserved alive only through
sternal vigilance. ALBERT GUERARD
Ar Unread Classic
[HE BETROTHED, By Alessandro
Manzoni. A New Translation by
Archibald Colquhoun. E. P. Dutton
and Company. $5.
FYNHE masterpieces of different litera-
4. tures, those we consider a shared
utural heritage, have a universality
taises them above strictly national.
. Such a masterpiece, we have long
told in the comparative literature
es, is Manzoni’s ‘The Betrothed.”
the century and a quarter since
ee ae
e few | erican
critics have undertake: g it to
the attention of their countrymen or to
justify the place it has always held in
modern Italian culture as the basic de-
sign of narrative.
Instead, the book has been demoted
by those who have read cut versions in
translation—such as that used in the
Harvard Classics—to the place of a
lesser Waverley novel, and this coupling
of Scott’s name with Manzoni’s was
considered all the more apposite as Scott
was among the first great men of letters
to praise Manzoni abroad. So far has
“The Betrothed” slipped from the com-
mon domain of noble literature that re-
cently a captious critic, evidently unfa-
miliar with the work, likened it to
“Gone with the Wind,” an appraisal
which, if it directly induces anyone to
look into the novel, must cause some
rude surprises. “The Betrothed” is not
Scott, even at his best, nor can it be
likened to an over-long historical tale
with a verifiable incident on every page.
It is the first completely successful
blending of historical research, psycho-
logical insight, and literary talent, cast
in narrative form, to come from the
pen of a Continental writer. Its appear-
ance and the enthusiasm with which it
was received were milestones in the de-
velopment of modern fiction. (Sten-
dhal’s best books were to appear a
decade or more later; Stendhal was
thoroughly familiar with Manzoni’s
masterpiece in the original.)
Those who cannot read Manzoni in
the Italian have been discouraged until
now by the available English versions,
@anging from archaic and top-heavy to
downright incompetent. But Mr. Col-
quhoun has remedied all this. An ex-
ample chosen at random will illustrate
what he has done. The best available
translation so far goes:
The peasant who knows not how to
write and finds himself reduced to the
necessity of communicating his ideas to
the absent, has recourse to one who un-
derstands the art, taking him, as far as
he can, from among those of his own
rank, for, with others, he is either shame-
faced or afraid to trust them,
This becomes in Colquhoun’s ver-
sion;
The peasant who cannot write and
needs something written has recourse to
one with a knowledge of that art, choos-
ei ok, ee ete y i
\
’
ining him, as far as he can, from his own
walk in life; for he is either diffident or
distrustful of others.
Obviously, the changes are not in sense
but in clarity. The whole translation
sings its freedom from complex verbi-
age, boasts its uncluttered communica-
tive quality, and with its publication the
excuse that’ Manzoni is unreadable in
English has vanished.
The interesting thing is why it has
taken so long to get the job done. We
have continued to praise the book and
not read it, unlike the fate meted out to
“The most important book
in its human
implications,
that has been published
for a very long time."
—PEARL S. BUCK
The Geography
— of Hunger
By JOSUE DE CASTRO
F URGENT significance,
this book by the Chair-
man of the Executive
Council, United Nations Food
and Agriculture Organization,
considers mankind’s most cru-
cial problem: “the terrible
erosion that hunger is caus-
ing the human race and its
civilization, an erosion that
threatens to blot from the
earth all the gigantic works
of man,”
In a brilliant analysis of
the political and social factors
of hunger, Dr. de Castro takes
issue with the “Malthusian
scarecrow” that places over-
population at the root of mass
hunger and eventual catas-
trophe. He demonstrates that
we hold in our own hands the
means to combat the most
basic of all destructive forces,
“An outstanding contribution
to the fight against hunger
and the social problems which
have their root in it,” says
The Nation.
Foreword by Lord Boyd-Orr,
Nobel Peace Prize Winner.
352 PAGES
At all bookstores * $4.50
LITTLE, BROWN & COMPANY
e BOSTON °@
233
es
Cervantes, whose great work was read
in a variety of translations, some poor,
some merely dated, until it too was
treated to a first-rate contemporary trans-
lation by the late Sam Putnam—but it
was always read. Not so with Manzoni.
After the publication of the Col-
quhoun translation, Umberto Calosso,
Italian writer and critic with a special
affinity for Anglo-Saxon culture, lectured
in Rome on the previous Jack of interest
in the book in England. He came up with
the hypothesis that the English reader
seeks in a foreign classic something
alien to himself, something exotic. Man-
zoni’s novel, according to this critic, is
too English for the English readetr’s
taste. This amusing explanation has an
element of truth even here—but how
explain the popularity and permanence
of certain themes, notably the tale of
the rogue-hero, which seem indigenous
to every nation and hence exotic to
none? Perhaps Manzoni’s work lacks the
tight construction associated with suc-
cessful fiction. Instead “The Betrothed”
offers relevant detail and a breadth of
design which, when one has a chance
to savor the book without the handicap
of a faulty presentation, may at last in-
sure it a place in our gallery of giants.
FRANCES KEENE
Housing, Public and Private
TWO-THIRDS OF A NATION. A
HOUSING PROGRAM. By Nathan
Straus. Alfred A. Knopf. $4.
oe is always spurred by peo-
ple of singleness of purpose and
devotion to a cause. For many years
Nathan Straus has maintained singleness
_ of purpose and devotion to the cause of
better housing for families of low in-
come. He continues to maintain it in
_ “Two-Thirds of a Nation.” He writes as
a lover, with praise and devotion for his
beloved, Public Housing—and with vil-
_ ification for her rival, Private Housing.
In the process he bares some important
a _ housing facts which are too often cov-
ered up by fiction; but he also, in this
-writer’s opinion, does less than justice to
his Jady’s rival.
He has not presented a startling new
program for housing or urban tre-
development. He has reviewed and
Criticized present procedures, detailed
the workings of pressure groups which
oppose public assistance, and urged good
234
planning and the extension oF gore
ee eed ——
Dee ee
Mw, be
y wae
ment aid to provide housing for middle-
income families.
Mr. Straus has assembled an excellent
dossier to show that the true costs of
home ownership are frequently obscured
by over-zealous private-housing pro-
moters. Families of meager income are
induced to buy homes that they cannot
afford to maintain by advertisements
which specify that a home will cost x
dollars per month to “pay all’’—just
like rent. The ads list the “‘all” as inter-
est and amortization of mortgage, insur-
ance, and taxes; but they fail to mention
the cost of heat, maintenance, and re-
pair. Flagrant examples are presented of
improper advertising and of the actual
costs of a home in a project so adver-
tised. Instead of “$83 monthly charges
supposed to ‘cover everything’ "’—in one
example—"the true monthly cost is
about $120—or about 50 per cent more
than the advertised figure.” This grossly
misleading advertising practice is con-
trasted with the brochure of a non-profit
cooperative housing project in New
York City, Queensview, which reads:
“Monthly carrying charges (in place of
rent) will cover gas and electricity, heat
and hot water, all repairs, reserves, in-
surance, interest and amortization of the
mortgage, real-estate taxes, and an ade-
quate contingency fund. Redecoration
and replacement of ranges and refriger-
ators are not contemplated unless reve-
nues permit.”
Mr. Straus places the chief blame for
misleading advertising and shoddy con-
struction on the Federal Housing Ad-
ministration. I believe that he is sound
in so doing. The FHA should not per-
mit the advertising of half-truths about
homes on which it places insurance; nor
should it encourage undersized houses
that must become future slums of Amer-
ican-sized families, which will surely
overcrowd them. Instead. of supplying
mechanical gadgets as advertising
“come-ons,” builders should be prodded
by the FHA to supply adequate living
space. Frills and extra mechanical com-
forts may be added as the apdavidnal
pocket-book allows.
But Mr. Straus’s zeal for public hous-
ing runs away with him when he states
that “. . . any evaluation of FHA must
consider the fact that the agency has not
fulfilled its assigned task of enabling
private builders to provide homes within
a8 dle. inco.
He eas this sentence in ig
one by saying, “The single fainaly baled 3
.. have been far too expensive for this
income group.” But the impression he ~
leaves is still incorrect. Many FHA-in-
sured rental units throughout the coun-
try do house families of moderate in-.
come. There are quantities of good
single-family housing developments for ~
families of moderate income. The term | _
“middle income” needs exact definition.
Mr. Straus speaks of families in the \
lower brackets of middle income who:
border but are slightly above those with
incomes eligible for public housing.
And his zeal runs away with him
again when he rebukes a deputy admin- _
istrator of the FHA for telling a group *
of real-estate men that “the National ,
Housing Act is a profit-producing sales
tool for realtors.” It was meant to be *
just that. It was meant to aid our econ- ~
omy by restoring activity in the building —
trades and at the same time to supply ~
homes to families of moderate income.
The FHA does perform a disservice when
it becomes such an eager beaver that
it knowingly countenances hidden profits |
that reach bonanza proportions—as fre-
quently has happened in post-war pro-
grams. And Mr. Straus paints “these «
extras’ with a broad but informed
brush.
It is when Mr. Straus Starts gazing
lovingly overseas at housing sites and
neighborhood developments that the
writer parts company with him. The
British have conceived very fine plans,
but it is Americans who have actually
built the very well-planned housing de-
velopments. True, not all of ours have «
been well planned; but hundreds of
projects throughout the country—per-
haps thousands—have been laid out
with safety, charm, utility, and some ~
attention to recreation needs. I would
like to quote the report of the National
Committee on Housing, which sent a
mission to Great Britain at the invitation —
of the British Ministry of Health in the
summer of 1945. The mission, of which’ 4
I was a member, was struck by the ab-
sence of well-planned sites and neigh“
borhoods wherever we went, and re-
ported in “Britain Faces Its Housing |
Emergency”’:
t
»
Site-planning progress which had been
expected to make tremendous strides as
the result of the pioneering work done in
The NATION:
mity to the houses, and only occa-
sionally play facilities for older children
‘and adults.... 0
Neighborhood planning also had its
origin in Britain but like forward-looking
site planning was conspicuous by its ab-
sence in most of the cities visited. New
‘neighborhood planning occupies a promi-
ment place in all of the post-war pro-
grams. It is referred to as “American”
because so much more had been done in
this field here before the war than in the
country where the concept originated.
I may say that the British authorities
were pleased that we said this, for they
recognized its truth and lamented it. We
were there during the change from the
Churchill to the Attlee government and
“were escorted about by members of both
parties and by private builders, and they
were in agreement on this.
British post-war plans were glorious.
Unfortunately most of them are still on
paper; some that have been executed do
not follow the script. And this holds a
lesson that must be taken to heart: to
tealize good housing and urban rede-
velopment we do have to make am-
_ bitious plans but we must not overstep
_ the possibilities. Sir Raymond Unwin’s
ebjective of twelve families to the acre
is not a practical one for urban America,
I think that to aim for that objective
_ now is unrealistic and defers considera-
tion of objectives which are achievable
as well as desirable, But, as I have said,
Progress in housing, as in everything
else, is spurred by those of singleness of
Straus has both—and shows it; his ideal-
istic and extreme planning standards
have therefore great value as a prod
toward future improvement.
DOROTHY ROSENMAN
U nderstanding Blake
A PRIMER OF BLAKE. By Hal Saun-
ders White. Iowa: Littlefield, Adams,
Ames, $1.25.
JN THE welter of books on William
4 Blake, often muddling and often
pretentious, it is a pleasure to come
oss this unassuming and clear little
ok. Mr. White, who has taught Blake
ege students for more than fifteen
, has here embodied the results of
purpose and devotion to a cause. Mr.’
ing. . ees
Take for example, his comment on
The Lamb: “It is obvious that Blake in
this poem is not concerned with a natu-
ralistic animal. His content or subject
matter is the abstract, universal quality
of tenderness, meckness, mildness,
which exists now and did exist before
lambs were created. The lamb—Christ
—the child—Blake himself in this mood
of innocence—equally reflect the essen-
tial quality of infinite tenderness. The
lamb, Blake, the child, Christ are but
images held to the light to catch the rays
of this universal quality.”
This is admirably concise and serves,
for the student, to connect the poem
with the man who was also a painter
and who wrote:
I assert for My Self that I do not be-
hold the outward Creation & that to me
it is hindrance & not action; it is as the
dirt upon my feet, No part of Me.
“What,” it will be Question’d, “When the
Sun rises, do you not see a round disk of
fire somewhat like a Guinea?” O no, no,
I see an Innumerable company of the
Heavenly host crying, “Holy, Holy, Holy,
is the Lord God Almighty.” I question
not my Corporeal or Vegetative Eye any
more than I would Question a Window
concerning a Sight. I look thro’ it & not
with it.
While Mr. White does not venture
farther into the Everglades of the Pro-
phetic Books than The Marriage of
Heaven and Hell, The Book of Thel,
and Visions of the Daughters of Albion,
or offer to act as guide in the regions
where so many people, including W. B.
Yeats, have been lost, his comments on
the simpler and more direct works can-
not but make the student appreciate
Blake as a whole man, seen in the
round, and consequently not only lead
to keener appreciation of one of the
greatest of Englishmen but also en-
courage a sortie into the vast, and not
completely mapped, territories. It is to
be hoped that “A Primer of Blake” re-
ceives a wider distribution than its
modest appearance would seem to claim.
RUTHVEN TODD
Coming Soon in The Nation
“The Geography of Hunger”
By Josué de Castro
Reviewed by Barbara Cadbury
~ Prisoner of War
ONE GREAT PRISON. THE STORY
BEHIND RUSSIA’S UNRELEASED
POW’S. By Helmut M, Fehling.
Forewords by Konrad Adenauer and
Joseph Cardinal Frings. Translated
by Charles R. Joy. The Beacon Press.
$2.75.
HE fact that this book is on the
side of justice, humanitarianism,
and decency does not alter another fact
—namely, that it is a highly skilled job
of special pleading. The first part of the
book is a brief, grim account of Herr
Fehling’s experiences as a prisoner of
war in the U. S. S. R. The second part
is Mr. Joy’s compilation of documents
and news items relating to the German
and Japanese P. O. W.’s held by the
Soviets. The two parts together make an
effective addition to the steadily increas-
ing body of evidence about Soviet ways
and means,
It is to the credit of all concerned in
the writing and publishing of this book
that it is nowhere claimed to be anything
but what it is—the presentation of a case.
Mr. Joy says that the book’s purpose is
“to call attention once more to the
tragedy of the war prisoners.” Herr
Fehling and Cardinal Frings are more
specific,
Now we are forced to speak, in order
to arouse every last living soul, to make
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235,
i tana 5 re ie ae
Oa oe 9 eee
- sy? vow Me
hs “and nameless horror. [Fehling]
In the name of justice, of humanity,
of love, we plead with the leading nations
of the world to do everything possible to
throw light into the darkness and to se-
cure the release of those who are so un-
justly detained. [Frings]
_ Certainly no reader can complain of
lack of frankness, nor is anyone likely
to challenge the need for this presenta-
tion of facts. “One Great Prison’ sets
_ forth with brutal directness one side of
a story which is altogether horrendous.
The weight of Fehling’s indictment is
mot lessened by the fact that only a
part of the story is told. Yet it ought
to be remembered that there was another
and equally brutal part. An official Ger-
e ‘man report of February, 1942, recorded
F __ the death of all except “several hundred
__ thousand” of the 3,600,000 Soviet citi-
es ices who had been taken prisoner by the
_ Germans. The one wrong does not ex-
- cuse the other, but it may help to ex-
plain the Soviet attitude. At any rate,
_ the glare of publicity should be thrown
on both evils, and this book does one
By case of that job very effectively.
Incidentally, historians may some-
_ time be more interested in “‘One Great
- Prison” because of what it tells about
Pi the National Committee for a Free Ger-
_ tmany than because of its account of
horrors. WARREN B. WALSH
- Books in Brief
-
ES THe BEST OF THE BEST SHORT
_ STORIES, 1915-1950. Edited by Martha
ze Foley. Houghton Mifflin. $3.75. This
anthology of anthologized stories is
e ee! weighted in favor of the thirties
_ and the forties: only four of the twenty-
i “five stories included are drawn from the
__ earlier volumes of the Best Short Story
BS annuals. Logically enough, three of
these four are Anderson’s I’m a Fool,
rp Lardner’s Haircut, and Hemingway’s
My Old Man. The rest of the collec-
tion is a handy compendium of familiar
_ stories of recent years—some of them
too familiar—with a nod to almost
Re peeery taste. There are inferior examples
of Kay Boyle and William Faulkner,
but there are also Jean Stafford’s agoniz-
ing ode to pain, The Interior Castle, and
_ Walter Van Tilburg Clark’s superb The
_ Wind and the Snow of Winter.
236
&
* pil
the whole world cry out in indignation. *
Scar mY ey >
Coa J
7 on a ‘
Jean-Louis Curtis. Translate
Wydenbruck. Putnam. $35 50. oN Gas.
court Prize novel of small-town life in
France during the Nazi occupation, with
some of the sardonic quality that has
won Marcel Aymé international audi-
ences. Curtis views Resistance workers,
Vichyites, and neutralists with a gently
mocking eye that is peculiarly French
and admirably suited to his subject. Al-
though his fangs are not as sharp as
Aymé’s, and his story deteriorates sud-
denly into melodrama, he is adept
at both caricature and more profound
revelations of character; and he is much
more fun to read than those French
novelists of his generation who seem to
be translated because they take Ameri-
can mystery writers as models,
MANNY
FARBER
Art
HE illusion of tragedy in Frederick
Franck’s’ works (Lilienfeld Gal-
leries) convinced French critics that
these were great examples of obsessed
art. The tragedy, however, seems to
me to be only skin deep. His scenes
take place in the hours of the elves and
deal with human suffering as it turns
up in the form of all sorts of sub-
jects from goats to clocks, from fairly
settled landscapes to hallucinatory shots
of half-nude abstract men running
around madly with butcher knives and
bouquets of candles. His dreamy im-
agery evolves decisively and suddenly
out of a black background that sug-
gests but does not show searching and
struggling in an abyss. Along with the
yellowish white patches im darkness
which have become a trademark of the
Ryder school, Franck uses enough other
gimmicks to date him almost as a
“modern” painter (Braque’s cubistic
apple with a small color fog around the
edges, Ben Shawn’s strung-up figure
leaning to portside, Beckmann’s slashes,
and Picasso’s split image), But despite
the mannerisms, he paints pictures that
have a touch of Houdini about them.
There is a good deal of éclat and
mystery in the surfaces, which have the
effervescent waxiness of an old master
plus the spotless neatness of a Dutch
. 4 . _ F y u i “4 =< f2 e aa 4
HE FORESTS OF T. By He but it is not
his Sata eel ae
’ pictures seems to be the glorification of
rather corny lump sth in the |
center of the picture, so that your —
eyes can move around the sides of the .—
lump without hitting anything that
looks interesting. And yet the spaces
at the sides divide and vary endlessly _
as few current New York paintings do. —
Franck seems to coast through every |
stage of a painting up to the last post,
but then he closes with a dramatic ~
kick. His skyscrapers are flimsy nota-
tions, but the last things he puts on
them—windows, an overhead tunnel °
between buildings—are solid and flashy.
If Franck dropped the mannerisms and
discarded “suggestions” of depth, he
would be free of mediocre notes in his
work,
Why James N. Rosenberg spent a
year in the Holy Land sketching and
making mental notes for the eighteen
studio-made landscapes at the Central
Synagogue escapes me. An ardent Zion-
ist, lawyer, and postcard realist make a
combination that is bound to build a
sincere and sentimental case for Israel
even in his own backyard. He reveals
the Holy Land as a mixture of the
Imperial Valley and the Adirondacks,
replete with the greenest M-G-M
grass, olive trees that writhe and shake ©
with life, and, overhead, hope in the
form of sunlight bursting through a
dark mass of clouds. He paints with a
frozen brush stroke that makes the
surfaces of his groves, forests, pipe
lines, and hovels appear to be crawling
with angle worms, all going in the
same direction toward the upper-right
corner of the picture. There are for-
tunately some homely, lively elements in
his work that hark back to, of all peo-
ple, C. S. Price and a few other sage-
brush poets of canvas.
The American Abstract Artists—
from Albers to Von Wicht—have put
fifty paintings into a stodgy show at the
New Gallery, dedicated to noiseless- —
ness, super-human control, and the.
beauty of the square. The point of these
anonymity, all but four or five of the
artists succeeding only too well. The
best pictures: McNeil’s black anchor
held captive in a lurid blue surface (the
only loud painting in the show);
The NATION —
dgot
an’s frosting of white and back
gles that have all the constrained
shock of Kootz Gallery painting;
_ Biaine’s busy welter of postcard images
and color which looks like several
‘dozen dirty saucers of milk slopping
over.
JOSEPH
WOOD
KRUTCH
EARLY everyone who saw—or
N better yet read—the first plays of
‘Christopher Fry had the same reaction.
There was an astonished delight with
his really dazzling gift for words, and
there was the hope that he would be
able before long to find for that gift
some more substantial use.
The gift-has not been withdrawn.
er continues to demonstrate that he
can exploit better than any other mod-
“exn what may be called the more purely
entertaining possibilities of the neo-
metaphysical style. Part of the charm
is a youthful exuberance and his own
_ frank astonishment at his copiousness
and fluency. Another and related part
is a certain self-mockery which leads
one character to end a long harangue
with an apology for his own inarticu-
lateness and permits another, one of
Fry's few common-sense personages, to
interrupt a metaphysical discourse with
the remark that we don’t really need to
go into all that just now. When still
another observes that the Great Bear
looks so geometrical that it ought to
‘prove something, or that, since every-
body is lost, the best we can do is to
make whatever we are lost in seem as
homelike as possible, then the amuse-
ment we experience must be remotely
like that of an Elizabethan who met for
‘the first time John Lyly and his
“Euphues.” But though Fry has kept
this gift he seems to have made no
‘progress whatsoever in discovering any
way to use it for any larger purpose.
His ostensibly dramatic speeches remain
almost purely decorative. They do not
cist in order to tell a story. On the
utrary, the story exists only as an
cuse for the speeches.
8, 1952
pretentious.
But the unfortunate ee is that the re-
sult is only to demonstrate more clearly
how little, as plays, they count for. “A
Phoenix Too Frequent,” being no more
than the retelling of a familiar anec-
dote, was for that very reason sufficient
apology for its own ‘insubstantiality.
“The Lady’s Not for Burning,” invent-
ing its own fable, promised more and
succeeded tolerably in fulfilling its
promise, partly because it was simple,
fanciful, and sufficiently fantastic in its
premises not to insist upon being taken
any more seriously than one felt in-
clined to take it. But “Venus Observed”
(Century Theater) attempts something
which the author, so far at least, is
simply not capable of accomplishing be-
cause it demands of the spectator a
kind of credence which he cannot pos-
sibly give it. The scene is contemporary;
the motives of the characters, instead of
being purely fantastic, are uncomfort-
ably close to something which one must
take literally or not at all; and the char-
acters themselves are too much like
real people to express themselves suit-
ably in Mr. Fry’s artificial idiom,
The Theater Guild was evidently de-
termined to give the play every chance.
It provided two elaborate sets and en-
gaged two popular performers, Rex
Harrison and Lilli Palmer, to interpret
the leading roles. One result is that in
the beginning a certain confidence is
inspired, But one’s interest oozes slowly
away as one begins to realize that, aside
from amusing turns of speech, one is
being given nothing but a common-
place story told less effectively than it
could be told by the simple melodra-
matic methods which have been used to
teli it on the stage again and again,
No rococo decoration supplied by the
language or the other incidental, often”
rather pretentious, elaborations can con-
ceal the fact that this story is nothing
except that old standby of sensational
sentimental fiction which involves a
beautiful young girl in love with a
young man but feeling compelled to
accept the attentions of an old one be-
cause he has what used to be called ‘‘a
hold over her’’—in this case, as so
many times before, inhering in the fact
that our heroine's father has been guilty
of certain peculations which the un-
welcome suitor can expose,
Mr. Fry employs a variety of devices
in his attempt to make all this seem
more meaningful and less banal than it
is. The old suitor is a noble Don Juan
about to retire from his amorous hob-
bies and to take up astronomy, The
young lover is his own son, and the
erring father of the heroine is a comic
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237
7 . = z ee age re eed
th, Te
secretary to the Don Juan whose timid
embezzlements the victim would never
dream of using for the purposes which
the distressed heroine believes herself
about to become the victim of. The real
substance of the play is, I imagine, sup-
posed to be the elaborately developed
and constantly changing sentimental
perplexities of the heroine, treated in a
manner which suggests that Mr. Fry has
been reading too attentively recent
French plays like ‘Legend for Lovers.”
But the more elaborate these sentimen-
tal perplexities become, the less real
- and the less interesting they are, until
long before the last curtain descends,
the spectator has come to the point
where he is more-eager to reach some
conclusion than concerned over what
the conclusion will be. Up to the very
end the author continues to send up
occasional skyrockets of words, but one
has completely lost hope that even they
will illuminate anything.
One deduction seems _ inevitable.
Whatever the solution of Mr. Fry's
problem may be, it is not to be found
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Y.
(7) PULITZER PRIZE and CRITICS’ AWARD
a RICHARD RODGERS & OSCAR HAMMERSTEIK Zed
present in associotion with
LELAND HAYWARD & JOSHUA LOGAM
MARTHA WRIGHT
GEORGE BRITTON
South Pacific
Music by RICHARD RODGERS
Ayrics by —* ees 2nd
OSCAR auOnestoat aid & em LOGAN
Adapted from JAMES A. MICHENER’S Politzer
Prize Winning ‘TALES OF THE SOUTH PACIFIC’
Directed by JOSHUA LOGAN
ae & Lighting by Jo Miclziner _
h MYRON McCGRMICK
KMESTIC “THEATRE 44th St, West of B’way
Evenings 8:30. Matinces Wed. & Sat., 2.39
Bonday Eves. only. Curtain at 7 sharp,
SS wa oS a
; > an . 7
ae yt > te vo 4
+ “s - >: or
_in the Senta al ae Fo
all its fantastic elements, “Venus one
served” has already gone too far in that
direction.
Ballet
NE had thought that in “The Four
Temperaments” Balanchine's ela-
boration of the classical ballet idiom
had gone as far as it could go; but it is
carried even further in his new piece,
“Caracole” (previously entitled “Diver-
tissement Classique”), to Mozart’s
Divertimento K.287—and specifically in
the second movement, where Mozart's
own elaboration of his musical theme in
the series of variations invites the suc-
cession of astoundingly complex, bril-
liant, and beautiful solos which ex-
ploit the individual capacities and styles
of Wilde, Hayden, Adams, LeClercq,
Eglevsky, and Tallchief, and which they
execute in breathtaking fashion. There
is superb invention also for the great
Adagio movement of the Divertimento
—invention which is exciting to look
at, but which, for the first time in my
experience, doesn’t seem to me to go
with, or work with, the music in the
way the dance movement does with
the music of the. Andante of
“Concerto Barocco” or “Sinfonie Con-
certante’—the way of an added coun-
terpoint, with music and dance move-
ment enlarging each other's effect and
meaning. The Adagio of the Di-
vertimento is a long solo aria with a
continuous flow which, for me, is
disturbed by the shift from one sup-
ported dancer to another for each new
musical phrase; also, some of the ac-
tivity seems to me excessive for the
sustained melodic style of the music.
But the opening Allegro for the solo-
ists (who include Magallanes and Rob-
bins in addition to those I have men-
tioned) and corps is charming, the
Minuet for corps alone delightful, the
finale a crescendo of spectacular and
joyous brilliance, the piece as a whole
one of the major Balanchine products. It
uses the costumes, without the decor, of
““Mozartiana,’” which I would like to
see in that “‘sunny masterpiece” once
more.
Balanchine is charmingly inventive
B. HH:
HAGGIN
‘in the literal sense of the word, as the
yain in the
ne c diffe “e}
ee of sia + the
style and scale of the engine g"Aadan |
Songs and Dances” from Virgil Thom-
son’s music for ‘Louisiana Story.” And
as always the piece is well contrived for
the dancers involved—Moncion, Breck-
inridge, Hayden, Laing, Adams, and
Bliss. For this one there are excellent -
scenery and costumes by Dorothea —
Tanning. :
Robbins provides no explicit program
for his new “Ballade” to music of .,
Debussy; but as in his other ballets ©
there are the moment at the begin-
ning when the people on the stage.
turn and look meaningfully at some-
one who looks back at them and then —
leaves the stage, and the similar mo- ;
ment at the end; and these confirm
one’s impression from other details
that in this piece again Robbins is say-
ing something about human life as he .
has been thinking about it. The im-
portant thing again, however, is not
what he says on this subject, but the
dance terms in which he says it; and
these I found unimpressive, except for
a superbly contrived and superbly ex- .
ecuted dance for Reed and Tobias. |
The New Music Quartet’s perform-
ance of Beethoven’s Opus 131 at the
Y. M. H. A. was highly agreeable to
the ear and satisfying tg the mind,
and also free of the high-tension quality
that had disturbed me in the srecorded
performance of Opus 59 No. 3. But
having thought the question of the
acoustic quality of the Y auditorium
had been settled by the dry sound there ~
of the violins of the Quartetto Italiano,
I found it unsettled again by the clear
radiance of the violins of the New
Music Quartet. The only explanation
that has occurred to me is that the
hall was only half-filled this time-
As for recordings of chamber music,
all six of the Mozart quartets dedicated
to Haydn are played by the Roth
Quartet on three Mercury LP’s; and.
having hoped for performances as fine,
one of K.464 which the Roth Quartet
recorded for Columbia seventeen years
ago, I was disappointed and shocked by
the fussy inflection, the constant swell-—
ing and contracting of sonority, the”
crude accentuation that I heard mos
of the time. In addition the recorded
The NATIO’ N
Koeckert Quartet on a Decca record
effective for the most part—my
ajor reservation being about the very
slow statement of the ‘‘Death and the
Maiden” theme and the changes of
tempo in the subsequent variations (the
Andante con moto and alla breve direc-
tions indicate a faster initial tempo
ich could be maintained throughout
the movement). The recorded sound,
when it is bright enough, is unpleasantly
-oarse; and at times—the latter half of
the first movement, the scherzo move-
ment—it isn’t bright enough.
Verdi’s Quartet, in which he amused
himself and charms us with an exercise
‘of the mastery in instrumental writing
and the subtle harmonic sense that we
hear in the later operas, is the more
engaging for the playing of the Quar-
tetto Italiano on the London record—
its lightness and grace, its delicacy
| and sensitiveness employing its fine
| gradations of extraordinarily blended
|" tone. Schumann’s Opus 41 No. 2 is on
” the reverse side. The playing is superbly
reproduced except for a dryness which
seems to be characteristic of London
‘recording of strings—as the warmth
and luster of the sound of the recent
Paganini Quartet performance of
Beethoven’s Opus 132 are characteristic
of RCA Victor.
. ~
_ CorRECTION: My opening sentence
about Vivaldi’s concertos last week in-
cluded the statement: ‘a fourth, the
Concerto in G major for strings and
cembalo, I find interesting.” This should
have read: “I find less interesting.”
CONTRIBUTORS
;
| ALBERT GUERARD, professor emeri-
| | tus of comparative and general literature
|
at. Brandeis University.
DOROTHY ROSENMAN is chairman
‘Of the National Committee on Housing.
EN TODD edited Alexander
silchrist’s “Life of William Blake” in
man’s Library, ee
at Stanford University, is now lecturing
7
-
4
B. WALSH is chairman of
td of Russian Studies at Syracuse
Sree S7
An Unholy Alliance
Dear Sirs: Mr. Kim in The Nation of
February 9 has advocated some concrete
and helpful suggestions for a Korean
settlement. However, both he and Mr,
Lattimore have overlooked the prin-
cipal obstacle to Korean unification.
The way will not be clear for a peaceful
settlement until the unholy alliance be-
tween Rhee and Washington is broken.
In fact, any over-all settlement in Asia
will be impossible as long as the United
States persists in supporting the most
reactionary and unpopular elements in
the East. DAVID SHAINE
New York
Good Intentions Not Enough
Dear Sirs: In my article in the Febru-
ary 9 issue of The Nation 1 stated that
“more energetic action might have been
looked for from the liberal Governor
Adlai Stevenson.” Despite the letter in
your March 1 issue from some distin-
guished citizens of Illinois, this state-
ment still appears to me to be true.
1. As admitted in the letter ‘the
tragic fact is that the Cairo school
board has been breaking the state law
for years in maintaining segregated pub-
lic schools.’ Despite the fact that this
has occurred for four years of Governor
Stevenson's administration, the Cairo
schools have continued to receive over
$200,000 annually from state funds in
violation of the Jenkins amendment,
which provides that no common-school
funds will be granted to any school
district that fails to comply with the re-
quirement that ‘no pupil shall be ex-
cluded from or segregated in any school
on account of his color, race, or nation-
ality.” The State Superintendent of
Public Instruction has the statutory re-
sponsibility for the enforcement of this
law. Although he is an elective officer,
he must report to the Governor, and the
Governor has the responsibility to sce
that the law is enforced.
2. As adinitted in the letter “there
was violence and there still is high ten-
sion in the community. For this many
are to blame and probably no governor
and no official commission can do
enough.” To admit that not enough has
been done would seem to agree with
my assertion that “more energetic action
might have been looked for.” Certainly
the Cicero riots have given the state
fe tate Paths Aen ee . o 2 eas * 2
asda Ms 5
warning that racial violence could erupt
at a moment’s notice unless forthright
steps to deal with the whole problem
were taken swiftly. The Governor, as
chief law-enforcement agent of the
State, has this responsibility.
3. On February 7 eight persons
spearheading a movement to break
down segregation in Cairo were ar-
rested and charged with conspiracy to
“endanger the life and health of certain
_ children,”” These persons included the
president of the Cairo branch of the
NW. A: A: GC. P., ‘two No AS ASG
field secretaries, a doctor whose home
‘was blasted, a white attorney who had
been handling legal aspects of the case,
and Negro community leaders. It is of
course true that the Governor can
neither indict nor quash indictments,
But the writers of the letter upholding
Governor Stevenson give the Governor
and his commission credit for the ar-
rest of four white persons in the com-
munity. If they could influence issuance
of indictments against these persons, it
would seem to follow that they should
have been able to prevent the travesty
of justice involving the N. A. A. C, P,
officials.
4, On February 14 N. A. A, C, P,
leaders met with an Illinois legislative
WE THE PEOPLE CAN
PREVENT concentration camps
STOP violence against the Negro people
PRESERVE free ideas in our schools
PROTECT the right to counsel
Repeal Smith and McCarran Acts
Hear distinguished speakers on
The Crisis in Bur Civil Liberties
Mon.—MARCH 10TH—8:30 P.M.
Admission: $1.20 (tax incl.)
Ausplees: NAT'L COUNCIL ASP
49 W. 44 St. MU 7-261
eee
TWO OUTSTANDING DEBATES
Monday—MARCH 17—8:30 P.M.
DO SOVIET POLICIES LEAD
TOWARD WORLD PEACE?
YES—Cor.iss LAMONT NO—P8TER ViIERECK
Chairman—NorMAN THOMAS
Monday—MARCH 24—8:30 P.M.
Does Government Ald to Religion Violate
the First Amendment of the Constitution?
YES—D. HARRINGTON NO—J. M, O’ NEILL
Chairman—Swnexy Hook
————
Courso Fee (both events) $2.00 rh aon $1.50
The opinions of the debaters do not neces~
oe reflect the policies of the Rand sen
RAND SCHOOL 7 &. (5 St., N. Y.
AL 5-6250
0 UR be See
a, 5
239
committee which included a aeene
tive of the Governor and the general
counsel for the Superintendent of Pub-
lic Instruction. Our report of those
proceedings indicates that Mr. Hudson,
the general counsel, claimed that he
had no power to do anything in the
matter. As George Leighton, Chicago
attorney, who spoke as representative of
the national office of N. A. A. C. P.,
said, "We consider it an insult to at-
tend a meting dealing with a matter so
important only to be confronted by
evasive attempts on the part of the re-
_ sponsible official stating that in sub-
stance he can do nothing about a case
that has attracted nation-wide atten-
tion.” Once again it would appear that
“more energetic action’ might have
been taken by Governor Stevenson.
5. The statement attributed to Rus-
sell Babcock, Director of the Illinois
Commission on Human Relations was
one that appeared in reports -received
from people on the scene.
6. No effort was made in my article
to suggest that Governor Stevenson and
the Ilinois Commission were bigoted
or personally sympathetic with racial
violence in Cairo. I personally believe
them to be well intentioned, but the
facts would seem to demonstrate con-
clusively that although no sins of com-
PERSONALS
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Write for booklet, or phone
MAY RICHARDSON
Dept. TN, itt West 72 Street
New York Cl AEN 2s ee hee Ns ae EN 2-2033
mission were : ‘commie i .
for omissions must rest upon the Gov- _
; = 5 .
pet wae | so e
ernor and his agencies. might
have secured the enforcement of the
Jenkins amendment long before any
violence took place. They might have
had adequate state police on hand to
prevent terror and intimidation. The
Illinois Commission on Human Rela-
tions might have helped prepare the
community for the transfers and held
meetings and consulted with public
officials at the time of the violence. Cer-
tainly they did not display the kind of
eternal vigil ance that is the price of
freedom. LEONARD SCHROETER
New York
Prisoners of Fear
Dear Sirs: Hannah Bloom's The Law of
Diminishing Returns in The Nation of
December 29 and Burnham P. Beckwith’s
letter which appeared in your letters
column off January 19 are characteristic
of what Justice Douglas describes as
“the black silence of fear.” They reflect
his apprehension over our “drifting in
the direction of repression” and suc-
cumbing to fear. Justice Douglas sees
our mieds put under a sort of unde-
clared martial law which sets off a
chain reaction of fears. America seems
to be gripped in an ever-tightening vise
of fear bordering on the “pathological.
Unreasoning fear dominates our think-
ing and our opinions, giving rise to
doubt and suspicion.
Psychologically, a mass or hysterical
fear of a threat is as dangerous as the
threat itself. In mass hysteria the ra-
tional sense for collective security is
paralyzed and overpowered by the irra-”
tional impulse for self-protection, which
leads to confusion and disunity.
The crucial test in a challenge to a
free society is its ability to maintain the
THE EXIT OF CAPITALISM
‘The clearest and most easily understood treatise and analysis
of Capitalism we have ever seen. What makes it tick, why it
is doomed, what we must cdo if we are to avoid confusion and
ultjmate total collapse.
AT EXACTLY HALE PRICE
Brief but to the point. Written only as a teacher, in this case
Dy. E. L. Dwight Turner, for forty years a professional edu-
cator, could write it. It did sell at 10¢ a copy, $1.00 per dozen.
Well worth that figure. Now, order two copies for a dime.
Help a friend learn about the so-called “profit” system.
Sent postpaid.
ACTION PUBLICATIONS
Se eae
NORWALK, OHIO
7 ee as ae x
ssponsibilitie proper rela hip betw
rC ,
anational imbalance capable 0 shifting
responsibility or exaggerating the dange
at the expense of those institutions is
bound to weaken their power and make ,
the danger greater than it actually is.
Paradoxically, we seem to be lapsing —
into a vicious circle of trying to allay”
fear by restricting freedom, which in ©
turn generates more fear, resulting ina
kind of weakening self-flagellation— | _
transforming symptoms into a disease. +
Instead of meeting the critical situation +
with positive, constructive remedies we: —
use a negative approach to a solution by
questioning the loyalty of our citizens:
and muzzling all unorthodox opinions.
It has become increasingly clear that . ©
once we embark on a program of j |
screening and licensing thoughts, the , |
state of mind which leads to these con- }
ditions breeds the private Gestapo, the
informer, and star-chamber procedure,
The prospect of economic or social
ostracism as the wages of iconoclasm
drives many into the comfortable shel- ~
ter of protective orthodoxy, leaving
them confined within the narrow cell
of stereotyped attitudes, oblivious of |
the fact that heresies have contributed ;
greatly to the growth of civilization. —
Philadelphia MAX BISER
A Peace Directory
Dear Sirs: The pioneer edition of
“USA Peace Directory” (1951) listed
340, and gav@ references to names and
addresses of 3,000 additional, peace
committees in the United States. All
peace organizations and peace commit-
tees which issue peace-action releases or
publications are requested to send their
material to the U. S. Committee Against
Militarization, 6329 South May Street,
Chicago 21, so that we can list them in
the 1952 supplement.
Chicago ALBERT BOFMAN
CORRECTION -
In Josue de Castro’s article The Mal-
thusian Scarecrow in The Nation for
February 16, in the sentence “If only
20 per cent of the uncultivated arable _
land in Africa and South America were
plowed and planted, we should have
9,000,000,000 more acres producing *
food,” the figure should have been
900,000,000; and in the sentence “De-
velopment of 10 per cent of the arable
land in Russia and Canada now untilled
would mean an additional 3,000,-
000,000 acres,” the figure should have —
been 300,000,000. ;
The Nation iJ
BY isu LEWIS
i _-
.
Po ao
ACROSS
a Making ligt ht packages? (6, 7)
a Light on th e range for some? (Look
in mine for it. (5)
1 There’s no holding such things if not
skilled about 10. (9)
. He’s free in the railroad to get a
eo Se p. (9)
a 3 and 2 down. Carl Mydans and Noel F.
| Busch work on it—their daily bread,
me in fact. (5, 2, 4)
(14 Implying the quartet has a rosy
glow, but not sincerely so. (12
19 Ace nothing out of something?
12)
2 ee panes frequently contain a
'24 An agreement at a revolutionary
¥ battleplace? Quite the reverse. (9)
|} 25 He might have control over the will,
FE ‘but makes us great or otherwise.
(9)
26 Y-clept. ( 5)
4 se oocied in by the anti-TVA lobby?
— DOWN
| 2 See 13 across.
3 Where to find the work mixed? And
' in'trouble, too! (2, 3, 4)
4 Who's at the bottom of this clumsi-
ness? My dear! (9)
| 6 Beside the point, when it comes to
money! (5)
- POLO PONI®S;
5 Like a mountain hotel, perhaps: (5)*
Readers are invited to send for a free copy of Mr. Lewis's
requests to Puzzle Dept., The Nation, 20 Vesey Street, New York 7, New York.
7 Do they come right after L-brack-
ets? (8)
8 No wood left after the second de-
livery! (5)
9 Flesh is bad for the egocentric. (7)
15 What to do with it? Candy for cake.
5, 4)
16 Unbelievable beginning in verse
form? (Some women are beneath
such things!) (9)
17 Is speech just a habit of modern
times? (7)
18 This sort of race is no problem for
those responsible for the plot. (8)
20 The first man I see seems to be a
writer. (6)
21 With mankind, man is the proper
one, (5)
23 This is hard, if not up-in points, (5)
24 Scalp trouble might be implied in
one of 7. (5)
R
SOLUTION TO PUZZLE No. 454
ACROSS :—4 ACCIDENTS; 9 COMMOTION:
10 NOUNS; 11-INSULATES; 12 LOOSE; 13
17 CIRCASSIAN; 22 IMAG-
INING; 23 EMEER; 24 TROCADERO; 25
SZNSELESS; 26 EVOKE.
DOWN:—1 PICNIC; 2 REMISS;
across SPOILSPORTS; 5 CONESTOGA
WAGONS; 6, 4 down and, 21 DON’T LOOK
A GIFT HORSH IN THE MOUTH; 7 NEU-
ROTIC; : Raise PIENSE; 14 SCAMPERS; 15
FRAUL® ;16 WAR ise 18 PIRATE;
19 DINED: / 20 IGNORE
8 and 1
“ground rules." Address
Priated 1a the U. 8, A. by STaINaEno Pawss, Ino,, Morgan & Johnson Avos., Brooklyn 6, N.Y. oGizagB0
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E NATION
TH
ervice
8
GY
ort
bet
oO
as a pu
Bevan’s Bid for Power—Andrew Roth
| a
ms ‘ ag
f i y
a ij
* i “B. SR Ri i Th ( ih
k ; B
é x UB, , ic WN Ae
N\&, (i aR ") : 4 te
y — > a Ne y F f)
of ‘Va
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March 15, 1952
Machine-Gun Politics
_ Chicago’s Bipartisan Corruption
BY CAREY McWILLIAMS
<> ae
<> ee ws a ee
SSS eee
+ )
Studies inSex—a Debate
ALBERT ELLIS AND DONALD WEBSTER CORY |
VS. . |
MILTON R. SAPIRSTEIN |
a
| Communism in the Public Schools
| _ BY FREDA KIRCHWEY
CENTS A COPY ? EVERY WEEK SINCE 1865 : 7 DOLLARS A YEAR
: o
Metamorphosis of a
Newspaper
; Denver, Colorado
e HEN Palmer Hoyt took over as
Ae editor and publisher of the Den-
ver Post early in 1946, liberals in the
Rocky Mountain region offered a fer-
vent prayer that a deliverer had come.
For years the lurid, blatant journalistic
- fare dished up by the famous Bonfils
and Tammen regime had made the
Post synonymous with yellow journal-
ism at its worst. At. first their prayers
seemed to be answered. Hoyt soon
transformed the Post into one of the
_ most forward-looking dailies in the
_ West. The new editorial page was a
model of journalistic integrity. Con-
tributed editorials and full-length col-
umns by local citizens who had some-
_ thing to say were invited—in addition
to the customary letters to the editor.
The unpopularity or radicalism of the
views expressed did not bar their pub-
lication.
The Post’s own editorials were pre-
dominantly progressive. Most signifi-
cant, perhaps, was the new editor's en-
lightened internationalism, in striking
contrast to the old Post's chauvinistic
isolationism, But Hoyt also championed
such causes as public power develop-
ment, civil rights, rent control, public
housing, and adequate anti-trust regula-
tion. Though the Post backed Dewey
in 1948, it indorsed the liberal John A.
Carroll (Democrat) against the con-
servative Eugene Millikin (Republican)
in the 1950 Senate contest in Colorado
and has supported other liberal can-
didates.
Despite this record, the Post today,
six years after Hoyt’s arrival, is rapidly
losing friends in liberal circles. Thou-
sands of loyal readers are in a quandary,
torn between their former genuine ad-
miration for most of the paper's poli-
‘cies and their mounting alarm at some
of the causes it has recently supported.
The most disconcerting of the Post's
recent aberrations was its clamor for
dropping the atomic bomb in Korea—
it even boasted that it was the only
major daily to urge this. Though the
Post upheld President Truman’s right
to fire General MacArthur, it has seen
eye to eye with the General on most
roe eats oe!
“AROUND °
of his ideas for winning the Korean
war.
For some time, too, the Post has in-
‘dulged in smear-by-association tactics,
not in editorials but in news stories.
Items like this are not uncommon:
“Denver Communists and a handful of
sympathizers picketed the F. W. Wool-
worth store . . . in what picketers
charged was discrimination by the com-
pany against Negroes. . . . Although
the picketers said they were members
of the East Denver Young Progres-
sives Club . . . several known Com-
munists were observed in the group.”
The reporter went on to say that he had
spotted several other individuals “near
by’’ who were identified—in his mind
at least—with left-wing causes; includ-
ing “the Wallace party.”
Perhaps the most shocking of recent
Post smear jobs was an editorial attack-
ing the Anti-Defamation League and
“organized Jewry" for their “threats of
boycott and discrimination against the
radio commentator Upton Close.” Such
action, the editorial said, proves that
“organized Jewry is a pressure group’’
and confirms Close’s charge of persecu-
tion. After protests, a second editorial
partially retracted the charge but still
insisted that Jews were ill-advised in
taking action against Close, that they
should only “declare themselves op-
posed” to him. This, as the Anti-Defa-
mation League pointed out, was all they
were actually doing.
Still another Post editorial attacked
certain ‘‘non-Communist left-wing”
publications for not being able to agree
on every issue and even getting into
spats with one another. The Nation
was characterized as a “cynically above-
it-all magazine, with definite Zionist
overtones.”
Then there was the case of David
Hawkins, a professor of philosophy at
the University of Colorado, who ad-
mitted former membership in the Com-
munist Party but insisted that his
sympathies were no longer with the |
Communists and that his former afflia-
tion in no way affected his teaching abil-
ity. The Post decided that Hawkins
should be crucified—if not in editorials,
in so-called “‘news’’ stories—but despite
its agitation the Board of Regents
voted four to one to retain Hawkins on
the faculty. Oaly then did the paper
- illustration of its present ambiguous po-
oe >
c wy ae an
{ : 1% Ae a
‘,
sos om oh,
yee
ne a
bring up its editorial guns, The verdict, a
it protested, was not “proper,” since 4
Hawkins had declined to put the finger
n “persons he knew to be Communists ’
in his local organization”; in failing to
discharge him on this ground, the re-
gents had “served badly the cause of
continued freedom.” a
The Post's labor policy is another
sition. While Hoyt travels about the . —
country singing the praises of the labor =
movement—all fully reported in Post
news stories—he attacks unions in his
own bailiwick. For several years he has
carried on a ruthless campaign to smash
the Post's Newspaper Guild unit. On
at least four occasions the Guild has —
been forced to file charges of unfair
labor practices to obtain redress.
What has happened to blur the fine
promise of Hoyt’s direction of the
Post? It is said that his drop-the-
bomb obsession may be the result of
top-level briefing in Washington. Hoyt
has important connections in the capital
and is an influential member of the
President's Air Policy Commission,
which in January, 1948, issued a highly
significant report on plans for Ameri-
can aviation in war and peace. Partly
because of his work on this commission, — 9)
he has even been suggested for high
government office.
An explanation far the Past’s views §
on domestic isst a
discover. One th
eralism was ne
for basic undem
seems unlikely
forthright stan
suggestion offe '
Hoyt intimatel: eo
is sharply divi
and humane si
liberalism. At
insatiable thirs ‘ Oe
himself a ma oo a ae
convinced tha | ‘., ig
often believe . " a
same mission. In a recent debate, ru: ca-
ample, Hoyt said that we must drop the _
A-bomb now to “fulfil our national des- —
tiny, to be true to history.” With such a _
philosophy, Hoyt may well conceive of —
himself as one of history's errand boys.
MAX AWNER
[Max Awner is assistant editor of the i
Colorado Labor Advocate.]} a
al eee ee |
~
AMERICA’S LEADING
i
.
VOLUME 174
The Shape of Things
E NEW RIGHTIST PREMIER ANTOINE PINAY,
has, surely unwillingly, rendered a double service to the
progressive cause in France by splitting the Gaullists and
by throwing the Socialists into the opposition, Even if
General De Gaulle succeeds in reestablishing formal
‘discipline when the new Cabinet goes to the National
Assembly on Tuesday, the break in the Gaullist move-
‘ment is an important and also an amusing event. From
_ the position above the conflicts of daily politics on which
‘De Gaulle has ensconced himself, he often expressed
utter contempt for the divisions within the other partics.
' Now at the decisive hour, when his fortunes were
_ mounting, his disciplined Rally of the French People has
| proved no more solid than any of the old party groups.
_ The Socialists will benefit from being put in a situation
_that allows no further doubt in regard to their attitude.
_ The Socialist Party was suffering from sharp interna! dis-
_ sensions because of its lack of a clear political line; in
the opposition it can, under bolder leadership, recover
Jost prestige and authority among the workers. This is
especially true since the government is more reactionary
‘in every respect than any France has had since the Liber-
ation. Not oply will it show greater dependence on
| Washington, in terms of both finance and policy; it is
| also pledged to a domestic program sure to antagonize
and thus consolidate the left. More ominous perhaps even
egislation regulating strikes. Pinay is the first man to
| crystallize the reactionary clerical majority in the 1951
Assembly which was potentially there all the time.
+
|
F
|
} retarns and the pain of handing over to Uncle Sam
@ what he claims as his due. This year the pain is sharper
)than ever, for we shall be feeling the delayed-action
ite of the 1950 tax law as well as the 11 per cent aver-
jage increase provided by last year’s revenue measure.
In 1952 a married person with two dependents and an
833.7 per cent more than he did in 1949. In addition, of
course, he is having to pay considerably more in indirect
es. The total tax bill of the country, however, cannot
10
EIBERAL WEEKLY SINCE 1865
NEW YORK » SATURDAY + MARCH 15, 1952
NuMBER 11
most vigorous advocates of government economy do not
ptopose reductions in expenditure large enough to per-
mit lower taxes, For instance, Senator Byrd’s “alterna-
tive budget” details cuts, including some that would
cripple vital social programs, totaling over $8,000,000,-
000 but still leaves a deficit of some $6,000,000,000—
far too large a sum to warrant any decrease in the
Treasury's “take.” Such a decrease, in fact, is not in the
cards unless the government revises its rearmament
program. Thus the taxpayer who supports present meth-
ods of fighting the cold war cannot logically complain
that the total tax burden is too high. On the other
hand, he may reasonably ask whether that burden is
being fairly distributed.
A PAMPHLET ENTITLED “TAX LOOPHOLES,”
written by Senator Hubert Humphrey of Minnesota and
published by the Public Affairs Institute, answers this
question with a resounding “No!” In providing revenue
for the present emergency, it contends, Congress has not
only refused to close large loopholes in our existing tax
laws but has opened others. For example, last year’s
revenue act left untouched the “‘percentage-deple-
tion” allowance, which permits owners of oil wells and
some mining properties to charge off a large fraction of
their earnings, and extended the same privilege to pro-
ducers of many other minerals. Thanks to this allowance,
oil companies in 1947, according to Treasury figures,
were able to deduct 13 times more from gross profits
than if they had been required to use ordinary deprecia-
tion methods. This is discrimination in favor of in-
dustries with a particularly powerful political pull. The
five other loopholes cited by Senator Humphrey dis-
criminate in favor of individuals in the higher income
brackets, with the possible exception of the lack of a
dividend-withholding system, which facilitates tax eva-
sion by both large and small stockholders. Provisions for
income and estate splitting by married persons, enacted
in 1948, yield nothing to those with incomes of under
$5,000 or fortunes of less than $60,000, but for those
with more the benefits increase proportionately to the
size of the income or estate. The same thing is true
of the capital-gains tax, the ceiling on which was
raised by 1 per cent only in the 1951 revenue act, and
of the new “family-partnership” provision which permits
a tich father to save many thousands a year by giving
his children an interest in his business. These are some
° IN THIS ISSUE *
EDITORIALS
The Shape of Things
Communism in the Schools by Freda Kirchwey
ARTICLES
Chicago's Machine-Gun Politics
by Carey McWilliams
Bevan’s Bid for Power by Andrew Roth
The Heart of the French Problem
by Alexander Werth
In Defense of Current Sex Studies
by Albert Ellis and Donald Webster Cory
Hindering the Search for Morality
by Milton R. Sapirstein
How Free Is Canada’s Air? by Henry Montcalm
BOOKS AND THE ARTS
Diet and the Birth Rate by Barbara Cadbury
The Factual Melville by Richard Chase
The Lore of Islam by Robert Phelps
Books in Brief
Drama by Joseph Wood Krutch
Music by B. H. Haggin
LETTERS TO THE EDITORS
CROSSWORD PUZZLE No. 456
by Frank W. Lewis
ee EL TS EE SE
EDITORIAL BOARD
Editor and Publisher: Freda Kitchwey
Edjstorial Director Director, Nation Assoctates
Carey McWilliams Lillie Shultz
Managing Editor: Victor H. Bernstein
Foreign Editor Literary Editor
J. Alvarez del Vayo Margaret Marshall
Financial Editor: Keith Hutchison
Drama: Joseph Wood Krutch Music: B. H. Haggia
Assistant Editor: Charles R. Allen, Jr.
Copy Editor: Gladys Whiteside
Assistant Literary Editor: Caroline Whiting
Staff Contributors
Andrew Roth, Alexander Werth, Howard K. Smith, Carolus
Opposite 260
Business Manager: Hugo Van Arx
Advertising Manager: Mary Simon
The Nation, published weekly and eres 1952, in the U. S, A.
by The Nation Associates, Inc,, 20 Vesey Street, New York 71,N.Y.
Entered as second-class matter, December 13, 1879, at the Post Office
of New York, N, Y., under the act of March 8, 1879. Advertising
_and Circulation Representative for Continental Europe: Publicitas.
Subscription Prices: Domestic—One year $7; Two years $12; Three
years $17. Additional postage per year: Foreign and Canadian $1.
Change of Address: Three weeks’ notice is required for change of
‘cpa which cannot be made without the old address as well aa
the new.
Information to Libraries: The Nation is indexed in Readers’ Guide
to Periodical Literature, Book Review Digest, Index to Labor
Seles Public Affairs Information Service, Dramatic Index,
thea are ae it is futile to tal rig: equly of 4
sacrifice.” ~
COMMENTING ON THE PRESIDENT'’S SPEECH
urging $7,900,000,000 in foreign-aid, Republican colum-
nist David Lawrence admits he does not know whether —
the amount asked is too much or too little, but he is sure
“the American people are bewildered by the Adminis- °
tration’s foreign policy.” He goes on: “They are being ,
told that billions are needed for defense of the free
world, and yet they see the French Parliament refusing
to tax even moderately for European defense. . . . They
read of the statements of both Prime Minister Churchill
and the Socialist Party opposition as denouncing the
government of Chiang Kai-shek, and they read that sup-
port of Chiang is a cardinal part of the American
government's policy... . They see the United States bear-
ing the brunt of the [Korean] struggle with the blood «|
of its youth . . . and remember it hasn’t been waged
with maximum force at all,” Mr. Lawrence concludes
with a plea for a better Anglo-French-American under-
standing. These comments, we think, suggest the broad
outlines of an extremely interesting foreign-policy pro-
gram for the Republican Presidential candidate: (1)
peace in Korea; (2) final abandonment of Chiang Kai-
shek; (3) evolution of a world policy through agreement
with the peoples of Britain, France, and the rest of the
Western world and not through American imposition.
We think sucha program would attract millions of votes
to the Republican candidate who espoused it, But would
it attract Mr. Lawrence’s? *
ANOTHER POLITICAL MURDER, A FANTASTIC
horse-meat racket, and sensational disclosures of cor-
ruption in government (see Machine-Gun Politics by
Carey McWilliams on page 245) recently brought into §
being a “Committee of 19,” made up of prominent ff
Chicago citizens, to cope with the scandalous situation.
Now an “anti-subversive” committee of the American
Legion has tried to undercut the work of the Committee
of 19 by “fingering” two of its members, Earl B, Dicker-
son and Dr. John A. Lapp. The Legion accuses these
men of having been affiliated with groups of which it
disapproves and charges further that other members of
the committee have opposed its efforts “to bring about.
legislation to safeguard our liberties.” Apparently op-
- position to any measure the Legion has ever sponsored
automatically disqualifies a person for civic duty, With -
insufferable cant the Legion announces that it “can fy
take no part in any of the activities of the Big 19 until
those undesirable elements” have been ousted. Only
Chicago’s little children and feeble-minded will take this.
nonsense seriously, Dr. John A, Lapp and Earl Dicker-
The NATION 9)
. £ ya)
ne ’ Prt th
235 r Oe.
: r pe the
ge the work of the Committee of 19 and
is looking for an excuse for its failure to cooperate? We
trust that the response of the committee will be a deci-
sion to investigate the interests of local Legion posts in
liquor licenses and slot machines.
~
STATE OFFICIALS HAVE BEEN ASKED BY THE
Protestant Bill of Rights Committee in Wisconsin, origi-
nally formed by Milwaukee Lutherans, to halt pay-
ments to some fourteen public schools that now employ
' mums as teachers. The committee charges that these
_ schools are under the “domination” of priests or reli-
' gious orders of the Roman Catholic church, in defiance
_ of the state constitution. Holding that religion can be
_ taught by indirect.as well as direct methods, the com-
mittee specifies the day-to-day “indoctrination of chil-
Gren in an atmosphere which leads them to decide” that
_ the faith of the teachers is the faith they should em-
_ brace. It also contends that the wearing of religious garb
_ by teachers helps to create such an atmosphere. The issue
- first attracted general attention in Wisconsin about two
| years ago when a parent in the community of Duran
_ refused to permit his son to attend a public school in
which nuns, in the garb of their order, were the only
_ teachers. Subsequent investigation revealed a similar
_ situation in thirteen other public schools, most of them
in rural areas. To combat it, the committee has an-
| nounced a three-point program: it will first seek redress
_ by administrative action; failing this it will take court
| action, and then, if necessary, direct political action.
_ Much the same issue is shaping up in certain Minnesota
communities, notably in Worthington and Pierz.
| ‘ *
| ARCHITECTS OF AMERICAN FOREIGN POLICY
| will certainly seize upon the Soviet Union’s military
| budget—the highest peace-time budget in the country’s
istory—as justification for our armaments policy all
| along the line. In this sense the Kremlin did President
} Truman excellent service by releasing its budget figures
on the very day the President made his plea for foreign
} aid. Yet any thoughtful observer must see that the
3
} lationship to our own, We too are operating under the
,
)) Man army, a European army, and a Middle East army,
} not to speak of a whopping big one of our own, If
, using the Soviet budget as a lever, succeeds in
s} upping our own still farther, the ultimate result can only
be that the Kremlin’s 1953 budget also will be boosted
| March 15, 1952
-
: ree ee
ee ae a a
ne ?:
pikes WY cpa f eee
ay p ¥: eee eee ‘ , ;
t the Legion - again. The simple truth is that we are in an armaments
race—a fact too often overlooked in the great debate
over who started it. There is a way of stopping this
race before it ends in war. The U. N.’s Disarmament
Commission, under orders from the General Assembly,
is scheduled to meet in a few weeks. The Russians have
indicated willingness to participate. That is the place to
debate not only the Russian military budget but also
our own—and to come to some agreement on both.
Communism in the Schools
BY FREDA KIRCHWEY
MERICANS should realize that the Supreme Court
decision upholding the constitutionality of New
York’s Feinberg law all but insures a rash of similar leg-
islation spreading across the country. So certain is this
result, given the present-day temper, that liberals in
other states should acquaint themselves with the provi-
sions of the law and prepare for efforts by zealous legis-
lators to duplicate it. Meanwhile, in New York, all op-
ponents of the measure must get ready to fight a long
hard battle for its repeal. If the issue is left to those most
directly involved, the teachers themselves, the anti-demo-
cratic assumptions of the Feinberg Jaw, having won
majority approval in the Supreme Court, will become
the established norm—one more long step toward the
garrison state we are supposedly preparing to resist to
the death,
In New York City the situation has been complicated
by a series of acts of the local educational authorities so
repressive and arbitrary that the application of the Fein-
berg law may actually provide protection to the persons
affected. This ironic state of affairs came about as the
result of the legal attack on the Jaw instituted soon after
its adoption in 1949. Enforcement of the law was halted
when suit was brought by a group of teachers, parents,
and taxpayers to enjoin the Board of Education from
carrying out its provisions. But the Superintendent of
Schools was unwilling to wait upon the slow processes of |
the law. He went ahead, on the basis of existing sections
of the Civil Service law and the Education law, to insti-
tute a purge of employees suspected of Communist or
other “subversive” leanings or associations, The famous
case of the eight teachers dismissed last year, now under
appeal in the state Supreme Court, was the first result of
Dr. Jansen’s administrative housecleaning. A second
batch of eight was suspended at the beginning of this
February for refusing to tell whether or not they were of
had been Communist Party members; the charge against
them is “insubordination and conduct unbecoming a
teacher.” According to Dr, Jansen a third list of suspects
is being assembled for questioning in the near future.
In all these cases juridical safeguards have been
243
RENE, eR
|
i
tiple Fake RS “RY
re
Se ee
_ the society in which they live,”
“>
brushed aside. A teacher to be Investigated receives a lot-
ter instructing him to report to the Corporation Counsel's
office. There he is questioned by Assistant Corporation
Counsel Saul Moskoff, in the presence of a stenographer
‘and a recording machine. He is allowed no lawyer but
can take with him a “teacher adviser,” provided he can
find a fellow-teacher willing to serve, The role is hardly
popular, for a “teacher adviser” himself becomes a sus-
pect by association. If the person under investigation re-
_ fuses to answer all questions put to him—and many of
the questions are both offensive and totally irrelevant—
he is charged with insubordination, and suspension
promptly follows. In no case so far has a teacher been
accused of professional misconduct in act or word: no
subversive teaching, no subversive influence on the
pupils outside the classroom, Hearings which determine
whether or not an “insubordinate” teacher shall be
dropped are also conducted without proper safeguards,
although the defendants are permitted counsel and in
the event of dismissal may petition the courts for rein-
statement, Altogether it is obvious that the patriotic zeal
of New York’s Superintendent of Schools has not been
frustrated by the temporary suspension of the Feinberg
law. None the less he welcomes the Supreme Court deci-
sion as a green light, since it confers high judicial sanc-
tion and respectability on a campaign whose legality
has been widely challenged. In exchange for such in-
dorsement he can well afford to sacrifice a few high-
handed procedures.
' The Feinberg law provides for the dismissal of any
school employee who, by reason of membership in an or-
ganization considered subversive by the state Board of
Regents, might try to spread propaganda advocating the
overthrow of the government by force and violence.
Teachers suspected of belonging to proscribed organiza-
tions have a right to a hearing and a court review, but
under the law no overt act need be proved; membership
alone is prima facie ground for dismissal. What organi-
zations, apart from the Communist Party itself, will be
put on the proscribed list no one yet knows. To carry out
the task of detection the law sets up an elaborate system
of spying and informing. The Regents may decide to
adopt the federal Attorney General’s list or may invent
one of their own; their original list was never promul-
gated because of the court action now ended. Under the
law listed organizations have the right to appeal to the
courts.
What will be the effect of this act? The majority opin- _
ion that it does not deprive teachers of the right to free
speech or assembly or deny due process is based pri-
marily on the view that since “a teacher works in a sensi-
tive area,” shaping “the attitude of young minds toward
the state has a proper
concern in the “integrity” of the process, But this argu-
ment can as well be used to support a contrary conciu-
244
sumably approved by Communist organizations and indi-
viduals—to insure conformity rather than integrity. It
is freedom, not control, that leads to integrity in teach-
ing. Even a person who believes no Communist or near-
Communist can be trusted to keep his classrooms free —
from bias might well agree that a certain amount of par-
tisan teaching would be less paralyzing to the educational °
process than the methods of spying, intimidation, denun-
ciation, and inquisition prescribed in the new law.
The best answer to the majority view was the remark-
able dissent of Justice Douglas, together with the con-
curring opinion by Justice Black—two statements that
should be adopted by opponents of the law as their cam-
paign platform. Justice Douglas made short work of the
argument that freedom of thought and expression as
guaranteed by the Constitution are not undermined by
the provisions of the Feinberg law. After attacking the
principle of establishing guilt through association and
pointing out the almost insurmountable obstacles faced
by an accused teacher in proving his innocence, the dis-
sent describes in eloquent, plain language the certain
effect of such a measure on the schools themselves.
The law inevitably turns the school system into a
spying project. Regular loyalty reports on the teachers
must be made out. The principals become detectives; the
students, the parents, the community become informers.
Ears are cocked for telltale signs of disloyalty.
The prejudices of the community come into play in
searching out the disloyal. This is not the usual type of
supervision which checks a teacher's competency; it is a
system which searches for hidden meanings in a teach-
er's utterances.
What was the significance of the reference of the art
teacher to socialism? Why was the history teacher so
openly hostile to Franco Spain? Who heard overtones
of revolution in the English teacher's discussion of ‘The
Grapes of Wrath” ?..-
What happens under this law is typical of what hap-
pens in a police state. Teachers are under constant sur-
veillance; their pasts are combed for signs of disloyalty;
their utterances are watched for clues to dangerous
thoughts. A pall is cast over the classrooms. ... Of course —
the school systems of the country need not become cells
for Communist activity; and the classrooms need not be-
come forums for propagandizing the Marxist creed. But
the guilt of the teacher should turn on overt acts, So —
long as she is a law-abiding citizen, so long as her per-
formance within the public school system meets pro- _ |
fessional standards, her private life, her political
philosophy, her social creed should not be oe cause of
reprisals against her.
This, we believe, is the true verdict on the Feinber 7 |
law and all it represents, even though it is not the verdict
which prevails.
the method used by Communist in fei, es er
e Chicago
- HE murder of Charles Gross, Republican commit-
| teeman for Chicago's Thirty-first (West Side)
_ Ward, has touched off a great blaze of moral indignation,
“Declare Civic War on Mob,” thunders the Chicago
Tribune, and offers a $10,000 reward for information
leading to the arrest and conviction of the killers.
_ “Sweep Hoodlums out of Politics!’ runs another head-
line. “Stand up, you office-holders, you politicians, law-
_ enforcers, policemen,” demands the Daily News in a
_ front-page editorial, “stand up and start moving. Put on
your fighting clothes and fight.” When Chicago is hav-
_ ing one of these spasms of moral indignation its civic
_ wrath is truly terrifying. But somehow a visitor cannot
_ escape the conclusion that little will come of the furor
_ except, perhaps, confirmation of the fairly obvious
_ proposition that “corruption” is bipartisan, Before the
_ Republicans become too thoroughly committed to the
corruption issue, they might take a look at this Cook
\ County extravaganza.
i A West Side Republican bloc which has been growing
| in political power since the early 1920's now controis
a dozen or so of Chicago’s fifty wards. Most of its
representatives in the state legislature come from roi-
ten boroughs which, despite heavy population shifts,
have not been reapportioned in more than fifty years.
The mobsters who really elect these legislators aie
seldom interested in more than a dozen bills out of per-
haps two thousand that may be introduced. The result
is that the lawmakers can vote on the 1,988 other bills
with bland indifference to the welfare of their con-
stituents. Functioning as a unit, they have tremendous
| bargaining power.
- The candidates of the West Side bloc seldom face
opposition in either the primary or the election. Most of
them are “home free’’—as good as elected—long before
the primary. Occasionally some naive person has the
temerity to oppose a bloc representative, but such up-
| starts usually withdraw at the Jast moment, citing “i!!
_ health” as the-reason for their abrupt decision to abandon
} politics as a career. Sometimes they admit that they
have been chased from the field by threats or actual
| violence. In the last two years there have been six
_ political murders in Chicago, all of them still unsolved.
} “How much longer will this slaughter continue?”
| asks Alderman Robert Merriam, “Who will be next?
| Are we to sit back quietly and wait? Somewhere a halt
an
Tt. awed a e +
Rs a ee
TOL ETE
BY CAREY McWILLIAMS
The current phase of Chicago's gunshot politics is so
much like earlier outbreaks of gang violence as to sug-
gest that the condition is somehow organic. “The mob
has been extending its political influence for many
years,” the Chicago Sun-Times points out; “gangland is
openly campaigning for political power with bullets in-
stead of ballots.” In the old days gangster violence was
jargely intramural, and the gangs were then content to
rely upon informal alliances with various machine
politicians. Political power was a means to an end; it
is now a business. This movement of the mobs into
direct political action reflects a shift in their economic
interests. Here is the way one G. O. P. leader explains it:
“The gambling racket is dead. The mob is now infiltrat-
ing into big business—all business—and all the political
power it can muster will be used to put official ‘muscle’
into operation against legitimate merchants and manu-
facturers.”
HE scandal over the sale of mule and horse meat for
human consumption shows how gangsters are push-
ing to the top in business and politics. In the last two
years the Chicago area has been inundated with millions
of pounds of such meat, which has been sold to make
not only hamburger but sausage and stew meat. One
packer has confessed that he sold about 100,000 pounds
of horse meat a week to the ringleader of the racket.
Some mule and horse meat has for years found its way
into the “hamburger” market, but the mobsters first
moved into the field in a big way in 1949, when enot-
mous profits could be made. Horse meat could be
bought for 7 to 14 cents a pound and sold to whole-
salers for 30 to 45 cents a pound; the wholesaler could
then sell it to restaurants for 65 to 80 cents a pound.
One small wholesaler banked $250,000 in four months;
another sold 55,000 pounds of horse meat in thirteen
days. Some twenty-five fairly large wholesalers were at
one time engaged in the racket. At the outset business
was so good that the mobsters began to hijack trucks
carrying meat which they had sold to their customers.
One dealer was robbed of $18,000 by the same hood-
lums who had just paid it to him for a consignment of
horse meat. The volume of mule and horse meat reach-
ing the market became so great that honest retailers
and wholesalers were finally forced to enter the racket in
order to meet the prices of their more unscrupulous
competitors.
The organizers of this multi-million-dollar racket were
Chicago gangsters with important bipartisan political
245
|
i
i
TESS
connections. But many other elements of society were
involved—politicians, civil servants, truckers, restaurant
and cafe owners, meat packers, and wholesale and re-
tail meat dealers. To view this racket, then, as the evil
inspiration of the Mafia is silly. Thirteen state food
inspectors have been removed from their jobs for having
not only accepted but in Sar cases solicited bribes from
the ringleaders of the racket. One has confessed that he
received as much as $450 a month in bribes. One was an
ex-convict who had top Democratic sponsorship for his
job. The registered agent of one of the horse-meat pack-
ing plants involved turns out to be a Democratic precinct
captain whose name also appears on the city pay roll as
an “assistant street inspector.” The son of Dr. Herman
__N. Bundesen, city health commissioner, has been asked
by the grand jury about his representation, as a lawyer, of
individuals haled for questioning about the horse-meat
scandal before the board over which his father presides.
A racket as extensive as this could not have gone on
for two years without interference by either state or local
officials unless bipartisan political arrangements had been
made at a fairly high level. Indeed, the scandal was only
brought to light by the more or less accidental inter-
vention of Office of Price Stabilization officials,
Now, of course, Republicans and Democrats are
246
Sa TY
be
pales
- ot AA ee ae oe oes a /
oes we. The ai at ae r the fairs
ness of its poe uke practice of changin <4
Governor Adlai Stevenson as “the Dark Horse-Burget ;
Candidate” or, more succinctly, as “Hotse Meat Adlai.”
On the other hand, the Democrats point to the fact that
the notorious West Side bloc is Republican. Actually the
threads of influence and control reach across party lines.
Chicago's “reform’’ mayor, Martin Kennelly, has found
it extremely difficult to explain, for example, the city
patronage made available to Aldermen D’Arco and
Petrone, both regarded as representatives of the bloc.
INCE the murder of Gross, all sorts of curious facts
have come to light. City and county pay rolls have
“ghost” employees who have drawn salaries but have
never worked. Even the slain Gross had been placed on
the pay roll of the county highway department in Janu-
ary as ‘a right-of-way investigator” at $450 a month.
Another ghost employee was one ‘‘James Addison,” who
received $6,400 in thirty-two monthly checks of $200
each. The checks were sent to the home address of state
Representative James J. Adduci, a West Side Republican.
When first questioned about these checks, Adduci said:
“See Bill Erickson.” At the time this happened William
N. Erickson, president of the County Board, was a
candidate for the Republican nomination for governor.
Refenning to the incident, the Daily News said on Feb-
ruary 14: “The fraud was committed very close to.
Erickson’s own office. It is conceivable that he might not
have known about it. But if he is fit to be County Board
president, much less governor, he will lose no time in
finding out all about it.” Two weeks later Erickson
withdrew from the gubernatorial race to devote all his
time to “cleaning up the county's pay-roll mess.” The
Daily News said of his withdrawal: “Erickson appar-
ently yielded to the wishes of his supporters. As the prin-
cipal dispenser of Republican patronage in Cook County,
he was a natural target for public resentment over mush-
rooming revelations of abuses of the patronage system.”
Later another phantom employee was discovered
who had been recommended for his job by Erickson
himself. This individual drew $3,780 in salary as
“sergeant-at-atms with the forest preserve’ while~bask-
ing in the sunshine at his Arizona ranch. The former
Twenty-fifth Ward Republican committeeman, fired
from his sanitary-district job in the current purge, ad-
mits that he had two in-laws on the pay rolls whose
checks were regularly indorsed by his son, who was also |.”
on the pay roll for $385 a month! On the other hand, a
man was found on the Chicago city pay roll as an
“inspector for the committee on local transportation”
who was also holding down a job in the Democratic
state administration as a revenue inspector. But it
is, after all, the Republicans who control the County
Board in Cook County. Richard Yates Rowe, one of
T be NATION
a were reading about the meat scandal
and the Gross murder, Oliver Clubb announced that he
‘was resigning as a senior State Department official be-
"cause he felt that the charges made against him had
seriously damaged his career, despite the fact that he was
"exonerated. At least one Middle Western editor put
_ into juxtaposition the hysteria of the witch hunt and the
_ scandals in Chicago and drew therefrom a moral. Writ-
_ ing in the Madison Capital-Times of February 15, Wil
liam T. Evjue pointed out:
_ It is a measure of the madness that is upon us in this
_ country that men of this stature are hounded from public
life, while the nation goes indifferently on its way as
_ hoodlums and gangsters continue to muscle in on poli-
tics in many of our larger cities, taking over the politi-
cal system with the same methods they used to take over
rackets. . . . Have we reached the point in our national
_ hysteria where-we pillory men of the caliber of Clubb,
_ Service, Acheson, Marshall, and others while we exalt
_ the killers and hoodlums of the underworld?
Wise old politicians who know that organized crime,
__ by its very nature, must have its connections in the so-
0 called upper world of respectable business men and
politics to continue, are not getting excited [about the
trouble in Chicago]. They remember that it was one of
the city’s most prominent bankers who made it pos-
sible for Ralph Capone to conceal hidden bank de-
posits for a long time from income-tax authorities. They
know that the present outraged mood will pass away
and that the hoodlums will continue to reach out for
more power in the political system while the partnership
of crime, business, and politics continues te work as
long as it will produce profits.
But it would be misleading to conclude this report on
such a sour note. Chicago is already recovering from its
sense of outrage. Republican Sheriff John Babb feels that
the purges have gone too far; in fact, he thinks that
local officials have been guilty of a form of “political
genocide” in purging pay rolls of phantom employees.
Restaurant owner Chris Carson, in an effort to restore
public confidence in hamburgers, gave away an estimated
100,000 sandwiches “with all the trimmings” in one
day, just to show that “there’s really nothing as good as
the all-American hamburger.” Already people are begin-
ning to forget about those un-American muleburgers.
“After all,” Mr. Carson told the press, “Chicago is the
meat-packing capital of the world. If the people can’t
trust their hamburgers here, where can they?”
Bevan’ 5 Bid for Power
London
NEURIN BEVAN, British Labor’s most powerful
heavyweight, now faces his toughest bout in his
Bostient progress toward the top title. He must not only
_deliver effective punches against the sturdy Conservative
| champion, while elbowing aside right-wing Labor con-
| tenders, but make sure that his strength is not under-
q mined by a series of Communist-encouraged political
| strikes. Since militant non-Communist unionists sup-
} port these strikes, Bevan and his group have been put on
| the spot. If they sanction essentialiy political strikes they
“tisk isolating themselves from the bulk of the Labor
| movernent, particularly its orthodox leaders. If they op-
| pose them, the very Labor militants upon whom Bevan
| is depending to propel him into power may turn to
| Communist leaders.
“Bet on Bevan to come out on top!” say those who
follow British political form most knowingly. Even the
| Conservative Times recently wrote of his “displaying a
ANDREW ROTH is a steff contributor now stationed in
4
| London.
M March 15, 1952
- 4
ey b *
BY ANDREW ROTH
mastery . . . which would be surprising if one had not
grown to expect it of him.” The pugnacious Welshman
is already slugging it out toe to toe with the equally con-
tentious Churchill. The unparalleled style of the Prime
Minister's lunge has obscured the fact that it is he who
has given ground. He has already lopped £300,000,000
off the rearmament budget. He felt it necessary to deny
in the strongest terms that Britain is committed to all-
out war against China. And he has disowned John
Foster Dulles’s plans to sponsor counter-revolution on
the Asian mainland.
Leaders of Labor's right wing still show the effects of
having been caught between the two giants in the historic
foreign-affairs debate of February 26. Mr. Morrison
appears diminished in size, and even the widely re-
spected Mr. Attlee was bruised. In the debate the style
of the ex-Foreign Secretary’s attack on Mr. Churchill,
coupled with his previous silence on his Korean com-
mitments, revealed the inroads of “Bevanism” in the
Parliamentary Labor Party. Morrison called Churchill's
Washington trip “a doubtful mission undertaken by the
wrong man at the wrong time,” which produced “very
247
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: 7
small results for our country” and involved ‘ ee ex-
pressed and possibly grave commitments.” “We must
resist aggression,” he mildly bellowed, “but our business
is not to build up a Chinese wall against us... .I do
not want to see us drift into an attitude of subservience
to America which is bound to do harm to our good
relationship in due course.”
Churchill brushed off these charges as “weak, vague,
wandering.” Labor, he jeered, was sufficiently “Machia-
vellian” to build atom bombs while “accusing their
opponents of being warmongers.” Then he shook
Morrison badly by baring that the latter had agreed, the
ptevious May, to the bombing of airfields in China
if heavy raids were launched from these airfields against
the U.N. forces in Korea. At this point Bevan charged
to the rescue, yelling ‘Foul!’ Churchill, he maintained,
was violating the rules of the game in revealing the
previous government’s action without “laying the docu-
ment” before Parliament. To onlookers it was difficult
to tell whether Morrison felt worse over being hit where
it hurt by Churchill or being rescued by Nye Bevan.
But it was Bevan’s masterful and varied oratory that
absorbed all attention. Bevan pressed Churchill into
saying whether he accepted Mr, Dulles’s proposal to
overthrow the Peking government. Even when Churchill
answered, “No, sir, certainly not,” Bevan added: “We
must warn our American friends that not one British
soldier will risk his life” to wage “an ideological war
with weapons against the Soviet Union.”
The impact of this parliamentary battle on Labor
M. P.’s was staggering, particularly after they sampled
Opinions in their constituencies on the week-end of
March 1-2. The more alert Laborites must have known
that last summer the Labor government went almost all
the way with President Truman’s Administration on
Korea, for this was made quite clear by the Foreign
Office-inspired diplomatic correspondents and the edi-
torial writers of the leading papers. But it came as a
shock to the party stalwarts who took foreign policy on
faith as long as it was handled by “Herbert” and “Good
old Clem.” Many felt betrayed that their leaders had
entered such a battle with Churchill when they were
so vulnerable. Even right-wing Laborites have to admit
that without Bevan, instead of securing a draw, Labor
would have suffered a knockout.
The Manchester Guardian expressed the position of
the Foreign Office when it warned recently that Bevan’s
views and even Attlee’s milder echo of them would
“make Senator Taft whoop with joy” and that Washing-
ton would be “less .. . willing to listen to our views”
if it doubted Britain's loyalty to the alliance. Answering
a similar charge in Commons, Bevan asked Selwyn
Lloyd sarcastically whether “the House of Commons
should be in recess during the American election year.”
However unpopular Bevan may be in Washington—
248
Caf
a
‘China. He did find time to ridicule the Conservative,
mature quickly or take three or four years is now being —
= ape “eS Coney
“says, “I
» ‘dae T have on the plier TE: Pd
House”—he is becoming more and more the eg of q
Labor Britain in a period of deepening crisis. Thus on —
March 2 the Bishop of Birmingham, who is no Com- —
munist, attacked the napalm bombs used by the United
States as “an even greater disgrace to mankind” than the
atom bomb. He also voiced the belief, fairly widespread
among Labor intellectuals, that the Chinese Communists _
might be regarded “as the beginning of a new social |
development, a transformation which in the end will ~
give to China, with its great and ancient civilization, ;
the leadership of human progress.” nr
Bevan said during the debate that “every miner, rail-
wayman, and agricultural worker in Britain knows very
well that if he were in China he would be a Communist
peasant. He would not be for Chiang Kai-shek, he .
would be a Communist.” He had intended, his in- '
timates disclosed, to devote quite a bit of time to the |
need for capturing the leadership, or at least the friend- ,
ship, of the Asian revolution but had to change his -
plans to resist Churchill's onslaught. In particular he had
intended to attack Anglo-American policy toward Indo-
ie"
he himsel
and American, idea that all Communist-led Asian re-
volts are “the result of a Kremlin plot.”
The increasing attraction of what Bevanites call a '
“really Socialist foreign policy” is illustrated by the
recent decision of the Labor Party's National Executive
to readmit to party membership ex-M. P. Konni Zil- —
liacus. This former League of Nations official was a lead-
ing foreign-affairs spokesman for Labor's left wing
until his expulsion three years ago, together with three
crypto-Communists. The others have continued to echo
Soviet policy, but Zilliacus has shown a deep sym-
pathy for Titoism—he speaks Serbo-Croat and has just
finished a semi-official biography of Tito,
The increase in the Bevanites’ strength so dramatically 9
shown in the Commons debate of March 5 has pre- ©
cipitated a crisis in the Labor Party. As this is written, |)
the Executive Council has been called into special session
by Attlee, Despite Attlee’s urgent request that they limit 9
their disagreement to abstention, fifty-seven Labor mem- —
bers voted against the defense program. Bevan, staunchly j
defending this defiance of party discipline, has since —
warned the ieadership that he is prepared to bolt the —
party to effectuate his ideas. j
Whether Bevan’s leadership of the Labor Party will -
decided in the mines, factories, and union halls. Al-
though Bevan came up through the trade-union move-
ment and expresses the feelings of the workers, he has —
very little support among the union bosses, some of 9}
whom, like Arthur Deakin, hold his criticism of rearma-
ment responsible for the present political strikes, |
*
The NATION
;
|
t
hs
}
I
ee
;
_ disturbed by M. Faure’s
- son or another, they had considered °
Paris
HE Faure government, which lasied thirty-nine
days, will be remembered as the government of
Lisbon, of Hoa-Binh, and of the franc panic of February,
1952. When, on the night of its fall, somebody men-
tioned these three disasters, M. Faure, who has a sense
of humor and perhaps also a touching faith in the
eternity of French ——s institutions and of his
_ own career, remarked: “Well, Daladier has lived down
chiefly responsible for the defeat of M. Faure, having
induced twenty-eight Radicals—members of the party to
which the Premier himself belongs—to join the Gaul-
asis, Communists, and some forty members of the ‘‘clas-
sic” right in voting against the 15 per cent tax increase
demanded by the government to avert an immediate
- financial crisis and to meet, at least in part, the expendi-
tures on rearmament and the war in Indo-China.
The absurdity of the parliamentary situation is found
in the fact that many of the same deputies who refused
to provide more revenue had voted a few hours earlier
_ for a heavily increased military outlay, This, for one rea-
“inevitable,” but
higher taxes would annoy constituents, vested interests,
and the village pump. The Pleven government had fallen
in January for much the same reason, though this time,
“leftist’’ bias, the right wing
| many worse things.” It was Daladier, indeed, who was
i
:
Ie
of his majority also wanted “a change.”
r
It is easy to jeer at French governmental instability
and at the continuing lack of a firm majority in the
Assembly; one could not be brought into being even
_ by the trick of “Third Force” apparentements in the last
|
| all papers—which was to get itself a
_ general election, The British press, especially, has been
~ insufferably self-righteous and has compared France with
“efficient” Germany, All the jeering, needless to say,
has been lapped up with relish by the Gaullist papers
_ here. Paris-Presse joyfully reproduced, in facsimile, the
| advice given to France by the London Daily Mirror, of
“strong man”
8 quickly.
‘Only a few timid voices abroad have remarked that
t financial troubles are not, after all, peculiar to France
but part and parcel of the whole European set-up, not
| to be explained away by pretentious dissertations about
Fi “the French character.”
These voices have ventured to
| suggest that something very similar might happen in
_ ALEXANDER WERTH is The Nation’s sorrespondent in
a a Yr ie eat Py
the French Problem
BY ALEXANDER WERTH
London too, before very long. The French habit of
hoarding gold and dollar bills, many have rightly ob-
served, was only a symptom of the trouble, not its
cause. The real cause of the financial crisis was obvious:
France was living far beyond its means and could not
afford, simultaneously, a program of capital investment
and reconstruction even if sharply curtailed, heavy re-
armament, and, last but not least, the war in Indo-China,
in which in the past few years something like two bil-
lion pounds had been sunk.
A few minutes before the Assembly vote which
overthrew his government, M. Faure had stated emphati-
cally that Indo-China was the real heart of the French
problem, in both a financial and a military sense. As long
as France had to fight this war alone and pay for it
almost alone, as long as the cadres of at least six divi-
sions were out there, there could be no adequate French
army in Europe and no stable franc. At Lisbon, he said,
he had asked “whether or not Indo-China was included
in the common defense strategy” and had received no
answer. He implied that Germany, as a result of Lis-
bon, would soon gain a dominant position in Europe,
both militarily and economically, and he stressed that
his successor—whoever he might be—must receive an
answer to the question about Indo-China.
The next day it was found that there was no money
left in the kitty, and a hasty advance of twenty-five bil-
lion francs, repayable in three weeks, had to be ob-
tained from the Bank of France for current expenses.
M. Baumgartner, governor of the bank, having refused
to raise the legal limit of the note circulation, frigidly
agreed to advance the money against Treasury bonds,
accompanying his concession with a sermon on the
disastrous state of the French budget. How the money
will be repaid by March 20, if at all, is a mystery for
the present. The pessimists, of course, are crowing that
France has “‘started on the road of inflation.” Taking ac-
count of Indo-China and the need to pay for imports
out of the meager gold reserves, the charge is perhaps
not altogether unjustified.
S FAURE rightly said, Indo-China is the heart of
A te problem, and much depends on what is done
about it. For three years I have stressed in this journal
the folly of the Indo-China war, quoting such farsighted
Frenchmen as M. Mendés-France who insisted that the
wat was incompatible with France's authority in Europe
and in consequence were treated as cranks or secret
Communists by the successive governments and by
249
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moth-eaten oracles like André Siegfried. First the war
was waged in the mame of French prestige and /a
présence francaise, Then, even after French moneyed
interests like the Banque d’Indochine had given it up
as a bad investment and had been replaced by piastre
facketeers, it was waged as a missionary war “against
world communism,” a pendant as it were to the sacred
war waged by the U. N. in Korea. An attempt was made
to get financial and military aid from the Americans,
_ but they were interested only if it was understood that
France should go on carrying the baby.
Today neatly everybody agrees with Mendés-France.
The withdrawal last week from Hoa-Binh in the moun-
tains west of the Tonkin delta—described at the time of
its capture by the French last November as “the key to
Vietminh’s whole system of communications”—was not
only an important political move but also a serious mili-
tary setback for the French, who lost at least three bat-
talions in their retreat, The capture of Hoa-Binh was
undertaken, it is now learned, against the better judg-
ment of General de Lattre and at the insistence of
M. Letourneau, Minister for Indo-China, who wanted
to “impress Washington” at a time when it was feeding
the French vague promises of aid. This aid amounted to
so little that after three agonizing months the French
found they could no longer hold Hoa-Binh. Vietminh
troops, better armed than before, were penetrating more
and more frequently into the delta land around Hanoi,
now no longer adequately defended; the road to Hoa-
Binh was a constant death trap; and the “prestige opera-
tion” had to be abandoned. M. Letourneau, the “Duke
_ In Defense of Current Sex Studtes
BY ALBERT ELLIS and DONALD WEBSTER CORY
N A teview of Donald Webster Cory’s book, “The
Homosexual in America,” in The Nation for Decem-
ber 22, 1951, Dr. Milton R. Sapirstein included some
aspersions on other recent books on sex, in particular
on “Patterns of Sexual Behavior” by Clellan S. Ford and
‘ Frank A. Beach and ‘‘Sexual Behavior in the Human
Male” by Alfred C, Kinsey and associates. His re-
_ marks would be unimportant if they did not seem to
represent the views of several other recent writers and
to raise some vital moral questions,
ALBERT ELLIS, formerly Chief Psychologist of the State
of New Jersey, is now practicing psychoanalytically oriented
psychotherapy in New York City. He is the author of “The
Folklore of Sex.”
DONALD WEBSTER CORY is a pseudonym.
250
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hieerecaetion of the expeditionary force is our ult Iti
mate aim. Of course we are willing to negotiate with —
Vietminh, but we're damned if we'll take the first step.”
The experts’ view is that Vietminh, despite its recent *
suocesses—Hoa-Binh was acclaimed throughout the
Communist world as a major victory—is willing to ~
negotiate, provided the French government sends official
and fully accredited negotiators, Vietminh is genuinely —
anxious to industrialize and to raise the living standard
of its people, which cannot be done to any extent as long -
as the war lasts, As things now stand, according to te-
liable ceports, the end of the war need not be a shameful
French surrender; M. Daladier believes that Vietminh -
may agree to much more reasonable terms from the
French point of view than the Crusaders like to admit.
Two principal features of the Cabinet crisis were
Reynaud’s failure to form a National Government by
bringing the Gaullists in through the back door and the
revolt within Gaullist ranks enabling a government to be
formed around the rightist Antoine Pinay. The wayward
Gaullists undoubtedly were motivated by their realiza-
tion that France was not prepared for grave commotion —
and a fascist upheaval and also by their desire to avoid
the nomination to the premiership of Mendés-France,
whom President Auriol would have called had Pinay
failed. Mendés-France would have meant drastic auster-
ity and a clear-cut decision to terminate the Indo-China
war. Pinay means inroads on social services, purely theo-
retical price control, and real depression wages. 2
/
Dr. Sapirstein begins his attack:
Much of the recent literature on homosexuality and
sex in general—such as Kinsey, Ford, and Beach— _
tends to impress the gullible reader with the wide vacia-
tion of sexual practices in different cultures as well as
in different biological species. Beginning with an atti-
tude of tolerant liberalism, they all end up with an
attack on the accepted sexual mores of our Western
Hebrew-Christian society.
This is simply not so. The distinguished American
anthropologist Margaret Mead, who has been foremost ¢
in stressing the wide variations of sexual and other
practices in different cultures, has tempered her toler-
ance with considerable conservatism. She vigorously 7
attacked Dr, Kinsey and his associates when “Sexual
Behavior in the Human Male”’ first appeared, contend-
The NATION.
ee os a = a pu oe —
dar defenseless in just those areas where their desire to
e conform was protected by a lack of knowledge of the
extent of non-conformity.” Drs. Ford and Beach are also
_ festrained in their conclusions and make a plea only for
_ more research into the biological and anthropological
aspects of human sexuality. They do not attack any of
_ our contemporary sexual customs or taboos. Nor, aside
_ from pointing out that if certain of our sex laws were
properly enforced most of our male population would be
_ in jail, do Kinsey and his associates specifically attack
_ our accepted sexual mores.
Dr. Sapirstein continues:
As a plea for less prejudice they are undoubtedly justi-
fied. But what these authors seem to forget, or do not
know, is that the sexual practices of the individual and
his community can never be studied out of context of
personality structure, religious-moral system, prestige
values, economic system, and so forth.
Actually, of course, Dr, Kinsey and his associates
made a special point of studying the individual withia
the context of his religious-moral views, economic status,
education, and so on and continually present their sexual
findings in various personal-social contexts. More of
their book is devoted to the relationships between an
individual's sex outlets and the non-sexual aspects of his
life than to any other phase of their study, As for Ford
and Beach, they conclude that “it is our hope that the
ptesent volume will serve as a useful step toward the
development of a sound understanding of the sexual
behavior of human beings as it is affected by their evo-
lutionary heritage and by the conditions imposed upon
them by their environment” (our italics).
Dr, Sapirstein wittily goes on:
If the authors who recommend unlimited variations
of sexual practice were prepared to argue for the family
structure of the guinea pig or the economic system of
_ the Marquesans it would make more sense. But, instead,
* they all belittle the rather narrow limits of sexual ‘“‘not-
mality” in our culture, challenging the goals which ace
_ traditional for our culture—offering only unlimited
- Variation as an alternative.
UST who are these authors who recommend un-
limited variation in sexual practice? Certainly Drs.
| - Kinsey, Ford, and Beach do not recommend any such
' thing, for the members of our present society. About
| the only well-known contemporary writer who comes
close to fitting Dr. Sapirstein’s description is René
_ Guyon, who published his main works over a decade
| ago and is a jurist rather than an anthropologist or biolo-
_ gist. Even if he is thinking of a writer like Dr. Guyon,
owever, Dr. Sapirstein’s logic is faulty, for actually one
March 15, 1952
‘advocate the sex habits of, say, the Marquesans
+ without advocating their particular economic system or
even their family system, Similar forms of sex activity
have existed for centuries in regions with most di-
verse economic systems and in those where the fam-
ily system has been either matrilinear or patrilneac,
exogamous or endogamous,
based on the small or the
large family. There is cer-
tainly no fixed relationship
between a given set of sex
mores and a given family,
economic, religious, of po-
litical system, although
there are, of course, some
important interrelations.
As for Dr. Sapirstein’s
fears about the espousal of
“unlimited variation,” not
even the ultra-liberal Dr.
Guyon and surely not Drs.
Kinsey, Ford, and Beach
argue that al! human be-
ings should adopt al/ the
variations of sexual behavior which exist among all the
known human and animal communities. What Guyon
advocates is merely the freedom of individuals to prac-
tice, in an orderly, private, and mutually consenting
manner, sex acts which are satisfying to themselves and
which do not harm others,
Dr. Sapirstein says in his next paragraph:
eto,
Dr. Kinsey
This undoubtedly, ia the long run, will have a rather
anxiety-producing effect. For no one individual can be
all things, and each individual can and must work out a
way of life which is in tune with his own background,
his own family structure, and his own society.
Who has demanded that any individual be all sexual
things to himself or to others? Economic systems and
religions differ widely in different parts of the world,
but no one reasons that every American should therefore
simultaneously follow all economic systems and all
religions.
Mote important is Dr, Sapirstein’s implication—in
agreement with Dr, Mead’s quoted statement—that the
publication of sex truths may produce anxiety in indi-
viduals in our culture who have not been accustomed to
accept such truths. This is a dangerous, anti-scientific,
freedom-destroying assumption. It is essentially the doc-
trine that has motivated all anti-democratic regimes,
from the Inquisition to modern totalitarian states. If it
were ever consistently applied, any fact which failed to
support the existing mores of any culture—whatever
they might be-—would automatically be branded “‘anxi-
ety-producing,” or “non-Aryan,” or “unpatriotic,” oz
251
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4
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what you will. And any falsehood, presumably, that
supported existing mores would be considered “good”
and “true.”
It is especially surprising to hear this doctrine ex-
pounded by psychoanalytically oriented writers like Drs.
Sapirstein and Mead, since the very essence of analytic
philosophy is the idea that the individual becomes dis-
turbed just because he refuses to face the facts of life
and insists on setting up neurotic defenses against sup-
_posedly harsh reality. Psychoanalytic therapy basically
seeks to enable the disturbed patient to reconstruct his
views and attitudes so that he can accept a fact as a fact
and also accept himself, with his hostile, sexual, and
“bad” impulses as well as his friendly, non-sexual, and
“good” ones. Proponents of psychoanalysis, therefore,
should welcome research which tries to get to the bottom
of sexual reality, harsh as this reality may seem to our
culturally biased eyes. If our sex mores must be upheld
at the cost of suppressing biological and anthropological
knowledge, or interpreting it in an emasculated manner,
neurosis—as Freud would have been the first to insist—
will continue to be widespread, and sexual progress will
be minimal.
Dr. Sapirstein concludes:
The fact that isolated individuals cannot attain the
“normal” for their own society is in many ways pathetic
and we certainly should be tolerant of them, but this
still does not justify a massive attack against the estab-
lished practices of the larger elements of the commu-
nity. We shall always need guideposts for each
individual society, whether all the travelers along the
road desire to follow the road map or not.
This is true to some extent. But also true are these
facts: (1) In our society, as the Kinsey Report and other
studies have shown, “the established practices of the
Hindering the Search for Morality
FIND the foregoing defense of the scientific works
| of Kinsey, Ford and Beach, and others quite appro-
priate. I wish Messrs, Ellis and Cory could defend “The
Homosexual in America” with equal vigor. For, after all,
my review in an earlier issue of The Ne@iion was
ptimarily concerned with that book.
I am now being challenged on the extension of my
comments, in which I questioned the limited point of
view of other sexual studies published in recent years.
Although I have many reservations about those volumes,
MILTON R. SAPIRSTEIN is a practicing psychoanalyst
and the author of “Emotional Security.”
252
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> c a
inne eines of : ie Fertnodt ” are often actua
opposed to our sex mores. Writers like Drs, Sap 3
and Mead are objecting, in effect, to people cao
that several of the so-called “majority” sex practices—
such as premarital virginity and marital fidelity—are fast
becoming minority ones, and that the “established” sex
mores ate often largely the abolished ones. (2) While
each individual society will always need some social
guideposts, it is most unlikely that the particular sexual
guideposts which at present exist in our own society
will always be needed. (3) Whether we like it or not,
our sexual guideposts are continually changing. (4) That
we now make use of a set of sexual guideposts hardly
proves that it is a perfect or even a good set, (5) Our
contemporary guideposts are not, as Dr. Sapirstein im-
plies, consistent, steady, and invariant. On the contrary,
as Albert Ellis showed in his recent study, ‘The Folk-
lore of Sex,’ our sexual mores are so contradictory and
confusing that the individual in our society does not
have one sex code which he can easily follow but a
number of conflicting codes which are almost certain to
get him into continual difficulty with himself and others.
(6) Probably the best and quickest way to establish
consistent, workable, and anxiety-reducing sexual guide-
posts in our culture would be to have many more tfe-
search projects like those being planned and executed
by Kinsey and his associates and by Ford and Beach.
In other words, the more fully we accept the fact—as
conclusively revealed by modern biological, psycho-
logical, sociological, and anthropological findings—that
sex practices and beliefs vary widely in different cul-
tures and species, the more likely we are to evolve
eventually a set of sex mores that will serve as better
guideposts than the system we have passively inherited
from our non-research-minded forbears.
BY MILTON R. SAPIRSTEIN
I would agree that they are honest studies by reputable
workers. They need no defense from Cory and Ellis,
and I am quite prepared to accept them in terms of
factual, statistical, or biological data. Independent of
their sociological and psychiatric implications, their in-
trinsic merit is not relevant to our discussion. :
~ For the basic problem still remains, Whether we agree
or disagree with Kinsey, Ford, Beach, Ellis, and Mead, —
whether we like their method of presentation or not,
Donald Webster Cory still uses them for his own spe- _
cial purpose. In contrast to the more serious workers, —
Cory has a special ax to grind. He uses them to sur- |
round his own slanted view with an air of authenticity.
The NATION —
I to observe ¢ © constantly changin sexual pat-
ns. At the same time every clinical observer is struck
by the sincere attempts of most people to distil some
_ healthy values out of the present chaotic situation.
_ Young people are desperately searching for a new kind
of morality—a monogamy which “works,” built around
_ a healthy relation to children and to the world. I think
_ most of them are succeeding better than their parents.
Within this fragile framework Mr. Cory comes along
__ to promote the advantages of homosexuality. He quotes
_ the best authorities—many of them leave themselves
wide open to this type of confusion—and defends their
, points of view in the hope that he can thus prop up his
own dramatization of an unhealthy form of sexual adap-
tation. Frankly I am intolerant of any such maneuver,
and of the authorities who lend themselves to it, We
still have relatively wide zones of healthy sexuality,
__ even in our fluctuating society, and no useful purpose is
served by emphasizing the fact that distortions, or what
is viewed as distortions in our society, are accepted in
other cultures, other species of animals, or other eras.
How Free Is Canada’s Air?
BY HENRY MONTCALM
f Montreal
ECENT attacks on the Canadian Broadcasting Cor-
Pisnten for so-called anti-religious broadcasts have
raised the question whether freedom of speech is pos-
sible on the air. The row began last June, over six lec-
tures by the British physicist Fred Hoyle, rebroadcast
| from the BBC, which have been published in Harper's
Magazine and in book form. In the final lecture Hoyle
said that in his opinion “what the Christians offer is an
eternity of *frustration.” R. W. Keyserlingk, a Baltic
| German converted to Catholicism in Canada, editor of
_ the Ensign, a Catholic weekly, led off with protests to
Prime Minister St. Laurent. The Prime Minister replied
~ that he thought the series undesirable but would not in-
terfere, as indeed he had no right to do, since the CBC
| is responsible only to Parliament,
| In September came a series of talks by four notable
; psychiatrists, including Dr. Brock Chisholm, head of the
‘ World Health Organization, and Dr. Ewen Cameron,
_ president-elect of the American Psychiatric Society.
_ Taking as their subject “Man’s Last Enemy, Himself,”
, they discussed the possibility of bringing up children free
= hatred, This series was followed by six talks by
_ Bertrand Russell on “Living in an Atomic Age.”
is Then the free-for-all started. The Jesuit monthly,
| Relations, thundered against Dr. Cameron's “‘soulless
“godless utterances.” Bertrand Russell was called a
_ pfoponent of “animal unrestraint.” An Ontario prelate
~ said Russell “oozed the deadly pus of hell.” On the
other side, B. K. Sandwell, retired editor of the in-
fluential weekly Saturday Night, declared that religious
people must not be distressed by speakers who asked
them to believe some other faith than their own, or
none at all: obviously, a rule against such exhortations
would bar practically all church broadcasting. The
United Church of Canada tentatively backed the Ensign;
the Anglicans merely asked for time to answer the
broadcast. The Benedictine Fathers’ weekly remarked
that no Christian need fear attacks on spurious teligion.
Letters to the CBC were overwhelmingly favorable.
Maclean's Magazine and most newspapers upheld CBC
policy. A Tory M., P. told Parliament that if the CBC
set itself up as a censor, freedom of speech would suf-
fer a serious setback, The chairman of the CBC board
tossed the question to Parliament, saying that the CBC
did not try to decide what programs were good or bad
for people to hear but only to make sure that all re-
sponsible points of view got expression.
The question is made more insistent by the imminence
of television, over which the CBC is keeping a firm
hold. Private stations will not be permitted to enter the
field until the CBC itself is ready, since it believes tele-
vision should be “essentially a Canadian operation car-
ried on in the national interest.” While the appropria-
* tion which the CBC requires over and above its revenue
from radio licenses and commercial programs was pend-
ing in Commons, all the people with grudges wielded
their shillelaghs—the private stations frantically seek-
ing television permits, the big advertisers moaning over
their amputated commercials, the true believers who
want to hear only their own doctrine.
Some of the private stations are linked with companies
that make radio and television sets and with big Ameti-
can concerns; many make a lot of money; all think they
could make more if not hampered by CBC regulations,
In a deeply religious country like Canada, branding a
publicly owned service anti-Christian is a potent weapon,
The CBC has served Canadians for fifteen years.
Reaching many places too remote to be in contact with a
private station, it puts on farm forums, plays and music
by Canadians, political talks on free time, and many
concerts, A wide audience profits from the factual broad-
casts of its International Service,
The Minister through whom the CBC reports to
Parliament has said that “some things got on the air that
shouldn’t have.” Hoyle, Chisholm, and the others
thought they were talking about science. If nothing is
permitted that could conceivably offend any Christian or
non-Christian sect, can any scientific hypothesis be dis-
cussed? All freedom of speech will suffer if the CBC
becomes “‘a toothless lion thrown to the Christians.”
253
> Pi + =
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BOOKS
he . —
4 ae te
a ie
and the
—% eet.
re
Al
_ Diet and the Birth Rate
_ THE GEOGRAPHY OF HUNGER.
By Josué de Castro. Little, -Brown
and Company. $4.50.
MONG the privileges enjoyed by
technically advanced nations and
denied to the underdeveloped, contra-
ception is perhaps not the first that
coines to mind. But any magazine with
an international circulation which pub-
lishes articles on birth control immedi-
ately receives letters from behind the
papal curtain. A Nicaraguan describes
efforts to feed a family of seven on a
carpenter's wage; a father in Bonn can
find only one basement room for his
three-child family; a Quebec woman
asks for her reply in a plain envelope.
The conscripted parents of Asia and
Africa do not know that they want con-
traceptives, They know that they do not
want so many children, and resort to
abortion and infanticide. Money and
brains—not enough—are searching for
the simple contraceptive.
Josué de Castro has the answer. It is
meat, The sad letters can be answered.
Infants need not be conceived, only to
be exposed on river banks to die. Par-
ents must eat steak, liver, eggs; drink
milk. They must give up diets of rice
and beans. It is not the number of
children that makes the wages seem
small and the meal meager; it is the
meager meal that brings so many chil-
dren. Hunger causes overpopulation,
not vice versa. Protein is the magic con-
traceptive, for if people will eat prop-
erly “there will quickly come about a
seduction in the exaggerated indexes of
fertility,’ whereas the same reduction
through the use of contraceptives would
be disastrous. “Simply to retard the
birth rate, as the neo-Malthusians advo-
cate, would, within our contemporary
economic framework, only diminish
food production and thus increase star-
vation.”
From experiments with rats Mr. de
Castro has found that those fed on a
high protein diet have fewer young
than those deprived of proteins. He
concludes, but does not prove, that this
would apply to human beings. But he
254
ignores the difference between fecundity
and fertility. The rats were allowed to
breed to the limit of their fecundity,
so that the difference made by proteins
could be measured. Fecundity is the
physical possibility of reproduction;
fertility what is achieved. In no known
culture do women go to the limit of
their fecundity, which is about thirty-
seven live births. Without a control
group of human breeders it cannot be
told how much a meat diet, or any
other single factor, reduces a normal
woman's childbearing from thirty-seven
to a number more in keeping with
her maternal ambition.
The book contains a table showing
for certain areas the birth rate and the
daily consumption of animal proteins
in grams. Without exception the birth
rate goes down as the proteins go up,
with Formosa and Sweden changing
places at the end of the lists. We feel
we should warn the Swedes—top for
proteins, bottom for births—not to pass
their plates for more meat lest they have
no children at all. Fortunately we re-
member, though Mr, de Castro does
not, that they are the most birth-control
conscious of all peoples. Argentina,
which has the world’s highest meat con-
sumption, has been left off the list. It
does not have the world’s lowest birth
rate. Similarly, statements are made that
monoculture of cash crops for ex-
port always leads to impoverished and
dense populations, but the wheat belt of
Canada, where the population is eight
to the square mile, is not taken into ac-
count. Cuba is cited as proof that peo-
ple who produce raw materials for
export go hungry, whereas a glance at
New Zealand might prove that freedom
to plan parenthood has some mitigating
influence.
Tables can be made correlating many
factors with variations in birth rates.
They are useful only if all major dif-
ferences are considered and used to cor-
rect one another. A depressed status for
women and poor education correspond
roughly with each other and with a
high birth rate. In Burma the women
have equality with men, and the coun-
try, though an eighth the size of India,
has only a twentieth of India’s popula-
tion.
The fact is that all the evils of which
both the family planners and De Castro
complain go together and cannot be
cured unless advance is made on all
fronts. Feudalism, colonialism, indiffer-
~ ence to science he deplores, These occur
in the very countries which forbid birth
control. He asks freedom for nutrition-
ists and biologists to put human happi-
ness before mortey interests. The saine
spirit of enlightenment would not with-
hold from parents the right to plan
their families. He writes that birth-con-
trol advocates offer “as our only salva-
tion a forced reduction in the world’s
birth rate.” But birth control is the op-
posite of force; it offers a choice. Ii is
those who illegalize birth control who
use force.
On nutrition the book is excellent,
and the author's humanity is obvious,
but though the fact of overpopulation
is of the essence of his book he always
becomes emotional on the subject of
birth control. He shies away from it.
He cannot see it as a weapon, along
with so many others he readily accepts,
for the individual's control of his des-
tiny. And here William Vogt, author
of “Road to Survival’ and advocate of
birth control, has some chickens com-
ing home to roost.
Throughout “The Geography of
Hunger’ runs a growl of rage against
the derogatory treatment of un-Ameri-
can peoples in Vogt’s book. There are
eleven references to Vogt and his book
in the index, and the last pages are
shrill against him. De Castro picks out
with proper scorn Vogt’s references to
the Indians making sex play their na-
tional sport—-not of itself an insult but
- since it was coupled with a remark about
their breeding like codfish it must have
been meant as one. In a passage of im- _
pressive wrath that reminds us that he
- is a poet and a creative writer as well as *
a scientist, De Castro defends the In-
dians and their culture from _ the
“egregious” Mr. Vogt. But he should
remember that the Indians have re-
quested the World Health Organiza-_
tion for help with a program of, birth
The Nation 4 4
~~“
a |
q
ui
e vaccines, jeeps,
he country of their detractor. Why
should they-cut off their noses to spite
their faces by refusing America’s sterile-
eriod charts and spenmicidal jellies?
ey are too grown up for that.
BARBARA CADBURY
e Factual Melville
HERMAN MELVILLE: A BIOGRA-
_ PHY. By Leon Howard. University
of California Press. $5.
'TPNHIS biography of Melville is a com-
panion piece to Jay Leyda’s recently
published “Melville Log.” The “Log”
presents the whole body of documentary
knowledge now available about the au-
thor of “Moby Dick,” and Mr. Howard's
iography, written, we are told, almost
‘in collaboration with Leyda, presents in
)sober narrative form the copious part of
‘this knowledge which Mr. Howard
‘thinks proper to the subject. Like the
“Log,” Howard's biography is an im-
ytant contribution to the current at-
tempt in Melville scholarship to put the
lman and his work in the solidest pos-
sible context of fact. As a factual refer-
'ence work, written on the whole with a
‘minimum but genuine literary com-
/petence, this biography will long be of
rvalue to the reader of Melville. No
‘previous biography comes anywhere
‘neat it, of course, for accuracy and
‘completeness,
| I have some complaints about the
jauthor’s attempts at intellectual history
and “criticism,” and they are quickly
istated. In a by now time-honored
scholarly tradition Melville is here
‘presented as if he were a kind of puz-
)zled sophomore worrying throughout
Phis life about such matters as ‘“‘the
problem of knowledge” and feeling sad
when this or that epistemological or
| metaphysical question seemed unanswer-
pablé. The reader gets little sense that
IMelville, as an artist-thinker, also
Ywrestled with problems having to do
vith art and myth,
~ Nor does one get a really firm sense
is sometimes led to feel that a
h Afghan might just as easily
thave written “Moby Dick” as anyone
e, provided he had read Carlyle and
March 15, 1952
ithat Melville was an American writer. ~
=~ a ad 4 Thar) Seales
’ The Potro fete
vx + For ,
‘i certain books on whaling. It would be
pleasant to report that where Mr, How-
ard departs at ail from his sober, factual
biographical account, he has leaned a lit-
tle toward a cultural and psychological
approach, formidable as the pitfalls of
this approach admittedly are. But ia
sticking so resolutely to an abstract and
schematized method, he comes up, in the
realm of ideas and artistic values, with
a remarkably abstract Melville. And this
despite the fact that his preface an-
nounces, in language I find uncomfort-
ably close to that of the human-relations
expert, an intention to restore “the
human element’ to Melville studies.
It is a pity that Mc, Howard did not
throw the last pages of his book, where-
in he essays an act of criticism, into
the wastebasket while they were still
in manuscript. The virtues of his kind
of scholarly writing are patient atten-
tion to the fact, common sense, ju-
diciousness, modesty, and urbanity.
Why, then, in speaking of Melville
critics of whom he disapproves does the
author suddenly emulate the violent
tones of darkest philistia? Is it quite
proper for a serious writer, presumably
committed to the high Montaignesque
virtues, to imply that everyone with
whom he disagrees is neurotic or to
use the word “intellectual” in a uni-
formly pejorative sense? A_ spirited,
even a vituperative, polemic is one
thing, but the awkward assault of the
outraged conventionalist is another.
Thus one can only deplore the con-
temptuous references to D. H. Law-
rence as an “English novelist who
longed to lose himself in the Freudian
Id’ and to another critic of Melville
as “the college professor who fancied
himself an intellectual radical.”
Mr. Howard has no scruples about
comparing himself with God; for, after
all, who but God has a right to claim
so much omniscience as does this writer
in summing up the work of other
writers: ““The pool seems to be inex-
haustible. As the reflections of one criti-
cal group drain off, the waters, without
a disturbing ripple, give forth those of
another.” Mr. Howard remains; the
many change and pass. This is all a bit
ironical in view of the fact that if it had
not been for the critics, Mr, Howard
would never have heard of Herman
Melville or, if he had, would regard
him as an obscure writer who turned
2nd Edition, Revised & Enlarged
y MAN.
AN ANTHOLOGY OF POETRY
[SE
Edsted by CORLISS LAMONT
Exponent of Humanism
Introduction by LOUIS UNTERMEYER
In more than three hundred |
and fifty literary gems, poets
from the chief periods and
countries in the history of hu-
man culture, provide a mant-
fold variety of answers to the
crisis of death. This anthology
is unique since it reflects the
Humanist philosophy, empha-
sizing the best of all answers
to death: The wholehearted
affirmation of life in terms of
freedom, joy, and beauty.
e “The best collection of its kind;
a book of poetry which offers re-
lief from the increasing pressures
of the day and the oppressing
memories of the night.
—Louis Untermeyer, Poet and Critio,
in Introduction to Second Edition
e “The poems...have been chosen
with sensitive taste... The unfor-
tunate who hides a corroding fear
of death in his heart will be stim-
ulated to adopt a more gallant
and serene attitude,”
—Edward Laroque Tinker,
New York Times
e “An anthology like none ever
compiled before. This collection,
se chosen, breathes cour-
age, freedom and beauty on every
page.” —Dr. Charles Francis Potter
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255
ws
difficult to recall.
Perhaps we may assume that the
biographer has merely gone beyond his
competence in these last pages, that he
has no real ill-will but genuinely un-
derstands “criticism” to be that which
goes on when, for example, one accuses
others of indulging in “intellectual
gyrations of ecstasy.” As for “intellec-
tual gyrations of ecstasy,” these are in-
teresting but inconceivable. Presumably
Mr. Howard should have written
“ecstatic gyrations of intellect,” if he
was to insist on the image at all. Yet I
fear he has the stubborn conviction that
in “criticism” it doesn’t matter what
you say. If so, it is all the more regret-
table that he should have tried it.
RICHARD CHASB
The Lore of Islam
THE PORTABLE ARABIAN
NIGHTS, Edited, and with an In-
troduction, by Joseph Campbell. The
Viking Press. $2.50.
TE robust youth of the civilization
we call Islam flourished during and
after the eighth century, and about the
Bagdad court of Harun-al-Rashid and
his successors. But by the fourteenth
century the Tartars had come and the
caliphate was overthrown. Nostalgia for
a glorious past had set in; legends came
POOKS OPAL EV GO SG P|
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In English — 198 pp. — 60¢
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FOUR CONTINENT BOOK CORP.
55 W. 56 Street, N. Y. 19 MUrray Hill 86-2660
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through "ND TAY,
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256
put some third-rate sea stories with titles
Buy Your Books
»
ity
Fe
ee
oe
ee
into flower; and | grad lually, by
ymous art of the ee they
found their way into the framework
image of the witty girl who distracted ©
oaiy emperor by retelling them for
1,001 nights. They were translated into
French as early as 1717, but the first
unexpurgated English version, by John
Payne, had to wait until 1881, and even
then only 500 copies were printed.
Richard Burton’s popular adaptation
followed, and has remained the stand-
ard English text until now, when
thanks to Joseph Campbell’s portable
edition, the palm has been rightfully
handed back to Payne,
Excepting possibly “Finnegans Wake”
—io whose intentions, at least, almost
anything can be ascribed—we have
nothing in English, mor as far as I
know in any Western literature, which
can quite compare with these 264
stories. The Arthurian romances and the
Nibelungenlied preserve in something
of the same manner a people’s wishful-
thinking «myths, but they lack the
abounding variety of the “Arabian
Nights.” Actually, as Gide once sug-
gested, the one comparable book is the
Old Testament. Only there can we find
the same range of subject and detail,
the same pandemic focus on an entire
culture, from its kings to its slaves, its
economics to its housekeeping. On the
other hand, we miss in the Old Testa-
ment the unique Oriental laughter, that
sage capacity for taking oneself at once
gravely and lightly which is the funda-
mental point of view in the “Arabian
Nights,” and which enables its stories
to behold the human creature so com-
prehensively—juxtaposing his grandeur
and his triviality, his honor and his de-
ceit, his fears and his sex, with such
truth and ease. Our European novelists
have called for such a greater reality;
yet how many of them have shown the
mature, unlaborious grasp of man’s
goings-on to describe, for instance, a
crucial robbery being forestalled be-
cause someone got up in the middle of
the night to visit the bathroom? Life,
in these stories, is seen more wholly
than it has been in any of the greatest
novels to come after them.
That so multifarious a book has be-
come, as it has here in the West, chiefly
synonymous with hoochy-coochy and
flying carpets, is one more measure of
our provinciality. For the truth is,
48 and taking e ere granted, 1
are as narrow-minded a ‘culture as
ever existed. Our thinking eucdagna we
are the be-all heirs of mankind’s first
five thousand years, but we have not
begun to claim, or respect, our world
heritage. India, for most of us, is still
a place where a technicolor movie may -
be filmed to advantage and new moun- —
tain-climbing records attempted. Against -
this ‘Western megalomania” Mr. —
Campbell's introduction brings an in- -
temperate indictment which, I'm afraid, ,
it would be awkward to confute. Yet,
as he also reminds us, it was by listen- .
ing to these stories of the “Arabian
Nights” that Scheherazade’s equally ar-
rogant king realized his self-absorption;
perhaps, reading them today, we will
begin to wonder at how much exists
around us that is not merely peripheral
to our Own. ROBERT PHELPS
Books in Brief
SEARCH FOR THE SPINY BAB-
BLER. A Naturalist’s Adventure in
Nepal. By S. Dillon Ripley. Houghton
Mifflin. $4. An entertaining travel book
by a well-known ornithologist and the
Associate Curator of the Peabody
Museum, Mr. Ripley, who has spe-
cialized in Asiatic birds, lists among the
achievements of the expedition the redis-
covery of the Babbler mentioned in his
title, which was previously known from
a single specimen collected more than a
hundred years ago. Like most scientists,
he would no doubt refuse to admit that
such things are the excuses rather than
the real reasons for such picturesque
jaunts as his, but in this book intended
for the general reader birds are only in-
cidental to a description of the excite-
ments and adventures of travel in ohe of J
the most remote corners of the world. 9
Mr. Ripley does a very good job of ©
trying to make the reader understand —
what it is like to travel in a region
where incongruous modernities coexist
with almost unimaginable conditions. —
Members of the ruling class cannot eat
in the presence of even the American
Ambassador to India when he makes his _
annual official visit as Minister to Nepal. 9
Nevertheless, for twenty years an Eng-—
lishman has maintained an electric plant
in the capital, an official automobile
The Natio. |
admired them at Vauxhall.
_ THE BIDOU INHERITANCE. By
de Born. Norton. $3. The life
and loves of a provincial French girl,
daughter of a brilliantly drawn shop-
keeper who is surely one of the most
| eon characters in recent fiction.
e Strongly reminiscent not only of Gide
_—Mme de Born’s obvious master—but
_ also of the Flaubert of ‘Madame Bo-
| vary,” this mature first novel has a
|; directness and simplicity that are re-
I. freshing in themselves and should lead
b us to expect further good things from
| the author, who is trilingual and writes
a i
| excellent English.
| THE WAGES OF FEAR. By Georges
| Arnaud, Translated by Norman Dale.
| Farrar, Straus and Young. $3. A hair-
_ raising story about two outcasts, one a
coward and the other a hero, who vol-
unteer for a sizable bonus to drive a
| truck loaded with nitroglycerine across
| Guatemala. The tension, deriving from
| the young French author's remarkably
crisp and vivid marration, is dissipated
|
Tp
by a trick ending; but this is still one of
the most exciting stories of the year,
and a natural for a good adventure
movie.
THE DUKE OF GALLODORO. By
Aubrey Menen. Scribner's. $2.75. By
his earlier novels—notably by “The
Prevalence of Witches’—Mr. Menen
gained a considerable reputation as a
.. Witty and impudent writer. But in this
leisurely story about a group of odd
characters in a lazy Italian village the
wit sparkles all too intermittently, and
not enough happens to the people—
who are out of Norman Douglas by
way of Evelyn Waugh—to make things
worth while,
oy
aa
>
. THE BROTHERHOOD OF FEAR. By
Robert Ardrey. Random House. $3. A
story of hunter and hunted on an iso-
lated ptimitive island controlled by a
_ mythical police state, by the author of
| the memorable play and movie, “'Thun-
B der Rock.” Mr. Ardey’s over-ripe and
_ fomantic prose considerably weakens the
| effectiveness of his otherwise classic
March 15, 1952
Aue tee!
‘WHERE TO MAKE MORE MONEY
AND BUILD A FUTURE
Your income depends not only upon your ability but also upon work«
ing where your special skill is most needed.
Everyone knows what happened to those lucky people who
moved to Houston or Los Angeles 15-20 years ago, when these
cities were just starting to boom. Jobs were easier to get, they
paid better, and the first ones to arrive got ahead faster.
Anyone who opened a small business found it expanding
as these cities jumped up in population. People who bought
real estate saw it swelling in value. Lots of people made their
fortunes, not because they were smarter than others, but
because they were among the first in a city just starting to
grow fast,
Norman Ford, founder of the world-famous Globe Trotters Club, jours
neyed up and down America to learn which towns in America are as
opportunity-ripe today as were Houston and Los Angeles fifteen-
twenty years ago.
In his new book, Where to Find Opportunity Today, he tells you the
actual names of hundreds of towns and cities where big business and
the Government are investing billions of dollars in new plants, new
dams and irrigation systems; where once sleepy towns are awakening
as new purchasing pours in and there’s a big demand for anyone with
some skill or the determination to make good.
These are the towns where jobs are plentiful—and pay more—to
office workers, mechanics, professional people, etc. Where you
can get the kind of job you like, at the highest pay in the country
for that line of work. Where you get ahead faster today as you
could years ago in Houston and Los Angeles.
These are also the towns where new one-man businesses are needed as
the population increases and everyone makes better wages. Norman
Ford not only tells you which stores and service businesses are needed,
but also where to open a dude ranch, tourist cabins, a swimming pool,
even where to grow flowers for sale or which businesses State Gov-
ernments will guide you in starting.
His book will help you if
—you are about to leave the armed forces, school, or college;
—you don’t think you’re getting ahead as fast as you should;
—you'd like to live in a better climate, with finer surroundings;
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places to live and work as Florida, California, the Colorado
Rockies, Hawaii, etc.;
—you want to make more money today and build a future for
yourself.
Five years from now don’t say, “I wonder how much better off I'd be
today if I had learned in 1952 where opportunity was on the march.”
Today, send for Norman Ford’s Where to Find Opportunity Today.
Price only $1.00—only a fraction of what you'd spend
if you tried to get as much information by traveling
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Money back, if not satisfied.
On a sheet of paper, print name and address, write
“Send me Where to Find Opportunity Today” and
mail with $1.00 to
HARIAN PUBLICATIONS
12 Morris Drive, Greenlawn, New York
ee
ST IS SEIT ES
257,
chase, softening the outlines of a parable
of political morality that would have
been better served with harsh matter-of-
factness. Despite some keen insights into
the totalitarian mind and a tolerably
tense situation, this novel reads like an
early draft of what might have been a
genuinely unusual and original book.
CORRECTION: In his art column Jast
week Manny Farber stated that James
N. Rosenberg “spent a year in the Holy
Land.” Mr. Rosenberg actually spent
about three wecks in Israel.
CONTRIBUTORS
BARBARA CADBURY has seen both
extremes of the population situation,
having emigrated from England to
Saskatchewan. While temporarily resi-
dent in New York she is assisting the
International Committee for Planned
Parenthood with the publication of
their News of Population and Birth
Control.
RICHARD CHASE, a member of the
English Department at Columbia Uni-
versity, is the author of “Quest for
Myth,” “Herman Melville: A Critical
Study,” and “Emily Dickinson,” in the
American Men of Letters Series.
ROBERT PHELPS contributes to vari-
ous magazines, including the New Re-
public and the Progressive.
AS eet ha
JOSEPH
Drama} 22°,
RS. McTHING” (Martin Beck
Theater) is a “fantasie for chil-
dren of all ages’ by Mary Chase, the
author of “Harvey.” Presented by
ANTA for a limited engagement, it has
already settled down for an extended
run, and simple decency demands that _
the present reviewer should confess first
of all that he enjoyed every minute of
it—partly because Helen Hayes gives a
stunning performance in the leading
role, partly also because the various con-
trivances which keep it going are the
product of an extraordinarily ingenious
talent. Unfortunately, however, this is
not the whole story. Frankness requires
one to add that the whole is also com-
pletely synthetic and less a “fantasie”’ in
the dignified sense of that term than
what is now commonly called “a gim-
mick.”
The fearfully elaborate story has to
do with an over-protected only child
who is transported by witchcraft into
the world of his dreams, where he is
adopted into a mob of comic-book
gangsters with whom his mother, set
out in search of him, also becomes hope-
lessly involved. There is something
doing every minute, and that something
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258
Helen Hayes's aut iota comic
performance but also two wholly de-
lightful child actors, Brandon De Wilde
and Lydia Reed, and it is difficult not to
seem churlish if one refuses simply to
say “Great fun” and to let it go at that.
But since the piece is certain to be wide-
ly discussed and variously estimated,
some reservations ought to be made.
Second thoughts are certain to sug-
gest that a great many of the devices
and methods of “Mrs. McThing’” are
unblushingly derivative. That the gen-
eral scheme is taken directly from -
“Peter Pan’’ is almost too obvious to be
mentioned, and Miss Chase's indebted-
ness remains embarrassingly heavy even
though her whole tone is different
enough from Barrie’s. But the borrow-
ings by no means stop there. The gang-
ster-chef who prefers an imaginary
piano to the frying pan and refuses to
serve customers unless the sound of
their names pleases his ear is a Saroyan
character if I ever met one. Moreover,
the three aging spinsters who call en
Mrs. McThing in real life are straight
out of “The Mad Woman of Chaillot.”
And if one asks how on earth a mixture
of Barrie, Saroyan, and Giraudoux can
be made to jell, the answer is simply
that it can’t but that what the imagina-
tion cannot unify mechanical ingenuity
can assemble into a workable gadget—
which is exactly what the author has
succeeded in doing. Reports have it that
endless tinkering has been done with
the script, and the efforts of the tinker-
ers have been unusually successful. But
the triumph is a triumph of mechanical
ingenuity, not of creative imagination.
The best moments are like that at the
end of the second act when the mother,
who has so far remained outside the be-
witched circle; is suddenly sucked into
it by a surprising and ingenious device;
the poorest are those—and there are
many—when something is said or some-
thing is made to happen for no reason
at all except that it promises to be mo- “
mentarily diverting.
Wherever the action is controlled by
the fundamental premise that the be-
witched world is simply the world of a
naive imagination fed on comic books,
the piece maintains a consistency of
tone. But a good part of the time it
seems to be uncertain what its premises
The NATION g
L,
—— = — > es sre
—- —— > aa =a — oo
—
ees Ree i i arin’ im f f
i or of Infidelity, the rut edt nature,
he the unexpectedness of one’s own natural
behavior, the tortures of jealousy, and
the differences in human characters even
when fundamentally they are subject to
the same iron laws of nature. In short,
“Cosi Fan Tutte” is a tragi-comedy and
the most profound aad terrifying work of
its kind that has ever been written.
pale
Was ed ia terms of aly feciol
| realism just inside the limits of be-
_ lievability. Yet when the three Mad
| Women enter they bring with them an
| entirely incongruous sort of extrava-
‘i gance which requires a complete read-
_ justment of mood; and things like that
G happen so frequently that the spectator,
| giving up all hope of ever knowing for
, long what sort of world he is in, is com-
}
|
From this I think it possible to guess
what Turner would have thought of the
performance of ‘‘Cosi’”’ that I attended
at the Metropolitan. A man for whom
the music was the key to the nature of
the work would, I think, have regarded
what happened to the music as the
touchstone of the quality of the per-
formance. That means, for one thing,
how the music was sung and played; and
while I cannot know for certain what
Turner would have thought, it is possi-
ble that he too would have been dis-
turbed by the lack of sensuous warmth
and ease in Tucker's singing, but would
have found Guarrera, Thebom, Munsel,
and Alvary and the orchestra under
Erede acceptable, and would have felt
that the musical performance reached
greatness in the lustrous beauty and
grandeur of style of Steber’s singing.
But what happened to the music would,
I think, have been for Turner more than
just how it was sung and played: his
conviction of the central importance of
the music would have led him to ob-
ject to anything which drew the lis-
tener’s attention away from it; and his
conviction about its meaning would
have led him to object to anything
which falsified it. I am sure, therefore,
that he would have objected to a per-
formance which had the listener strain-
ing to hear the English words and as
a result not hearing the music they were
being sung to (a writer I know who
had heard one of the performances te-
marked: “There was this wonderful
music; and you found yourself missing
it because you were trying to hear the
words—those silly words of the trans-
lation.” ), And I am sure Turner would
have objected to a performance which
had the singers clowning for laughs
during some of the passages of tender,
poignant music—a performance, that is,
which changed profound tragi-comedy
to trivial farce.
This falsification was the predictable
result of the initial decision to use
English, The Eaglish words were to
_pelled simply to settle down to the
_ rather elementary pleasures of continu-
ous novelty and surprise. It is one thing
| to be asked to suspend one’s disbelief,
| but it is another never to know from
one moment to the next what premises
| one is going to be called upon to ac-
: cept.
i All the actors seem to be having a
wonderful time, and several besides
i those already mentioned make their
| roles amusing in themselves, even
| though the script fails to establish for
a the group much connection with any
| pervading style. Enid Markey’s Mad
| Woman is hilarious though you can’t
| image her in Miss Hayes’s house, and
_ the mobsters, headed by Jules Munshin
as Poison Joe, are almost equally divert-
| ing if perhaps a little over exuberant.
| And as usual Helen Hayes dominates
|
|
the stage without ever seeming to be
_ aware of the fact that she is the star.
a
| Music
TTACKING the widely accepted
the
| libretto of “Cos) Fan Tutte,” the great
| English critic W. J. Turner asks, in his
| book on Mozart:
. +:How has Mozart treated this plot?
_ That is the vite! question. Has he writ-
ten for it charming and superficial music
_ sich as would justify the interpretation
‘of those who declare it frivolous and
| artificial—in the sense of being un-
real... ? Far from it! He has written
_ for this opera the most tender, poignant,
I intensely dramatic and powerful music
| of which he was capable. He has made
i every character real, pulsing with life,
'
i
B, H.
HAGGIN
a ++ idea of the silliness of
b
and has given to each one all the emo-
_ tions proper to such experiences as young
love, the anguish of separation, the hor-
i
make the comedy intelligible; this, as
always, led to the use of English
words—e. g., present-day colloquialisms
—to make the comedy funnier; then the
words weren't funny enough and
clowning was added,
Which is to say that the lapse of taste
was the predictable result of the lapse of
intelligence. I remarked last year on the
fact that Me. Bing, who in so many
instances had thought his own way to
new decisions with his own keen in-
telligence and judgment for the pur-
pose, seemed to have accepted the con-
tentions of the opera-in-English cult
without any thought of how they were
contradicted by the realities of the
situation. The contentions are that the
audience must get its knowledge of
what an opera is about directly from
the performance without preliminary
reading of a libretto, that in the par-
ticular case of a Mozart comedy the
audience must be able to follow the
words in which the humorous’ points
are made, that for these purposes
‘ English must be used in a performance
for an American audience as German is
used for the audience in Vienna, and
that if it isn’t used the public won't
come to hear the opera. But actually
in a theater the size of the Metro-
politan the audience can’t hear enough
of the English words to get the knowl-
edge its needs directly and solely from
the performance, but has to read a
libretto before the performance in Eng-
lish just as the Viennese reads one be-
fore the performance in German; and
since advance reading has to be done it
should be done for a performance in
» PULITZER PRIZE and CRITICS’ AWARD
* RICHARD RODGERS & OSCAR HAMMERSTEIN Znd
present in associotion with
LELAND HAYWARD & JOSHUA LOGAN
MARTHA WRIGHT
GEORGE BRITTON
South Pacific
Mose by RICHARD RODGERS
Ayrics by eM} HAMMERSTEIN 2nd
Book by
OSCAR HAMMERSTEIN 2nd & Leino um
A. MICHERER’S
Pica Wisning MALES 6 OF THE SOUTH pacific”
Directed by JOSHUA LOGAN
Scenery & Lighting by Jo Mielziner
with MYRON McCORMICK —
WALESTIC THEATRE, 44th St, West of B’way
Evonings 8:30. Matiness Wod. & Sat., 2.30
Morday Eves. only. Curtaia at 7 sharp.
Italian which has these advantages: that
the words fit Mozart’s music perfectly
and add their delightful sound to it; and
that the following of the play is then not
a straining to discover what one doesn’t
know but an easy recognition of what
one already knows, which doesn’t dis-
tract one’s attention from the music. Ac-
tually, too, for many years the per-
formances of “Don Giovanni’ and
“Figaro” in Italian have filled the
Metropolitan with people who have
known enough about what was hap-
pening on the stage to smile, laugh, and
applaud enthusiastically, providing no
justification for Mr. Bing to fear that
“Cosi” in Halian would keep the public
away or cause it to sit stony-faced and
silent. And actually the Metropolitan
has begun to give Mozart's operas in
English after the Vienna Opera has
begun to give them in Italian.
One notable feature of the perform-
ance remains to be mentioned—the fact
that Alfred Lunt’s direction prescribed
the singers’ every movement, gesture,
and position. What he prescribed in this
particular opera could be objected to;
but the method is the correct one for
opera, and his use of it in “Cosi” is
an innovation of the highest value that
should be made permanent at the
Metropolitan.
PERSONALS
“Creeping socialism” in California! Follow
its vigorous growth, read about its fight
to get on the ballot, learn about ite
activities.
SOCIALIST ADVOCATE
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Dept. TN, 118 West 72 Street
New York City EN 2-2033
260.
.
Less Light in Darkest Africa
Dear Sirs: 1 was sorry to see no report
in the press of the unexpected and al-
most simultaneous disappearance of the
last two liberal and progressive journals
in South Africa, the weekly Forum and
the monthly Common Sense. Both jour-
nals, one thirteen years old and the
other twelve, pleaded financial hard-—
ship. But in the light of its past atti-
tude toward the press it would be in-
teresting to know what part, if any, the
Nationalist government played in the
suspension of the two periodicals.
The Nationalist government is hardly
a disinterested party where the freedom
of the press is concerned. It was the con-
sidered opinion of the Rand Daily Mail
that ‘from the day they took office it has
been obvious that the Nationalists would
sooner or Jater have to try to control the
press,” because “a free press is a per-
petual menace to them.”
Not long ago an attempt was made
to suborn civil liberty by striking at the
Guardian. The Cape Times foresaw a
state of affairs in South Africa without
precedent in the West, “the closing
down of a newspaper by governmental
edict, with the say of the courts of law
categorically excluded.” The Guardian’s
editor, B. P. Bunting, reported in Lon-
don recently that his magazine’s circula-
tion had suffered from the government's
hostility because people were afraid to
be seen reading or selling it. It is hard
to avoid the conclusion that the same
circumstances helped to force the Forum
and Common Sense off the stands.
London, England C. €, ARONSFELD
The British Pull Out
‘Dear Sirs: On visiting the port of
Massawa in Ethiopia recently I was
horrified to discover that the British
authorities were systematically destroy-
ing all the buildings in the city. The
buildings already wholly or largely de-
stroyed or totally dismantled include
the arsenal and the cement works, many
of the offices of the Port Authority, and
the buildings used to house the Port
Authority personnel. Slated for imme-
diate destruction are other offices and
dwellings and the oil containers used
for refueling ships, cars, etc. The large
cranes used in loading and unloading
the ships have been removed.
It is evident that if the destruc-
tion continues, the Ethiopian govern-
ment, when the port is turned over to
it, will find nothing but sand, a few
trees, and some poor huts. It would cost
millions to replace what has been
wantonly destroyed.
I wish to place on record the fact
that many months ago the International
Ethiopian Council for Study and Report
was informed that the British authori-
ties in Eritrea were dismantling indus-
trial plants and buildings there. A par-
liamentary question was asked on the
point by Mr. Peter Freeman, M. P.,
chairman of the council. In reply, His
Majesty's government stated that the
only buildings demolished were unsafe
or useless, and that no further destruc-
tion would take place.
The destruction at Massawa has gone
far, and | fear it will go still farther
if no protest is made. Do the British
authorities intend to destroy the rail-
way which brings fuel from the con-
tainers to the wharf and serves other
purposes essential to the functioning of
the port? Do they intend to demolish
the causeway leading from the mainland
to the port, and also the wharves? Is
similar destruction in progress at Assab?
The dismantling and destruction of a
port which the United Nations General
Assembly decided should be restored to
Ethiopia is an affront to the United _
Nations and a gross injury to a gallant
ally who came to England’s aid in 1940.
E. SYLVIA PANKHURST,
Secretary, International Ethiopian
Council for Study and Report
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Does Capitalism Cause War?
Dear Sirs: The topic of the American
Friends Service Committee’s spring Con-
ference, April 18-20, is Does our Eco-
nomic System Lead to War? The speak-
ers include Claire Huchet Bishop, Ken-
neth Boulding, A. J. Muste, Scott Near-
ing, and Hans Christian Sonne. The~ ~
registration fee is $2.50 and should be -
sent to A. F. S. C., 130 Brattle Street,
’ Cambridge 38, Massachusetts. If regis-
tration is made before April 10 over-
night accommodations will be provided
free to students and at minimum cost
to others. RUSSELL JOHNSON
Cambridge, Mass.
The Nation
=
ww
Gg
‘
SS en ne ee
a tater
~~
~
ACROSS
1 Plant a rey. sremfore to signal the
head of 16.
6 The ciarstilons beat them back in
ersiflage. (4)
cm the present, it lets itself be seen.
)
11 en things are so beaten, do they
make a lot 6f noise? (7)
'12 Would locking the barn door after
the horse had gone be an example?
on in all you survey!)
14 See 8 down,
45 Ziyrk. thou seal up the ____s of
i
Pay every debt, as if God wrote the
bill.” (Emerson) § )
16 Its validity might depend on will
)
18 Pail biras? Bird-rails, rather (for
those who prize things)! (8)
122 Not recommended in the case of the-
' oretically fertile eggs. (14)
124 i father did some literary ghost-
- (7)
25 IVs 3 obvious that this is happening
| . around the source of instinct. (7)
26 The 2 down get this as a remainder.
a tes shade. (5-5)
A DOWN
9
brought up the whole thing! (10)
18, 1952
Napoleon didn’t find the last part
Cre ssword Puzzle No. 456
BY FRANK W. LEWIS
i
| |
Pte PCPLELE LE
2 Through working with a different
tread? (7)
8 They change crews “ maniacs, with
deadly results, (5, 9
4 Emerson implied solitude is, to the
imagination. (7)
5 In conclusion, (6)
7 Used for far approaches to the end
of 27. (7)
8 and 14. aed with wires and pup-
pets? (4, 8,
9 Blasphemous » iterate (What's
the connection with letters?) (7, 7)
13 and 17. Peter Pan Park? (10, 7
19 Pigs or patrons? (7)
20 Deep in the heart of Texas (or
Kansas). (7)
21 Look! Here’s frult to press! (6)
23 Affair seen from the distance, if not
there. (4)
B
SOLUTION TO PUZZLE No. 455
ACROSS :—1 BOXING MATCHES; 10 PILOT;
11 UNTENABLE; 12 RUIRESHER; 13 and
2 down STAFF OF LIFE; 14 FOURFLUSH-
ERS; 19 DICIPHHRMENT; 22 RINGS; 24
CONCORDAT; 25 SURROGATH; 26 NAMED;
27 POWER POLITICS.
DOWN :—3 IN THE SOUP; 4 GAUCHERIN;
5 ASTOR; 6 CUNTS; 7 EMBRACES; 8
SPARE; 9 SELFISH; 13 LEMON PEBL; 16
SUNBONNET ; 17 ADDRESS; 18 SCENARIO;
20 ADAMIC; 21 STUDY; 23 STONH; 24
CLASP.
Readers are Invited to send for a free copy of Mr. Lewis's “ground rules.” Address
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Six months ago, without fanfare, a new pub-
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sible way to reach the American people.
The name of the publication is
7
M7 Said our statement of policy: @
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U.N. or NATO?—/J. ee adel .
‘Nati OW
March 22, 1952 |
Mr. Republican? Mr. Democrat?
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IN ew Hampshire Reviewed
BY JOHN P. MALLAN
}CENTS A COPY + EVERY WEEK SINCE 1865 - 7 DOLLARS A YEAR
AROUND THE wi SA oe
The Wiggins Case
Minneapolis
HE University of Minnesota's re-
lease of Dr. Forrest O. Wiggins, in-
structor in philosophy, last December
12 might have gone unnoticed had Dr.
Wiggins not been a radical and a
Negro—the first Negro, in fact, to re-
_ ceive an appointment to a state school
in Minnesota. For these reasons his
“non-reappointment,” the term used
by the university, touched off a state-
wide reaction and ‘has since attracted
national attention.
Early in 1951, as the legislature be-
gan hearings on the university's budget,
Forrest Wiggins delivered a lecture on
“The Ideology of Interest’ before a
gtoup of students from such organi-
zations as the American Fellowship and
the Young Women’s Christian Associa-
tion. The lecture was one of a series
given under the heading “Conflict in the
Social Order.” No eyebrows were raised
et the time, but when the hearings on
the budget got under way several days
later, copies of the lecture were on the
desk of every legislator. The legisla-
ture’s decision to cut the university's
budget was felt by some officials to be
the result of the views Wiggins ex-
pressed, and it was rumored that his
days at the university were numbered.
In November, when recommenda-
tions for promotions were in order, Dr.
George P. Conger, chairman of the
Department of Philosophy, requested,
as he had done several times before,
that Dr. Wiggins be advanced to the
_rank of assistant professor. Dean W. W.
McDiarmid deferred action. Dr. Conger
then suggested to Wiggins that he pre-
pare a personal credo which could be
presented to the Dean. Wiggins did so,
and Dean McDiarmid, after reading it,
asked him to demonstrate wherein his
position differed from that of the
Communist Party. Wiggins immediately
objected that since he was not a Com-
munist he could not very well demon-
strate the points of difference between
his position and the shifting line and
tactics of the Communists. He also tock
exception to the whole attempt to
test the political beliefs of an instructor.
For a time the question of his promo-
tion remained in abeyance. Finally the
Dean told Dr. Conger that he was not
going to recommend Wiggins for reap-
pointment. A little later he recommend-
ed that Wiggins be dismissed on the
ground of “incompetence.”
St. Paul and Minneapolis papers fea-
tured Dean McDiarmid’s statement that
in his opinion Dr. Wiggins’s continu-
ance was
of his scholarship or potential contribu-
tions to the Philosophy Department.”
Several legislators hailed the decision
with enthusiasm. One said: “Academic
freedom, of which we hear and read so
much, is not to be preserved at all costs
—for it has its limitations.” Significant-
ly this legislator claimed that Dr. Wig-
gins had been ‘‘a source of embarrass-
ment to the university, humiliation to
the citizens of the state, and confusion
to the student body.” No mention was
made of incompetence.
The students were overwhelmingly
for Wiggins. Dr. Conger issued an im-
pressively documented statement de-
manding his retention. His scholarship
and teaching ability were indorsed in
flattering testimonials from colleagues
and students. The charge that he had
failed to give evidence of creative
scholarship—that is, published articles
in the learned journals—was challenged
by reference to the fact that he had
initiated six new courses in philosophy
in as many years. Men like Luther
Youngdahl, former Governor of
Minnesota, now a federal judge, had
often appeared as guest lecturer in Dr.
Wiggins’s courses. “On the eve of my
retirement,” Dr. Conger wrote, “I can
-sincerely say that if I can feel I have
left behind me a group of students who
feel a fraction of the admiration and
respect for me that these students have
expressed for Dr. Wiggins, I shall re-
tice a happy man.”
Some 250 students, representing a
broad base of twenty-two different
campus associations, protested the dis-
missal. After obtaining more than 2,300.
signatures to a petition for Dr. Wig-
gins’s return, they presented it to Presi-
dent J. L. Morrill, who expressed some
interest in its “wording” but questioned
its relevance,
Finally the outside community began
to register objections to the university's
decision. At a mass rally on the campus
“not justified either on the basis ©
a member of the legislature spoke in
favor of Wiggins’s reappointment. A
spokesman for the A. F. of L. related
the dismissal of Wiggins to the cuts —
made in the budget. The secretary of ~
one of the state's largest C. I. O. unions —
also publicly supported Wiggins.
While it is true that the legislature
passed other “‘economy’’ measures, one
Minnesota resident has pointed out |
that the $200,000 cut in university —
funds was hardly a significant saving in
a total state budget of $30,000,000. The —
same observer insists that the Wig- —
gins case cannot be isolated from the
legislative threat to enact a stringent ~
loyalty-oath bill for teachers if some
schools are not “cleaned up.” .
There seems little hope of reversing
the decision against Dr. Wiggins, but —
the efforts in his behalf have ac- |
complished one thing. Those who con- —
trol education have been made aware
that the people are becoming concerned
over the inroads on academic freedom.
It is auger enough to brand a
teacher a red to justify his dient
In fact, it i
adays to tru
ter how fli Lae
would dest i ve
freedom ki
of freedor Tom Pty
strictly the . WA
instructors .
[Dick Bo Ges
Mankato F m ay
Comin (> 4 Paeh eee
Jit sha eee at
The stapied i is sae
discrimination against sm Negi!
in the medical profession as re- |
ported by Robert M, Cunningham, | |
Jr, editor of Modern Hospital |
magazine. “It is important to re- |
member that the doctor and hospital
engaging in discriminatory selection }
are often victims as well as cul- |
prits,”” writes the author. “It is by }
no means true, however, that they |
are helpless to do anything about |
eliminating discrimination. . . . |
There is heartening evidence that
this is not the case.” _ if
DaPHRICA’S LEADING LIBERAL WEEKLY SINCE 1865
=
-Voiume 174
» Shape of Things
THE MIDDLE GROUP OF LABOR MEMBERS OF
Parliament did good service to their party last week
when they hastily improvised a ladder which enabled
both Mr. Attlee and Mr. Bevan to descend from their
high horses, There had been a real risk of a party split
when Bevan and some forty of his followers ostenta-
tiously abstained from supporting an official Labor
amendment which approved the defense program in
principle but expressed no confidence in the govern-
“ment’s ability to implement it. This was a breach of
party discipline which no leader could overlook. How-
ever, Mr. Attlee’s reported intention to present the
febels with an ultimatum requiring them to pledge
“support of majority decisions on pain of expulsion was
unnecessarily provocative. So too was Bevan’s public
threat to take a walk if the party refused to accept his
_ views on rearmament. It was under these circumstances
; that the moderates, led by such men as James Griffiths,
_ John Strachey, and George Strauss, drafted a resolution
which after censuring the Bevanites indirectly proposed
F the adoption of “such standing orders as will make it
_ obligatory on all members to carry out decisions of the
~ Parliamentary Party, taking into account the traditional
conscience clause.” -This resolution, passed by a large
“majority of the Labor M. P.’s and later indorsed by the
party’s National Executive Committee, let the Bevanites
off with a warning.
+
7
r ,
e OW THAT BEVAN, A HOT-TEMPERED MAN,
‘has had time to cool off, he should be grateful to the
iiicerstes. Had he been forced to back up his threats,
he would probably have found himself deserted by most
of his followers, who are well aware that there is no
future in splinter tactics. Besides, if he can curb his im-
yatience, he will find time on his side. Already the re-
rmament controversy is becoming academic, for the
ade crisis has given solvency priority over military se-
- The new budget, which Keith Hutchison analyzes
Ee pase 272, provides for a very modest increase in
ae during the coming year, and it is
st certain that the original three-year program, which
Bevan’s resignation from the Labor government,
have to be stretched over four or five years. This
NEW YORK +» SATURDAY + MARCH 22, 1952
heavily on low-income consumers.
NuMBER 12
relaxation of tempo is due to competition between de-
fense and exports, with the imperative demands of
solvency giving precedence to the latter. Britain must
expand its foreign sales, and it can do so only by con-
centrating on products which require the same resources
as armament manufacture. World markets for consumer
goods have been shrinking, and now Britain's chief cus-
tomers in the sterling area—Australia, New Zealand,
South Africa—are imposing curbs on imports that will
drastically curtail British shipments of automobiles, tex-
tiles, china, and so forth. This means a still heavier ex-
port load for the capital-goods industries, whose prod-
ucts remain universally in demand, reducing their
ability to meet defense requirements. So Bevan has
proved a sound prophet in his own country. Now, en-
larging his horizon, he has called for a “third force”
of Western Socialists which would hold the power bal-
ance between the United States and the Soviet Union.
“Nye,” it would appear, has just begun to fight.
+
THE SECOND ROUND IN THE “FAIR TRADE”
battle is now being fought out before a subcommittee of
the House Judicial Committee. The subcommittee has
before it a measure to repeal the Miller-Tydings amend-
ment to the Sherman Anti-Trust Act under which fair-
trade agreements could formerly be enforced against
even non-signers in the forty-five states that had ap-
proved the principle of resale price maintenance. At the
same time the Interstate Commerce Commission is con-
sidering a measure which, by amending the Federal
Trade Commission Act, would get around the impasse
created by the Supreme Court’s decision last year that
fair-trade contracts—the Miller-Tydings amendment to
the contrary notwithstanding—could not be enforced
against non-signers. “Fair trade” is a thorny political is-
sue, causing division between groups that normally have
much in common, as, for example, small business men
and small farmers. One can be sympathetic with small
retailers, convinced that they need the protection of fair-
trade appeements against the catthroat competition of the
“chains,” without being certain that fair-trade agree-
ments are fair to the public or will, in the long run,
insure the survival of independent retailers. Nor can
there be much doubt that in some areas, such as drugs,
the high retail prices fostered by the agreements bear
“The father who
e IN THIS ISSUE °
EDITORIALS
The Shape of Things 261
Russia’s New Offer 263
The Strange Case of General Grow 264
ARTICLES
United Nations or NATO?
by J. Alvarez del Vayo 265
New Hampshire Reviewed by John P. Mallan = 267
Wisconsin Previewed by Carey McWilliams 269
The Tory Budget and British Labor
by Keith Hutchison 272
The Crisis in French Movies by Madelon Berns 273
The Problem: Guns and Butter Too
by Marver Bernstein 275
The Japanese “Insecurity” Treaty
by Helen Mears 277
BOOKS AND THE ARTS
Handbook on Communism by H. Stwart Hughes 279
The Peacock Vein by Howard Doughty, Jr. 280
Startled, I Remember and Epitaph
by Mark Van Doren 280
Introduction to Vedanta by Felix Grendon 281
A New Language by Henry David Aiken 282
Masters Old and New by S. Lane Faison, Jr. 283
Verse Chronicle by Rolfe Humphries 283
Books in Brief 284
Drama by Margaret Marshall 285
Records by B. H. Haggin 285
Films by Manny Farber 286
LETTERS TO THE EDITORS 288
CROSSWORD PUZZLE No. 457
by Frank W. Lewis
SS
EDITORIAL BOARD
Editor and Publisher : Freda Kirchwey
Editorial Director Director, Nation Assoctates
Carey McWilliams Lillie Shultz
Managing Editor: Victor H. Bernstein
Foreign Editor Literary Editor
J. Alvarez del Vayo Margaret Marshall
Financial Editor ; Keith Hutchison
Drama: Joseph Wood Krutch Music: B. H. Hagegin
Assistant Editor: Charles R. Allen, Jr.
Copy Editor: Gladys Whiteside
Assistant Literary Editor: Caroline Whiting
Staff Contributors
Andrew Roth, Alexander Werth, Howard K. Smith, Carolus
opposite 288
Business Manager: Hugo Van Arx
Advertising Manager: Mary Simon
The Nation, published weekly and copyright, 1952, in th s
by The Nation Associates, Inc., 20 Vesey Street, New Yank 9: x ¥
Entered as second-class matter, December 13, 1879, at the Post Office
of New York, N. Y., under the act of March 3, 1879. Advertising
and Circulation Representative for Continental Europe: Pubiicitas.
Subscription Prices: Domestic—One year $7; Two years $12: Three
years $17. Additional postage per year: Foreign and Canadian $1.
Change of Address: Three weeks’ notice is required for change of
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Information to Libraries: The Nation is indexed in Readers’ Guide
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- Articles, Public Affairs Information Service, Dramatic Index,
ee A RE LL SE EE LE ED
262
i Tee ae wae ae &
; send RE POR a Rt 2 eae
uUCeas ar os for DUS | ck c) d, ; AS iS ran At
eral H. H. Morrison pointed out at the ope ning s
of the current hearings, “cannot go on a sitdown strike.
_—
v >35
It was never the American concept to say that he must _
simply refrain from buying articles which are price-
fixed at a higher level than he can afford to pay.”
+
THE EXECUTION BY FIRING SQUAD OF THE ;
five Catalonian labor leaders, carried out in spite of the
protest of the International Federation of Free Trade +
Unions and other non-Communist organizations, has
aroused a great outcry, especially in Europe and Latin ©
America, We are not among those who cherish the .
hope that American or any other influence will “‘lib-
eralize” the Franco regime. Franco’s fascism is the real
thing, and the executions in Barcelona are only a con-
tinuation of twelve years of’ repression and terror.
Nevertheless, we are profoundly shocked that Secretary
Acheson in last week’s press conference used all his
persuasive eloquence to explain the benefits expected
to flow from the dispatch to Spain of a new military
mission and did not once mention the coming exe-
cutions, already announced. If he was deceived by
the lies of Franco propaganda into believing that the
condemned leaders were Communists or “vulgar crimi-
nals,” he should inform himself about the coming trials
of additional groups of union men in Barcelona and in
the Basque town of Vitoria, Particularly in the latter
case it would have been utterly impossible to accuse
Catholics and nationalist Basques. The charge against
them is that they helped organize and lead ‘the strikes
last spring—this and nothing else. We are glad to
note that a meeting of protest will be held on March
25 at Freedom House in New York, with Norman
Thomas, Roger Baldwin, and others speaking,
+
BY A VOTE OF FIVE TO FOUR THE SUPREME
Court last week upheld the right of the Attorney General
to deny bail to alien residents who face deportation
under the McCarran act, What this means is that in the
wat against Communists we have speeded up “justice” to
the point where we are jailing people even before we try
to find out whether or not they are guilty of anything.
In passing, we might contrast this treatment with the —
leisurely justice meted out to another kind of resident.
-alien—first-class aliens, so to speak—such as appeared as
witnesses last year before the Kefauver committee. These -
included assorted thugs, goons, gangsters, and racketeers,
all with police records as long as your arm, who never
seem to be deported and who continue to énjoy all con- |
stitutional rights, including that of bail. Justice Black, —
one of the four who dissented from last week’s decision, —
declared: ‘The denial of a right to bail under the circum- —
The NATION |
ne as a Sl ; Bis of hed
: cor = Rights: Eighth
A nent’s ban against excessive bail; First Amend-
ment’s ban against abridgment of thought, speech, and
P ress; Fifth Amendment's ban against depriving a person
_ of liberty without due process of law.” The Senator from
Nevada has certainly thrown a rotten apple into our
be el of civil rights. x
IS SAFE TO PREDICT EVEN AT THIS EARLY
ge that Washington will find reason to accept General
Batista’s coup d’état and recognize his regime. Our ideas
of what constitutes a free nation and a legally established
government have become mighty flexible these days, and,
tion” took the precaution, immediately after seizing
power, of promising to honor all international agree-
‘ments and back up the United States in case of war with
_ Russia. As coups go, the Batista affair was, in truth,
_ almost a model—accomplished with exemplary speed,
_deftness, and a minimum of turbulence. The two persons
_ killed, the General carefully pointed out, were members
__ of President Prio Socanes’s palace guard. “The only blood
_ that will be spilled,” he said, “will be that of those who
| oppose us.” What could be more reasonable? Even the
| carnival processions, the famous comparsas that run
_ through Lent in Havana, were interrupted for barely
_ three days. Opposition leaders and members of the de-
posed government were given guaranties of personal
safety or safe conduct out of the country if they chose to
| leave; President Prio departed for Mexico City without
_ even formally relinquishing his office. From this place
_ of refuge he has promised to come back and restore a
_— regime—when or how not specified,
. *
| A GOOD MANY CONGRESSMEN WHO LOVE TO
foll juicy government scandals on the tongue seem to
| take strangely little interest in measures to promote
cleaner government. Thus the President’s plan for re-
bfganizing the Bureau of Internal Revenue and putting
1 irtually all its top officers under civil service quickly
fan into trouble on the Hill, with many of the Adminis-
tration’s sharpest critics in both parties showing them-
selves indifferent or hostile. However, thanks to three
| young liberal Senators—Humphrey of Minnesota, Mon-
roney of Oklahoma, and Moody of Michigan—the plan
| ‘has won the approval of the Senate and will go into
effect immediately. The opposition was made up in
) nearly equal parts of Southern Democrats and right-
f wing Republicans, whose spokesmen claimed that the
| feorganization plan was camouflage and that the Presi-
dent already had all the power he needed to eliminate
"corruption. Against these arguments the liberal cham-
pions urged the necessity for ending “a discreditable
larch 22, 1952
|
i
'
:
"2
|
7
oe a,
t besides, Cuba’s new Premier and “Chief of the Revolu-
pa tice Bekinae- system” and challenged those “who
corruption to vote against it.” When the showdown -
came they won handsomely. Among the minority we
note such names as George and Russell of Georgia, East-
land of Mississippi, Capehart of Indiana, Nixon of
California, and, of course, McCarthy of Wisconsin.
Russia’ Latest Offer
O DOUBT there is an element of propaganda in
the Kremlin’s new draft of a German treaty.
Nevertheless, it is worth noting that the Soviet proposal
delivered to the United States, Britain, and France on
March 10 was not only unrhetorical and business-like in
tone, but more realistic in-content than previous missives
from Moscow on this subject. At long last we have what
may prove to be a serious offer, and we agree with the
London Times that “the Western powers can hardly
afford to dismiss it out of hand.”
In a way this Soviet note can be regarded as a tribute
to the progress that NATO has been making. It arrived
soon after negotiations started at Bonn for the implemen-
tation of agreements reached at Lisbon for German par-
ticipation in a European army and for restoration of
West German sovereignty. It followed immediately on
elections in southwest Germany in which the Socialists,
campaigning on an anti-rearmament platform, made im- —
portant gains but failed to defeat Chancellor Adenauer’s
Christian Democratic Party, Thus Moscow finds itself —
facing the disagreeable fact of the integration of West
Germany into the Atlantic partnership. :
“Some Western observers,” writes Joseph Newman in
a London dispatch to the New York Herald Tribune of
March 16, “have been convinced that the Russians would
come forward with a serious proposal when Western
unity and strength had reached the point which made it
necessary for them to do so if only in their own interests.
. . The point at which the Russians might seriously pro--
pose a settlement on Germany was expected to arrive
when they consider it to their advantage to surrender the
eastern part of Germany, which they occupy, in exchange
for renunciation of western Germany by the Big Three .
Western powers.”
What is no doubt from the Russians’ point of view the
key clause of their draft treaty is a German pledge not
to enter into an alliance against any power which took
part in the war, Other provisions include reunion of the
two Germanys, guaranties of a democratic regime with
full political and civil rights for all, no limitations on
the national economy, armed forces for self-defense with
a limited war industry, and frontiers as determined by
the Potsdam conference, where, in fact, no definitive
decision on frontiers was reached.
Negotiation of the treaty, the note declares, must be
263
concluded with the reidpated of Germany, repre-
sented by an all-German government, But how is such a
government to be organized except as the result of free
elections? This is the crucial question and the one that
the Western powers obviously intend to press as a test of
Soviet sincerity. If the Russians are now prepared’ to
allow genuinely free all-German elections under United
Nations supervision—a plan at which they have balked
_ hitherto—then a new situation has arisen. For since no
one doubts that such an election would result in an over-
_ whelming anti-Communist vote, it would mean that
_ Russia is prepared to abandon its puppet government in
East Germany and to make its first European retreat.
That would be a great moral victory for the West even
though the price paid for it was exclusion of Germany
from the Western defense organization.
With so much at stake every effort ought to be made
to probe Russian intentions in an effort to discover
whether this démarche does offer hope of a mutually
profitable deal. Perhaps a clue will be provided by the
Soviet response to Allied proposals for an Austrian
treaty, which embody agreements previously reached ex-
cept in one particular—the disposal of the so-called Ger-
man assets in Austria, Up to now, using Nazi seizures of
Austrian resources as an excuse, the Russians have in-
sisted on controlling Austria's oil fields, river shipping,
and other valuable properties. Their abandonment of
this claim, which is untenable legally and morally,
would be a sign that they really wished to reach the
kind of understanding with the West that would make
possible the neutralization of Germany.
The Strange Case of
General Grow
ERHAPS the most embarrassing thing about the
| publication of excerpts from General Robert W.
Grow’s diary was that they appeared just when the State
_ Department was busy marking out bounds to curb the
- travels of Soviet diplomats in this country. The restric-
_ tions are an answer to the much tighter ones imposed on
Americans in Russia; so technically they may have noth-
ing to do with the behavior of a former military attaché
in Moscow. But logically they have a lot to do with it.
_ We are ready to admit that spying is a common avocation
among foreign service employees, That it can also be a
setious business, both the famous Russian espionage trial
in Canada and the more recent case of Gubichev in the
United States offers sufficient proof. Naturally it has to
be guarded against, here as in Russia, and punished when
detected.
But these truisms only point up the awkward implica-
tions of the case of General Grow. For the General,
Oh 264
op oer tee
“Now.” “We need a voice to lead us without equivoca-
~ service officer. His fault was at worst a minor indiscre-
tabyets license cekbers of ay ii vehicles, anti-aircraft —
artillery and other military installations suitable for —
bombing. In February and March, 1951, he was clamor-—
ing for immediate war. (“War! As soon as possible! —
tion: Communism must be destroyed!” He also had his © ©
ideas about tactics, (“We must start by hitting below the —
belt. This war cannot be conducted according to Marquis ~~
of Queensbury rules.” “Anything, truth or falsehood, to _
poison the thoughts of the population.”) Eventually we ©
hope, the whole diary will trickle out through the East
German or Soviet press. Meanwhile we know enough
to say that the spying and warmongering of General -
Grow were not only a rich gift to Soviet propaganda;
they provided a legitimate reason for restricting the
movements of American diplomats, persuasive evidence
that they are there to ferret out military secrets. It will
take more than the recall of the General to undo the
effect of his candid record of thoughts and acts.
What is needed is proof that the words of General
Grow do not in the smallest degree represent the policy
of the Amerjcan government. So far the comments of
the press and official Washington have been little more
than expressions of annoyance over the naivete and
carelessness of an official. In our view the Administra-
tion is far more to blame for the harm the incident has
done than is the bellicose Grow himself, Either out of
conceit and a sense of superiority or out of a mistaken
wish to “save face” Washington has time and again
failed to take measures which would wipe out the evil
results of major official blunders. A much more serious
incident was the Matthews speech in 1950 advocating
a preventive war. For this monstrous provocation the
Secretary of the Navy was gently rebyked, but he was
not dismissed. As a consequence the whole incident
was left in mid-air, and foreign observets were totally
mystified. Could a member of the government actually jf
make such a statement and still keep his post if the
Administration’s policy was a contrary one?
By way of contrast with the treatment of General
Grow, consider the case of Oliver Edmund Clubb, te-
cently cleared as a security risk by Secretary Acheson.
The main count against Mr. Clubb was a diary which he,
like Grow, had carelessly left about. It contained no such
explosive matter as Grow’s book, and it showed beyond
honest doubt that Clubb was a loyal and devoted foreign-
tion, But Clubb’s career was wrecked by the China Lobby’
and its henchmen in Congress. He resigned from the
department the other day as soon as he was cleared,
When the Grow diary was discovered its. author was
transferred to Washington and reassigned to the Penta-
gon. No doubt somebody there will pick up after him,
4
The NATION”
e or reading the wrong magazines. Grow should be
f ired as the most extreme security risk one can imagine—
Zor
United Nations, March 14
CLEVER diplomat like Lester Pearson, Canadian
Secretary for External Affairs, realized at once
es, deplorable could be the consequences of the report
that he had called the Atlantic Pact “the principal in-
_strument for the defense of the free world,” supplant-
_ ing the United Nations as the main hope for peace. A
‘few days afterward in New York he seized the first
opportunity to deny that he had ever said such a thing.
Other persons in high places have been less cautious. In
the fourth of a series of articles currently appearing in
_ the New York Herald Tribune under the title Eisen-
hower’s Creed, Kevin McCann reports that the victor in
_ the nation’s first Presidential primary, writing to a long-
_ time associate, had “made it very clear that in the ab-
sence of an effective United Nations as a vehicle for
our foreign policy, he was pinning his hopes on the suc-
_ cess of NATO.” At the time he wrote this, General
| Eisenhower was not only the military head of the
| Atlantic coalition but in the view of many of his country-
| “men the next President of the United States. His posi-
| tion on the question of NATO versus the U. N. was
| therefore of.the greatest importance.
) Since the General is not a man who draws arbitrary or
_ superficial conclusions, he gave the reasons for his
e views. “Our efforts in the United Nations,” he said—
| a . McCann now quotes him directly—“have been de-
ated by vetoes of hostile groups, but in the Atlantic
? Pact we are not pledged by the hostile groups and are
| simply trying to work out a way that free countries may
. . nd together to protect themselves.” This at least has
= virtue of frankness. It is echoed by dozens of per-
ons influential in international affairs and even by some
who Play leading roles in the United Nations—while
speaking of it with a strange mixture of cynicism and
fesignation. Though lip-service is still paid to the “su-
preme international organization,” we are in the
Presence of an attempt to replace the U. N., for all
Pfactical purposes, with NATO, The attempt should be
exposed for the sake of the millions of people here and
abroad who still take seriously the democratic slogans
_ €nunciated during the war and have therefore stead-
pestly supported the U. N. since San Francisco.
a ‘ch a2. 1952
The
|
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will stray “inte ; host tile ha Pe But ay
Fiat tie Pentagon? Gov-
kers are being ae for talking to the wrong —
ta ee? eee eh as ae a Se Pan
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hinki ng and saying and acting on the belief that we
[ae id start a war against Russia. He should be fired as
a warning to fellow warmongers and a declaration to the
- world that when Mr. Truman and Mr. Acheson say we
are working for peace they really mean it,
United Nations or NAT! O?
BY J. ALVAREZ DEL VAYO
I have frequently criticized the work of the U. N.
in these columns. But with all its faults and failures
it is an organization for peace and should be protected
against the encroachments of NATO, which may have
purely “defensive’’ aims but is nevertheless a political-
military alliance created for and geared to war. Per-
haps I feel so strongly about the U. N. because I wit-
nessed the collapse of the first attempt to establish a
world organization. Reading recently the fine two-volume
“History of the League of Nations” by F. P. Walters,
one of the most distinguished members of the Geneva
secretariat, I relived that tragic period. As a member
of the Council I had struggled desperately to have inter-
national law applied in Spain; I had fought to keep the
League from being destroyed by the Fifth Column which
lurked within it even after the departure of Italy and
Germany. Fifteen years later I find another Fifth Column
in the U. N., the elements who prefer NATO, although _
they insist that they are working only for harmony and
that both organizations serve the same ideal.
Paralleling the statements of high officials, a series
of extremely illuminating comments have appeared in
the American press. The financial weekly, Barron’s,
remarked on March 3 with startling frankness: ‘The
Atlantic alliance, originally promoted as a mere ‘regional
agreement’ under the U. N. Charter, is building into an-
other strictly non-Communist League of Nations, which
with the current addition of Greece and Turkey is not
too strictly confined to the North Atlantic area.” On
Match 9 Michael L. Hoffman said in a dispatch from
Geneva to the New York Times: ‘Established in Paris
near General Eisenhower's headquarters, NATO’s per-
manent international secretariat will automatically eclipse
in prestige and in attractiveness to ambitious civil
servants the older and mote tired international organiza-
tions that are relics of earlier efforts to group nations
together for work in the common cause.” Other com-
mentators point out that it will be wonderful to have an
organization like NATO, free of the incessant and fruit-
less discussions that go on in the U. N. They rejoice
that through NATO the United States can carry out its
mission of awakening the free world without embarrass-
ment, even though the free world is not too pleased to be
_ share in the direction of its policies.”
: = ee
“awakened to new eco-
nomic crises, higher
taxes, and the terrors
of “bankruptcy’’—to
use the Tories’ own
word,
Barron's is equally
outspoken about the
principal reason why
NATO should be pre-
ferred to the U. N.:
“As the leading expo-
nent of free enterprise
and as the source of
the major physical
strength of NATO,
the United States has
both a moral and a
material case for as-
suming the lion’s
The United States
delegation has seen its authority threatened in the last
Secretary Acheson
____ two sessions of the Assembly, especially in last winter's
session in the Palais de Chaillot, by the revolt of the
small powers, but American leadership of NATO will
not be challenged. At Lisbon, Secretary of State Ache-
son was able to gain acceptance of German rearmament
and settle other thorny issues thanks partly to his own
exceptional ability and partly to the absence of any real
opposition to Washington policy.
__ In NATO, its enthusiasts say, we shall not be plagued
_ by the veto. In the current effort to discredit the U. N.
and promote NATO all the old objections to that device
_ are being brought up. The famous Nyet of the Rus-
_ sians is cited by people prone to oversimplification as the
chief cause of U. N. failure. But if anybody wants to
_ know what is really the matter with the U. N., he should
read “The United Nations and Power Politics,” by John
MacLaurin. The reader must decide for himself, Mr.
- MacLaurin says, “how to distribute the blame for the
Council failures between the Big Five and above all be-
tween the Big Two’; and then he gives a quantity of
factual data to help the reader to decide, “We should,
however,” he continues, “all be able to agree that the
heavily popularized notion that it is the veto that has
rendered the Security Council ineffective is not in accord
with the facts. The trouble lies deeper.”
_ Without denying the damage done by Russia’s ex-
cessive use of the veto and its withdrawal from various
agencies, including, in critical moments, the Security
Council itself, I agree that the trouble lies deeper. It lies
in the refusal to seek a rapprochment, in the theory that
you cannot talk with the Russians, not today or tomor-
row, and that any new Russian move—like the recent re-
quest for Big Four discussions on a German treaty—is
266
» peace through diplomacy,
worth ‘4 moment's consideration SF hose at
now to abandon the U. N.’s fundamental " purpose-
From the moment it was born NATO was a dan- _
gerous rival to the U.N. It should not have been, for —
though there are clever people in all the delegations who —
can read the Charter in a dozen different ways, Article
103 says very clearly: “In the event of a conflict between
the obligations of the members of the United Nations ~
under the present Charter and their obligations under any
other international agreement, their obligations under the —
present Charter shall prevail.” The spirit of the Atlantic
Pact from the beginning was irreconcilable with the —
spirit of the United Nations, Moreover, as the interna-
tional situation worsened and as NATO-appeared fatally
destined to depend on a rearmed Germany as one of its
principal props, the two organizations became inevi-
tably the symbols of two opposing policies. The U. N.’s
goal was still to resolve the issues dividing the two
blocs: NATO's was to forge a weapon that could be used
when the U. N. broke down.
Taking a broad view, Secretary Acheson did not feel
his sincerity challenged by giving loyalty to both the
U. N. and NATO. The duality could be resolved simply
by introducing into the U. N. the policy of containment
which was NATO’s raison d’étre. But there is no doubt,
to judge by what happened in the last Assembly,’ that
unless we see a diminution of present East-West ten-
sion, the U. N. will have less and less important func-
tions to perform, while NATO will deal with all the
issues generated by the cold war. f
In the words of Barron’s, NATO “‘is developing into
something bigger than its original conception.” It has
just selected a secretary general. The importance of the
new post is indicated by the appointment of Lord Ismay,
a British soldier of great ability and experience and a
close associate of Churchill. In the measure that the
U.N. permits such important questions as Korea, Ger-
man rearmament, Arab nationalism, and the “conclusion
of outstanding peace settlements’—to quote a 1948
resolution—to be taken out of its hands, NATO will
develop still further. If in 1952 the U. N. was unable
to retain its prerogatives, two years from now NATO
will certainly have the last word.
By that time its secretariat will be more influential
than the U. N.’s. It will have big funds at its disposal. .
It will be backed by a coherent policy, Although theré
will be differences such as arose at Lisbon, they will not .
take the sharp form in which they have emerged
in the U. N. as the result of the relatively free play
of diplomatic debate. NATO is planning an economic |
section for defense which will compete with the U. N. |
Economic and Social Council; dreams about Point Four —
aid for backward countries will be transformed into strict
* Oy
ASS F oa
v, 19 SSeaee
tedu ced largely to that of its epeciibed agencies.
But overlapping and competition with the U. N. are
a ‘not the most serious aspects of NATO’s expansion. If
: men of the stature of General Eisenhower prefer NATO,
they may cease to make any use of the U. N. to deal
_ with the issues causing the present international tension.
_ In that event not only Trygve Lie and his staff of three
thousand but the whole idea of negotiation will go by the
‘board. In the absence of machinery for conversations
: the two blocs will go on arming, in 1952, in 1953, and
.
f
f.
i
Manchester, New Hampshire
ENS of thousands of words have been expended
since the New Hampshire ptimaries in attempts to
_ show (1) that voting in this tiny state foreshadows na-
E tional trends, (2) that it does not. Whether New Hamp-
| shire is actually a trustworthy barometer will not be
- certain for some months, but in any case the same factors
were at work here that we may expect to operate else-
where in the nation, The people are much the same—
_ business men, farmers, organization politicians, industrial
| ‘wortkers—and they were subjected to much the same
_ combination of issues and personal appeals as is used in
| all political campaigning.
Interest among New Hampshire’s voters was at a
| high, and they were very conscious that the nation’s at-
| tention was on them; the turnout was the largest in his-
| tory in spite of blinding rain and snowstorms throughout
| the state. The widely publicized visits of so many na-
‘tional leaders and the peculiar nature of the state’s jour-
| nalism also helped to focus attention, as did the town
_ meetings in practically all small communities.
_ In New Hampshire as elsewhere the startling defeat
of President Truman has received the most attention.
| While the lack of real Truman organization was a factor,
| it‘is impossible to avoid the conclusion that his defeat
—the loss of all the large cities as well as most towns
and the victory of the obscure Kefauver delegates over
| the party’s entire state leadership—was the result of
| Spontaneous dissatisfaction with the President’s leader-
ship. This dissatisfaction, which wa really not well ex-
Ploited by Kefauver, reflects not so much disagreement
JOHN P. MALLAN, a former resident of New Hampshire,
teaches oer at Northeastern University.
wch 22, 1952
: i .
Ge a ts
Tae
in 1954—the last, in the opinion of most American
_ planners, being the crucial year. Under these circum-
eee et LN) Pe iuke
pee oy
duh
stances the Western coalition will be able to further its
policies only by military means, while Russia can al-
ways combine military with political methods—its
continuing peace crusade, its repeated requests for a con-
ference of the Big Four, its economic conference, its
demand for the unification of Germany, other proposals.
Thus it is to the interest of the West as well as of peace
to prevent a shift of power which will destroy the
U.N. as the League of Nations was destroyed—by pre-
venting its effective intervention in decisive questions
and undermining its authority,
New Hampshire Reviewed
BY JOHN P. MALLAN
on domestic or foreign issues as a simple feeling that the
Administration is tired and should be replaced with new
blood. Corruption played some part as an issue but not
very much, and it is safe to say that most of those Demo-
crats will vote for Truman in the fall if he is the Demo-
cratic nominee. But plainly, they would prefer not to.
Despite journalistic reports to the contrary, the New
Hampshire Democratic leadership is scarcely a “machine,”
There is no one in the party who can place a few calls
and turn out the wards, as was shown so well on March
11. The party itself exhibits a rather interesting contrast
of idealism and party regularity; it is perhaps the only
state organization in the country which has been headed
successively by two college professors. Both are from
Dartmouth—Herbert Hill, the gubernatorial candidate
in 1948, and Dayton McKean, an able political-science
teacher who has also been active in New Jersey politics,
where he wrote the classic treatise on Boss Hague.
Party leadership on the state level is generally of high
quality; perhaps it can afford to be, since the party has
held no important office for twenty years. In the mill
cities, both leadership and interest in larger issues are
usually Jacking. A solid clan of French-Canadian poli-
ticians hold many city positions, playing a role somewhat
like that of the Irish in Massachusetts. But anti-French
sentiment among Protestant Yankees and Irish Catholics
alike, in a state now one-fourth French, is so great as to
be almost the equivalent of anti-Semitism. No French
leader has yet been able to break through it and attain
state power, not even Paris-educated Mayor Benoit of
Manchester.
Ironically, both the state “idealists” and the city
“regular” leaders were pledged to Truman; they were
reasonably well satisfied with him and almost unaware of
267
Not So Fast, Mr. Taft
HE _hail-fellow-well-met-I'd-like-to-have-you-vote-
for-me campaign fitted Kefauver. He loved it, and
so did the voters. But it was not Taft's meat. He.
was uncomfortable, and showed it. . .
One bit of presumption on the part of Taft's man-
agers paid off in ill-will.
“Hear your next President!” the loudspeakers blared
in announcing his street meetings.
More than once the irritation of the voters found
expression: ‘Says who?” or “That's for us to say’ or
“Since when?’—Journal-Transcript, Franklin, New
York.
other candidates. Only at the last minute, as they began
organizing in response to Kefauver’s highly successful
stump tour, did they realize the great undercurrent of
Democratic dislike for the President. Kefauver was sup-
ported by no one group of Democrats; he did almost
equally well in rural areas and in the cities, among union
and non-union members, in every ethnic group. Even the
supposedly solid French shifted to him in as large num-
bers as any other group, and he carried most of the
i: French wards in Manchester and Nashua. His very
_ limited organization had only one formal headquarters
and little money, most of his delegates were completely
unknown, and only one or two prominent Democrats
came out for him in the whole state. Yet his delegate
slate, though scattered over a long and complicated
ballot, defeated every party leader, including Kelley,
_ Hill, McKean, and the mayors and ex-mayors of most of
‘New Hampshire's leading cities.
It is rather unfortunate, in one sense at least, that the
_ able and New Deal-minded state leadership has been
defeated by men who cannot really be called “new
blood”; in a crowd the Kefauver men would be in-
_ distinguishable from other Democrats, However, the reg-
ulars are not unfriendly to Kefauver and would join him
em if teleased by Truman; they are particularly happy that
: -Kefauver has not attacked Truman in his speeches. The
ysterious undercover campaign for Adlai Stevenson
___ has made little headway in New England, where he is
ot known to one Democrat in fifty; there is a general
eeling that Truman will have to produce him quickly,
f at all, if he is to win support among either rank and
ile or leaders.
HE Republican primary results are a little less deci-
sive than the Democratic; a sense of frustration is
found in both Eisenhower and Taft ranks. Originally,
_ the Eisenhower people had expected an easy victory, and
_ they were genuinely alarmed at Taft's apparent gains
in the last weeks of campaigning. His personal appeals
in rural areas won many converts, as did his savage
1, 268
from ear to ear was used widely, and like a plain but —
determined woman he seemed to become more ‘per- —
sonally attractive each time one saw him. By primary day —
his supportets and many independent observers were
quite certain he would get four to six of the fourteen
Republican delegates and possibly a majority of them,
Few of the seventy visiting reporters in Manchester were —
much surprised when he took an early lead, and his —
victory in all but two wards of Manchester, supposedly
an Ike stronghold, was thought the clincher.
But Taft lost the other major cities and, to every:
one’s astonishment, many of the small towns. He was .
defeated by more than 10,000 votes, the New Hampshire
electorate, contrary to universal expectations, carefully
voting in every Ike delegate on a ballot more complicated
than that used by the Democrats. The small-town de-
feat hit the Taft forces hard, and there is still no intel-
ligible explanation for it.
The Republican Party has been left sadly divided; the
campaigns became bitter in the last few days as Governor
Sherman Adams, Eisenhower leader, charged that Stalin
was hoping for a Taft victory and that this would in ef-
fect bring the Russian armies to the Canadian border.
The Taftites attacked Eisenhower’s alleged New Deal
connections so vigorously that Representative Walter
Judd of Minnesota, one of the Eisenhower traveling cit-
cus imported into the state, resurrected the old Bricker
cry of “Taft socialism,” maintaining that Taft's support
of federal aid to education made him far more a New
Dealer than Ike, who was the real conservatives’ candi-
date—a statement that may well be true.
~ It is significant that both sides found it necessary to
appeal to Republican Old Guardism. The primary in
many ways was a continuation of the bitter feud begun
in 1950 in the Senatorial fight between Charles Tobey
and Wesley Powell. Powell, who spearheaded the Taft
drive, was formerly Senator Styles Bridges’s secretary and
is still in close touch with Bridges, who cosily took no
part in the Ike-Taft fight. Powell is perhaps best de-
sctibed as a reactionary mediocrity; alone among Taft
leaders he really favored the tactics of the powerful
but almost childishly right-wing William Loeb, pub-
lisher of the Manchester Union-Leader, the only news-
paper with state-wide circulation and indeed the only
paper read in most rural areas.
- Loeb’s newspapers are a striking study in personal
joushaliaee He came to Manchester a few yeats ago
from Vermont, where he owns a similar paper, bought
the stodgily conservative Union-Leader from the family
of former Secretary of the Navy Frank Knox, and atonce |
converted it into a vehicle for a kind of front-page
editorial journalism reminiscent of Hearst's youth. He
is hated not only by all the “respectable” and liberal-
The Natio
Pe ge re ee >
ar attacks on Senator Tobey defeated Tod s can-
. ‘di date, Powell, by a thousand votes two years ago.
| Loeb is national chairman of Alfred Kohlberg’s
: American China Policy Association, and has had a hand
in many China Lobby activities. McCarthy and Mac-
hur are among his heroes; McCarthy was the guest
of honor at a recent Loeb banquet, and Loeb, like many
a New Hampshire conservative, would almost certainly
prefer MacArthur to Taft if the General became avail-
hs ble. Truman, Acheson, Tobey, and “the dirty, stinking
alta crowd” in the State Department are frequent
_ targets for his invective; but lately his best barbs have
| been reserved for Eisenhower. “International Bankers
| Up to Old Tricks; the Eisenhower Plot Unfolds,” began
| a recent story, spread across the entire front page, on the
: theme that the same “Wall Street international bankers”
; and utility magnates who chose Willkie and Dewey are
behind Eisenhower. A more personal attack on the Gen-
eral followed the next day: Eisenhower “doesn’t under-
_ stand” the Communist conspiracy; “he pulled back
American troops in Germany to let the Russians ad-
' vance.”
_ Through most of the campaign Loeb’s front-page
,
eae
r
|
Wisconsin Previewed
Ashland, Wisconsin
NA junket through Wisconsin, with stops in Madi-
i son, Eau Claire, Menominie, Beloit, Superior, River
_ Falls, Appleton (Joe McCarthy's home town), and
= that the Republican nomination will be de-
"cided in the Wisconsin primary on April 1. Wisconsin
voters have not forgotten that Wendell Willkie made
he big gamble here in 1944 and lost—after his loyal
ie floor leader in the 1940 convention, Harold Stassen,
~ entered the fight against him at the last moment.
Tn the battle shaping up many feints have been made,
< D Seticated by a tricky primary law setiech 1 nage that
candidates cannot be entered unless they “affirmatively
This provision made it impossible to enter
Eisenhower, since the General could not give his affirma-
| tive assent without violating army regulations. In con-
Sequence, the Eisenhower people tried to unite on a
| favorite son, such as Governor Walter Kohler, former
Governor Oscar Rennebohm, or the veteran Republican
neh 2 1952
assent.”
_ Ashland, I have found most people pretty thoroughly -
“sh editorials esi Governor Adams and Eisen-
‘hower alternated with front-page ads attacking Loeb in-
serted by Adams. The resulting confusing and strident
mélange alienated many voters but lent credence to the
betrayal-in-government thesis which is the chief stock
in trade of the Taft-McCarthy forces, The frightening
thing is not so much that Taft lost as that a large number
of voters in city and town alike consciously chose him
as the more conservative candidate, as they had chosen
Powell over Tobey in 1950, It is a campaign myth that
only “professional politicians” preferred Taft; almost
half the state’s Republicans honestly voted to end the
New Deal foreign and domestic policies they have
refused to accept for twenty years.
The New Hampshire primary was conclusively a vic-
tory for Kefauver over Truman; it was less conclusively
a defeat for Taft, and the Eisenhower forces are well
aware of this. Undoubtedly all the groups in both
parties, including the now thoroughly repudiated but
still hyper-ambitious Harold Stassen, will take the
ptimary seriously. One fact may be profitably noted:
neither the nation’s press nor many of the state's poli-
ticians had any really good idea what would happen in
New Hampshire. Almost all the prophets were wrong,
and this should be kept in mind in analyzing their fu-
ture predictions.
BY CAREY McWILLIAMS
leader Fred Zimmerman, but their efforts failed. Indeed,
it looked as though Taft would be a shoo-in in Wis-
consin until Governor Earl Warren entered the race.
Now that the deadline for filing has passed, the
Republican contest appears to be a three-cornered Taft-
Stassen-Warren affair in which there will be little debat-
ing but a lot of nasty in-fighting. Taft is the type that
swings wild and usually misses but occasionally lands a
haymaker; Stassen is the skilful boxer who keeps out of
range; Warren is the slow mover who likes to wear down
his opponents. With a big grin on his face Earl appears
to be smothering his opponents with kindness when he is
really cracking their ribs in a clinch.
Stassen’s chances are least impressive. With the back-
ing of Thomas E. Coleman, the state’s most powerful
Republican leader, Stassen managed to win twenty-seven
of the thirty Republican delegates in 1948. But Coleman
is now one of Taft's delegates and his manager here.
Stassen’s new slate is largely made up of nobodies; it
contains only two of the delegates he lined up in 1948.
Governor Walter Kohler was for Stassen in 1948; he
269
eee rin Sow iiy
prefers Eisenhower today, Stassen had the Republican
state organization in 1948; today nearly 80 per cent of
_ the Republican county chairmen are for Taft. Not only
does Taft have the organization, but the organization is
much stronger than it was in 1948, for the Republicans
have been repairing
their machine. Stas-
sen’s campaign has
been cleverly angled
to pick up anti-Taft
votes rather than to
win support for a
Stassen program, but
with Warren in the
race, Stassen is no
longer the sole bene-
ficiary of the anti-
Taft sentiment. In
retaliation Stassen
has filed against
Warren in Califor-
nia, where some
fairly
Warren sentiment is
to be found among
diehard Republicans,
The Warren con-
tingent in Wisconsin
is a coalition of frustrated pro-Eisenhower people, mem-
bers of the former Progressive Party, independent Re-
publicans, Dewey Republicans, and a few Warrenites.
Philip La Follette has been its prime mover. The day I in-
terviewed him in Madison he was completing last-min-
ute arrangements for the meeting at which the Warren
strong anti-
Senator McCarthy
_ delegation was projected. The delegation includes such
pto-Eisenhower leaders as State Senator Bernhard Gettel-
man; General Ralph M. Immell, Adjutant General under
La Follette and candidate for the Republican nomination
Sy. for governor in 1948; and Fred Zimmerman, Secretary of
State since 1938, a former governor, and one of the state’s
most popular political figures. It also includes Republi-
cans who supported Governor Dewey in the last three
campaigns. Carl Rix, former president of the American
Bar Association, selected the Dewey Republicans and
serves as chairman of the delegation. The bait used to
get all these elements together was Phil La Follette’s
assutance that “should Warren fail to get the convention
nomination, the elected Wisconsin delegates pledged to
him would shift to General Eisenhower,” Unable to
agree on a favorite son, these elements could agree on
Warren. None were for Stassen, Warren, therefore,
seems the most likely compromise candidate among anti-
Taft elements at the convention if Eisenhower fails to
win the nomination. The Warren delegation is supported
by the Madison Capital-Times.
270
crats believe that he is out to split the anti-Taft vote, He.
served, of course, on General MacArthur's staff in World
War II and led a slate of MacArthur delegates in 1948.
He has said that his personal affection and esteem for
MacArthur are unchanged. Before organizing the War-
ren delegation he had expressed a preference for a Taft-
MacArthur slate. The key to the La Follette riddle may
be that there is little sentiment for MacArthur in Wis-
consin, at least as a Presidential candidate. a
The main question is whether the Warren candidacy
will in fact split the opposition to Taft, thereby enabling
Taft to register an impressive victory. My guess would be
that Warren will split the anti-Taft vote with Stassen
and will succeed in winning many independent, progres- —
sive, and Democratic votes. In Wisconsin's Presidential |
primary people do not need to declare their party affilia- ,
tion and large numbers of Democrats traditionally vote
for or against Republican candidates, For example, in ~
1948 the Republican candidates polled almost four times
as many votes as the Democratic candidate; yet Truman
carried the state in November by about 50,000, Whatever
Phil La Follette’s motives may be, most of the Warren
delegates are genuinely anti-Taft. Warren denies that he
is merely a stand-in for Eisenhower, but “Ike-Warren”
and “Eisenhower Backers for Warren” clubs are being
organized in many communities, with the emphasis more
on Eisenhower than on Warren.
CROSS every aspect of the Wisconsin primary falls
the shadow of Joe McCarthy. To understand why,
one needs some background facts.
After Senator Taft half-heartedly repudiated McCarthy
in response to an editorial ultimatum in Life, McCarthy
threatened to support Stassen in Wisconsin unless the re-
pudiation were withdrawn. Taft promptly repudiated
the repudiation, but McCarthy has not yet indorsed Taft.
Returning from a recent speaking trip, McCarthy said
that he found “unlimited” popularity for General Mac-
Arthur, “a lot of good solid support” for Senator Taft,
and “a considerable amount of sentiment for Eisenhower
and Stassen.” It will be noted that Joe draws a wise
political distinction between popularity, solid support,
and sentiment. The order of the listing probably indicates
his personal preferences.
Whatever the facts, the impression that a Taft-
McCarthy alliance exists has strengthened Taft in
Wisconsin. McCarthy is_genuinely popular with the Re-
publican organization. He gets far more invitations to_
speak than he can accept. When two young delegates to
a Republican conference last summer tried to interpose
objections to a resolution praising him, angry men rushed
at them, women screamed, and according to Robert H.
Fleming of the Milwaukee Jowrnal, the meeting turned
The NATION |
age?
er
s his violent denunciations, he is a tough scrap-
two-fisted fighter. I was amazed to find even
McCarthy people insisting, with a curious emo-
ional involvement, that McCarthy is sincere,
e best evidence of McCarthy’s strength is the fact
he was able to force Governor Kohler out of the
S i Spiocial race. The few polls that had been taken indi-
cated that Kohler could defeat McCarthy, but Kohler—
well-bred and well-to-do—was apparently afraid to take
m such a ruthless opponent. He was also discouraged by
he failure of the Senate subcommittee to press the
investigation of Senator Benton’s charges against Mc-
Carthy and by the Loyalty Review Board’s final disposi-
on of the John Service case. Tom Coleman maintained
al ioc that Kohler would not run against McCarthy.
"When the chips are down,” he was quoted as saying,
“all the little blocks will fall into place.” They seem to
have fallen into place very nicely for Coleman, who is
looking forward to winning in Wisconsin in November
with a trio of Taft, Kohler, and McCarthy. Kohler appar-
ently has reelection in the bag, and his name will head
he Republican ticket.
_ Of the many strange details of McCarthy’s career that
need to be investigated none is more interesting than
his remarkable friendship with Harold Stassen. Coleman
handpicked McCarthy to oppose Senator Robert La Fol-
lette in 1946; up to this time McCarthy had been on his
_ own politically. To help McCarthy, Coleman brought
_ Stassen into the state to campaign for him. In 1948 Mc-
‘Carthy repaid part of the debt by serving as the number
_ two delegate on Stassen’s slate, The friendship seems to
have contifued, One of McCarthy’s chief supporters in
Wisconsin told me, for example, that Harold had given
Joe a real assist by his testimony before the McCarran
_ committee attacking Philip Jessup. In the current cam-
'paign Stassen has consistently refused to take issue with
McCarthyism.
_ McCarthyism has another connection with the Wis-
consin primary. Of the state’s 3,500,000 residents about
half are church members and half are not. The Roman
Catholics are the largest single denomination, followed
by the Lutherans, and then by the reform Protestant
groups. McCarthy is not exactly a devout Catholic—as
a judge he was known as a granter of “easy” divorces—
but he enjoys powerful Catholic backing in Wisconsin,
despite the hierarchy’s recent statement condemning
‘smear tactics. Catholic strength was one reason why
I ohler hesitated to enter the Senatorial race. Everyone
denies publicly that there is such a thing as a Catholic
yote, but off the record the vote is discussed with great
ndor. Not all Catholics are for McCarthy by any means,
bu the politicians will tell you that enough of them are
Mai ich 22, 1952
be
: 0" vernor Kobler |
ke their support a major factor in his strength,
McCarthy’ s tacit alliance with Taft is doubly important
_ since it gives Taft strength where he is weakest—among
voters of lower-middle-class or working-class origin.
Incidentally, Tom Coleman is a Catholic.
It is by no means clear; however, that McCarthy will
end up in the Taft camp. Lately he has said many kind
things about MacArthur, but Joe is fickle. Back in 1948,
when he was all-out for Stassen, McCarthy sent a per-
sonal letter to most of the registered voters of the state
in which he pointed out that although MacArthur was a
great general he was “ready for retirement,” and besides,
he was not really a “native son” of Wisconsin since
“neither his first nor his second marriage, nor his divorce,
took place in Wisconsin’’—a statement clearly addressed
to the Catholic and Lutheran objection to divorce. Many
Wisconsin politicians think that McCarthy intends to
play a hands-off game before the convention in the hope
that he may be able to get the Republican vice-presiden-
tial nomination.
ISCONSIN Democrats have their own troubles.
A Truman delegation was barred for the same
reason as an Eisenhower delegation—that its candidate
would have been forced to indicate his acceptance, Gov-
ernor Adlai Stevenson could not be entered since he is
running for reelection as Governor of Illinois. Fearing
that some maverick delegation might be chosen—say, a
Kefauver delegation—which would thus obtain control
of the party’s state apparatus, the Democratic Organizing
Committee formed a pool, or panel, of delegates from all
districts, listed in the order of the total vote they had
received at regional party meetings. It then induced Ke-
fauver to accept a slate chosen from this pool of reliable
party members. Another delegation chosen from the same
pool is pledged to Jerome Fox of Chilton, as a favorite
son, but it is really a Truman delegation. The state’s
conservative Democrats are annoyed by this effort to re-
tain control of the party apparatus and have entered a
delegation of their own. I was impressed by the quality
of the Democratic Organizing Committee, which seems
to have completed the task of organizing a Democratic
Party in Wisconsin begun in 1942. Most of the leaders
I met were young, energetic, intelligent liberals. The
state chairman of the committee, James E. Doyle, who
happens to be Phil La Follette’s law partner, can point
to a steady increase in the state-wide Democratic vote
since 1946,
Whomever the Democrats select in the state primary
in September to oppose McCarthy—it now looks as if
Henry Reuss of Milwaukee would be the man—Joe
should have a real fight on his hands. In any case
McCarthy is the key to the Wisconsin situation, both
in the primary and in the general election. If a suc-
cessful coalition cannot be formed in Wisconsin against
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Taft, it may be impossible to prevent his isheainatian: If
Taft is nominated, the Republicans will have em-
braced McCarthyism, and they may even be saddled with
Joe as the vice-presidential candidate. On the other
hand, either Eisenhower or Warren, if nominated, would
be under enormous pressure to. repudiate McCarthy,
es
|
IRST impressions of the British budget, based on the
ie scrappy stories in the New York press, were
fairly favorable. Chancellor of the Exchequer Butler's
proposals, it appeared, would not present an easy target
for criticism by a Labor opposition that was committed
to support of the government's rearmament program and
could not deny the urgency of further measures to re-
store Britain's balance-of-payments position. True, Labor
could be expected to protest strongly against the cut in
food subsidies from $1,148,000,000 to $700,000,000—
a move calculated to raise prices of almost all basic foods
__and to add some 21 cents per head per week to the cost
of housekeeping.
However, while taking away with one hand, Mr. But-
ler appeared to be giving generously with the other.
Changes in income-tax rates and exemptions were to re-
move two million wage-earners from the tax rolls and to
reduce substantially payments for all in the lower brack-
ets. To prevent hardships children’s allowances—paid
for each child after the first—were to be raised from
70 cents a week to $1.12, and old-age and veterans’ pen-
sions were to be increased. Social services, apart from the
recently announced minor modifications ia the national-
health system, were not to be axed, And the chief new
burden imposed was a new excess-profits tax absorbing,
_ together with other corporation levies, up to 73 per cent
_ of profits. Altogether it seemed a moderately tough but
reasonably equitable budget.
_ Second impressions, after reading the text of the
_ Chancellor’s speech and the broadcast commentary on it
of his predecessor, Hugh Gaitskell, were definitely less
favorable. Careful analysis of his proposals suggests, in-
deed, that they are both inadequate and unjust. They are
inadequate because they do not provide for a reduction
— in total purchasing power commensurate with the antici-
” pated shrinkage in Britain’s supply of consumer goods;
they are unjust because they redistribute burdens in a way
that will put heavier loads on weaker shoulders,
With regard to the second point it appears that those
hurt most by increased food prices will gain least by the
supposed offsets. For instance, as Mr. Gaitskell pointed
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The Tory Budget and British Labor }
out, while all subject to tax before the budget will save
Taft, Stassen, and Warren are spending the last aoe
weeks of this month campaigning in Wisconsin, The
primary here should provide the first real test of senti-
ment in both parties.
BY KEITH HUTCHISON
something, the gain is smallest at the lowest level and °
then steadily increases up to the $5,600 bracket—a con- _
siderable income in Britain. At the other end of the scale
are those whose income is already too small to pay tax.
A married man with three children now pays no tax if }
his earnings are below $33.60 a week—above the aver- ,
age wage. His wife will in future get 84 cents more in
children’s allowances, but her food bill will be almost $1
higher. Moreover, according to Mr. Gaitskell, most of +
the two million who will no longer pay an income tax
will in fact save less in tax than they have to pay in in-
creased prices. In addition, they must expect an increase
in national-insurance contributions, and higher prices for
clothes and other articles owing to a revision of the pur-
chase tax which will apparently advance the rate on low-
priced goods and decrease it on the higher-priced.
Mr, Butler's chief claim for his income-tax changes
is that they will increase incentives. The man who earns
overtime pay or gets a production bonus will now find
less of his additional income withheld for taxes and may
be encouraged to increase his productivity. This is true,
but probably only a minority of British workers are in a
position to augment their pay by these meatis, and to
many now working part time this talk of incentives will
be a bitter joke. Moreover, the increase in output which
may be achieved—and Mr, Butler does not seem to be
counting on much of a total increase—may be offset by
labor troubles arising from demands for higher wages.
Now let us consider the budget in relation to Britain’s
number one problem, its foreign-trade deficit. Last year,
despite a modest increase in exports, this deficit reached
$1,444,000,000, which compared with a surplus of
$666,000,000 in 1950. The chief cause of this striking
deterioration in Britain’s balance of payments was the ~
expansion of imports by $3,080,000,000, largely owing
to higher prices; the result, aggravated by a decline in ex-
port earnings of other sterling countries, was the rapid
depletion of gold and dollar reserves, which by the end
of last month were only $1,770,000,000, representing a
loss of $2,000,000,000 since June 30 last. a
Unless this hemorrhage is checked quickly, the ster-
ling bloc, which depends on the central reserves held by
The Natio
( sustain its population or ae raw materials to
, its workers employed. Quite properly, therefore,
2€ government is seeking to restore the balance by both
inhibiting imports and stimulating exports. The effect
Sine British consumer of this shrinkage in foreign sup-
plies is to be softened to some extent by running down
stocks. On the other hand, the volume of domestically
produced goods available for the home market is also
being reduced by measures taken to swell exports.
If further inflation is to be avoided, this decline in
home supplies ought to be matched by a commensurate
fall in purchasing power, but Mr. Butler does not seem
> have faced this necessity. What he takes away by re-
ucing subsidies and increasing gasoline and other taxes
in fact rather more than outweighed by the increases
in pensions and children’s allowances and the tax reliefs.
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1s of $1,506,000,000, which he thinks will leave the
P blic “only just about enough to pay for the goods that
ate likely to be available.”
_ This is such a dubious assumption that I wonder if
the Chancellor is not making a number of other assump-
Paris
AST Christmas the big Paris department store, the
; Louvre, made an artangement with R. K. O, to show
_ scenes from the Disney movie, ‘Alice in Wonderland,”
as part of its holiday display. R. K. O.’s advance pub-
_ licity told the astonishéd French public: ‘Votre Pére
_ Noél, c'est Walt Disney.”
That same Christmas week the once great French
Movie industry was winding up the worst year in its
history. Its deficit was nearly six million dollars. The
studios of Joinville, St. Maurice, and Franceur, where
“many of the finest French pictures had been made, had
.been closed down since fall. Six of the largest com-
_panies—Discina, Filmsonor, Gaumont, Pathé, Sirius,
and U. G. C.—had announced they were “temporarily”
ceasing production. Such well-known directors as
Bresson, Carné, Cayette, Cocteau, and Grémillon had not
made a single movie in 1951. At least half the workers
in the industry were unemployed.
Producers who did manage to serape together enough
ny to make a film often had to wait several months
he is now a free-lance journalist in Paris.
J Merch 22, 1952
ee
However, his final balance sheet shows an estimated sur-'
MADELON BERNS was formerly on the staff of Fortune.
ery:
is e ions bak he be posters to ie to himself, Does he expect,
"perhaps, that some millions of low-income families will
mo longer be able to afford the whole-of their meager
rations, so that the total demand for food will decline?
Or is he anticipating that the increase in the rediscount
rate from 2% to 4 per cent, which was the biggest sur-
ptise of the budget, will have a strongly deflationary
effect on the economy? Dearer money, he told the Com-
mons, will reinforce the direct controls imposed on home
investment and so free more of the output of the capital-
goods industries for export.
But increased credit restrictions and higher interest
may also cause real distress in textile, furniture, and —
other consumer-goods industries that are already in
trouble, causing bankruptcies and unemployment. That
too may be intended, for the ending of what comfort-
able, conservative economists like to speak of as “over-
full employment” would not only aid recruiting for the
undermanned defense industries but serve to check de-
mands for higher wages. Of course such a policy hardly —
conforms to Tory election pledges to maintain full em-
ployment, but with the Laborites squabbling among
themselves the government may feel it can count on a
fairly long respite before it must account to the electorate,
T be Crisis in French Movies
BY MADELON BERNS
before they could get into the first-run houses, most of
which were filled with American pictures. While
“Alice,” for instance, was drawing crowds in three of
the largest Paris movie theaters, ‘‘Jeannot l’intrépide,”
the first full-length French animated cartoon, was shown
in houses with only one-fortieth as much seating capacity.
Nearly half the total movie receipts went to American
films.
A complex train of events led up to this sorry state
of affairs. It began in June, 1946, when Léon Blum,
Foreign Minister of the new French Republic, signed
the famous Blum-Byrnes accords in Washington, At —
that time the French film industry was facing the end of
the false prosperity it had enjoyed during the Occupa-
tion when it had its home market all to itself and that
market was an excellent one, with people flocking to the
movies to get a little relaxation free from German
surveillance. In order to reestablish itself, the industry
required financial aid, including foreign loans, and equi-
table export-import agreements with other countries,
especially the United States.
The accords Blum brought back with him did not pro-
vide any of these things. He had agreed that the United
States could export films without limit to France but
273
had obtained no return guaranty that American dis-
tributors would lift their all but total embargo on French
films. France wanted dollar credits for reconstruction.
American movie interests wanted a bigger share of the
French market. A good part of the industry saw the
handwriting on the wall. Louis Jouvet warned: “The
profound alteration which these accords will effect . . .
strikes a death blow to our national integrity, our dra-
matic art, and our intellectual and cultural life.”
-___It was soon apparent that Jouvet was right. From
, e 1946 to 1948 France imported 1,500 American films and
turned over to them a good 65 per cent of the total movie
receipts. The situation was so bad that in September,
__—- 1948, after an all-industry committee had protested to
the government, the Blum-Byrnes accords were revised.
_ Only 121 American films a year would now be taken by
France, which in return agreed to import no more than
65 films from all other countries. As additional help to
producers, French exhibitors were required to show
French films at least five weeks out of every thirteen,
and a government Aid Fund was set up, The receipts
from two new taxes, one on admissions and one on
hi production, were to be returned to the industry in the
_ form of a loan, the largest part of which was to be used
to finance new films.
Be ONE of these measures struck at the root of the
ye PS rcchie and their temporary beneficial effect was
soon dissipated. The ten million dollars paid from the
Aid Fund to producers has just about equaled the increase
in their costs. Total receipts, however, have gone down,
_with the result that studios are today in a worse position
than they were in 1946. American competition still
_ makes it impossible for the French even to approach
profitable production for the home market.
__ The more precarious the outlook becomes, the more
bitter is the feeling against the American quota. While
the law requires exhibitors to show French pictures about
_ two-fifths of the time, French producers must fight the
_ Americans against overwhelming odds for the remain-
ing three-fifths. American companies have well-
organized distributing agencies in France with much
more money at their disposal than the French can dream
of spending. Paramount, for example, spent more than
$200,000 advertising the French dubbed-in version of
Samson and Delilah”; “L’Auberge rouge,” one of the
best French pictures of 1951, had some $8,000 budgeted
for its publicity. The American companies, in actuality,
pay for the exhibitor’s advertising. In return, he not
only shows the full number of American pictures al-
lowed but usually extends himself, presenting them at
preferred times, as on week ends and holidays.
The French cannot possibly recoup their losses at
home by selling abroad. The United States, using the
same dubbed-in pictures it distributes in France proper, —
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the industry. They may have aggravated the present
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Fresisbapedklhg countries. Central Europe, which was
one of the biggest pre-war markets, is permanently cut
off. Although France has been able to increase its Pi
exports to Italy, Western Europe is in general cool to- '
ward the idea of importing French pictures. How can it
be otherwise when, under the French-American agree-.
ment, France is allowed to import only sixty-five non-
American films? The United States also continues —
effectively to bar French films. In order to combat this
embargo, the French movie industry would have to :
organize an elaborate distribution set-up in the United+
States, for which it has no money,
Even the home market, such as it is, is diminishing. |
In the past two years the number of moviegoers in
France has dropped markedly, Since 1946 the price of
admission has quadrupled. The average Frenchman, be-
deviled by the rising cost of necessities, can no longer
afford his traditional weekly evening at the movies.
Moreover, even French movies are becoming too “Ameri-
canized” for his taste. The same taboos that are de-
plored in American films are beginning to creep into
the French product. There is the same fear of presenting
anything controversial, the same desire to please every-
body and offend nobody. Producers, hoping to retain
the small nugget of American sales that still remains to
them, hesitate to make films that might be considered
“sordid,” “licentious,” or “un-American.” Claude
Autant-Lara, brilliant director of “Devil and the Flesh,”
says: “We are making pallid, unreal films, pictures for
children, Can you blame the French public if it stays at
home and reads the Sunday scandal sheet?”
The French movie industry has of course other
troubles besides these imposed restrictions, In the first
place it is badly disorganized, There are only a few
large companies. Most of the two hundred producers
are small entrepreneurs who do not own their own
studios. Usually they are in debt. Only a few have dis-
tributing organizations of their own. There is also a
great deal of cheating on the part of the exhibitors,
who have been accused of pocketing 30 per cent of the
returns. But these are among the perennial troubles-of
crisis; they did not cause it.
Last wintet’s shutdowns revealed clearly the precarious
state of the industry today, The government’s announce-
ment that only 15 instead of 35 per cent of the tax on . —
foreign receipts would be paid into the Aid Fund
started a panic. Even the large companies stopped pro-
duction, though some studios have now partially re-
opened. In consequence the government will delay its
action until June and has meanwhile set up an investigat-
ing commission. In all probability some alleviating meas-
ures will be taken, but there is no hope that anything
drastic will be done, The quota will not be cut any |
id with ‘this ub of ee the Rreach cinema may
be able to go on for a while longer.
_ ‘Th he fact is that a “non-essential” industry like the
m ovies cannot survive in the inflationary economy which
ere
4
THE past two years Americans have tried to be-
I. come accustomed to a new set of alphabetical symbols
peetine the agencies carrying out the federal
efense-mobilization program. Headed by the Office of
De efense Mobilization and the Department of Defense,
the e agencies function in a hostile political and adminis-
‘trative environment which seriously hampers their ef-
fectiveness, Experienced Washington observers tend to
view their difficulties with something approaching alarm.
It may be useful, therefore, to recount the major factors
_ determining the conditions in which economic mobiliza-
_ tion must be worked out.
_ The federal government now has broad powers over
‘the production of goods needed for the armed services,
_ the allocation of scarce materials, prices and wages, the
availability of credit for consumer purchases and in-
dustrial development, and labor-management relations.
_ The basic statutory authority for the economic-mobiliza-
“tion program is the Defense Production Act, which was
passed by. Congress early in September, 1950, and
amended in August, 1951. Although the Korean war
had broken out in June, 1950, the administrative agen-
_ cies created by the act did not in the main get their
economic programs under way until 1951. The principal
public controversies since then have been over price
controls rather than over the control of materials and
_ production, though price controls have imposed no
substantial restrictions while production controls have
caused marked deviations from industry’s normal
"pattern.
ie Life today among the bureaucrats (I use the term in a
‘friendly way) is dominated by uncertainties and delays.
| M ost of these frustrations are the result of the
failure of the Administration and the Department of
i De fense to make clear-cut decisions concerning the re-
Beecents for armaments, military “hardware,” uni-
ER BERNSTEIN, assistant professor of politics at
F rinceton ‘University, was formerly a consultant with the
sureau of the Budget, working on administrative prob-
of economic stabilization.
M
ie Ps
u i&B
: ‘in Peudce today. It cannot, on its own, fight
i against both dollar-buttressed competition and the high
cost of living. The government, pressed as it is for
funds, is completely unable to provide the necessary help.
Instead, it sells out the French film industry for dollar
-credits—as Blum did in 1946—and taxes it as a Juxury
industry to get revenue to spend on war production,
Bie Problem: Guns and Butter Too
BY MARVER BERNSTEIN
forms, food supplies for the services, and the like. The
Joint Chiefs of Staff have struggled constantly toe de-
termine how many men and what weapons would be
necessary to fight the Korean war and to prepare the
country for possible attack, but they have not been able
to state confidently, even for a brief period in the future,
the magnitude and content of military requirements, In
consequence the civilian defense agencies, generally
speaking, have had no clear policies to guide them in de-
fining the scope of production controls and no adequate
data for measuring the probable inflationary impact of
the defense program.
The program adopted, within the framework of the
Defense Production Act, depends largely on the de-
gree to which industrial production must be converted
from civilian to military goods, In estimating require-
ments the armed services traditionally give little heed to
economy, Most military planners assume that the proper
objective is to fill all military supply lines with all the
goods that could conceivably be needed. This might be
called the insurance theory. Obviously it tends normally
to overstate military needs and, more significantly, to as-
sume that civilian needs are purely residual—to be met so
far as the production situation permits after all military
requirements are fulfilled. There is, of course, a fait
measure of logic in this approach. However, in a period
in which Presidential policy is to provide both guns and
butter it is calculated to wreak havoc with what we wist-
fully call the normal peace-time economy. Recently
Secretary of the Army Pace, who was formerly Director
of the Budget and chief economizer of the federal gov-
ernment, has taken steps to make the army more econ-
omy-minded; the navy too reports that it is rating officers
on cost-mindedness, Nevertheless, Congressional in-
vestigating committees continue to report incident after
incident of extravagant waste and inept business prac-
tices in the armed forces, especially in procurement.
Another handicap of the mobilization agencies is the
widespread feeling in Washington that the country’s
political leadership, both in the White House and on
Capitol Hill, is inadequate as measured against the de-
275.
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fense emergency. One hears shea that Truman has
much greater administrative ability than Roosevelt had,
but he lacks Roosevelt's inspirational qualities. Moreover
the economic-mobilization program began to operate
precisely in the period in-which any President's prestige
and influence normally are lowest, that is, in the last half
of his second term. This is the period in which Congress
becomes less and less willing to follow the President's
lead. It is the period which usually finds Congress with-
aT
ad
out capacity to focus attention on major issues of policy.
ROM an administrative point of view, the chief
F corollary of weak political leadership has been the
lack of strong central direction for the economic-mobiliza-
tion agencies and the reluctance of the planning agencies
—the National Security Resources Board, the Office of
Defense Mobilization, and the Munitions Board—to dis-
charge their planning responsibilities. Before 1950 the
National Security Resources Board had on paper a lot of
plans which were to be put into operation at the out-
break of war. But these were plans for total war and
total mobilization. As blueprints for partial economic
mobilization they were less than satisfactory. Moreover,
nobody seemed to know with what techniques the gov-
ernment could best control economic affairs in a period
of limited mobilization. World War II experience was
only partly relevant.
The absence of strong central coordination and direc-
tion of the entire program is immediately responsible
for important operating defects. Economic mobilization
is brought about through a number of complex and
enormously difficult processes which depend upon their
Which Paper Do You Read?
T ORDER to deceive the people of the world, U. S.
imperialism deputized U. N. organizations to exe-
cute the Point Four plan with which U. S. monopoly
capital attempts to enslave the people of the Orient,
and used [Owen } Lattimore, who had some “‘liberal’’
tinge in the past, to head the mission. Such was the
malicious intention of U. S. imperialism. Lattimore had
in 1926 traveled from Sinkiang to India via Kashmir
and had made detailed investigations of the border
regions of China, India, and Afghanistan. His second
visit has certainly just produced valuable results for
_ the aggressive plans of U. S. imperialism. He rushed
back to the U. S. at the end of March to answer
charges made by a Senator that he was a Communist.
_ As a matter of fact, Lattimore has all along been
planning to establish a dominating position for U. S.
influence in all Asia—Qzxoted in the January 11,
1951, issue of the Chinese Press Survey, Shanghai,
from an article in a Chinese periodical by Chiang
Tzo-yi of the Chinese Academy of Science.
23 Az
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inflationary forces, encourage the discovery of new
sources of raw materials, improve the productive.
capacity of our European allies, control rents im areas ©
where they have been skyrocketed by defense activities,
and find jobs for workers unemployed as a result of the |
industrial dislocations occasioned by the defense pro-.'
gram.
Given good-will on both sides, civilians and military
personnel can work together well in specific situations, -
but too often the relationship is tense and acrimonious.
One of the standard problems of defense mobilization
is to keep civilian-military tension from becoming dan- !
gerous, The factors already discussed heighten this ,
tension. In the absence of strong political leadership, ef-
fective administrative coordination, and firm military
requirements, civil-military friction can wreck a program.
Civilian and military officials, in this atmosphere, fre- .
quently become closely identified with a particular point
of view, which at best is agency-wide rather than govern-_
ment-wide, We all know the fanatical devotion of marines
and ex-marines to the Marine Corps. We are less familiar
with the single-minded devotion of the bureaucrat to his
agency’s program, which may be wholly unrelated to
other important needs of the government.
Economic mobilization, finally, functions in an ideo-
logical climate which exalts the productive process. The
largest corporations naturally get the lion’s’ share of
procurement contracts. Companies are encouraged to ex-
pand their production facilities and supplies of materials
by a bewildering variety of measures, such as rapid tax
write-offs, guaranteed purchase contracts, long-term
development contracts, and premium pricing. The
bonanza of defense work is marred for the major pro-
ducers only by the fear of building up “excess” produc-
tive capacity. The old bugaboo of surpluses is already
being mentioned in business journals.
This is by no means an exhaustive catalogue of the
factors which substantially affect the administration of
the economic-mobilization program. Yet even this short.
list suggests that the political and administrative climate
in Washington during an election year will become more
rather than less unfavorable. In the meantime some
16,000 people in the Economic Stabilization Agency, —
about 400 in the Defense Production Administration,
and scores of employees in other mobilization agencies
formulate and administer price, production, and related
controls with a chance, at best, of meeting only partially _
the objectives of the Defense Production Act.
On the assumption that controls will be required
until American-Soviet relations are substantially eased,
The NATION
Bae:
at “a
materials flowing to designated defense ee: ert a
according to a predetermined schedule involves a great _
many agencies. Even more agencies are needed to restrain: —
th more effective
the broad implications of mobiliza-
efense will be democratic? First, civilians in
ress and the executive agencies must continually
the armed services for more detailed justification
heir demands for strategic materials and armament.
Second, mobilization officials must realize more clearly
he impact of military preparedness on the American
economy and the economies of the Western democracies,
All possible steps must be taken to prevent economic
stosperity from becoming heavily dependent on produc-
tion for defense or war. Third, in our attempt to exer-
ise effective economic control over production, prices,
7y
HE United States and Japan reached agreement last
which gives us the “right to dispose United States
land, air, and sea forces in and about Japan,’ effective
“upon ratification of the peace treaty. These two docu-
-ments—the peace and security treaties—represent the
_ culmination of what bipartisan supporters term our “‘suc-
cessful” Japanese policy. John Foster Dulles, chief archi-
_ tect of the treaty-making, has modestly called the peace
q treaty “an act in dance with the fundamental moral
_ principles of the great spiritual teachers and leaders of
all nations and of all religions.” Secretary Acheson, upon
_ signing th¢ security treaty, called it a “voluntary agree-
_ ment between free peoples for the maintenance of peace
and security.”
_ When contrasted with the facts, such statements seem
to cast doubt on our sincerity. To claim that the security
treaty is a “voluntary agreement between free peoples”
“when one of the signers is an occupied nation and the
other the accupies, is to pat a peculiar interpretation upon
“voluntary” and “free.” As a matter of fact, the Japa-
nes were told from the -first that they would get no
eace treaty unless and until they ratified the security
treaty. Not satisfied with warning the Japanese, our mili-
tary also warned the Senate Foreign Relations Com-
mittee that the peace treaty should not receive final
fatification until the agreement on American post-treaty
fmilitary rights in Japan was concluded. In short, we
‘made no bones about it—no bases, no peace treaty.
_ The agreement signed in Tokyo last February 27 es-
MEARS is the author of “Mirror for Americans—
] er: and of many articles on Japan in national magazines.
; Be 22, 1952
and minimize our weaknesses. We should make better
use of flexible monetary controls and lessen our reliance
February 27 on administration of the security treaty
fe eee ¥ rhe Ae Oy ee ne "sy eh
on direct price controls, which require scores of govern-
ment offices and thousands of employees for their ad-
ministration. By depending overwhelmingly on direct
price controls in the present period, we run the risk
of discrediting their application and undermining their
usefulndss when they may be desperately needed. And
fourth, the price of industrial cooperation in the mobili-
zation program must not be the uncritical acceptance by -
government officials of the views of the big-business com-
munity, or any other organized interest group, as the
ptimary guide to public policy.
he Japanese “Insecurity” Treaty
BY HELEN MEARS
tablishes these post-treaty military rights. What are they?
Although at this writing details are not available, dis-
patches from Tokyo suggest that our military leaders
have won their long fight to retain most of their occu-
pation privileges in Japan. The New York Times has
quoted State Minister Okazaki as telling the Japanese
press:
In principle United States garrison troops and their
dependents will be tried by American military courts
for whatever crimes wherever committed. However, in
serious crimes Japan will be authorized to demand the
surrender of such persons for trial in Japanese courts... .
A joint Japanese-American commission will confer and
establish precedents for each case encountered.
This means, in brief, reestablishment of the principle
of extra-territoriality—the very principle which Asiatic
peoples have resented most in Western policy for more
than a century. We surrendered this policy in Japan quite
early, in the 1890's, We surrendered it, albeit reluctant-
ly, in China during World War II. Now, during a mili-
tary occupation of Japan, we are reviving it'to implement
a treaty which we insist restores sovereign independence
to Japan!
It is safe to predict that the security treaty will get us
into serious trouble not only in Japan but elsewhere in
Asia. In our preoccupation with the military aspects of
our anti-Communist policy, we are neglecting political
and psychological aspects which in the long run will
prove decisive. We insist that the Soviet and Chinese
Communists are wrong when they charge that we are
turning Japan into a colony instead of a sovereign nation,
or when they charge that our Japanese bases are intended
for an attack on China rather than as a defense of
277
aS. + Se 2 oe ge ee aS aes ae os ne cae oe
pe =m, printed the following exchange:
th
J
a
s¢
ne
yr
=" ee
*
: a 4 72 on ’
Japan. From the Japanese point of |
view, however, the security treaty
seems admirably designed to encourage
such misinterpretation.
Take the question of bases. Ameri-
cans have been told—and most of
us believe—that the Japanese went us
to maintain bases in Japan to “deter
aggression” by the Russians and
Chinese. But are our bases really so
welcome? Last October the Oriental
Economist, conservative and pro-West-
Commentator: 1 guess the Ameri-
cans are under the impression that
most Japanese have a desire to be
included [in the United States de-
_ fense system].
Questioner: Suppose, for argu--
ment’s sake, we Japanese did not so desire, what would
happen?
Commentator: Even if we turned it down, America
would stand pat on its oe. That’s the important
point.
Surely there is no hint here of a “voluntary’’ and
_ “free” agreement. There is implication only of duress.
The fact is that opposition to the security treaty in Japan
has been persistent and widespread from the beginning,
so widespread indeed that on the eve of the Diet debate
on ratification the Diet sergeant-at-arms—according to the
North American Newspaper Alliance reporter—added
to his staff a group of jiujitsu experts in order to guard
against “free-for-alls” in the legislative chamber. The
Diet did in fact ratify both treaties, but only after what
the American press termed “stormy” sessions,
ROM Japan’s point of view the security treaty offers
the reverse of security. It does not even pledge the
United States to defend Japan; it says merely that United
States forces “may be utilized to contribute to the security
of Japan against armed atiack from without.” One can
_ hardly imagine anything more noncommittal. On the
_ other hand, the treaty provides that our forces in Japan
_ “may be utilized to contribute to the maintenance of in-
ternational peace and security in the Far East.” Prac-
__ tically this means that we may use our Japanese bases for
_ pushing war farther north into Korea, or China, or any-
_ where else in the Far East. Thus Japan’s participation in
_ any military adventure involving the United States or .
_ the United Nations becomes automatic. We may con-
template this situation with great satisfaction, but the
wat-weary Japanese can hardly be expected to do so.
Nor, for all the occupation privileges it grants, is the
security treaty an unmixed blessing to our occupation
force and to the G. I.’s who are its backbone. The
278
John Foster Dulles
ee government, to put dita
ances in Japan caused through instiga-
tion or intervention by an outside
power or powers.
the Communists may be happy to meet.
government from labeling every
ployment? American soldiers might
thus be thrust into mélées in which the
hands of the Japanese masses—Com-
munist and non-Communist and anti-
Communist—would all be turned
against them. If the cementing of American-Japanese
friendship is one of the objectives of our Japanese
policy, certainly we are going about it the hard way.
Again from the point of view of the Japanese, we
are not only offering insecurity rather than security but
are demanding in return an insupportably high price.
One of our first occupation moves was to supervise the
writing of a new Japanese constitution which expressly
provides that “the maintenance of Jand, sea, and air
forces, as well as other war potentials, will never be
authorized.” Today that policy has been completely re-
versed, The Japanese are required not only to pay for a
growing army of their own but also to contribute to the
support of American garrisons. Japan’s military budget
for 1952 is nearly one-sixth of what the four years and
three months of its pre-Pearl Harbor war with China cost.
The political dangers of the policies inherent in the
security treaty are clear. But the strategic dangers cannot
be ignored. It is dangerous to assume that the Japanese
are prepared to cooperate wholeheartedly with our anti-
Communist policies. True, the Japanese historically fear
Russia; they fear Russia today. But the Japanese know
that their islands are not defensible; if war comes again,
their tinder-like cities will again be pulverized and mil-
lions will starve. It is this which has induced in so many
Japanese a fervent desire for neutrality in any mew war.
A realistic look at the security treaty, within the frame
of actual conditions in Japan, can lead only to the con-
clusion that it is our gravest political and strategic '
blunder since the end of the war. American policy-
makers have been persuaded to place assumed strategic
and military advantages ahead of ideological principles
which, in the long run, will decide the contest of democ-
racy against communism in Asia, And this time the
errors cannot be charged against secret war agreements
or alleged Communist traitors in the State Department.
‘ The NATION ; 4
‘3
large-scale internal riots and disturb-—
" This is clearly de- .
signed with Communist-inspired riots —
in mind. It presents a challenge which
_ And what is to prevent the Japanese '
riot “Communist-inspired”—including -
riots inspired by hunger and unem- .
;
”
COMMUNISM IN WESTERN EU-
ROPE. By Mario Einaudi, Jean-
_ Marie Domenach, and Aldo Garosci.
Cornell University Press. $3.
ITS serious tone, careful scholar-
A ship, and amazing compactness this
collaborative study of Western Euro-
communism offers a welcome con-
ast to the emotional, imprecise, and
ffuse writing on such topics that is
urently the fashion nearly everywhere
pert in strictly academic circles. Here
it last is a handbook on communism
that can be read with profit by both the
‘s pecialist and the general reader. The
3 authors assume no knowledge on their
readers’ part; they explain every or-
‘Bi nizational unit or personality even at
‘the risk of platitude. And they have
wisely restricted themselves to the two
‘great countries of the Western Euro-
pean continent—France and Italy—the
only ones in which communism offers
a real and continuing threat to a nee
society.
Their book is at once a history, a
current analysis, and a proposal of re-
_ medial measures. This triple function
_ gives it a somewhat uneven character.
_ As history it is almost too brief. As a
_ semedial program it is encouraging but
not completely convincing. As analysis,
_ however, it is nearly always admirable.
The authors have grasped the essen-
tials of Western European communism
_—its organizational solidity, the talent,
self-dedication, and ruthlessness of its
leaders, and its continuing appeal to
_ populations starved for a political faith
and profoundly skeptical of their rulers’
interest in the well-being of the poorer
‘part of the population. French or Ital-
jan scotneOninisin, Mr. Domenach warns
us, “cannot be assessed only as a ‘party’
“organized for the political struggle, nor
solely as a ‘comspiracy’ organized for
the seizure of power; it is an immense
machine, as complex as the state which
it everywhere attacks. < . . It is a com-
plete society which, in embryonic form,
already exists inside the society it aims
to replace.” And he adds that we
should not take too seriously the loss of
rch 22, 1952
JCal
Sn
membership and votes that, in France
at least, has recently seemed to presage
its decline. The hard core of militants
—perhaps 15 per cent of its member-
ship—is the real key to its strength;
and this remains virtually untouched.
“In order to direct the movement of
the masses a party must first create the
strong skeleton of a body which will
take on flesh according to circumstances.
When circumstances become critical,
the body may be reduced to the skele-
ton, but the skeleton will not disinte-
grate,”
Of the three authors Messrs. Garosci
and Domenach are Europeans, and Mr.
Einaudi is an American professor of
Italian birth. This intimate connection
with European society gives their anal-
ysis a depth and understanding—a
sense of an experience personally or at
least vicariously shared—that is usually
lacking in American treatments of Com-
munist themes. Such is particularly the
case with the parts of the book written
by the two Europeans—Mr, Dome-
nach’s section on the French party and
Mr. Garosci’s on the Italian.
This is not to say that Messrs, Garo-
sci and Domenach are in any sense pro-
Communist. The former is a well-
known historian and a former leader of
the ill-fated Party of Action that dur-
ing the war years embodied the aspira-
tions of the most intelligent and
imaginative of non-Communist Italian
anti-Fascists. He has seen the destruc-
tion of his hopes for a renovated, dem-
‘ocratic Italy, and his knowledge that
the Communist leaders bear a heavy re-
sponsibility for this disappointment
gives his writing about them a tone of
cold, quiet anger. These men he has
fought and he obviously dislikes them
profoundly. At the same time he under-
stands the motivation of those who
vote Communist because they see no
other alternative to clericalism and re-
action in an Italy in which the forces of
the non-Communist left are divided
and pitifully weak. He explains why it
is that the Italian Communists have not
suffered the same loss of voting strength
as the French, and, along with their
allies the left-wing Socialists, actually
Cara da dle oll ba Pe al ae ea ee
increased their vote between the parliae
mentary election of 1948 and the mu-
nicipal elections of last May and June.
Unfortunately, Mr. Garosci’s section is —
too compressed to permit him to elabo-
rate with much originality on these
themes. We learn the basic facts about
Italian communism—but not a great
deal more.
Mr. Domenach’s section, on the other
hand, is both the longest and the most
original in the book. Like his Italian
co-author, Mr, Domenach is a veteran
of the struggle against fascism: in the
French Resistance he worked with Com-
munists in a common cause; now, as
editor of Esprit, the journal of the
French Catholic left, he fights the
Communists politically and ideologi-
cally while advocating some of the
same social goals. Hence the tone he
takes toward his late allies combines
compassion with reproof, And in so
doing he reminds us of a number of
things that we have tended to forget in
the enormous simplification of Ameri-
can attitudes that the past four or five
years have witnessed. The great strikes —
of the autumn of 1947, he tells us,
were not originally Communist in in-
spiration—as nearly all American pub-
licists have assumed. Rather they were
an independent outgrowth of the “wide
disparity between wages and prices,”
which the Communists, now out of the
government, decided to support and ex-
ploit in the interests of their campaign
against the Marshall Plan. I am not
quite sure that this is the whole story,
but I am very glad to have Mr. Dome-
nach’s corrective entered on the record.
Similarly, Mr. Domenach’s characteriza-
tion of Maurice Thorez as a Tito
manqué—a man who, if he had re-
mained in France during the war, might
have made a reality of a “Western
communism” independent of Soviet
control—is the most arresting item ia
the whole book. It suggests—and here
again the author corrects the simplifica-
tions of hindsight—that the hopes of
those who looked for this sort of de-
velopment between 1942 and 1947
were not totally illusions at the time.
That they eventually proved such does
279
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i,
i
a
as
a
he. y=:
wes
'
ie
‘
(i €6€6ture...
t
u
| a
ee
ieee
rr
)
mot mean that a large body of French-
men did not at one time think-and act
in these terms and that a certain num-
ber do not do so still.
As opposed to the contributions of
the two Europeans, Mr. Einaudi’s sec-
tion—a general introduction and anal-
ysis—has a tone of detachment and of
optimism about reducing Communist
strength that reflects the greater remote-
ness of an American university campus.
At the same time this relative detach-
ment enables Mr. Einaudi to see the
iS _ potential weakness of the Communist
_ position and to strip away its pretenses
more rigorously than either of his col-
Jaborators. Western European commu-
nism, he asserts, far from being a
movement for social progress, is neces-
sarily attached to “feudalism, inefh-
ciency, and obsolete economic policies.”
Essentially retrograde in character, it
thrives in countries whose “‘social struc-
has maintained rigidities and
cleavages” that favor a class-warfare
approach. Once such countries have
been fully modernized, the appeal of
_ pseudo-revolutionary Marxism will all
but vanish. Hence it is no accident that
the Communist leaders direct their
heaviest assaults against the Marshall
and Schuman plans: these truly revo-
lutionary measures “are bound to bring
about far-reaching social and political
changes that will create the conditions
under which communism will not be
able to survive.”
This is a bold and compelling argu-
ment. It is far more discerning than the
usual amiable banalities of Marshall
Plan propaganda. Yet it suffers from
~ some of the same deficiencies. It fails
_ to take into account the extent to which
the pressing needs of rearmament have
_ diverted the American program in Eu-
rope from its original social-welfare
goals. More important, it ignores the
_ whole element of psychological inertia
the nearly universal apathy, weari-
ness, and frustration—antedating com-
_ gnunism, deeper than it, and largely
independent of economic conditions.
Characteristically, it is Mr. Domenach
rather than Mr. Einaudi who draws our
attention to “that inarticulate despair
that is the fundamental psychic element
of the European crisis.’ So long as
despair remains the basic European atti-
tude, communism—and other essen-
tially irrational doctrines—will main-
280
i - us eR aes ee
T 7 — ry éc 7 f
2). <<
*
are
Pn?
- Y
tain their Cat Hor canoes is Oe
Gaullism, offers a mystique—and with |
it a refuge for sick souls. Has Western
democracy a mystique to put in its
place? H, STUART HUGHES
The Peacock Vein
THE GROVES OF ACADEME. By
Mary McCarthy. Harcourt, Brace and
Company. $3.50.
HE experimental college is a sub-
ject for satire made to Mary Mc-
Carthy’s hand. As a going institution
of our society, it implicates a more pub-
lic range of targets than the utopian
colony of “The Oasis,” and her deal-
ings with it result in an extravaganza
as diverting as Peacock.
For sheer comic bravura the poets’
conference that fills the second half
of the book is the show-piece. The
method is a sort of verbal sonata form;
theme, restatements and developments,
coda. The Jady poet who leads off the
speakers takes Virgil as her subject: “A
faint sigh rustled through the faculty.
From the point of view of the student
body, the choice was not a happy one.
The majority of the students present had
never heard of the person being alluded
to as the Mantuan; they supposed he
was a modern poet whom the faculty
had not yet caught up with—a supposi-
tion correct in a sense, as Howard
Furness, maliciously grinning, re-
marked in his slippery voice afterward.”
The theme started, its potentialities
unfold in an accelerando of double-
edged ironies. For the students the
situation is saved by the fact that one
of them is doing a project on Hermann
Broch and “The Death of Virgil.”
“Lise’s major project, as the news of it
spread around the room, evoked instant
respect and attention; heads turned to
nod at her approvingly, as though some
member of her family had~just been
mentioned from the dais.” Virgil too
engages Dr. Muller, a pillar of the
faculty who “like many historians, had
certain regressive tendencies arising
from the nature of his subject, which .
called forth a tolerance for the past,
in the same way that some occupations,
like sand-hogging, give rise to their
own occupational diseases.” Virgil, he
feels, has much light to throw on “the
phenomenon of imperialism in our
time.” Couldn’t the poet’s praise of
pose! Conte hiss , who
has been lecturing on oar i pote .
style, catches only the word irony in -
his question and refers him to “some- ,
body named Empson—if he caught the
name rightly—and his treatment of the
pastoral mode.” .
Finally, after this workout in the
more esoteric keys, the theme broadens’ |
to its quantum of general reference as _ ,
the dead-pan “normally” of the coda ,
impales a whole phase of contemporary ,
culture. The next speaker—a not un-
recognizable elderly poet of the avant- -
garde who is “a bank president in
private life’—takes Lucretius for his —
subject. “In the audience the President i
frowned; the faculty was uneasy.... |
Furness was recalling, with some dis-
quiet, the old poet's bland question at *
the sherry party—‘Is this the fabled
college where everything is run back-
ward?’—and the air of gentle disap- *
pointment with which he bore the news
that no, indeed, it was not, that the
Startled, I Remember
Immensely the low sun
Paints all our city—shines
Prodigal on water towers;
Sweetens deep windows. ,
There it is, suddenly,
The soul of it: New York
Gold in the late day,
Dying and smiling.
Startled, I remember
Him that most loved this.
Where is he now, then?
Didn’t I hear—
Oh, but the least—yes,
Certainly I felt it: E
Mind and body turning, armies
Trying to see.
Only as his would—
Once again, once again—
Oh, but he must sleep, though.
Let the night be.
Epitaph
Let this be true, that I have loved
All men and things both here and gone;
But most the men whose love surpassed
My love, and so lives on and on.
MARK VAN DOREN
The NATION |
he Peacock vein is im-
in a tissue of psychological
: an anatomy of “occupational
ses” of laborers in the progressive-
emic vineyard, “nice, high-minded,
srupulous people,” with a sense of
vicarious outrage—the vocational en-
ow ment of all educators,” and a
nervous habit of self-correction, al-
c; emending, penciling, erasing.” By
abricating an issue of academic free-
dom the paranoiac Mulcahy of the not
ice and unscrupulous minority provides
Es “case” for a web of decisions and
evisions that leave him firing the high-
minded President who started by firing
him. The specialized little world that
somes credibly to life within the frame-
work of this plot is a microcosm of gen-
cultural trends; it would be hard
o think of any facet of its possi-
ilities for comedy that “The Groves
of Academe” does not light up.
HOWARD DOUGHTY, JR.
ad
Introduction to Vedanta *
\)VEDANTA FOR MODERN MAN.
Edited, and with an- Introduction, by
Christopher Isherwood. Harper and
Brothers. $5.
EDANTA, a body of teachings de-
rived from the ancient Vedas and
from later classics, is the nearest thing
to a Bible that modern Indians possess.
e the Christian or Jewish Bible,
ho wever, it is constantly receiving fresh
additions, on the principle that divine
" inspiration never ends, As a philosophy
|" Vedanta forms the common basis of
| the well-known Indian religions, in-
‘cluding Buddhism and Jainism. As a
system of religious thought, it has
ss pssed continents, its influence having
_ been acknowledged by such thinkers as
= Schopenhauer, Emerson, Ber-
nmatd Shaw, Carl Jung, and Albert
Schweitzer. Mr. Isherwood calls
Vedanta a ‘“‘non-dualistic philosophy,”
4n the sense that spirit alone is real,
everything else being Maya, that is, ap-
P earance of illusion. Spirit, or Brahman,
Nea - Vedantic God and is regarded a
| the ultimate reality. In this world of
Aaya a man leads only a shadow life of
Seating His real life does not begin
unti ene divine essence, his Atman, has
esced with Brahman.
To make Vedanta intellig ble to the
‘West, Mr. Isherwood presents an an-
thology of sixty-one essays and poems
by thirty-six teachers or lovers of
Vedanta, including Jawaharlal Nehru,
Aldous Huxley, Gerald Heard, Rabin-
dra Nath Tagore, John van Druten, and
Hubert Benoit. In this meeting of East
and West, the contributors discuss such
topics as the Godward purpose of life,
the discipline of Yoga, the bearing of
Vedanta on daily affairs, and why, in the
words of Mr. Huxley, “Time must have
a stop.” We are also given glimpses of
Sri Ramakrishna, a Bengali saint (1833-
1886), whom Romain Rolland and
many noted Indians revere as a spiritual
leader of the rank of Jesus and Buddha.
Finally we learn that a number of
Vedanta centers, for study and not for
proselyting, have been established in the
West—there are two in New York—
under the direction of Swamis sent by
the Ramakrishna Order of India, Clear-
ly, the Vedanta Weltanschauung has
formidable support.
It was probably the collapse of scien-
tific materialism—a philosophy which
helped to plunge us into the current
series of world wars—that gave Vedanta
its chance in the West. The materialists,
who claimed that there was no such
thing as mind, dominated Western cul-
ture from the time of Darwin and Karl
Marx until the other day, when Jeans,
de Broglie, Schrédinger, and other
super-physicists proved that there was
no such thing as matter. The shock of
this discovery sent our cultured profes-
sional classes reeling. Bernard Shaw’s
“Too True to Be Good” dramatizes the
event in the tragedy of the disillusioned
atheist who, having learned of Einstein
and nuclear fission, sees his solid, soul-
less, machine-like world dissolve into
the mysteries of relativity and the
quantum theory. In a word, the down-
fall of materialism left our cultured
people gyrating in a spiritual vacuum.
And nothing was more certain than that
this vacuum would be filled by some re-
ligious belief up to date enough to treat
science and religion as two necessary,
compatible, and reinforcing sides of the
intellectual movement of humanity.
Among the religious philosophies that
have tried to fill the void are the Butler-
Bergson-Shaw version of evolution,
which comes from Europe, and Western
Vedanta, which comes from Asia.
oe Wee oe te oe
What are the most striking features
of Vedanta? To begin with, it has no
canonical Bible. Its scriptures consist
of a continuous body of inspired litera-
ture that extends from the old Vedic
hymns of 3,000 years ago to Aldous
Huxley’s “Indian Philosophy of Peace”
and Radhakrishnan’s “Religion and the
World Crisis,” written the other day
for the present book. There is no
dominant founder, like Mohammed or
Buddha, whom everyone must worship.
Vedanta has temples without priests,
counsels of perfection without dogmas,
and a spiritual discipline without rites.
Its one altar is the soul of man. Though
Vedantists believe that a reunion with
Brahman, through a strict training of
the body-mind, is man’s chief end and
glory, they do not claim to be a Chosen
People or to possess the one and only
valid faith, Thus a newcomer is not re-
quired to disavow the gods, saints,-or
heroes that have been dear to him. He
will not be asked to give up Christ for
the sake of Krishna. On the contrary,
he is expected to consider Buddha,
Zoroaster, and Jesus as teachers no less
trustworthy than Shankara or Rama-
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281.
Te
a
Bsc ave : os
munication,
sensory, conceptual,
krishna, Obviously the Vedantists, with
their doctrine of the Atman, have a
mystical element that brings them close
to the Quakers, with their belief in the
inner light, and to the creative evo-_
lutionists, with their faith in an in-
stinctive drive toward perfection. But
_ what makes Vedanta unique is its em-
phasis on special mystical practices
and also the fact that these practices—
mastered aforetime by such Western
seers as Pythagoras, Plotinus, and
Meister Eckhart—are taught not merely
to an esoteric group or to an intellectual
élite but to anyone willing and able to
undergo the intense Yoga discipline.
Mr. Isherwood -has produced an an-
thology all of which is worth reading
and some of which is in the highest
degree inspiring. The book provides a
first-class introduction to the Vedanta
conception of Life and God.
FELIX GRENDON
A New Language
TOWARD A GENERAL THEORY,
OF HUMAN JUDGMENT. By
Justus Buchler. Columbia University
Press. $2.75.
HE central idea of this book is for-
mulated in terms of the neologism
“proception.” This word is intended to
suggest the “moving union” in the
human individual “of seeking and _te-
ceiving, of forward propulsion and pa-
tient absorption.” By intention it repre-
sents the “interplay” and the “unitary”
(why unitary?) direction of the indi-
vidual’s activities and faculties. Apart
from his “proceptions,” “he” is not an
_ individual but a succession of spasms or
kinks in the ether. In terms of this con-
i, god ception Professor Buchler develops a
theory of “human judgment” deployed
in its several basic dimensions of ‘‘com-
“compulsion,” “conven-
tion,” “perspective,” and “validation.”
The point about “‘proception,” evident-
ly, is that it is intended to bring the
and motivational
variables of human personality into a
single system of interrelationships which
leaves out nothing save prime matter.
Buchler seeks first inclusion and then
articulation—a favorite word. His is a
philosophy of “transcendence,” but only
in the sense that it seeks to go beyond
the traditional bifurcations and reduc-
tions implicit in such terms as “mental”
282
TeULg,
J ae a
a3 oe a
and “behavioral.” Yet it pediidie: NG
voutly naturalistic and conceives the
human organism as the joint function
of its physical and social environments.
It is not surprising that Buchler finds
previous frameworks for interpreting
judgment inadequate. Unlike older
“spectator” theories of mind, his anal-
ysis stresses the “funded” interpreta-
tions of an interacting, socially oriented
individual. But unlike the more recent
pragmatic theories, his doctrine admits
of felt immediacies (Dewey called them
“shavings” ) and givens. The sheer bru-
tality of things—including in one sense
interpretation and communication them-
selves—ineluctably forces itself upon
the individual's attention. In relation to
this aspect of his world the individual
is perforce observer, sufferer, or patient.
But he is also a manipulator, a doer,
above all, a judge. And in this dimen-
sion he molds and interprets the world
in his own image. From this point of
things become products, facts
classified data, and nature a subject mat-
ter for—"proception.”
How far Buchler’s development of
his root idea accomplishes a basic re-
organization of our conceptual patterns
for the understanding of symbolism,
communication, and method is perhaps
a moot question. Since each of us brings
to the reading of any book his own
funded experience, it is inevitable, as
the author himself would probably in-
sist, that readers of this work will dis-
agree as to its fertility and its suggestive-
ness for new interpretations of the
phenomena of which it treats. In any
case it needs to be supplemented by more
exact and more detailed analyses of the
complexities of human discourse. Lack-
ing them, some readers who have already
carried the analysis of some particular di-
mension of human judgment beyond the
point to which Buchler’s study takes us,
will doubtless find it alternately vague
and elementary. I found it in part a
none too clear restatement of views I
seemed already to know. But in part I
view,
also found, as in the discussion of con-
ventions, a certain freshness of approach
or as in the discussion of validation, a
prod to further thinking.
Apart from his basic term Buchler
generally manages to avoid jargon—
perhaps the besetting vice of contempo-
rary American philosophy. But he has a
way of extending the sense or use of
wees Te
ES Rite
een
and roles, and so in a way SF bere
haps inadvertently invented a new at
guage of interpretation in the process of,
analyzing and explicating an old one.
This is always a hazardous business.
Sometimes new words function as cata-
a ae
paste bcjoud a bs ey
lysts simply because they are free from —
the stock associations by means of which.
all words tend to enslave our minds. |
“Proception”
it may force us out of our conceptual)
ruts. Words are often telescoped the-
ories; old ones often little more than
counters by means of which we reenact
ingrained prejudices. How much preju-
dice and how little understanding is
concealed, for example, in the little
word “‘race’’! Placed in new contexts or
invested with new twists of meaning,
old words may sometimes do the trick
of making us think, and all the more
is not a lovely word; but ,
nn a
--
effectively because they force us to see *
the familiar in a new light.
But there is also the risk. For we may
think we have a new idea when all we
really have is an old word used in an
unusual way. We may spend time on
redefinition which would be better spent
in the assimilation of new facts or in
genuine analysis of terms which we
habitually employ without full compre-
hension of their meaning. A mew way
with old words can all too often trick
us into supposing we have made an ad-
vance in thought, when what we have
done is to say queerly something quite
obvious. Take the word “articulation,”
for example. In its ordinary uses it
means to utter distinctly, to express
clearly or systematically, to divide into
words and syllables. But in Buchler’s
account, by what I can only call a
process of association or suggestion, it
undergoes a series of sea changes which
cause us to suppose we are really learn-
ing something when nothing is going on
but verbal play with a familiar term.
Thus “criticism is articulation, and ar-
ticulation is realization.”
stance of social communication there is
“an implicit mutual demand . . . for
proceptive articulation in the form of
products, overt manifestations of pro-
ception.” “Articulation is the manipula-
tion (and the implied proceptive deliver-
ance) of products as ends in them-
selves. . . .” There may be something
in all this—pbut it is said in such an
odd way.
The NATION
A
Es
In every in- ~
ae Ranke
ntext this sort of thing might,
se, be an exciting venture. But in
context of what is, or should be, an
nation and elucidation of human
nent it is often merely misleading.
ven more important, it results in a dis-
ourse which is less precise than it needs
0 ‘b e, And this is inevitable, since it
forces us to break loose from our old
nguistic moorings without providing
seaworthy raft on which we can be
we to keep our minds afloat.
HENRY DAVID AIKEN
Old Masters in Color
ART TREASURES OF THE LOUVRE.
Text Translated and Adapted from
the French by René Huyghe. Com-
"mentary by Mme René Huyghe, with
a Short History of the Louvre by
_ Milton Fox. Abrams. $10.
y) HE publishers of the Library of
Great Painters here inaugurate a
new series entitled the Library of Great
“Museums. Except for the monograph on
El Greco, whose color is extremely
|) “modern” and therefore more than usu-
| ally susceptible of reproduction, this
series represents an important effort to
) extend the facilities of color reproduc-
tion to the domain of the old masters.
‘One cannot avoid the conclusion that,
superior as many of these plates are to
other reproductions of the same pic-
tures, the old masters are still reluctant
to yield up their secrets to color filters.
Those of them who employed gold
backgrounds can rest assured that mod-
_ ¢rn glossy paper can record no echo of
+ their splendors. The Madonna labeled
-Cimabue basks in the roseate glow of a
sort of Turner sunset, while Giotto's
St. Francis is ecstatic before a back-
_ ground somewhere between the color of
‘straw and a French omelette. In gen-
} eral, the plates are keyed too dark and
too hot. Too many bodies and faces
seem lit by a roaring fire, and Daumier’s
Crispin has already turned to the color
of a boiled lobster.
Most of the later painters come off
very adequately, especially Rousseau
de Douanier, whose terrifying fable of
war is expressed in flat tonal areas and
sharp value contrasts. Among the older
nters, Zurbaran, who also employs
March 22, 1952
a
%
ct
) .
iad Be ip ia: ¥
adin Sark er’s bo an-
fections of which must have presented
formidable difficulties for reproduction,
S, LANE FAISON, JR.
Verse Chronicle
HE latest book in the admirable
Muses’ Library series (Harvard
University Press; this number priced at
$2.10) contains the poems of Sir Walter
Ralegh (sic, without the 7; the history
books, it seems, have been spelling the
name wrong this long time). The for-
mat, as usual with this series, is not only
handy but nice, and the needs of the
student are met in such a way as not to
confuse or put off the lazier general
- reader, The editor of this particular vol-
ume is Agnes M. C, Latham, whose in-
troductory essay, careful and excellent
throughout, lifts into moments of mov-
ing brilliance.
The North Sea poems of Heinrich
Heine, here translated by Vernon Wat-
kins (New Directions, $3), were writ-
ten by a young man in a rather exalted
state, 4 mood, pro tem, of emancipation,
ecstatic rather than depressed by the
riddle of life. In looser and larger
meters than the wrier characteristic
Heine, they nevertheless have their mo-
ments of concision, sharpness of obser-
vation, and immediate sensual percep-
tion amid the romantic yearnings and
swoonings. Such is their looseness of
form, so free are they from tight idio-
matic effects, that the translator has his
work more than half done for him before
he starts; Mr. Watkins, himself an easy-
going mellifluous poet with no great
hold or bite, has enough sympathy with
this kind of rhythm and enough respect
for the concrete nouns and verbs not to
let the tidal wave of adjectives and the
adverbial froth and spume sweep him
entirely away: the English version, on
facing pages, is substantially just to the
German.
Roger Fry has by mo means done
equivalent justice to Mallarmé in the
twenty-nine out of sixty-four transla-
tions he has made from the latter's
“Poésies,"” now published, in a rather
jumbled book, by New Directions,
ptice $2. This edition includes the Fry
translations with their French originals,
a
wv
the other poems in the French only, an
introduction and commentaries on the
poems by Charles Mauron, an early in-
troduction by Roger Fry, a publisher's
note, an appendix: did I say jumbled?
M. Mauron’s introduction is excellent;
his remarks on obscurity in general, and
Mallarmé’s peculiar kinds of obscurity
in particular, are vety much to the
point. His commentaries, however, serve
to confuse the average reader, meaning
in this case me, or to lead him up the
garden of literary scholarship. One feels
that the time would be better spent
reading the original French two or three
times extra. If Mr. Fry has not trans-
lated Mallarmé as well as Mr. Watkins
has Heine, it must be said, of course,
that the task was enormously mote diffi-
cult. I am sure that Mr, Fry's interest,
understanding, and devotion went much
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M
pie
—
4 hoe 2 =
a
a. <="
.
é
en tL beeen nena
Rn . ow 2 '
.
ey
=
*}
- A
77 =
x
/
;
he
“— a «
%
@eeper into Mallarmé than Watkins's
possibly could with the Heine North
Sea poems, but in rendering the poems ©
into English he makes the most ghastly
elementary mistakes. Surely no good
writer could ever have said, in any lan-
guage, the equivalent of “and my lamp
which natheless my agony knows,” or
“whose ecstasy pure lies in painting the
end.” Natheless and also whilst, for-
sooth! I suspect there are other mis-
ptints than the one (p. 51) which
renders the first line of a sonnet sestet
meaningless: “For Vice, having gnawed
by nobleness inborn” (“Car Je Vice,
rongeant ma native noblesse” ).
1 suppose every reader of The Na-
tion realizes that Roger Fry was by no
means the inept idiot that these brief
excerpts make him appear; if the para-
graph above seems an abuse to his mem-
ory, I should like to make amends by
quoting M. Mauron: “He was so socia-
ble that he could never enjoy anything
without at once feeling the need to
share it with those around him. Therein
lay, I think, the secret of that equilib-
rium which to the Jast prevented him
from growing old: the correction of
fastidiousness by generosity, and of gen-
erosity by fastidiousness.”
“A man,” observes M. Mauron, ‘may
be said to be characterized by his obses-
sions.” It is with these that Theodore
The NATION .
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Fi
m.
i
o>
—i oe
Roethke deals in his third book, “Praise
to the End” (Doubleday, $3). The title —
strikes me as unhappy, in a kind of
guarded way, suggesting both a kind of
finality which Mr. Roethke would be
the last to advertise and a cheery facile
optimism he would be the first to deny.
The poems here continue, as well as
repeat, the themes of “The Lost Son’;
what we are offered here is a sequence.
With many a writer who affects to
plumb the depths of his own uncon-
scious, one feels that after he has dived
into the bathysphere, he is only too apt
to emerge with nothing but the bathetic
—or the banal—and that if he comes
up with something rich and strange, or
only grotesque, one cannot feel sure but
that he has planted his deep-sea bucket
in advance with a few specimens of
starfish and sea urchins, not to mention
an old boot or two, just to make it look
better. Mr. Roethke is more convincing;
he has established, and this is a matter
of technique as surely as feats of pros-
ody, avenues of communication to his
own unconsciousness. Poetry made from
this relation is bound to be difficult, ob-
scure, intensely personal; the question
will always be whether the poet can
reach the reader as he has reached him-
self. One idfficulty (stet!—too perfect a
keyboard-slip to lose) which the termi-
nology of the unconscious offers, its
a
a
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_ the best modern scholarship. Mr. Do-
‘ 7
=a a se Ae
se thro
calc U yi d
ness, Mr. Roethke h
moved; his cmd ag" images, his |
very rhythms, have the direct impact of | :
a fullback hitting the line on third —
down with two yards to go. The danger
here is that the rhythms themselves will
seem a little obsessed, and they are also.
astonishingly easy to imitate—I warn /
Mr. Roethke right now that within five:
years he is going to be flattered to loath- _
ing; samples have already begun to
catch my notice. '
The charge, to use Mr. Roethke’s
own term, is the most important thing;
to whose interest some effects of subtlety
must be sacrificed. But mark that subtle-
ty is a relative term and be prepared |
to make some structural adaptations; an Y
end-stopped line, for instance, may not —
sound to you, en plein air, exactly the ‘
same as it does to the poet coming up ~
from full fathom five. Adept at breath-
ing, so to speak, through his gills, Mr. ~
Rocthke seems to me a little less sure of
himself when it is time to use his lungs;
his Jubilates, if no less original, do
seem less experienced than his Masereres
—which, by the way, differ from most
in having some humor in them. Still, it
is asking a good deal of a poet to face
and report the horrors of the fire and
the slime-pit and in the next breath to
think he did see all heaven before him
and the great God himself. After all,
this is a continuing sequence; give him
time. ROLFE HUMPHRIES
Books in Brief
ALEXANDER POPE. By Bonamy Do-
brée. Philosophical Library. $3. Most
of us were told for examination pur-
poses that Alexander Pope was a mali-
“cious monkey who turned Pegasus into
a rocking horse. That estimate of both
his character and his poetry has been
undergoing steady revision for some
years now, and the present charmingly
written little book of 120 pages gives“
a compact summary of the results of
brée, who frankly bases his conclusions
on the work of various scholars, espe-
cially on that of George Sherburn, is
concerned chiefly with Pope’s character
and draws an essentially sympathetic
portrait without falling into the parti-
sanship of Edith Sitwell’s somewhat
The NATION —
* .
t
5
4
“a
HE ILIAD OF HOMER. Translated,
an Introduction, by Richmond Lat-
re. Chicago University Press. $4.50.
ations of the Iliad continue to
from the presses, this being the
hird or fourth, or so it seems, within
the last few minutes. Professor Latti-
more’s version, while less spectacular
han his recent presentation of Pindar,
s workmanlike and competent; his in-
roduction is both painstaking and in-
felligent, and his prosody is cleanly
handled.
MARGARET
| er QMNA \ marsHaLe
F EVIVALS tend to induce in every-
4 one connected with them an at-
titude toward the play in question
similar to that of a fond parent—an
attitude at once patronizing and indul-
“gent, apologetic and proud. I find
the atmosphere this attitude creates ex-
_ tremely irritating because it makes for
_ self-consciousness all around and par-
* ticularly in the actors, and because it
implies a demand that the play and the
performance be judged not on their
merits but gn the basis of quite ex-
traneous considerations.
_ Many a revival of Shakespeare and
- other old masters has been corroded by
+ the atmosphere I have described; it
| hangs thick over ANTA’s revival of
|. Clifford Odets’s “Golden Boy” (ANTA
| Theater). Its effects, I could not help
_ thinking, were reflected in the two re-
_ views I read. Brooks Atkinson of the
_ Times succumbed completely to its moist
warmth and basked in it as in a steam
} bath. To him, all was wonderful. Wal-
| ter B. Kerr of the Herald Tribune did
~ not succumb, but he obviously felt guilty
and his dissent was apologetic.
_ “Golden Boy” is not a very good
play. It is skilfully constructed, but its
plot is patently contrived. It has passages
that are well conceived and freshly writ-
it is also ridden with the most ordi-
y kind of fancy writing and with
d lichés of the socially conscious thirties,
“cum of truth but not Ph i A
form them into eternal verities, and they
to trans-
are only intermittently appropriate to the
characters who propound them. It fol-
lows that some of the characterizations
are authentic and some are not.
The characterization of the Golden
Boy is defective on another score. His
development is stated rather than dem-
onstrated. In the beginning his passion
for music, admittedly hard to portray,
is not made manifest; his later passion
to make money is not very convincing
either, but rather taken for granted,
since it is documented mainly by a brief
scene which shows him lusting after big
cars speeding by; finally, we are told
that he has disintegrated, but the process
has not been depicted.
John Garfield’s performance of the
part is better than the writing, but he
cannot make up what it leaves out. Lee
J. Cobb as the old Italian father is more
than adequate in a set part that requires
little acting. The parts of Tom Moody,
the prize-fight manager, and of the
Golden Boy's brother-in-law, Siggie,
are well acted by Art Smith and Michael
Lewin; likewise the very minor but
amusing bit of the “ham” prize-fighter.
These parts are also well written. For
the rest, the characterizations are uneven,
and I thought the acting remarkably bad.
In one case at least the revival psy-
chology was clearly responsible. The
gangster originally was meant to be
taken seriously, or so I presume. In this
production he is played for laughs as if
he were a period piece—which in the
context of the play makes no sense
whatever.
B. HH.
HAGGIN
Records
ate recently formed Artur Schnabel
Memorial Committee announces
that one of its immediate projects is the
reissue, in cooperation with RCA Vic-
tor, of all Schnabel recordings on LP.
I take this to mean the recordings of
Mozart concertos and Schubert piano
works and the earliest recordings of
Beethoven concertos previously issued
here by Victor; but I hope it means also
the ones not issued by Victor: the re-
cent European cecnalags of, among |
other things, Beethoven's Concerto No.
4 and Mozart’s Rondo K.511, with some
of the most beautiful playing of Schna-
bel’s career; the pre-war recording of
Schubert’s posthumous Sonata in B flat;
and of course the Beethoven Sonata
Society recordings—above all the ones
of Opus 109 and Opus 111, which have
not, like the others in the series, been
available on HMV records, though his
performances of these two works were
among his outstanding achievements,
and the performance of Opus 111 per-
haps the most remarkable and mem-
orable of all.
It was the more remarkable for
being flawed in the way Schnabel’s per-
formances often were—by unprecise,
PROBLEMS OF ECONOMICS
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If you are one of the 8%, your Intellectual
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If you are one of the 97% you will be ter-
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confused execution of difficult passage-
work, by excessive and distorting in-
tensity. One hears nothing of that kind
in the performance of Opus 111 by
Solomon just issued on an RCA Victor
LP—nothing but unfailing and amaz-
ing perfection in the execution of pas-
sage-work, the shaping of phrase. But
one also hears in Solomon’s perform-
ance nothing of the tension from one
note to the next that was the distinctive
feature of Schnabel’s playing and the
secret of its power—the tension, at once
cohesive and expansive, which produced
the propulsive continuity, the cumula-
tive force of the wonderful progression
in the second movement from the
hushed mystery of Variation 4 to the
superearthly illumination of the end.
And so the progression has no such
continuity and force in Solomon's per-
fect performance.
One of the year’s worst LP couplings
gives us this Opus 111 not with another
of Beethoven’s last sonatas, but with the
“Pathétique.” And of the two works,
both transferred to LP from recent
HMV 78’s, it is the ‘‘Pathétique’’ that is
30% Less than List on LP Records—
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AUTHENTIC
(“Urtext’’) editions
in handy pocket scores
. 2 Piano Sonatas, 25 Preludes,
CHOPIN Ss and Fantasy ris
5 Violin Sonatas, 2 vols.
BEETHOVEN'S ‘icin Soman 2 ya"
08¢ each — FREE Catalog
At dealers, or direct from
DEPT. W, mex -
New York 32,
bea P ocker SCORES
GERTRUDE LAWRENCE
{a A New Musical Play
The Bing and I
with YUL BRY
DOROTHY SARNOFF. DORETTA MORROW
ST. JAMES THEATRE, West 44th St.
Evenings at 8:25: $7.20 to 1 80. Matinees
Wednosday & Saturday at 2:25: $4.20 to 1.80.
Pulitzer Prize & Critics’ Award Musical Play
MARTHA WRIGHT
GEORGE BRITTON
~ South Pacific
with MYRON McCORMICK
MAJESTIC ae, West 44th St.
80. Wed. Mat. at
ay oe
hee
‘excellently pe ed, anc
as [= <a, ey S
re pa
a ee
Pin
that comes off the record with
shallow sound and terrific surface and
background noise,
Another bad Victor LP coupling
gives us Mozart's Sonata K.576 and
Scriabin’s Sonata No. 4 for piano. The
Mozart is a fine work, with some of his
most developed and complex writing
for the instrument; William Schatz-
kammer’s performance of it is fluent
and in good taste, though also without
the tension that I spoke of a moment
ago, and that I have heard impart more
exciting life to Mozart’s music.
Bach's great Passacaglia for organ is,
for the first time, not only effectively
played by Helmut Walcha but clearly
reproduced by a Decca record which
also offers his performance of the un-
interesting Pastorale in F.
Five of Mahler's Jast songs, to poems
of Riickert, contrast strikingly, in their
somber mood and matured idiom, with
the four songs from the early “Lieder
aus der Jugendzeit” and the “Es sungen
drei Engel’ originally written as a
movement of the Third Symphony. The
early ones are sung engagingly; on the
Vanguard record, by Anny Felbermayer,
soprano, the late ones with vocal mag-
nificence and expressive power by Al-
fred Poell, baritone; and there is fine
playing by the Vienna State Opera
Orchestra under Prohaska, which Van-
guard again reproduces with a beauty of
sound that I haven’t heard from other
recordings of this orchestra.
The folksong-like substance of Jana-
cek’s Sinfonietta is quite engaging in
the third and fourth movements, and
the fifth builds up an impressive con-
clusion with its unusual number of brass
instruments. The performance by the
Symphony Orchestra of Radio Leipzig
under Vaclav Neumann is reproduced
with harsh distortion in the climaxes.
On the same Urania record the charm-
ing Rossini-Respighi “Rossiniana’ is
played with insufficient animation and
grace by the Berlin State Opera Orches-
tra under Hans Steinkopf; and the re-
corded sound of loud passages is gritty
and harsh.
Period has issued a Russian recording
of Prokofiev’s Violin Concerto No. 1
which makes the tone of the great vio-
linist Oistrakh gritty and ear-lacerating,
is 111 Ly Yeasts nd as i “appre
the record the. on
. Spire each other with lingo from the
enveloped in a hash of distortion. Mea”
of the record is taken up by Miaskov-
sky’s Violin Concerto.
Not very interesting to my ears were
Mozart's Piano Concerto K.451, well
played by Jeannette Haien with the Na-
tional Gallery Orchestra under Bales |
(WCFM); Haydn’s Symphony No. 22.
and Concerto in F for violin and harpsi- ~
chord, both stolidily performed by the.
London Baroque Ensemble under Karl
Haas with Jean Pougnet, violinist, and
Lionel Salter, harpsichordist (Decca).
And things to skip are the seventeen-
year-old Strauss’s Violin Concerto and
eighty-year-old Strauss’s Oboe Concerto, ;
excellently played by Siegfried Borries, :
violinist, and Erich Ertel, oboist, and '
the Symphony Orchestra of Radio Ber- +
lin under Artur Rother (Urania); also .
the Vladimir Rosing performances of |
Musorgsky songs reissued on LP by-
Decca,
MANNY
FARBER
Films
Y SON JOHN,” the story of a
traitor out of Anytown, U. S. A.,
goes across the screen dodging its point
with all the deftness of a suspense yarn.
The point was to show you the heart of
a home-grown Communist as well as
his day-to-day scurryings in the red net-
work, but all you get is generalized
bombast in his folks’ idealized demo-
cratic household and familiar tear-jerk-
ing situations. Plotwise, a bright shy
boy goes into government work and, |
reversing “Mr. Smith Goes to Wash- _
ington,” becomes a top Soviet spy. Back
home for a rare visit, he mentions a
speech he is to make to the graduating
class of his old Alma Mater, and the
content of that speech gets him into a
dozen angry arguments on communism
with his folks, who are charter members .
of the church and the Legion, and in-
gridiron (‘Take the ball, John!”’). An
amiable PBI agent keeps poking around ~
the neighborhood, and pretty soon the
mother discovers the truth about her |
favorite son, leading to tear-duct scenes
P30; 300% to tn 20. rae iat $4.20 to 1.20. » \ M
as she teeters on the edge of insanity
MONDAY EVES. ONLY: CURTAIN AT 7 SHARP
the sound of the orchestra distant and
286 The NATION ©
— ,
pene ee
e silent stretch, shadows any
ee seats it back and forth
das Iscariot’s to Abe Lincoln’s).
The rest is mechanical fireworks: the
ight from his co-spies, his bullet-rid-
sh car spinning up the steps of the
ic oln Memorial, and the tape-record-
d recantation of the dead ex-Commu-
Lis st played back to the empty faces of
2 sweet, innocent graduates.
With Helen Hayes, the late Robert
ker, and director Leo McCarey—the
atter a social philosopher who makes
latitudes boom like the truth—heavily
involved in ““My Son John,’ no one is
going to fall asleep for want of ef-
ervescent dramatics. McCarey tries to
stop United States youth from falling
‘or the party line with the same formula
= used in the past to get the kids off
e street and into church—that is, tears,
faith, and solid red-blooded American-
ism. It is done with such earnestness as
(0 be slow-moving, but the actors are
masters of intricate timing and intona-
tion and have the easy spontaneity and
control to put across a story that is most-
) ly talk in parlor, bedroom, and bath,
|" Walker, with his unhealthy face and
j blunt sincerity, plays the traitor in a
| way that makes you marvel at how much
this craggy, solemn-toned actor learned
about his business and the people out-
‘side it in the last few years of his life.
He was, I think, the first great actor to
n up in decades of films, one who
reminds me only of silent geniuses like
(Conrad Veidt, Keaton, or an awkward,
* sour, dissipated version of Barthelmess.
‘Helen Hayes plays the manic mother
with all the eccentric wallop of Eleanora
Duse doing a Krafft-Ebing rewrite of
“Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch.”
With Frank McHugh making you feel
happy that he is back in films and
| McCarey working powerfully in the
mew style of close-ups, disembodied
| faces, and immobilized groupings, the
> movie is worth seeing, if only to dig
| Hollywood's latest political orientation.
- Two Works of Art that reek with
social therapy and old-fashioned tech-
| nique—everything from grainy photog-
| faphy to sentimental curlicues—are in
_ the neighborhood, occupying the bottom
half of double bills. The quaint adoles-
nt study called ‘‘The Big Night” is so
March 22, 1952
iit
Voks buae je that it might make
mote sense if the reels were run
backward. However, “On Dangerous
Ground’’ almost achieves a success in
spite of itself. In the first place, it has to
worry over the old chestnut about re-
form of the incorrigible by sweetness
and trust—personified this time by a
blind, tottering Ida Lupino who in-
spires cop Robert Ryan to mend his
brutal ways. In the second place, it is
tied to the idea that anything that
moves makes x good motion-picture.
The movie is a treadmill of stumbling,
fumbling, smooching, hurtling move-
ment, and by the time it reaches the
run-down of an adolescent murderer
over half the snow-covered hills of
northern California, the customer is as
fed up with motion as the panting
actors. But the story is told with a
camera and a rather unorthodox one,
though it is often late to the scene and
mot sure of what is about to happen.
Some of the support—Ward Bond and
Anthony Ross—is good, but the chief
virtue of the film is the fascinating
jumble of action that results when two
awkward, determined characters (Bond
and Ryan) try to outclaw each other at
the job of detecting.
CONTRIBUTORS
H. STUART HUGHES, assistant pro-
fessor of history at Harvard University,
is the author of “An Essay for Ouc
Times” and ‘‘Oswald Spengler: A Criti-
cal Estimate.”
MARK VAN DOREN is well known as
both poet and critic,
HOWARD DOUGHTY, JR., is at
work on a biography of Francis Park-
man.
FELIX GRENDON, novelist and critic,
is the author of “No Other Caesar.”
HENRY DAVID AIKEN is a member
of the Department of Philosophy of
Harvard University.
S. LANE FAISON, JR., is chairman of
the Act Department of Williams Col-
lege.
ROLFE HUMPHRIES has recently pub-
lished a verse translation of Virgil’s
“Aeneid.”
= ee
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CIDA can fn ci ir
Megs
Letters to tbe Edi
Malthus’s Assumptions
Dear Sirs: Many of your readers will
welcome, as I do, Professor de Castro’s
article The Malthusian Scarecrow, which
appeared in your February 16 issue.
Professor de Castro rightly points out
that the Malthusian theory “‘survives the
facts which contradict it because it can
be used to rationalize various interests
and situations.’’ Out of his own special
knowledge Professor de Castro has
made a valuable contribution toward
refuting Malthusian dogma with facts.
This he has done well in discussing the
relation between food supply and popu-
lation and possible new sources of food
I regret, however, that Professor de
Castro found it necessary to use addi-
tional arguments which seem to be less
well supported by facts. While it is true
that economically backward populations
tend to have a high birth rate, this does
not mean that malnutrition is the cause
of high fertility. I do not myself know
the literature on starvation and estrogen
content, but I would question that a di-
rect correlation has been established
between estrogen levels and fertility.
Crippled Children
need YOUR help
Crippled children want fo wolk, talk
and play like other children. They can
if you help by giving to Easter Seals.
Give generously—your dollars mean
new lives for America’s crippled
children.
19th ANNUAL
| EASTER SEAL APPEAL
March 13 to April 13
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CONTRIBUTED BY THE NATION
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288
; ; o :
ee 2
i
c
Nor, despite Professor de Castro’s claim,
do his figures on the Japanese popula-
tion increase from 1945 to 1949 prove
his point that a Jow nutritional level
causes overpopulation. The population
of the United States grew about as fast
as—or a little faster than—Japan’s dur-
ing the same period.
The explanation for poverty does
not lie in the realm of social phenomena,
just as the explanation for poverty
does not lie in “overpopulation,” but
in the character of social institu-
tions. Professor de Castro himself
recognizéd this when he pointed out
that “political and economic conditions
placed a premium on large families” in
the early United States... .
The important point to remember
about Malthus is that his avowed aim
was to combat the egalitarian move-
ments of his day. . . . His theory “‘ap-
peared at a time,” says the “Encyclo-
pedia of the Social Sciences,” “when the
upper classes, terrified by the French
Revolution, found in it a much-needed
justification for the existing order
against the radical proposals of Godwin
and Condorcet.” . Malthus believed
that the poor of his day would learn
from his “population principle”
. . that the principal and most per-
manent cause of poverty has little or no
direct relation to forms of government
or the unequal division of property.”
Neo-Malthusians have been disap-
pointed when the poor refused to agree.
. . The day may not be too distant,
when the people of “China and else-
where,” having overcome the social
causes of their poverty, will have
also starved out the neo-Malthusian
form of genocide.
HARRY GRUNDFEST
Associate Professor of Neurology -
New York at Columbia University
Fewer Gadgets, More Safety?
Dear Sirs: Leonard Engel’s article Plane
Facts, which appeared in your March 8
issue, oversimplifies the problem of
improving airline safety. The article .
tends to give the impression that tech-
nical improvements in the airplanes
themselves are all that is needed to make
commercial aviation safe for those be-
low as well as those aloft. While many
recent accidents appear to have been
due to technical failures, the over-all
us
Sali we we
2 | dn
@. OE See he
- wml FT me
tors
accident statistics indicate that bad —
weather is at least an equally inp g
cause.
The airplane Mr. Engel suggests—
namely, one with a large wing surface in —
proportion to its weight, low speed, '
and few “gadgets’—is exactly the air- ,
liner of the early years of commercial ;
aviation, when the accident rate was far
greater than it is today. The DC-3 has —
these characteristics to a considerable
degree, but the figures do not show that
commercial flying was any safer when it
was used almost exclusively by the air- i
lines of this country.
. :
Since each of the errs ~ of in-
struments used in a modern plane is a_
safety feature, eliminating any of them,
as Mr. Engel suggests, would be foolish
until somethin ter is developed.
Mr. Engel’s
“Ercoupe” as a prototype for large com-
mercial airliners shows a lamentable lack
of understanding of the relative re-
quirements of commercial and private
flying. The unique safety feature of the
Ercoupe is the elimination of the in-
advertent stall—a frequent cause of ac-
cidents in amateur flying but never en-
countered in airline operation. As for
the Ercoupe being “the plane of the
future,” there is plenty of opinion to the
contrary among pilots who have flown
it, including myself.
That improvement in airline safety is
desirable no one will deny. But it will
not be obtained by returning to lower
speeds and fewer instruments. Con-
tinued study and improvement of all
phases of airline operation is the only
practical answer.
C. FAYETTE TAYLOR
Cambridge, Mass.
[The author of the preceding letter is
an eminent aeronautical engineer, coau-
thor of "The Airplane and Its Engine,”
and “The Internal Combustion Engine.”
He is one of the editors of “Interna-
tional Tests in Mechanical Engineering”
and a professor at the Massachusetts In- -
stitute of Technology.}
Free Back Issues
Dear Sirs: 1 have three or four years of
back issues of The Nation. Anyone may
have them who sends me sufficient post-
age to cover mailing.
RAYMOND ZAMBECK
Tewksbury, Mass.
The NATION
iPgestion of thew
a
»
ACROSS
1 See 22.
5 Beat up, least of all this. (7)
9 ia and annex, by the sound of it.
0
10 Standard measure .
Standen. al with pens, un
11 A coward kills hig lpve with one, ac-
cording to Wilde. (47°
12 pas alms and an amphibian reputed-
4 Bon fireproof? (10)
*t Stand outside! (What a singu-
iece of apparel!) (4, 2)
| Condes weight by study, perhaps.
17 The opposite of a fool’s paradise?
oe might find the compact in it.)
8)
"19 One should have an attitude of
rayer in matins. (6)
22,23, 6 down, 1 across. Slight reason
for madness on her part, no doubt!
(4,452, 4, 4, 1,5, 7)
"23 See 22.
26 ea way of getting lemurs out of
2T Want ice? We can’t be around to see
» .4t cut up. (5)
28 Knives, for example, used in fight-
c. ing smugglers? (7)
sk for rent, in a wa
with it. (7) ee
DOWN
1 Uncover the ears, perhaps. 5
Z The position of the Bie? a)
Done and undone, like a knot. (4)
Readers are invited to send for a free copy of Mir. Lewis's
Crossword Puzzle No. 457
BY FRANK W. LEWIS
4 Twisted braids? (You’d be no good
oe case, if they do it to you.)
Make Pat sober? T i
ae. sobe ests will! (8)
an pit elevator might have to leave.
)
Where do you find their names?
x back, or note at the bottom.
13 Not heavy construction, but there’s
home work in keeping with it. (10)
i ee a real tin scythe! (9)
‘hey might carry a strild f
(Adobes “have them.) (8) ei
18 Is the one with the most feet a trial
about everything? (7)
20 ae pant ene perhaps, but sounds
ike he sai e wouldn’t
21 See 25 down. eve
24 Spanish-German and eight, in the
main? (5)
25 and 21. Equivalent to stop, look
and listen when no audition {3 re.
quired? (4, 8, 8)
BR
SOLUTION TO PUZZLE No. 456
ACROSS :—1 PERIWINKLE; JG:
ENTITLE; 11 SOUNDLY; 12 fein tot
CLOSURH; 15 AVENUR; 16 LEGACY; 18
CROWBARS; 2 PRESUPPOSITION: 24
“; 25 WVIDENT; 26 RW
GRASS-GREEN. RUST; 27
DOWN 1 PREFORABLE;
TOR MOCCASINS: 4° NEEDFUL
LASTLY; 7 MIDIRON; 8 and 14 tS
DOLLS; 9 CURSIVE WRITING; 13 ana 17
KENSINGTON GARDENS; 19 ROOTHRS;
® ABILENH; 21 APPWAR; 23 AFAR.
eo AAO
2 RETIRED; 3
“ground rules.” Address
requests to Puzzle Dept., The Nation, 20 Vesey Street, New York 7, New York
MARCH 22, 1752
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“Creeping socialism” in California! Pollow
its vigorous growth, read about its fight
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activities.
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PECIAL INTERESTS with selfish motives are fight-
ing today for control of the minds of youth. In a
democracy, this is everybody’s concern; and everybody
should know the facts. They are presented in a pamph-
let, THE BATTLE FOR FREE SCHOOLS, made
up of eight articles by able and fearless educators,
These articles describe the serious crisis faced by our
schools, show that the attacks on democratic public edu-
cation are increasing to an alarming extent, and discuss
other problems vital to teachers, ‘parents, and school
boards. Edited by Dr. Theodore Brameld, professor of
educational philosophy at New York University, they
appeared recently in The Nation. They include:
I. FEVER SPOTS IN AMERICAN EDUCATION
By Morris Mitchell, director of the Putney (Ver-
mont) Graduate School of Teacher Education.
TEACHERS AND THE “THING”
By Goodwin Watson, professor of education at
Teachers College, Columbia University, author
of “Action for Unity,” and other books.
BIG BUSINESS AND THE SCHOOL SYSTEM
By J. Austin Burkhart, teacher of political sci-
ence at Stephens College, Columbia, Missouri,
THE FOOT IN THE DOOR—ORGANIZED
RELIGION IN AMERICAN SCHOOLS
By Jerome Nathanson, leader at the Ethical Cul-
ture Society, chairman of Federal Aid to Educa-
tion, and author of “John Dewey: The Recon-
struction of Democratic Life.”
MINORITIES IN EDUCATION
By Horace Mann Bond, president of Lincoln Uni-
versity, and Morton Puner, former editor of
Reader’s Scope, free-lance writer now with the
Anti-Defamation League.
MONEY, CHILDREN, AND EDUCATION
By Frederick C. McLaughlin, author of the re-
cently published book “Fiscal and Administra-
tive Control of City School Systems.”
DIRECTIONS FOR EDUCATIONAL
PROGRESS
By Kenneth D. Benne, professor of education at
the University of Illinois, president of the Amer-
ican Education Fellowship, author of “A Concept
of Authority” and other books.
A WORKING AGENDA FOR SCHOOLS
OF THE PEOPLE
By Theodore Brameld, editor of this series, au-
thor of “Patterns of Educational Philosophy”
and other books.
Il.
Ii.
VI.
VII.
Vill.
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‘South Africa’ s Crises—an Editorial
“BUT RLING Can
Po os shan)
Ss Eame,
=
-
~< ‘
.
ae “> -
‘
i
is ¥
| <
. %
¥
4
Nee ere ee ee eS
; March 29, 1952 ;
_ Pat McCarran’s )
| tron Curtain
_ Exposing the New Immigration Bill
BY ALEX. BROOKS
ra
British Television
BY ANDREW. ROTH
Will the South Bolt?
BY ROBERT E. WILLIAMS
. I TS A COPY + EVERY WEEK SINCE 1865 - 7 DOLLARS A YEAR
AROUND THE U. S.
America Plus, Inc.
San Francisco
NEW outfit called America Plus,
Inc., is sponsoring a “Freedom of
Choice” initiative measure to amend
California’s constitution. Solicitors are
collecting dimes to defray the cost of
getting 305,000 signatures before June
6 to qualify the measure for the Novem-
ber, 1952, ballot. Sponsors of the
amendment firmly believe that they have
found a gimmick by which it may be
possible to annul the gains achieved in
the past decade through civil-rights and
fair-practices legislation.
The amendment implies that any civil-
rights legislation prohibiting discrimina-
tion is “unreasonable.” It purports to
give owners of private property “free-
dom” to choose their neighbors, and
business men freedom to choose their
employees and customers. In a word,
it would legalize almost any type of
discrimination against just about any
class of persons.
From the background of the sponsors,
one can safely infer that should this
measure be adopted only right-wing,
isolationist Americans of indisputable
Anglo-American antecedents would be
immune to discrimination. The honorary
national chairman of America Plus is
State Senator Jack B. Tenney of Los
Angeles County. Tenney, who also
heads Americans for MacArthur, te-
‘cently had to defend America Plus
against the charge of anti-Semitism. His
defense was simply that it is “pro-
American.” Tenney’s conception of
Americanism is indicated by his admira-
tion for McCarthyism, which, according
to him, “is beginning to mean courage
and patriotism against overwhelming
odds.”
Once a leading left-wing Democrat,
Tenney is now a staunch Republican.
He served as chairman of the legisla-
ture’s committee on un-American ac-
tivities until lobbyist Artie Samish—a
credit to Artie for this one—managed to
have him removed from the committee.
To Tenney’s work on the committee,
however, Californians are indebted for
the list of ‘‘subversive” organizations
which recently figured in the Lieutenant
Governor's denunciation of the state
Superintendent of Education, also a
registered Republican, as a dupe of
socialism. Arguing that a series of text-
books chosen by a state-wide commis-
sion for use in the public schools showed
a leftist coloration, Tenney successfully
opposed their adoption. The books were
later used by the United States navy.
To date Tenney has not chosen to attack
the navy, but he denounced the United
Nations as an “international mon-
strosity.” He is now a candidate for
Congress in the Twenty-second Con-
gressional District of California.
Whether persons belonging to labor
unions might escape discrimination un-
der the amendment is still uncertain, as
the final draft has not been prepared.
Meanwhile, a brochure put out by
America Plus declares that it gives busi-
ness men the right to refuse employ-
ment to any person but that this right
can be restricted by contract. It is pos-
sible that the final draft of the act will
so expand the employer's “freedom of
choice’ as to invalidate union-shop
clauses in collective-bargaining agree-
ments,
Everyone with a bona fide signature
and a dime is being encouraged to sign
the petitions. The America Plus bro-
chute appears to argue that a Negro,
for instance, or a Jew, might find it to
his interest to sign if he happens to
operate a hotel, bar, skating rink, or
other private business, since he would
be able, under the amendment, to re-
fuse service to any class of persons he
desired, say, to whites or Gentiles. As a
property-owner, he could even contract
with his neighbors to keep old-line
Anglo-Saxon, white Protestants in an-
other part of town.
On the eve of the Republican and
Democratic mominating conventions
America Plus plans to hold a “Con-
tinental Congress” and then to ask both
conventions to concur in resolutions
adopted there. In this manner it hopes
to launch a national movement to quash
all anti-discrimination Jaws—local, state,
and federal. At the least, it believes,
the America Plus resolutions might les-
sen Governor Warren's chance of win- —
ning the Republican nomination, Ten-—
ney, it should be noted, has sided with
a curious Republican splinter group |
that is trying its best to break Warren,
even at the risk of splitting the Re-
publican Party in California, He was
one of the speakers at a “hate Warren”
dinner of California Republicans held
in Los Angeles last November.
The America Plus movement, with its”
pro-MacArthur, hate-Warren overtones,’
is supported by the Wage-Earners’ Com- f
mittee of Los Aageles. There seems also |
to be some “oil money” behind it, In-
deed, the movement may tura out to be
a simple front for a “stop Warren”
delegation. Governor Warren has some |
powerful Republican enemies these days”
in California, including John Francis
Neylan and L, M. Giannini (Bank of
America), both of whom are “bitter
about his opposition to the regents’ loy- |
alty oath at the University of California,
At the same time, of course, America |
Plus hopes to gain some support from
the Dixiecrats at the Democratic con-
vention, thereby sharpening the dilemma”
which the Democrats face on civil-
tights matters, © — ;
Meanwhil = ra a
universities- me
Santa Cla: a
amendment
ulty-sponsor
seven other
the state are
The ultir
Plus include ~
Bill of Rig
United State
California is —
its ideas. If
ceeds here, —
into other si
its organizer / : ae |)
Oklahoma and Teas and 1 Arabia soon
to open headquarters in Tulsa. )
America Plus is the same old pois on fi!
in a bright new package. Spare a dim
for a cup of hemlock, buddy?
Cc. W. PARKER
[C. W. Parker is an instructor i
English at Napa College, Nae Cal
fornia.}
\ OLUME 174
The Shape of Things
tUSSIA’S LATEST PROPOSAL ON GERMANY
ppears more serious with every day that passes. Fear is
eeping through the Atlantic community that this time
foscow is not bluffing but calling our bluff, forcing us
ither to stand by our commitment to a united, demo-
fatically established Germany or openly to renounce it.
The caution displayed by the Western nations in prepar-
ing an answer to the Soviet note reveals their awareness
of the dilemma in which they seem to be caught. No
patter what they say—their reply has not been finally
approved as this issue goes to press—they can hardly do
more than temporize. They may insist that before they
consider Russia’s terms, the United Nations Commission
now attempting to find out whether the conditions for
free elections exist must be allowed to pursue its inquiry
in East Germany. They may try to argue that the day of
‘national armies is passed and that German forces can
“safely” be allowed only as part of the army of the West-
‘etn alliance. But these devices make sense only if the
‘Moscow proposal is not genuine. If Moscow is really pre-
| pared to pay the price it has offered to keep West Ger-
many out of the Atlantic alliance, the West will have to
‘faise the Russian bid or watch Adenauer go down to
‘defeat along with his pro-Allied policy.
, *
JUST AS THE WESTERN NATIONS AGREED,
ev der American pressure, to arm the Germans in order
to contain Russian strength, so Moscow is prepared to
arm them in order to contain the Atlantic alliance. The
lsisks must have been carefully calculated in advance, If
M oscow’s plan prevails, Germany will soon be the
s rongest European power this side of the Soviet frontier,
land the fate of the Continent will depend on which way
that power leans. The Kremlin may believe it can make
a deal with a restored German state, a new Rapallo; but
it may be satisfied for the present merely to deprive the
Atlantic community of the core of its armed strength,
Hind, relying on the complementary nature of Russian and
serman interests, to draw the two powers together in the
ature. Whatever the Kremlin’s calculations, its offer to
hegotiate a general peace treaty with a unified sovereign
JP sermany, assured in advance of a national defense force
id a revived arms industry, with no restrictions placed
)
NEW YORK ° SATURDAY * MARCH 29, 1952
AMERICA’S LEADING LIBERAL WEEKLY SINCE 1865
NUMBER 13
onthe use of Nazi officers and servicemen, has sent a
chill through Europe, Even the satellite states show signs
of fright, as indeed they should, For a rearmed German
nation is a nightmare which cannot be exorcised by any
formula of ‘‘neutralization.’’ Russia’s move is as danger-
ous as it is bold and shrewd, with possible consequences
too far-reaching even to be guessed at today.
+
“UNLESS VIGOROUS PROTEST IS MADE .., «
Congress is likely soon to pass a bill on immigration,
maturalization, and nationality which has in it elements
that are both obnoxious and dangerous.” That is what
The Nation said editorially last July 21 of the McCarran
omnibus immigration measure. Since that time the bill
and its House equivalent, the Walter bill, have been sub-
jected to certain changes. But on the basis of the analysis
of the two bills in their present form which appears on
page 299 of this issue, we see no reason to alter our
original opinion. The bills are still racist in concept, de-
structive of civil rights, and in general cut closer to the
measure of a police state than to American democracy.
The Walter bill may come up for debate on the floor of
the House some time next week. Like its Senate equiva-
lent, it is an extremely long and complicated measure
whose terms are little known to any but a handful of
House members, Certain alternative proposals—the
Humphrey-Lehman bill in the Senate and the Roosevelt
bill in the House—have never had hearings. The Nation
urges its readers to wire their Representatives at once
asking them to vote for recommittal of the Walter bill,
thus assuring its reconsideration in the light of an in-
formed public opinion and of the alternatives put for-_
ward \by Roosevelt in the House and Humphrey and
Lehman in the Senate, *
THE AIR FORCE HAS ANNOUNCED THAT IT
will not renew the six-month contract given to Dr.
Walter P, Schreiber, commander of the Military Medi-
cal Academy under Hitler, who has been on the staff
of the Aviation School of Medicine at San Antonio,
Texas. On the basis of his Nazi record and involvement
in war crimes, the Boston chapter of the Physician's
Forum had protested his presence here. News reports
indicate that Dr. Schreiber is now insisting on a public
hearing before, presumably, he is sent back to Germany.
We think Dr. Schreiber should be granted his tes
~
wea the ae Paes se Le Ss
oh oe EX
FobGasd
ei REA GER
i
E
id
re
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= 2 Pa
* IN THIS ISSUE
EDITORIALS
The Shape of Things
Spotlight on Wisconsia
South Africa's Crises
ARTICLES
Fair Offer on Steel by Willard Shelton
Will the South Bolt? by Robert E, Williams
North Dakota Showdown by Carey McWilliams
British TV: Low-Budget Highbrow
by Andrew Roth
McCarran’s Iron Curtain by Alex. Brooks
The Ballot Comes to Bhuti by Jean Lyon
BOOKS AND THE ARTS
The Fallacies of Spengler by Hans Kohn
Truman's Self-Portrait by Willard Shelton
Dos Passos: The Second Trilogy by Leo Gurko
Deathless Salesman by S. Lane Faison, Jr.
Drama by Margaret Marshall
Music by B, H. Haggin
Record Notes by Robert E. Garis
CROSSWORD PUZZLE No. 458
by Frank W. Lewts opposite 308
EDITORIAL BOARD
Editor and Publisher: Freda Kirchwey
Editorial Director Director, Nation Associates
Carey McWilliams Lillie Shultz
Managing Editor: Victor H. Bernstein
Foreign Editor Literary Editor
J. Alvarez del Vayo Margaret Marshail
Financial Editor : Keith Hutchison
Drama: Joseph Wood Krutch Music: B. H. Hagela
Assistant Editor: Charles R. Allen, Je.
Copy Editor: Gladys Whiteside
Assistant Literary Editor: Caroline Whiting
Staff Contributors
Andrew Roth, Alexander Werth, Howard K, Smith, Carolus
Business Manager: Hugo Van Arx
Advertising Manager: Mary Simon
The Nation, published grade and copyright, 1952, in the U. S. A.
by The Nation Associates, Inc., 20 Vesey Street, New York 7, N. ¥.
Entered as second-class ace December 13, 1879, at the Post Offica
of New York, N. Y., under the act of March $, 1879, Advertising
and Circulation Representative for Continental “Europe: Publicitas,
Subscription Prices: Domestic—One year $7; Two years $12; Three
years $17. Additional postage per year: Foreign and Canadian $1.
Change of Address: Three weeks’ notice is required for change of
as which cannot be made without the old address as weil as
e new.
Information to Libraries: The Nation is indexed in Readers’ Guide
to Periodical Literature, Book Review Digest, Index to Labor
Articles, Public Affairs Information Service, Dramatic Index,
his collaboration, degenerated to the ica bs itcherin :
of thousands of concentration-camp inmates in the
mame of “experimental research.” It would be even
more instructive to learn from him the identity of the ©
person or persons responsible for inviting him here in
the first place. A second public hearing would then |
be in order. * ¥
AS WAS ANTICIPATED BY THE NATION IN ITS
issue of March 15 the Feinberg law has now been in-
voked by its intended victims. Arguing that under the
law only the state Board of Regents, and not the Superin-—
tendent of Schools in New York City, can prosecute their
clients, attorneys for eight teachers facing departmental -
trials won a stay last week from Lewis A, Wilson, Com
missioner of Education, In the end the courts will have
to decide the issue. But in the meantime—to quote Rose
Russell of the Teachers’ Union—"‘it is truly ironic that
the teachers should have to look to the Feinberg law for
protection.” True enough. Up to the very moment that
the Supreme Court upheld its constitutionality, the teach-
ers—were arguing—and continue to argue today—that it |
is a vicious law which violates the Bill of Rights and
whose only practical effect can be to put teachers into
mental strait-jackets and to turn children into FBI spies.
Nevertheless, the Feinberg law does preserve some modi-
cum of protection for persons and organizations charged
under its provisions. No organization can be listed as
subversive, for instance, except after proper hearing; in-
dividuals are entitled to an open hearing and have the
right of review in the courts. The safeguards are absent
from the procedures being followed by Superintendent §
Jansen of New York City’s school system, which have §
already resulted in suspension of teachers without fair §
hearings. The Feinberg law, bad as it is, is the teacher's
only recourse at the present time,
>
{
SENATOR McCARTHY’S FOOTWORK MUST BEF
the envy of the entire lightweight division. When the},
ptess attacks him, he appeals to the advertisers, When al)
Senate subcommittee attacks him, he appeals to the press, }
When a fellow-Senator attacks him, he appeals to teles|
vision. The only thing he never does is stand and
fight his attacker. He has, at the moment, two admirable
opportunities to do so. Seven months ago Senator Ben-,
ton submitted 30,000 words of documented charges |
i
i
NY
l)
against McCarthy before the Senate subcommittee omj;
privileges and elections, Last week Benton, in a stie-
ring floor speech ably supported by Senator Lehman,
declared: “I herewith offer unequivocally to waive 2
immunity which I may enjoy under the Constitution o}
under the Senate rules if any question of my petsona
The Natio: N
i fl i
od munity ae Bakes a
to tz ke him to court, This is one fight the Senator
from Wisconsin can take on. The other is the challenge
ssued by the Senate Committee on Rules and Adminis-
tea ion, which has asked the Wisconsin Senator to repeat
to the Senate as a formal motion of censure what he
had already told the press—that is, that the subcommit-
= on privileges and elections is biased and prejudiced.
] McCarthy will take up neither challenge. This is as ‘cer-
tain as the fact that the Senator from Wisconsin will
un for reelection in November.
Spotlight on Wisconsin
HE strong showing made by General Eisenhower
in the New Hampshire and Minnesota primaries
hhas clarified the fight for the Republican nomination by
greatly reducing the margins of error. There was nothing
surprising about the returns—the polls indicated which
‘way the wind was blowing—but the political effect of
feasonable anticipation is very different from that of
proved fact. Eisenhower's remarkable popularity is no
Jonger a matter of conjecture; it has been confirmed in
the only way that carries real conviction to politicians—
» by votes cast. Even the General’s backers were so reluc-
_ tant to take his popularity for granted that they per-
' mitted Harold Stassen to bluff them out of Minnesota's
_ delegates on the basis of three or four meetings at which
Stassen drew fairly large crowds. But now a chain-
| reaction has been set in motion: Taft has withdrawn from
_ the New Jersey primary—a damaging admission of weak-
| Eisenhower bandwagon.
The spotlight, of course, now shifts to Wisconsin.
_ April 1 primary, he might just as well concede the nomi-
} nation to Eisenhower. Although it has been clear from
Eisenhower in Wisconsin, the pro-Eisenhower elements
- organized the Warren delegation are abandoning
\
: Ca is difficult, of course, for one man to campaign as the
| prevail in Wisconsin there is reason to believe that it can
| sufficient time to establish the fact, by meetings, radio,
.and the press, that a vote for Earl is a vote for Ike. Be-
i e is discreet, cautious, reasonably affable, and he likes
tm to affect a self-effacing manner. He will not kick over any
! some votes in his own right, for he has made a good
impression in Wisconsin, where his matter-of-fact style
_ mess—and a long line has suddenly formed for the
Should Taft fail to win by an impressive margin in the
ee outset that Governor Earl Warren is a stand-in for
he pretense that Warren is a candidate in his own right.
| proxy for another, but in the special circumstances which
be done successfully. The pro-Eisenhower forces have
. sides, Governor Warren is an ideal stand-in candidate.
itraces or commit any indiscretions, He will also draw
[March 29, 1952
r
‘oo
es ¥
Nae or ae
» as
- x
eer y
se
of campaigning underscores the old-fashioned shrillness —
and absurdity of Taft’s table-thumping tactics, Warren
is not the usual “stalking horse” candidate in any case,
for what he lacks in glamour he more than offsets by his
possession of real political riches. Wisconsin is quite a
distance from Sacramento, but Wisconsin voters are not
likely to overlook the fact that Warren has one of the
largest state delegations in his vest pocket.
As the Eisenhower sun moves to the zenith, the crisis
in the Democratic Party will rapidly deepen, It is already
apparent that the President and his top party advisers —
have lost command of the situation. Mr. Truman made
the mistake of thinking that he could hold delegations
without becoming a candidate for reelection, The device
of using popular pro-Truman “favorite sons” to control
key delegations might have worked had it not been for
Senator Kefauver’s brashness in insisting that he was not
only Tennessee’s favorite son but every other state’s favo-
rite son as well. When he entered the New Hampshire
ptimary, a state which lacked a strong favorite-son can-
didate, the fat was in the fire. The President was then
forced to reverse his position and did so in a belated and
awkward manner, The write-in vote for Kefauver in
Minnesota—where he had expressly withdrawn from the
race—is an even stronger indication of the dissatisfaction
with Truman’s leadership than the heavy vote for Eisen-
hower, The President may be surrounded by sycophants
and yes-men, but he still has access to the election re-
turns, and the returns from the primaries in New Hamp-
shire and Minnesota can hardly have encouraged him to
seek reelection.
The more apparent it becomes that Truman will not
run the more difficult it will be for him to steer the
Democratic convention. It is always hard for an out-
going President to dominate his party on the eve of a
convention; it becomes doubly so when, as now appears
to be the case, the President permits the situation to get
out of hand, At the same time, as the Eisenhower boom
grows, the likelihood diminishes that Governor Adlai
Stevenson will want to try for the nomination. Both on
the West Coast and in New England, moreover, it is
already somewhat late to launch a’strong campaign for
Governor Stevenson. In fact, the greater Eisenhowet’s
chances for the Republican nomination, the more fluid
the Democratic situation becomes, especially since few
clear-cut tests seem to be shaping up in the remaining
primaries. Thus the curtain may well rise on a Demo-
cratic convention without any strong grouping of delega-
tions having been formed to fill the vacuum—an ideal
situation for the emergence of a dark horse.
On the other hand, tensions in the Taft-McCarthy-
MacArthur wing of the Republican Party will also be in- —
creased as the Eisenhower stock goes up. Given the
degree of paranoia that exists in this quarter, it is reason-
able to anticipate an outbreak of self-destructive violence
291
in the form of wild charges, ditees ations and a recke
less use of smear tactics that will only further isolate
Taft. The difficulty that the Taft-McCarthy-MacArthur
elements face is that they have been outmaneuvered.
Eisenhower enjoys the advantage of being billed as the
candidate of the “liberal” wing of the Republican Party
when in fact he is probably also the candidate of the
solid right wing—as distinguished from the diminishing
“isolationist” right wing. The forces that Taft heads con-
stitute not so much a “wing” of the party these days
as a formation of lost battalions trying to fight their way
back, with much bombastic rhetoric, to the safety of Fort
William McKinley. Now that the Eisenhower movement
has outflanked these battalions, the time has come for a
hard drive at the center of the line. Wisconsin is the
battleground for this drive. Should Taft's line fail to
hold there, it will only remain for General Eisenhower
to take charge of the final mopping-up operations. The
time for his return would seem to be shortly after the
Wisconsin primary. New Hampshire and Minnesota
were recruiting campaigns; Wisconsin is the scene of the
first major engagement, It may prove, also, to be the last.
South Africa's Crises
N THE midst of celebrations of “three hundred years
] of progress,” South Africa finds itself plunged into a
grave constitutional crisis and, what is more serious, fac-
ing on April 6 the opening of a movement of civil
disobedience by its oppressed native population. For both
situations the Nationalist government headed by Dr.
Daniel F, Malan, which took office in 1948, is squarely
responsible. In accordance with its policy of Apartheid
(separation), it has passed a series of measures discrimi-
nating against the non-European elements of the com-
munity—Negro, colored, and Asiatic—and taking from
them their already limited political, social, and economic
rights,
One of these measures, the Separate Registration of
Voters Act, which removes colored (half-caste) voters in
the Cape province from the common electoral roll, has
been found unconstitutional by the Supreme Court be-
cause it was passed by a bare majority of both houses of
Parliament instead of by a two-thirds’ vote of a com-
bined session, as the constitution requires, Infuriated by
this ruling, Dr, Malan has declared that the government
will move to prevent the courts from passing on the
validity of legislation, a threat that if carried into effect
would be a long step toward the dictatorship which his
opponents assert is his final aim.
It is doubtful, however, if the Nationalists are yet in a
position to take so drastic a step. They have gone a con-
siderable way towatd purging the army of “unreliable”
elements and have begun to build up a party auxiliary
ean
'S. S. But their high -handed methods have
- white population, which is outnumbered by the non-white rh
Se
-¥ nee
ASN A
be oan ;
eis moeranesd Hers 3.
force, t the Sb cor
sition among Europeans as well as visitas: Last y
former R. A. F. officer, Adolph G. Malan, a distar
cousin of the Premier's, founded the Torch Commande oat
with the express object of rallying anti-Nationalist senti-
ment. Joined by thousands of veterans, this has rapidly
become a formidable organization and one that would
ptobably present a serious obstacle to a governnea i
coup,
The Torch Commando, which seems to have put ne
life into the lethargic official opposition, the South,
African Party, should also serve to check the National-
ists if Malan decides to fortify himself in a contest with
the courts by seeking a new mandate, At the last general
election the Nationalists failed to obtain a majority of the
popular vote; their narrow victory was due to ovet-repre- |
sentation of the rural areas where they have their greatest
strength, There is little reason to suppose they would do ©
better now, and they might very well lose the narrow
margin of seats by which they control Parliament. Thus
Malan appears to be at the end of his political tether un-.
less he can create a situation which will enable him to”
seize the role of indispensable savior of the white race. |
April 6 may offer him the opportunity.
Last December the African National Congress, the
largest and most representative native group in South ©
Africa, decided that the time had come for action against ~
the Apartheid program, which was condemning their
people to perpetual helotry. It called, therefore, for im- 9
mediate repeal of the discriminatory laws and, failing |
satisfaction, determined to launch on April 6a campyen
of mass civil disobedience, Malan’s only reply was a
warning that any disorders would be “dealt with.” .
While the African leaders hope to restrict their follow- J
ets to passive resistance—they cannot hope to challenge J,
the guns and tanks of the whites—they know that the J)
result of ‘their action will probably be bloody massacte. |
When it comes to native demonstrations, South African |
police are quick on the trigger, and the history of that —
unhappy land is full of tales of unarmed, orderly groups -
of natives shot down just because they had gathered to
protest against some injustice. Usually that has been the ~
end of the “incident,” but this time, if the whites begin kl
shooting, they may provoke a despairing revolt from one } hh
end of the country to the other.
That in turn would create a hysteria of fear in the. I
1
p
elements four or five to one, and give Malan a chance to
ptoclaim martial law and swoop down on his enemies
of all races, But it would also reveal to the world the §
rotten foundations of white supremacy in South Africa, 9,
Such bloody publicity, many natives have come to be- .
lieve, is essential if they are ultimately to regain theif
freedom,
BY WILLARD SHELTON
Washington
ITH long faces and the usual wailing about
; \X/ ‘poverty, the powerful steel companies last week-
end faced the crucial decision of whether or not to
_ force a strike by the United Steelworkers in order to com-
pel the government to authorize price increases covering
—or more than covering—the entire wage-increase " pack-
age” recommended by the Wage Stabilization Board.
_ Nathan P. Feinsinger, W. S. B. chairman, correctly
_ described the proposed settlement as a “darn good” one.
It was good not only because it was acceptable to the
union but also because the board had skilfully avoided
_two dangerous possibilities. It set no formal pattern for
annual “‘productivity” wage increases—based on the
"assumption that output per man hour has risen—and de-
dined to make a formal decision that would have caused
F January, 1951, to be dropped as the month from which
to calculate cost-of-living increases,
_ The wage settlement was hastily publicized as pro-
; posing a 17'-cent hourly wage increase plus “fringe”
_ benefits variously calculated as equivalent to from 5.1
cents to 9 cents an hour. Actually the recommended basic
| increase was less than 17% cents. Spread across the entire
| year and a half of the proposed contract period, from
| January 1, 1952, to June 30, 1953, the flat wage increase
averages 15 cents an hour. It begins with 12% cents,
retroactive to January, adds 2% cents on July 1, and
_adds another 2% cents on January 1, 1953.
In return for this the union accepted the W, S. B.
recommendation of a no-strike contract lasting for
| cighteen months—six months longer than is customary.
| It waived in advance any claim for increases following
| future rises in living costs and did not insist on produc-
_ tivity increases comparable to those in United Automobile
Workers’ contracts, in which 4 cents is added annually
to the basic wage scale. Both these demands are swal-
lowed up in the July and January 2%-cent increases,
| which average out to 3.75 cents an hour for the year
t beginning July 1—less than the U. A. W. members get
| in productivity increases alone. Industry members who
| filed angry dissents to the proposals of the labor and
'} public members of the W. S. B. carefully avoided deal-
f ng with the fact that the United Steelworkers might
tl) have been entitled to considerably more money had the
public members accepted a different formula.
Ithe next few months there was 4 terrific spurt in living
| . By W. S. B. figures the men were entitled to 9 cents
board reverted to the October, 1950, contract date instead
of keeping the January, 1951, base period. It got only
12% cents effective at once, and part of that may be
spread around, through collective bargaining, to meet
union demands for larger shift and grade differentials.
Industry spokesmen have for months been using every:
available forum to announce that they could not afford:
a penny more in higher costs and to warn that “another
round” of wage incteases would be followed inevitably
by price rises spreading through the entire economy and
starting another spiral of inflation. Not until last week
did industry members of the Wage Board finally agree
that they might tolerate a total wage rise of 13.7 cents
an hour, There was danger, in fack that practically
all standards of wage stabilization might be wrecked in
the steel controversy. If the Wage Board had granted
a full 17-cent basic cost-of-living increase and in addi-
tion had felt compelled to grant “productivity” increases,
hundreds of other unions would have demanded the same
benefits.
On the subsidiary issues there is a hollow sound to the
industry's outcry about “fringe” raises won by the union
and about the W. S. B.'s recommendation of a union
shop. Most of the fringe increases are awarded in the
form of six paid holidays a year. Does the steel industry
hope to maintain forever a substandard contract under
which workers get no paid holidays? Thousands of con-
tracts in other industries now provide for them; the
steel companies have simply been behind the parade,
The companies make a tremendous uproar about the
government “dictating” the union shop, Why should the
government have to “dictate” it? The union shop is es-
tablished practice in American industry. The theory that
workers should not be forced to become union members
can be effectively reversed: the majority that want a
union shop should not be forced to work side by side with
others who take all the benefits the union wins but re-
fuse to bear their share of the union’s expenses or help
decide its policies. The argument disappears in any case
in view of the fact that the steel companies already have
closed-shop contracts with unions other than the United
Steelworkers—with coal miners and railroad workers,
with building-trades workers and other employees.
HE issue now is prices. Ellis Arnall, Economic
Stabilization Director, has testified that the steel
companies are entitled to one price rise based on the
Capehart amendment—to compensate for all higher costs
experienced through July, 1951—and possibly to another
if it can be shown that higher wages impose an inequity.
Every industry has a right to prices that bring profits up
to 85 per cent of earnings in three of the four years of
the 1946-49 base period, Twice in the post-war years the
steel companies have refused to raise wages until prom-
ised price rises. The Office of Price Stabilization has sta-
293
° . q
tistics indicating that steel earnings are high enough to
bear a substantial increase in costs without higher prices.
There will be no steel strike—not even a short one—
if the companies accept the W. S. B. proposals. The
union has repeatedly postponed strike action to give
the board a chance to complete its complex calculations
Will the South Bolt?
Cant Fa
settled By the board and a willingness by the c companies ©
to work out price problems through processes alread ria
available under the Defense Production Act would nal
a work stoppage in the basic steel industry completely .
unnecessary.
”
Raleigh, North Carolina
N CHOOSING Senator Richard B.
Russell of Georgia as their standard
bearer the leaders of the “Stop Truman
and Trumanism” movement in the South
undoubtedly made the best possible selec-
tion for accomplishing their purposes in
the Democratic National Convention.
Whether Senator Russell will also serve
their ends after the convention is a differ-
ent question. But by accepting his leader-
ship the original “rebels’’ have to a large
extent transferred from themselves to him
the power of decision. Senator Russell's
opinions and not those of Senator Byrd or
Governor Byrnes or Governor Talmadge
will be sought by the men trying to work
out a platform that will prevent a split in
the party. And in all probability Senator Russell will
decide whether the revolt is to die with the convention
or to be carried on by means of a splinter party. Cer-
tainly, it would be difficult for the anti-Truman move-
ment to obtain popular support in the South without
the aid of the man chosen to lead it.
Russell's record and point of view—except on civil
rights and states’ rights—are very different from those
of Harry F. Byrd, James F. Byrnes, or Herman Tal-
madge. Russell does not show Byrd’s ultra-conservatism,
Byrnes’s personal antagonism to President Truman, or
Talmadge’s demagoguery. But he has a larger following
than these men or anyone associated with them, and
circumstances made them need his leadership. It was
obtained only after considerable pressure had been ex-
erted in his home state.
The circumstances which confronted the leaders. of
the revolt were President Truman’s refusal to say
whether or not he would be a candidate and the un-
certainty as to the Republicans’ choice. Their primary
ROBERT E. WILLIAMS is associate editor of the Raleigh
News and Observer.
294
°
oe
Senator Russell
‘
BY ROBERT E. WILLIAMS |
objective is the defeat of President Tru- —
man, and they want that defeat to be ©
utter and complete, They want not only +
to prevent the election of Truman but |
also to make certain that nobody who —
is backed by Truman or who supports ©
the Roosevelt or Truman programs be- —
comes President. a
It is not remotely probable that the 4
rebels will get all they want at the —
Democratic National Convention, or even ©
that they will get enough to satisfy them. +
Senator Russell will undoubtedly be more —
easily satisfied. The risk of choosing a |
leader who might not go all the way ©
with them had to be taken in order to |
obtain a standard bearer certain to
make a better showing at the’ convention
than they themselves could hope to make.
Senator Russell’s qualifications were clearly revealed |
at the 1948 convention. The 1948 revolt was headed by a
weaker set of men than is the present movement. Ben T. ~
Laney, then Governor of Arkansas, was considered the }
strongest of the lot and was chosen as the candidate to ‘}:
ptesent to the convention, but it soon became apparent
that he could not command anything approaching a
solid Southern front. At the last minute Senator Russell,
who had previously stood aloof but had been disgruntled |
by the adoption of a strong civil-rights plank, was in- —
duced to let his name go before the convention.
Most of the South rallied behind Truman, Nowhere — Tt
i
Tt:
was his strength demonstrated more plainly than in the }
North Carolina delegation, which contained more pro-- |
Truman members than any other from the South. When |,
the delegation was elected, it was expected that all but: Jy
one or two of its thirty-two votes would be cast for Tru- _ i
man, and the expectation held until Russell entered the },
field. The Senator's friendships with the delegates, plus
the feeling engendered by the platform fight, so changed _
matters that Truman got only fourteen of the thirty-two | i
votes, the remaining eighteen going to Russell. i
The Nation })
Tee
Bes fa :
ore wide ely accepted i in the Senate, and his
ation throughout the country was enhanced by his
iiss of the MacArthur investigation.
a: course will he follow in the convention and
afterward? And will his course be satisfactory to those
who induced him to enter the race? No one can answer
‘those questions categorically. Senator Russell himself
does not pretend to be able to do so. He has declined
to speculate on whether he will lead or join a splinter-
party movement, but he always takes pains to remind
his questioners that he did not bolt in 1948, although
tremendous efforts were made to get him to do so, That
reminder is important, but not necessarily controlling.
If the present and future can be judged by the past,
Senator Russell’s course in the convention is reasonably
certain. He will oppose the renomination of. President
Truman to the last roll call. If President Truman is not
_a candidate and Russell cannot obtain the nomination
_ for himself—he has no illusions about his chances—he
| will exercise his judgment as to other candidates. He has
tecently opened headquarters in Washington and
Jaunched a national campaign for convention votes.
| Russell supported the so-called court-packing bill in
1937 and has been more consistently pro-Administration
than any other Southern Senator except Kefauver, Hill,
and Sparkman. But he shares the views of the most
| tabid Southerners on some phases of civil rights and
| states’ rights. Even on those questions, however, he is
| more amenable to compromise than many others on
| his own and the other side. His state abolished the poll
| tax as a prerequisite for voting some years ago and is the
only state in the Union permitting eighteen-year-olds to
vote. But he is quick to resent anything he construes as an
|
seth at an ie
ge Eat: th n | he was in 1948, His affront to the South. On his record Senator Russell may
oy Re -
be expected to go into the convention in good faith, and
to accept its verdict unless he feels that the South has
been treated unfairly. On that point he is less sensitive -
than some of his colleagues but by no means free from
emotion.
The Southern revolt has become more respectable and
more responsible by its acquisition of Senator Russell as
leader. If he should refuse to carry on after the con-
vention, the movement would lose much of its impetus.
Its eventual course will depend to a considerable extent
on the action of the Republican convention. The South-
erners who would like to see Senator Taft the next
President concede that they could not carry the South
for him, even if they supported him openly and Presi-
dent Truman were his opponent.
There is little danger that Senator Russell will head a
third party merely to serve as a stalking horse for the
Republicans. In the alignments resulting from the strug-
gle over civil-rights legislation, his defections from the
position taken by the majority of his party have been
More numerous in recent years than during the New
Deal or the early part of the Fair Deal. Even so, an
analysis by the Congressional Quarterly shows that in
1951 Russell voted with the Democratic majority in 80
per cent of the forty-eight contests in which this majority
was defeated by a Republican-Democratic coalition. This
80 per cent compares with 3 per cent for Senator Byrd
and 68 per cent for Democratic Senators from all sec-
tions of the country.
By choosing such a man to Jead them the anti-Truman
Southern Democrats have greatly increased their strength
for the time being. In the long run they may have lost
more than they have gained.
North Dakota Shondown
}
} °
|
| : Fargo, North Dakota
SHOWDOWN fight in North Dakota, long in the
making, will this year determine not only who con-
| trols the Republican Party in the state but the future
| pattern of North Dakota politics. The Republican Organ-
| izing Committee, meeting in Bismarck, has decided to
} tun Representative Fred G. Aandahl against Senator
| William Langer for the Republican Senatorial nomina-
} ion. For weeks the committee has been debating whether
| to risk losing a Republican seat in Congress—and with
e Aandahl’s influence as a member of the House Appro-
priations Committee—or suffer the humiliation of seeing
‘its arch-enemy, Langer, returned to the Senate without
‘substantial opposition. The delegates to the recent state
L
March 29, 1952
BY CAREY McWILLIAMS
convention finally decided that now was the time to deal
with Langer,
The fight shaping up between Aandahl and Langer
has a personal as well as strictly political basis. The feud
between the two men dates from 1932, when Langer,
who had just been elected governor with Non-Partisan
League backing, launched a successful recall campaign
against Aandahl, then a member of the state Senate.
Aandah! returned to the state Senate in 1939 and later
played a prominent role in the formation of the Republi-
can Organizing Committee, which was set up in 1943-44
as a means of unseating Langer and of removing the taint
of N. P. L, radicalism from the Republican Party in
North Dakota. Aandahl was the committee’s first candi-
295
pe ‘f night ae ty
5 a aS
date for governor. He was életied in 1944 and eae
two additional terms; he is now finishing his first term in
Congress. He is a well-liked, able, conservative Republi-
~ can, who has announced that he favors the nomination of
Senator Taft, as do probably most of the Organizing
Committee, Aandahl is certainly the strongest candidate
who could be entered against Langer and is conceded to
have a fifty-fifty chance of winning the Republican
nomination.
OR the first time in its brief history the R. O. C. this
year will be presenting a “united front” of candi-
dates against its Non-Partisan League rivals. The same
convention that decided to back Aandahl for the Senate
indorsed A. R. Bergesen of Fargo and Otto Krueger of
Bismarck for the two Congressional seats. In the past the
R. O. C. has sought to create disaffection in the ranks of
the N. P. L. by indorsing at least one of its nominees for
Congress. But this year Aandahl, Bergesen, and Krueger
will campaign as a one-for-all and all-for-one trio, They
are out to defeat not only Langer but the veteran N. P. L,
Congressman, Usher Burdick. For the first time, also, the
R. O. C. now has state-wide strength, At a recent state
convention delegates showed up from counties which
have sent N. P. L. candidates to the state legislature for
the past thirty years,
Since North Dakota can almost certainly be counted
on to be in the Republican column in this year’s Presiden-
tial election—and by a big vote—it would seem that the
R. O. C. might be able to defeat Langer and break up the
N. P. L: as an influence in the Republican Party. But
the entry of a strong candidate against Langer may have
the effect of revitalizing the N. P. L. For the last twenty
years the League has been largely dominated by Langer—
to the annoyance of its younger members. A rift between
these younger “‘insurgents,’’ many of whom are members
of the Farmers’ Union, and the older pro-Langer ele-
ments has developed. But now that a serious threat has
appeared in the form of the new R. O. C. “united front”
of candidates, Langer can be expected to heal the breach
and breathe new life into the organization, The Aandahl-
Langer fight will certainly bring out a big vote.
Since the depression there has been a constant tug-of-
wart between the N. P. L. and the R. O. C. for control of
the Republican Party. The division between these groups
follows traditional, sectional, ethnic, and socio-economic
lines. N. P. L. elements are concentrated in the western,
arid part of the state; the R. O, C. supporters are found
mainly in the more prosperous, humid Red River Valley.
The N. P. L. is made up of descendants of the “hell-rais-
ing” radicals of former years; the R. O. C. of descend-
ants of the Republican “stalwarts” of the same period.
‘Many N. P. L. members are of Russias-German descent
—the so-called Volga Germans; many of the R. O. C.
adherents are of Norwegian descent, The former are
296
etm (ASG nokoy pepe
RE ee
Se or Catholic, ir - ae rh oe
policy. Senator Langer is an example of this maladjust- |
tend to belong to the Farmers ‘Usiohs i: O. C. farmers, —
to the Farm Bureau, - ae
Traditionally the N. P. L. has always preferred to
function within the framework of the Republican Party. —
This preference is hard to explain, for the average
N. P. L. member is a strange misfit in the Republican
camp. Logically the N. P. L. should haye gone into the —
Democratic Party in the early period of the New Deal. —
Indeed, the younger Farmers’ Union men in the League,’ +
under Quentin Burdick’s leadership, tried to bring about
such a realignment, which would have roughiy paralleled
the break-up of the Progressive Party in Wisconsin. But: ©
tradition was too strong; the older N. P. L.-ers still
wanted to work within the Republican Party, probably:
because it was isolationist in foreign affairs. At present
the N. P. L. and the R. O. C. are about equal in power; ;
each holds about the same number of elective offices, .
state and federal. The Democratic Party remains a small ~
patronage outfit controlled by Dave Kelly, the national .
committeeman.
North Dakota liberals have mixed feelings about Sen- —
ator Langer. They remember with distaste his crude in-
dulgence in patronage politics as governor. They feel —
that Langer is first and always for Langer. Though he
quarreled personally with the late William Lemke,
Langer is also associated with unpleasant memories of
Gerald Nye and the attempt to inject anti-Semitism
into North Dakota politics, Liberals are critical of |
Langet’s position on most international issues. At the
same time they agree that he has an admirable voting
record on domestic issues and is passionately attentive to —
the wishes, problems, and whims of his constituents, re-
gardless of their political affiliations. Langer is said to run
one of the best “service” offices in Washington; if you
want anything in Washington, just write Bill Langer.
And proud parents of new-born North Dakota babies
are made still more proud by the receipt of a personal
congratulatory note from “Bill and Lydia” which in- }
variably arrives before mother and baby have left the |
hospital.
Carl F. Kraenzel and the other social scientists who
prepared that interesting report, “The Northern Plains —
in a World of Change,” maintain that just as the people —
of the northern piains have long failed to recognize the
distinctiveness of the region and its special problems, so —
the regional political thinking needs to be readjusted ©
to new trends in national and international economic’
ment: witness the incongruity between his views on |
foreign policy and on domestic issues. In the past North }
Dakota could indulge in this type of schizophrenic poli- _
tics, but the maladjustments have created tensions which —
today are forcing a basic political realignment. This —
year’s election will be an important step in the process,
The NATION
Phe Ed
Pes re
+ 7 _
ow-B
London
MERICAN viewers frequently find British television
less exciting but more rewarding than their own.
The women announcers afe attractive, well-dressed, and
obviously cultured but seldom the voluptuous beauties
_ who telecast in the United States and France. British
_ TV censored the fast-moving American comedy “Apples
in Eden,” by Frances Agnew. The play was about a
lawyer secretly married to a tennis star and still pursued
_ by his former mistress. It had the top dramatic spot one
Sunday, but before it was repeated, the TV controller
decided to cut out the word “mistress,” a scene show-
ing the lady en negligée, and a silhouette of her in the
shower. He admitted there had been few complaints, but
he felt it wise to avoid the charge of bad taste.
On the other hand, political debate on this side of
_ the Atlantic is much freer. The BBC has not recently
_ televised any admitted Communist, but in its weekly
round-table “In the News’ it allows remarkably frank
discussion of international and domestic issues. The
_ chairman is frequently a Liberal, and usually a militant
Conservative and a militant Laborite take part. Robert
Boothby, M. P., is one of the regular Conservative speak-
ers; Bevanites Michael Foot and Tom Driberg or the
Socialist professor A, J. P. Taylor present the leftist
| view. Professor Taylor said recently that Britain had been
r exploiting the colonial territories for 150 years, which
_ was long enough. That sort of thing draws a few in-
dignant letters but nothing like the attacks directed
against much milder statements in the United States.
__ Comparing British and American television is rather
| like comparing the well-bred, restrained daughter of a
- poor British vicar with the uninhibited family of an
| American millionaire. British television is calmer and
more intellectually stimulating and is free from the an-
noyance of commercial advertising, but it lacks the
variety, color, and richness of the American product.
. TV in Britain, like radio, is the monopoly of the semi-
governmental British Broadcasting Corporation. Its
revenue comes chiefly from its share of the £2 ($5.60)
_-sound-and-television license fee paid annually by view-
efs; some additional revenue is obtained from advertising
| in the BBC’s Radio Times. About 150,000 viewers are
_ “pirates” who pay no fee. Actual expenditures last year
came to £1,718,578 (almost $5,000,000), which was
_ roughly the amount paid by TV license holders.
| ANDREW ROTH is a staff contributor now stationed in
_ London.
bor Highbrow
BY ANDREW ROTH
British TV, unable to make gigantic leaps forward by
tapping the tills of private companies anxious to sell
soap, can grow no more rapidly than its public grows,
This growth is proceeding at the rate of 50,000 a month,
With the average cost of a set between £65 and
£75 (about $200)—which for the average viewer rep-
resents ten weeks’ salary—sales do not mount too fast.
When the tax on sets was doubled recently, sales were
almost halved in many areas.
Although it has recently been overtaken by American
television, the BBC has made steady progress since it
first pioneered in this medium. Its experimental trans-
missions began in London in 1929. The first public
service of high-definition television in the world was
initiated by the BBC when Alexandra Palace went on
the air in November, 1936. When service was sus-
pended during the war, 20,000 receivers were in use.
On resuming service in June, 1946, British television
was confronted with the problem of developing into a na-
tional institution while struggling with a limited budget
and an audience impoverished by heavy taxation, By
the middle of 1949 the London transmitter at Alexandra
Palace served 150,000 television sets. This number was
soon doubled by the opening of the first relay station
neat Birmingham. But not until last year did television
become anything like mass entertainment, After the
world’s biggest transmitter was opened in October to
serve Lancashire and Yorkshire, the additional 75,000
viewers thus obtained brought the total to over a million.
When the Scottish and Welsh-West Country transmitters
start operation, presumably before the end of 1952,
78 per cent of the country will be covered.
Britain is fully committed to a 405-line interlaced
scanning system, which many American visitors find
clearer than the 525-line system they know at home.
(France uses 441 and 819 lines; Holland and most of the
other European countries 625.) Britain and Europe in
general use positive modulation, which requires maxi-
mum power for a dead-white picture; the United States
uses negative modulation, maximum power for a black
picture. Color television is relegated to the future by the
need for an inexpensive method of converting transmit-
ters and receivers. The BBC has said: “It is hoped that
the radio industry will design and manufacture equip-
ment which can be thoroughly studied and tested be-
fore any decision about a future color-television system
for public service is made.”
In the field of drama British TV is doing an out-
standing job on its modest budget. It presents an average
297
get
=
E &
4
|
SEE a ee
Se ee SS ees
4
American vs. British TV: The Line Is Different
of two full-length dramas plus two one-acters a week,
And full4tength really means full-length, Several months
ago Elmer Rice’s “Counsellor-at-Law” was given in its
original two-and-a-quarter-hour length, instead of in the
fifty-seven-minute version to which it is usually tailored
in the United States to fit into a sponsor's hour. Once
every quarter a Shakespeare play is shown, also an opera,
First-class modern drama by writers like Lillian Hell-
man, J. B. Priestley, and Bernard Shaw are mixed with
some second-rate potboilers. The acting is usually com-
petent and sometimes outstanding. There is talk now of
earning dollars by selling telefilms of the shorter dramas
to American television stations,
Television still shows a tendency to experiment in pro-
duction techniques, One experiment which didn't come
off was Lance Sieveking’s “A Tomb with a View,” which
tried to establish a mood and a pace by inserting a num-
ber of still shots—infuriating much of the audience.
There has also been considerable criticism of the recent
production of Jacques Offenbach’s operetta, “La Belle
Héléne.” This missed fire partly because it is hard to
handle operetta on the small TV screen and partly be-
cause modern anachronisms were superimposed on an
1860 satiric version of a Greek story.
British TV dramatists, like others, are struggling with
a medium combining the advantages and disadvantages
of theater, movie, and radio. As Val Gielgud, head of
the BBC’s TV drama section, puts it: “The reaction
of the film audience, which is numbered in hundreds, is
quite different from the reaction of the television audi-
ence, which is divided into individuals or small groups.
Therefore the ‘target approach’ of the producer must be
proportionately different. The economic and ‘facilities’
conditions of film production cannot for an instant be
compared with those conditioning television practice.
A large-scale film budgets in terms of hundreds of thou-
sands [of pounds]; a television production in terms of
a couple of thousand at the outside—and this is ex-
ceptional.”
British TV plays are indeed “low-budget” by Ameti-
can standards. It is estimated that some $300,000 is spent
every week in New York for television plays; a compara-
298
ble figure for British TV would be $10,000. In New ©
York, of course, there are half a dozen programs to —
choose from; in Britain there is only one. But even so, {
British costs are reasonable—for the average play about —
£900 ($2,500). This includes two and one-half weeks
of rehearsals but not the expensive overhead—cameras,
technicians, and so on. An opera costs about £2,400 |
($6,700), to produce, which is why only one is given ©
every quarter,
NOTHER outstanding accomplishment of British
TV is its children’s hour, usually scneduled from
5:30 to 6:30 p. m, Since there are no other television
broadcasts until 8 p. m., children can lead the normal life
of the pre-TV era. “Poverty has its compensations,”
was the comment of one visiting American parent. What
British TV lacks in time for children, it makes up in
quality. Thus in the week ending December 8 it gave
them their own newsreel, three plays, a puppet show for
the very young, a cowboy movie, and demonstrations of
how to pick out a tune on the piano and how candy is
made, The participation of the audience, which is esti-
mated to number three million, is encouraged, Once
children were asked to write the continuation of a serial,
and 1,400 plays were submitted. An art competition
brought 6,000 entries the first week, Next May experi-
mental telecasts specially designed for schocls will start.
For older viewers “Outside Broadcasts” open up a
world far beyond their normal experience. About fif-
teen of these are televised a month, running the usual |
gamut of sports, festivals, ceremonies, and other major
events. Coverage of the election was excellent, One of
the things British TV does best is the documentary study
of an industry or a social problem. 4
At least two British TV comics utilize the type of
situation humor which Fred Allen feels is the best |
form of humor for television, But these two—Terty-
Thomas and Eric Barker—do only a thirty-minute
spot apiece every two weeks, Terry-Thomas has struck |
a tich vein of visual humor in his frantic impersonations;
Eric Barker's amusing topical humor includes take-offs |
on other TV programs, Lack of a pool of competent §
The NATION 9
lefe are ay that TV cannot dominate life
_ in Britain so completely as it does in the United States,
Rs "but there are complaints. Thursdays, for example, are
called “blank” because the Sunday play is repeated. Many
who approve the BBC monopoly feel that there should
__be some choice of programs in TV as in sound radio,
_ which offers the Home, Light, and Third programs,
Others think TV should be completely divorced from
sound broadcasting instead of staying under the BBC
roof. Some defects could perhaps be cured by more.
ay ete ve eee
of - financing, which could be obtained by raising separate
TV license fees to, say, £2 a year,
There is surprisingly little call for a commercially
sponsored TV. It has been suggested that advertisers
might be allowed to sponsor shows during unused hours,
but commercial sponsors seem little interested in heavy
investments in “dead” hours. For twenty-five years every
parliamentary commission has indorsed the ptesent sys-
tem. The Times, commenting on the subject, said: “The
remedy for television, if it is bad, is to improve the
BBC's conduct of it and not to undermine the founda-
tions of British broadcasting.”
~ McCarran’s Iron Curtain
' HORTLY after the First World War the United
| States went through a period of intense anti-foreign
| isolationism which eventuated in the Immigration Act
| of 1924, This act established the rigid and restrictive
| quota pattern under which we have been operating since.
| Introducing into our law a racist concept of national
origins, it gave large quotas to the Northern and Western
| European nations, where the pressure to emigrate was
slight, and small quotas to the Southern and Eastera
| countries, where pressure was great. As a result, the
| Northern and Western quotas have been largely wasted,
| and European immigration to the United States for the
last twenty years has totaled less than one-third of the
allowable amount.
Now we have come full cycle again, and current post-
war jitters,threaten to cause another wave of discrimina-
| tion and restriction. Unfortunately, little public notice has
| been given to quietly planned long-range changes which
| would effectively strangle for many years to come a flow
|. of immigration which only recently was temporarily
| augmented by hard-won D, P, legislation,
| ‘ Under the guise of preparing a streamlined and ef-
| ficient revision and modification of our antiquated im-
| migration laws, Senator Pat McCarran and Representative
| Francis Walter have presented two practically identical
omnibus bills which provide thirteen new grounds for
_ excluding future immigrants, more than twenty new
grounds for deporting displaced persons and other im-
migrants admitted in past years, and a practically unde-
_ termined number of new ways of depriving a naturalized
_ American of citizenship. These bills purport to eliminate
racial discrimination and to tighten naturalization and
denaturalization procedures, Actually, they embody more
_ ALEX. BROOKS is a lawyer who works in the fields of polit-
_ ical and civil rights and inter-group relations.
March 29, 1952
Sa RE OE IS ee ISON See < Rey ae
.
ae
/
«
BY ALEX. BROOKS
than a hundred changes which would weaken the rights
of immigrants and aliens.
The most blatant hypocrisy of the new bills is their
claim to eliminate racial discrimination, They make a_
gesture in this direction by admitting a sharply limited
number of Japanese, Koreans, Indonesians, and Burmese.
The Japanese would be given a quota of 185. In addi-
tion, all Orientals, many of whom are at present ineligible
for naturalization, would be allowed to become American
citizens, This would enable 85,000 first-generation Japa-
nese already living in this country to achieve their dream
of citizenship,
_ Though they make this partial concession to racial
equality, the bills retain many obsolete and obnoxious
discriminations and add a number of new and unwar-
ranted ones. For instance, the retention of the 1920
census figure as a base for determining the rate of im-
migration perpetuates a discrimination against the South-
ern and Eastern Europeans, who have contributed the
bulk of our immigration in the last thirty years, It is
these people who are in dire need of asylum in this
country. All their quotas are oversubscribed; some’ of
them are mortgaged into the next century by recent
D. P. legislation,
The framers of the Walter-McCarran bills make cer-
tain that Orientals will be strictly limited to their quotas —
by expanding an already enacted racist measute to pro-
vide that any immigrant “who is attributable by as much
as one-half of his ancestry to a people or peoples in-
digenous to the Asia-Pacific triangle” is to be charged
to the quota of the country of his * ‘ancestry,” regardless
of his place of birth or citizenship, Total immigration
from this group is limited to 2,000 a year. This dis-
ctiminatory provision, strikingly reminiscent of Hitler's
abhorrent Niirnberg laws, was openly fashioned to ex-
clude ali but the bare handful of Orientals provided for
299
i ~
under stringently limited quotas. Under this rule, a citi-
zen of Great Britain, born in that country of a British
father and a Chinese mother, would not be admitted to
the United States as a member of the British quota of
65,000 but would be shunted to the Chinese quota of
105.
The Walter-McCarran bills go still farther in dis-
criminating against Negroes. Under the present law im-
migration from colonies and other dependent areas is
charged to the quota of the governing country. Citizens .
of Trinidad, Jamaica, and other West Indian colonies,
most of whom are Negroes, at present have relatively
free access to the United States. The new bills stipulate
that hereafter not more than 100 persons may enter an-
nually from one such colony. This would have the in-
tended effect of reducing Negro immigration from the
West Indies by about 90 per cent.
In order further to enlarge the grounds for exclusion,
deportation, and denaturalization, the Walter-McCarran
bills eliminate the non-quota status of professors. Re-
strictions are also tightened against the victims of reli-
gious persecution, who were formerly granted an exemp-
tion from literacy requirements. A similar exception for
close relatives of legally admitted aliens and citizens of
the United States has also been dropped.
One of the profound ironies of the Walter-McCarran
bills is their subversion of certain safeguards against ad-
ministrative abuse favored by their authors six years ago.
Senator McCarran himself hailed the Administrative Pro-
cedure Act of 1946, designed by his Senate Judiciary
Committee to provide additional judicial checks on pos-
sible abuses by administrative officials, as a “widely
heralded advance in democratic government.”
The Administrative Procedure Act is, in effect, emas-
culated at many points by the new proposals. Prosecutors,
for instance, may also serve as judges in immigration
cases. Exclusion or deportation is not based on whether
an alien has actually done something wrong but on
whether an immigration official is “satisfied” or “has rea-
son to believe” he has. The Attorney General is even
empowered to sanction deportation or deprive a resident
of his precious citizenship when certain facts appear in
his “opinion” to warrant such drastic action.
One of the three liberdlizations embodied in the
McCarran-Walter bills weakens the absolute bar against
the admission of totalitarians set up by McCarran’s own
Internal Security Act of 1950. Totalitarians actively
reformed at least five years prior to their application for
admission may come in if their presence here is thought
to be “in the public interest.” But an alien who at any
time after he was admitted to this country has been
engaged in a Communist or totalitarian cause, regard-
less of whether he later acknowledged his mistake and
became a valuable member of the American community,
must be deported, Finally, the bills would disqualify
300
Ur a
eras Pia |
had ad B
from ‘Baca ss: an ap pica ate
enough to belong to a f "direc pee 0
a Com-
~
munist or totalitarian organization, even one origins ly
democratic in character, from which he later resigned in
protest.
At their joint hearings the Walter-McCarran bills met
vigorous opposition from representatives of Catholic,
Protestant, and Jewish religious groups and of Italian,
Czech, and other nationality groups, from the American
Bar Association Committee on Aliens and Naturaliza-
tion, and from other quarters, Some of the more ob-
jectionable sections were removed as a result of this
criticism; most of them remain,
HE Walter bill was suddenly reported out and
scheduled for floor debate two weeks ago. Senators
Lehman and Humphrey and Representative Roosevelt,
alarmed by Congressional apathy concerning the bill,
alerted others. A vigorous effort, headed by Roosevelt in
the House, was made to postpone floor debate until
Congress could be informed of the widespread organiza-
tional opposition to many of the bill’s features. As a re-
sult, consideration of the bill was postponed. Since then,
numerous religious, civic, educational, nationality, and
labor groups have urged recommittal so that there may be
time to consider thoroughly the more than one hundred
amendments being prepared,
In the meantime, a substitute omnibus immigration
bill which will almost certainly get Administration sup-
port has been introduced by Senators Humphrey and
Lehman and Representative Roosevelt. This bill, co-
sponsored by Senators Benton, Langer, Kilgore, Douglas,
McMahon, Green, Pastore, Kefauver, Morse, and
Moody, is everything the Walter-McCarran bill is not.
It would codify, simplify, and humanize the present law
in many ways. It would modernize the quota system by
basing quotas on the 1950 instead of on the 1920 census
(thus increasing the total quota), and would provide
much greater flexibility in the operation of the quota
system by allowing for the “pooling” of unused quotas.
The previous yeat’s unused quotas would be allocated
to immigrants who are relatives of American citizens and
of aliens residing here permanently, to those whose serv-
ices are urgently needed in this country, to victims of
religious and racial persecution, and to special-hardship
cases, The total flow of immigration would be enlarged —
by as much as 75,000 each year merely by the intelligent —
use of the quotas conceived appropriate when our present
immigration law was enacted.
Unlike the McCarran-Walter bill, the Humphrey-
Lehman-Roosevelt bill actually eliminates all vestiges of
racial discrimination. It provides, for instance, for pro-
portional quotas to Japanese, Burmese, Koreans, and
other Asiatic groups who at present have no quotas,
and also for proportional quotas for such groups as the
The NATION ©
rT is
a
| ministrative abuse absent from the McCarran-Walter
_ bills. Exceptions to exclusion can be based on special
circumstance, By relying to a heavy extent on factual
grounds for exclusion rather than on the “opinion” of
administrative officials, the bill avoids a large area of
potential administrative abuse. Its administrative features
PR DPT PS
ae SEES Rye eet
New Delhi, India
} NDIA has recently completed what should go down in
, history as the world’s most strenuous expression of
| — ballot-box democracy.-For the first time its entire adult
| population was eligible to vote, For the first time the
people went to the polls and elected a government. The
process took four months, Two and a half million ballot
| boxes were placed within reach of the nearly 180,000,-
| 000 potential voters. Prime Minister Nehru traveled
| more than eighteen thousand miles in his campaigning,
My most vivid experience in the whole long period,
during which I followed the proceedings in three dif-
ferent states, was my two-day stay in a mountain
village called Bhuti. On the first day Bhuti’s two-room
schoolhouse was transformed into a polling station—a
most original creation, for none of the villagers had
ever seen a real station. On the second day some 600
of the 1,200 adults living on the side of the steep
mountain on which the Bhuti schoolhouse was perched,
in full view of the snow-capped Himalayas, came to
the station to vote.
The day of preparation was a mad day, Seven civil
| ‘servants, most of them under thirty, gathered at the
schoolhouse in the chill mountain dawn. They had
brought with them one small canvas bag of supplies
and twelve ballot boxes with non-tamperable sealing
‘devices. They faced two completely bare schoolrooms
| —Indian schoolrooms never contain anything but stu-
| ‘dents, for the floor serves as both desks and chairs. The
| team was headed by a young government veterinary
surgeon who when he had received his orders to report
at Bhuti had been a hundred miles away treating moun-
tain sheep. He had ridden a mountain pony for four
days to get to his assignment. At the schoolhouse that
JEAN LYON is an American newspaperwoman who has
been living in India for several years,
_ March 29, 1952
ms
Sea ee
en Li alae 100.
ty r ‘ancestry instead of by birth
re ‘The H-R-L bill provides the protection against ad< —
Re
“are a ating improvement over those of the curtent law.
The H-L-R bill provides a statutory basis for the
Board of Immigration Appeals—assuring its freedom
from administrative influence in weighing appeals and
reviews in deportation cases—establishes a Visa Review
Board within the State Department to handle appeals
against the decisions of consular officials, and makes the
Administrative Procedure Act applicable to deportation
cases. All new powers granted to the Attorney General
are surrounded by safeguards,
The Ballot Comes to Bhuti
BY JEAN LYON
morning he kept thumbing through the pages of the
election manual, reading the rules to the local school
teachers who were his assistants—five men and a girl.
The most important rule was that the ballot boxes
must be behind curtains, so that voting would be
secret. But what to use for curtains? Twelve hours
later he had not only his curtains but registration
desks, polling booths, and a separate entrance and exit.
All day long people had trudged up and down the
th between the schoolhouse and the village carrying
things on their heads, Floor mats had been sewed
together with strings for curtains. Ballot boxes were
set on planks supported by rocks, The exit had been
devised out of the schoolroom’s back window, with a
Lifebuoy-soap box as the step under the window sill.
That night the polling team spent the night rolled
_ up in blankets on the floor of the new station—all
except the girl school teacher who went back with
me to the rest house, three miles up the mountain,
The boys told us later that their chairman had kept them
awake until two in the morning reading the entire elec-
tion manual to them by the light of a kerosene lamp.
By mid-morning of the next day—Election Day in
Bhuti—the steep slope above the schoolhouse was bright
with the head scarves of the hill women and the
checkered wool shawls of the men. Election posters
wete pasted on the gray rocks, People gathered in
knots around those who felt like expounding their
election preferences. Some had brought along their hand
spindles and settled down for a long sociable day.
This largely illiterate electorate was anything but
lethargic. Some wete not quite sure yet how they would
vote and went around gathering opinions, Those who
voted first took on the job of instructing the others in
the intricacies of registration and dropping their ballots
into the boxes marked by party symbols. Women teceived
last-minute directions from their menfolk. Self-appointed
301
poll watchers loudly reprimanded the three constables
for being lax in their duties if anyone strayed into the
area around the schoolhouse before it was their turn
to vote. Fhe low-caste Kolis, a farm-labor group who
until a decade ago were admittedly treated “worse than
dogs,” were out in full force, both men and women. *
That Bhuti had a polling station at all seemed amaz-
ing to me after I saw that empty little schoolhouse and
the primitive huts in the village. That the people knew
enough about the candidates to make a choice seemed
even more amazing after I had tramped over the moun-
tainous terrain, where the fastest means of travel was a
pony. But what made that Election Day most impressive
was knowing that there were thousands of other Bhutis
in India and that over 50 per cent of the eligible voters
in them cast their ballots. The illiterate peasant of India,
the country’s heart's blood, had taken part in choosing a
government.
F I was most interested in the long-range educational
] value of the elections, Indian commentators were con-
cerned rather with the immediate political results. The
success of the Communists in the south came as a
surprise to Indians for two reasons. First, it had been
believed that the Socialists were India’s second largest
party. While they were known to be weak organiza-
tionally, they seemed more unified than the Com-
munists and certainly more firmly established than the
new mushroom parties, The second reason was that
Nehru had emphasized in his campaign speeches the
danger from the right rather than the left. His most
spirited attacks had been aimed at the communal
parties—tright-wing groups formed along religious lines.
Neither the Socialists nor the communal parties showed
the strength expected, and the Communists with their
united fronts, though a small number in the whole
picture, have definitely developed into the leading
Congress opposition. They are still, however, a nu-
merically small opposition. In the House of the People,
the lower house of the Parliament, Communists and
their left-wing allies won 27 of the 497 seats, the
Socialists coming in third with 12 seats, and the three
major Hindu communal parties combined having but
10 seats. The Congress Party remains solidly in control
F with 363 seats, All the opposition parties together hold
but one-fourth of the seats in this main national legis-
lative body.
The picture in the state assemblies is perhaps more
telling. In four of the twenty-three state assemblies the
Congress Party failed to win a majority, and in a
fifth its majority is one. In Travencore-Cochin, where
some 70 per cent of the population is literate as against
10 per cent in the rest of India, and in Madras, India’s
second largest state in both area and population, the
Communists have won such substantial blocks of seats
302
m , i. ye We ar i
: that with peace Ree their allies anit ee of the ,
Paes ees , "4 Bs
aoa
dependents they could make it impossible for the —
Congress to form ministries. In Hyderabad, despite the
fact that they had been a Jaw-and-order problem there
until recently, they won nearly one-fourth of the as-
sembly seats. The results in these three states are gen-
erally interpreted as more of a vote against the Congress
than a vote for the Communists, But the fact that the
people chose the far left rather than one of the more
moderate opposition parties, like the Socialists or the
new Peasants, Workers, and Peoples Party, which was
last year’s offshoot from Congress, seems to indicate
that they are in a mood for drastic change. A very
different phenomenon was the landslide for the land-
lords’ group in Rajasthan, where the Congress won a
majority of only one.
The story is nowhere near as simple as it looks in
the tabulated results. There were innumerable cross
currents, such as the Christian-Hindu feud in Traven-
core-Cochin, which made people vote for candidates
on religious rather than ideological grounds, and the
strong caste loyalties in Madras, upon which the Com-
munists reportedly played. A thorough study of the
elections in these states might prove some new truths, In
Rajasthan, where the peasants are still, in large part, liv-
ing under a feudal system, they voted for their feudal
overlords. In Madras, where at least the top layer of
landlords has been eliminated, the land reforms were
apparently not far-reaching
enough to make the arguments _
of the Communists lose their
appeal. )
Undoubtedly the elections
show widespread dissatisfac-
tion with the Congress govern-
ment, In an established demo-
cratic country the opposition
to the party in power could
have been larger without indi-
cating so much discontent.
This is being viewed with
alarm in some quarters and
should be. If the government
does not recognize the peo-
ple’s discontent and search
out the reason for it, the foun-
dation for democratic devel-
opment in India grows shaky.
Abroad, alarm should be di-
luted with a large dose of
respect for the Nehru govern-
ment, which was willing to
tisk its one-party control in
possibly premature national
elections, :
The NATION
if Ee
a
|
|
SS SPRY Pe <i ae ne
OSWALD SPENGLER. By H. Stuart
_ Hughes. Charles Scribner's Sons. $2.
HE purpose of the Twentieth Cen-
tury Library is to give the intelli-
gent layman a basic understanding of
those thinkers of the last hundred years
who have most influenced the intellec-
tual currents of our time. The present
volume on Oswald Spengler fulfils this
purpose exceedingly well. Destined for
the layman and not for the specialist, it
is written with ease and clarity; it is a
good example of the “popular’’ presen-
tation of a difficult subject and offers
much within its small compass. It is
well informed, and the discussion of the
felationship between Spengler and the
National Socialists is judiciously bal-
anced. For the very reason that the book
offers such a thoughtful and sound ex-
position of Spengler’s theories, it should
be pointed out that the author, an assist-
ant professor of history at Harvard and
associate director of the Russian Re-
search Center there, has been too strong-
ly fascinated by the “profundity” of
i _Spengler’s pessimism regarding Western
'
}
}
\
G
|
1
{
civilization and our times.
~ Mr. Hughes rightly presents Spengler
as a great artist. His “pictorial, figura-
tive language, his talent for finding the
images and personalities that set off in
high relief an entire epoch of the past—
these give to his work a character of ex-
citement, of tension, and of evocative
melancholy.” But as a thinker Spengler
twas in no way original, and as a prophet
or intuitive seer he was weak or mis-
taken throughout. He was one of the
many intellectuals in the nineteenth and
twentieth centuries who hated or feared
nineteenth-century Western civilization
with its capitalism, parliamentarism, de-
mocracy, and big cities, and who looked
back with nostalgia to the time before
the commercial and industrial revolu-
tions.
Like many German and Russian
intellectuals Spengler had no under-
standing knowledge of the West, espe-
_ cially of England and the United States.
| Speaking of the future of the United
‘States, he saw before him neithier a real
March 29, 1952
nation nor a real state but a boundless
field and a population of trappers, drift-
ing from town to town in the dollar
hunt, unscrupulous and dissolute.
Spengler’s estimate shows the same lack
of understanding, the same supercilious
contempt for the West which Hitler
showed in judging and in underestimat-
ing America. The parallel goes even
farther, and Spengler reveals the same
depressing shallowness of historical and
political judgment as Hitler—though
the literary style, the occasional flash of
genius, and the breadth of knowledge
put him otherwise high above Hitler.
Both believed that Bolshevik Russia
“had ceased to be a state” and had
fallen prey to a barbarian horde, funda-
mentally not different from the United
States, with its standardized population,
its purely economic life without any
depth or any true political outlook, its
ruling trusts not so different from the
Russian state trusts,
Spengler identified Western civiliza-
tion with what he called the Faustian
man, a predominantly romantic and
Germanic type, certainly one of the ele-
ments of modern civilization, which
also includes, however, the classical
sense of measure and law and that
moderation and compromise which tri-
umphed in the Glorious Revolution.
Spengler’s sense of a decline of West-
ern civilization had been expressed in-
finitely better by a long line of more
original thinkers, by De Maistre and
Donoso Cortés, by Paul de Lagarde and
Konstantin Leontiev. There had been a
number of minor Germans, well known
in their time, as pessimistic as Spengler
later was. To mention one among many,
Karl Vollgraff, professor of political
science in Marburg, answered in 1851
the question how humanity looked in
his day with the words “‘a colossal heap
of ruins,” and protested in 1831 against
the constitution for Hessen as a fraud,
because parliamentary democracy could
not meet the needs of the time. These
prophets of doom were wrong, though
their number was great. Even Jacob
Burckhardt erred when he predicted
that ‘‘a definite and supervised stint of
misery, with promotions and in uni-
/
form, daily begun and ended to the
sound of drums,” must logically come
from modern Western civilization. It
came where modern Western civiliza-
tion was weakest, in Russia, and for a
certain time in Germany and Italy; it
did not come in Burckhardt’s Switzer-
land or in the English-speaking coun-
tries where what Spengler despised most
in Western civilization was strongest.
Spengler regarded Mussolini as “a
master-man with the southern cunning
of the race in him.” Unfortunately for
him, Mussolini was not a master-man or
even one with the cunning of a Franco,
Spengler expected the Germans to be-
come the shield against Russia and
Asia. His prediction was neither origi-
nal nor correct. The alliance between
Bolshevik Russia and Asia against the
West of which Spengler made so much
had been openly proclaimed by Lenin.
The Germans, whom Spengler jubilant-
ly called the “'strong race, the eternal
warlike in the type of the beast-of-prey
man,” did not save Europe from Bol-
shevism but brought the Russians to
Berlin and Vienna. English parliamen-
tary democracy and American demo-
cratic industrialism saved the world
from the German threat to Westera
civilization and are now saving it from
the similar Russian threat.
Though pessimism seems at present
very fashionable, it is hardly justifiable
to call Spengler ‘a loyal son of the
West” or to speak of a renewed interest
in him. Mr. Hughes calls him more cor-
rectly in another place the typical “‘in-
completely educated German intellectual
manifesting [toward the West} as un-
critical a series of prejudices as any
lower-middle-class German.” Spengler’s
“state of mind of an old society antici-
pating its end” does not offer a key to
our times. All his essential predictions
have failed to materialize. Nor does the
world at present, at least in the West,
point to cultural sterility and dictator-
ship, as the modern Spenglerian seems
to believe. Brooks Adams predicted in
1896 a similar decay: ‘‘No poetry can
bloom in the arid modern soil, the
drama has died, and the patrons of art
are no longer even conscious of shame
303
at profaning the most sacred of ideals.”
But the arts are today certainly not more
neglected or sterile than they were in
1890. Spengler and the Spenglerians
underestimated the vitality of Western
civilization and society. HANS KOHN
Truman’s Self-Portrait
MR. PRESIDENT. By William Hill-
man. Pictures by Alfred Wagg. Far-
rar, Straus and Young. $5.
IKE Harry S. Truman, this is a won-
derful human document. It is not
really a book by Hillman so much as a
newspaperman’s dream realized, a pub-
lisher’s delight, a journalistic beat of
stupendous proportions. The President
of the United States writing and talking
about himself, his inner feelings, his
private attitude toward present and
former associates (most of them still liv-
ing and able to talk back), some of his
problems and decisions. What more
could the happy, happy collaborators ask
this side of River Jordan?
As might have been expected, Tru-
man emerges in these pages as a de-
voted, patriotic, earnest, hardworking
President. But the record shows a man
of much broader dimensions than used
to be assumed: he is well grounded in
history and the classics, an astute ob-
server of the human scene, a man who
has enormous respect for his office—the
Presidency, not the individual picked by
fate to fill it. He is a lonely man—as
Jonely as Lincoln—and sometimes for
_ the same reasons: people don’t call him
an “ape” and a “baboon,” as they did
Lincoln, but plenty of them think they
know more about running the Presi-
dent’s job than “‘Jittle’”” Harry, and occa-
sionally they find themselves suddenly
Pa on the outside looking in. Unlike the
_ Lincolns, however, the Trumans have
an extraordinarily happy family life.
There are some great gaps in the sec-
tion devoted to Truman’s diaries. From
September, 1948, to March, 1949—the
_ whole period covered by the campaign,
the election, and the inauguration—
there is not a line. So we do not know
what he may have written about a
Senator like Olin Johnston of South
Carolina, who fought the President’s
reelection but pushed into the front
rank of those who “greeted” him on his
triumphal post-election return from In-
304
Sa Re Oe ae eae
inane We doa't see t
- J ry, nt oe . ,
- Nakat
Security Council at work, the Cabinet i in
operation, the Central Intelligence
Agency making its reports. These are the
private papers and comments of Harry
Truman, not the public ones, and not
all the private papers are available.
We get a glimpse of the President's
attitude toward his subordinates. When
he appoints a man to a quasi-judicial
agency he then forgets about it: he ex-
pects the man to do good work or he -
would not have appointed him. Was he
privately dismayed when Mon C. Wall-
gren demoralized the Federal Power
Commission? Does he yet have any idea
of his failure in four Supreme Court
appointments, in which Roosevelt's
liberalization of the court was undone?
If so, nothing in the record as set forth
by Hillman indicates it.
Yet there is enough to make a first-
hand document that is fascinating both
because of its revelations of Truman the
man and its glimpses into the office of
the Presidency. The man is enjoying
his job now, even though conscious of
its burdens. He could write during the
Berlin blockade and just after the
Chinese entered the Korean war that he
feared we were close to all-out conflict,
and write it simply as a fact, not some-
thing to keep him awake nights, because
he honestly believed he had done every-
thing possible to prevent war. There are
other examples of raw courage; and
anecdotes about how he learned the folk
habits of our democracy.
Will he run again? Is it conceivable
that after making more enemies by his
candid comments he will try for the
Democratic pomination? The answer
is probably a qualified no. One sus-
pects that when he began his inter-
views with Hillman he had every inten-
tion of retiring after his term. Whether
he has now been persuaded that he must
“save” his policy is a different question.
If he gets mule-headed about this he
can be a tough customer even for such
other tough customers as Byrd, George,
Taft, and his whole assortment of bi-
partisan enemies. He is not easily scared.
He was troubled but not scared even
when he had difficulty in 1946 with
both Jimmy Byres and Henry Wallace,
to say nothing of Harold Ickes. The best
guess is that he will still feel- that he
has done whatever he could and step
foul decide to run, ie ieee a
not hurt him, despite the anger it: must
ee aa SS ae leadersh in
arouse. In the decisive Northern and
Western states more people distrust
Byrnes, really, than distrust Truman, and
the President’s homely touch, which
shines through the book, would have its
effect. WILLARD SHELTON
Dos Passos: The Second
Trilogy
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. By John
Dos Passos. Houghton Mifflin Com-
pany. $5.
re THIS newly assembled trilogy—
the individual volumes appeared in
the decade from 1939 to 1949—Dos
Passos continues the savage assaults on
American life he began so memorably
in “U. S. A.” But where in the earlier
trilogy his target was nothing less than
our whole moneyed society in the first
thirty years of the century, here it has
shrunk to certain aspects of our politi-
cal life during the 1930's and ’40’s.
And where then his orientation was
radical if not actually Marxist, it has
now, during the course of his own per-
sonal evolution from left to right,
altered to an extreme conservatism
which looks upon almost every kind of
government activity as wasteful or
wicked.
What makes these later novels less
exciting and effective than the earlier
ones is their occasionally querulous
4
tone, a sharp recession in the reality of - —
their characters, a contraction of out-
look on Dos Passos’s part. His attack
upon the Communists in the first novel,
‘Adventures of a Young Man,” is per-
fectly valid factually and historically,
but it suffers from the incredible naivete
of its hero, Glenn Spottswood, and—a
tendency to project the dense jungle of
leftist politics in the oversimplified
terms characteristic of the proletarian
novel so fashionable in the thirties,
when this story was first published. The
second volume, “Number One,” is
equally unimpeachable on grounds of
fact. Its target is machine politics and
the political boss, and again the impact
of Dos Passos’s fictional version of
Huey Long is watered down by the
character of-the narrator, Tyler Spotts-
wood, who is chronically drunk for ~
reasons never explained and swamps
The Naot a
4
5
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5
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;
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. March 29, 1952
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8
and h govers. The concluding
‘The Grand Design,” attacks the
New Deal for having reneged on its
_ idealistic promises and corrupted the
American dream by undermining the
old traditions of self-reliance and indi-
vidual initiative. Of its visible accom-
plishments there is scarcely a word, and
Roosevelt, who never appears directly,
is referred to in almost constantly
sneering terms,
One emerges from the trilogy with a
growing feeling of hopelessness. There
seems no room in Dos Passos’s world
for men of good-will, who are mur-
dered like Glenn, take refuge in drink
like Tyler or in suicide like Georgia
Washburn—whose death, though she is
a minor figure, moves us more than
Glenn’s—or in the chagrined and disil-
lusioned withdrawal from Washington
of Paul Graves and Millard Carroll,
who had come there originally under
the New Deal spell. The Rousseauist
theory of the good individual born into
a corrupt universe, which animated Dos
Passos’s fiction from the beginning, has
contracted here into a grinding pessi-
mism that lowers the vitality of the
writing even when its documentation
is most accurate.
Yet the reader is seldom allowed to
forget that he is in the presence of one
of the powerful and significant novel-
ists of contemporary American litera-
ture. There are scenes and writing here
that rank with the best things in “The
42nd Parallel” and “The Big Money.”
Glenn Spottswood, that excessively in-
genuous and victimized young man, or-
ganizes the coal miners in a remote
mountain area of West Virginia. Their
lives, grimy habitations, and intensely
poignant reactions to a desperate situa-
tion are narrated with a bold and re-
-sourceful hand. Some of the bombasti-
.cally ingenious speeches and sinister
vulgarities of Chuck Crawford, the po-
litical boss, are unreeled with a grimly
comical effect, though Chuck himself
has been overshadowed by the far more
complex and convincing figure of
Willie Stark in Robert Penn Warren’s
“All the King’s Men.” The travels of
Paul Graves, the non-political agricul-
tural scientist who wants to make the
corn grow better, among the farms of
Alabama and Nebraska give Dos Pas-
sos a characteristic opportunity to prac-
- tice his for
concrete place. These and other vivid
ys ae
recreating the
~w
is super
passages survive the arid stretches, fac-
‘tionalist invoivements, and niggling
defeatism of ‘District of Columbia.”
They remind us that though Dos Passos
is not at his best here, he retains the
power to arouse and persuade.
But the energy and technical in-
genuity of “U, S. A,” have abated. The
drift and flow of American life that
once caught up the Dos Passos charac-
ters in an irresistible stream, and filled
the reader with a sense of exhilaration
even when the seamiest aspects of the
industrial age were being exposed, have
been replaced by narrower channels
and a slower movement. The vitality,
the exhilaration are no longer so pro-
nounced, The vigorous, rough-textured
style has grown gritty and monotonous.
And in place of Mac, Charley Anderson,
and J. Ward Moorehouse, we have the
Spottswoods, father and sons, the most
spectacularly uninteresting family in
recent fiction.
The closely knit structure, descriptive
power, deep feeling for country are still
plain in Dos Passos, but this second
trilogy is a weaker, smaller achievement
than the first. LEO GURKO
Deathless Salesman
DUVEEN. By S. N. Behrman. Random
House. $3.50,
eg STEINBERG'’S jacket design
for this book makes any other pref-
ace unnecessary. Four differently shaped
portholes frame identical icons of the
Lord Duveen of Millbank. The Man of
Distinction, in quadruplicate. While
Duveen was not quite in the class of the
Pharaoh Khephren, with his twenty-odd
portrait statues in his temple at Gizeh,
Steinberg, invoking the same theory
of salvation by multiplication, confers
on him a sort of Oriental immortality.
Ordinarily a reviewer's first task is to
indicate the contents of the book at
hand. In the present instance it is per-
haps sufficient to report that the six
essays on Duveen which appeared in
the New Yorker last fall are now avail-
able as a single item, illuminated, in
the medieval sense, by Steinberg’s draw-
ings. As nearly everybody has read these
essays, this review will be limited to
some marginal comments.
Although the text has the implacable
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7s
pace and impersonal slant of other New
Yorker profiles, with the authorship ef-
fectively submerged, one may still spec-
ulate about Behrman’s intentions. Is he
playing “the most spectacular art dealer
of all time” dead-pan or straight? He
has managed to embalm an age with a
collection of anecdotes, an age which
lost a prime force when Duveen died
thirteen years ago. He is largely content
to let the picture he has drawn speak
for itself. Each suggestion of a sly leer
is countered by a hint of hero-worship.
With personality looming so large in
Duveen’s story, such hero-worship is
not altogether unjustified. Nevertheless,
somebody ought to protest when manip-
ulation is lent enchantment and vul-
garity is glamourized into something
nostalgic. Veblen, where is thy sting?
Unless I have misunderstood the ref-
erence, one of the anecdotes contains an
error in fact. It relates how Bernard
Berenson, the hero of the essay called
“B. B.,” met an old friend, a German,
who is described as the director of the
Dresden Museum before the war. ‘He
returned to resume his former post,”
Berenson says, “but the Russians came
and carted everything off—all the most
beautiful things. . . . What made my
friend cry was not alone that they took
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badly crated!”
The error of this tale is in the ‘first
part, not the second. The man who was
the director of the Dresden Museum
before the war—in fact, since 1910—
died during the war. In 1939 Hitler
had added to his duties the task of
forming a major collection of art for
presentation to the city of Linz, which
was due for some cultural expansion
because Hitler had spent his boyhood
there. The manner of the collecting for
Linz was not always nice. A successor
appointed in the spring of 1943 ia-
herited his techniques of acquisition.
The new appointee, who is still alive,
is not the present director of the
Dresden Museum; nor has he returned
to Dresden since the war. He sincerely
mourns Dresden’s Jost treasure, but he
filled in the late war years the highest
art position the Nazis could confer. I
should doubt very much that this is the
friend Berenson referred to.
The most remarkable of the six
essays, it seems to me, is the one that is
primarily about Berenson. But Behrman
has fully developed the contrast in per-
sonality that the strange association of
Duveen and B. B. affords. That it did
not collapse sooner is perhaps the most
surprising thing of all. In this improb-
able combination of commerce and cul-
ture, the balance of immortality swings
sharply in B. B.’s favor. The most ex-
quisite sensibility of our day triumphs
over the world’s most deathless sales-
man, S. LANE FAISON, JR.
MARGARET
MARSHALL
Drama
LIGHT INTO EGYPT” (Music
Box Theater) has two themes—
which is one too many for a play. What
is even more of a hazard, dramatically
speaking, both themes are valid and
timely; and each is completely at cross-
purposes with the other. It is as if the
scripts of two plays had got entangled,
and even so skilful a director as Elia
Kazan cannot produce a unified or
forceful effect from such disparate
materials.
The play depicts the decisive day in
the lives of three Austrians, a man and
his wife and child, who have been
— > i Pon, => FGA = es A B
7 hod wana Gs
for ty to ge t to America
Se ian oe city ta aye
have-finally reached Cairo, where they
hope—one does not know quite why —
—to obtain from the American consul
the precious permits which all the other
American consuls have refused. The
man (Paul Lukas) is confined to a
wheel chair as a result of a wound ©
sustained when an American bomb fell
into a Nazi concentration camp where
he was confined. So far, so good. We are
ready to grant that he should be allowed
~ to go to America; we are convinced that
his devoted and capable wife Lili (Gusti
Huber) is perfectly able to support the
family; and we are all set to be angry
if the visas are refused.
But suddenly another Austrian ap-
pears on the scene. He is a likable young
man who has come to Cairo to buy cot-
ton; he believes that Austria has a fu-
ture and persuades Lili that the place
for Austrians like herself is—Austria.
He persuades us too, since we are favor-
ably disposed toward Austria these days;
but the immediate effect of this quite
new theme is to dilute our sympathy for
the crippled husband and to nip in the
bud our first fine interest in the fight for
visas. We now see the husband’s de-
sire to escape as selfish and his ex-
ploitation of his wife as cruel; and we
find ourselves thinking that it might be
just as well after all if the visas were
not granted. Which is a queer posi-
tion to have arrived at, given the first
scenes of the play.
The resolution of this curious state
of affairs is perhaps the best that could
be devised. The husband is told by his
own doctor that he will die soon anyhow
—he has been refused a visa on the
same ground—and thereupon commits
suicide. The wife and child, though
they get their visas, decide to -return
to Vienna and make a new start, pre-
sumably with the aid and comfort of the
young Austrian.
The scene is a run-down Cairo hotel,
which allows for the usual hotel routine,
not to mention the hot-country routine,
of types and episodes. The setting, by
Jo Mielziner, is very effective; the rou-
tines are less so.
Paul Lukas as the husband does very
well what little he has to do, though his
big scene comes after the “other play”
has taken over and the sympathy of the
spectator has been diverted.
The NATION ;
pert ss
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"
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}
¢
° ice, Leese fe turns—is a
Fi
March 29, 1952
rather thankless one, but she has the
skill to keep it from becoming monoto-
nous and to make it sympathetic
throughout in spite of the shifts of
theme, She gives the impression of
knowing her business very well and it
would be interesting to see her in a part
that gave her more range.
The adjective “‘old-fashioned” comes
to mind in connection with “One
Bright Day” (Royale Theater) because
it shows the president of a drug com-
pany wrestling with a problem in ethics
having to do with the quality of the
product he manufactures. But the prob-
lem is real—and no doubt problems of
the same sort come up every day in the
week. They are old-fashioned only in
the sense that they are no longer fashion-
able as subjects, having been displaced
by the kind of problems posed in
“Flight Into Egypt’ or Marquand’s
“Point of No Return.” The ending is
particularly unfashionable; the president
—and capitalist—does the right thing.
The play is a well-made play—it is also
well acted—and the first two acts have
more reality than “Point of No Re-
turn.” But though the resolution itself
is convincing enough, the third act is
more complicated and longer drawn out
than it need be.
Music
B. H.
HAGGIN
i WAS not only the voluminous
Juster and splendor of Flagstad’s
voice from the lowest to the highest
notes of its range that was so amazing at
her first appearance here seventeen years
‘ago; it was also her way of singing—of
deploying the voice in a long phrase in
‘which it rose without effort to a power-
* ful and securely held high note and
went on from this, in thrilling fashion,
to another and still another before de-
scending to complete the phrase, all as
though breath were not even involved.
The years since then have taken the
luster from the upper range of the
voice; but they haven’t changed the way
_ of singing: in the second performance
‘tan, as on other recent occasions, Flag-
stad began with her lower notes char-
acteristically voluminous and lustrous,
her upper ones thin, edged, and tremu-
lously shrill, until the Dévinités du Styx
at the end of the first act—the first of
the occasions when the voice began one
of those remarkable sustained phrases
which it carried to an exciting climax in
a succession of secure, clear, and in-
creasingly powerful high notes, and
having done this once did it immediately
a second time. There were some in the
audience who knew what the voice had
lost of its earlier beauty; but anyone
who heard it now for the first time and
without that knowledge—who heard the
lustrous lower notes, the clear and pow-
erful high notes in the sustained phrases
so exquisitely and touchingly inflected
by musical taste and feeling—would
say what he heard was phenomenal. It
would be considered phenomenal! if it
were the singing of a young person; it
would have been pronounced phenom-
enal if it had been Flagstad’s singing at
her first appearances here at the age of
forty-two; and it is even more phenom-
enal as the performance of a woman of
fifty-nine, who ends her career still the
greatest vocal artist of our day.
It was an act of intelligence, taste,
and courage for Mr. Bing to make the
last manifestation of Flagstad’s art at
the Metropolitan her singing of Al-
ceste’s music rather than Briinnhilde’s.
And whereas the splendor of that art
was first revealed here in the shabby
performances of the end of the Gatti-
Casazza era, this last time everything
was done to present it in surroundings
worthy of it—a performance bright,
clean, carefully put together, and pre-
cisely executed. In fact too much was
done: Dr. Graf wasn’t content with
making the chorus expressively active,
but had dancers underline the singing
with plastic movement; and whatever
might be said of the idea of this innova-
tion, the actual movements which looked
like a take-off on goings-on in a class in
modern dance at a girls’ college did not
heighten the solemnity of the scenes.
And I would say the same of the ballet
that Mr. Solov devised for the last
scene.
I saw no point last year in giving
“Alceste’” in an English translation
which wouldn’t be heard sufficiently in
the Metropolitan; and one thing to say
about the performance is that I was in
fact able to hear almost none of the
wotds of the chorus and only a few of
those enunciated so clearly and well by
Flagstad and Sullivan—enough to give
me a general idea of the action but not
the moment-to-moment detail which the
English translation was supposed to
give. But another thing to say after the
performance is that I see no point in
giving an opera in English so that it
may be understood, and then assigning
to it singers like Schofiler and Perner-
storfer whose German accents make
their English a foreign language nobody
could understand.
The translator of ‘‘Alceste,”” Mr. John
Gutman of Mr, Bing’s staff, began a
publicity article about his translation by
declaring opera in English to be some-
thing to be accepted here as “Carmen”
in German is accepted in Vienna. But
“Carmen” in German is a monstrosity;
and the fact that such monstrosities are
accepted in Vienna is no reason for in-
troducing them here, where—whatever
else may have been wrong with opera at
the Metropolitan before Mr. Bing took
over—one thing that was right was that
for the most part the works were given
in their original languages. This practice
began when the Metropolitan's singers
were mostly foreigners; but the fact that
they now include many Americans is no
reason why it shouldn’t continue. As
between opera in the original Italian or
French pronounced with slight defects
by Americans, and opera in an English
mangled beyond recognition by foreign-
ers, I would choose the first.
My ear catches an occasional defect in
Albanese’s Russian; but this doesn’t
GERTRUBE LAWRENCE
lo A New M
The Ring g and 7
with YUL BRYNNER
DOROTHY SARNOFF. DORETTA MORROW
ST. JAMES THEATRE, West 44th St.
Evenings at 6:25: $7.20 to 1 80. Matinges
Wednesday & Saturday at 2:25: $4.20t0 1.80, -
Pulitzer Prize & Critics’ Award Musical Play
MARTHA WRIGHT
GEORGE BRITTON
South Pacific
with MYROM MeCORBNCE
MAJESTIC THEATRE. West 44th.St,
Evas: at 8:30 80, Wed, Mat. at
2:30: Sawin wr tet $4.20 to 1.20.
MOWDAY EVES. ONLY: OURTAN AT 7 SHARP
307 |
diminish the pleasure of hearing that
language with the music of the Letter
Scene from ‘Tchaikovsky's “Eugene
Onegin,” which she has recorded for
RCA Victor with an orchestra directed
by Stokowski; and the language is one
of the points of superiority of this per-
formance over the one previously issued
by Columbia, in which Welitch sings in
German. The other points of superiority
are musical—the intensity and passion
of Albanese’s singing, the cohesive ten-
sion of Stokowski’s performance of the
orchestral part, as against singing by
Welitch and playing by the Philhar-
monia Orchestra under Siisskind that are
almost perfunctory. In addition the re-
corded sound of the Victor performance
is far more beautiful, though it becomes
afflicted with high-frequency distortion
as it approaches the end of the side. On
the same LP record is the Villa-Lobos
Bachianas Brasileiras No. 5.
Purcell’s “Dido and Aeneas” is per-
formed on a Period record by Eleanor
Houston (Dido), Adele Leigh (Be-
linda), and Henry Cummings (Aeneas),
among others, with the Stuart Chamber
Orchestra and Chorus directed by Jack-
son Gregory. Miss Leigh’s soprano is
the most beautiful; Miss Houston’s ac-
quires in When I am laid in earth some
BOOK
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peeeeinas ennai ae a
exit loneliness
Somewhere there is someone
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Dept. TN, if West 72 Street
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308
Ce ee
ee
performance is excellent; its recorded
sound is not always clean, and wavers
in pitch on the first side.
Several excerpts from Purcell’s “The
Fairy Queen,” including the fine so-
prano arias O let me ever, ever weep
and Hark! hark! the ech’ing air a tri-
umph sings, and several from “The
Masque in Timon of Athens” are on an
Oiseau Lyre LP, beautifully sung by
Margaret Ritchie and played by an in-
strumental group under Anthony Lewis.
The recorded sound of the instrumental
portions is ear-piercing and often en-
veloped in a hash of distortion.
Record Notes
BY ROBERT E. GARIS
J]. C. Bach: Piano Sonatas: Opus 5,
Nos. 5 and 6; Opus 17, No. 6; Tol-
son (WCFM); music uninteresting;
performance unexciting.
]. S. Bach: Selections from the Anna
Magdalena Book: Rapf and Weis-
Osborn (Bach Guild); minor harpsi-
chord pieces by Bach and others, six
fine Bach songs; harpsichord playing
fair, singing very beautiful except for
some uncertainties of pitch.
Music of Jubilee; Biggs with Colum-
bia Chamber Orchestra under Burgin
(Columbia); a selection of familiar
chorale preludes and movements from
Cantatas; performance fair, with occa-
sionally vulgar brass playing.
Suites No. 2 and 6 for viola; Lillian
Fuchs (Decca); the familiar suites usu-
ally played on the cello; performance
rhythmically heavy, lacks ease; record-
ing a bit cavernous.
Bartok: Viola Concerto; Primrose and
the New Symphony Orchestra of Lon-
don under Serly (Bartok); Serly’s reali-
zation of Bartok’s sketches—some effec-
tive moments in a generally scrappy
piece; performance good.
Beethoven: Piano Sonatas, Opus 27,
No. 2 (“Moonlight”) and Gpus 81a
(“Les Adieux”); Serkin (Columbia) ;
good performance, except for occa-
sional over-excited distortions; noisy
surfaces.
Trios, Opus 70, No. 1 (“Geister”)
and Opus 1, No. 2; Boston Trio (AI-
legro); performance good; recording
very bad; noisy surfaces.
Brahms: Sonata No. 3 for piano;
A > . = A ay mi P P aoe
aa : , : ae - ie ai ahd -
of the sensuous warmth it Jacks earlie --) cad stein Victor od perf
Mr. Cummings’s baritone is rough. The |
ance; piano sound lacks body. —
Chopin: Preludes; Brailowsky
tor); poor performance.
Debussy: First Rhapsody for clarinet
and piano; Kell and Rosen (Decca);
poor performance; recording cavernous
and muffled.
Hindemith: Sonata for clarinet and
piano; Kell and Rosen (Decca); pleas-
ant inventive music; slouchy and man-
nered performance by Kell, good one
‘by Rosen; recording cavernous.
Mozart: Organ Sonatas, K. 67, 68,
69, 212, 225, 329; Messner with the
Salzburg Mozarteum Orchestra under
Paul Walter (Period); pretty uninter-
esting music except for some charming
things in the last two; performance fair;
recording brash, badly balanced.
Siravinsky: ‘Three pieces for clarinet —
solo; Kell (Decca); pleasant, unimpor-
tant music; good performance, record-
ing cavernous and blurred.
Wagner: “Tannhauser’; Seider,
Scheck, Paul, etc., with Munich State
Opera Chorus and Orchestra under
Heger (Urania); chorus and orchestra
acceptable, singing very bad.
Landowska plays for Paderewski
(Victor); engaging arrangements of
Polish folk music by Couperin, Ra-
meau, Landowska, and others; perform-
ance effective, occasionally over-effec-
tive. ray
The Italian Madrigal: a collection of
music by Landini, Banchieri, Palestrina
and others; Wassar Madrigal Singers
under Geer (Allegro); what may be
beautiful music made to sound unin- -
teresting in this poor performance; re-
cording blurred.
CONTRIBUTORS
HANS KOHN, professor of history-at
the City College of New York, will
publish this spring “Panslavism, Its
History and Ideology.”
WILLARD SHELTON was formerly
The Nation’s Washington correspond-
ent.
LEO GURKO, associate professor of
English at Hunter College, is the author
of “The Angry Decade.”
S. LANE FAISON, JR., chairman of
the Art Department at Williams College, »
regularly reviews art books for The
Nation.
The NATION: :
7
=e
* a
of
t
BY FRANK W. LEWIS
ACROSS
1 The Vampire starts off with the un-
usual wealth of a rose. (1, 4, 5, 3)
10 Lessons and lectures do, to scare
one. (7)
11 Made a mistake with a Churchillian
sign, it ,is said. (7)
12 Brawling target man. (9)
13 One of those things that fill cavities
in some joints. (5)
14 Little more than a strong man,
finally. (2, 4)
16 A joiner, but not the kind Snug was.
(8) 5
19 One of the things girls are pledged
to. (8)
20 Those who hold it in the service
usually follow the air line. (6)
22 The way of the chase might be
eee to inexperienced huntsmen.
-23 Making things easier, but finally
getting old. (9)
25 It feeds by night; but if you do,
some say life goes on in part. (7)
‘26 Have a go at it? Certainly not like
15! <(7)
27 Jots and tittles? In case of help, it’s
six of one and half half-a-dozen of
the other! (4, 3, 6)
DOWN
2 Bent light, by the sound £ it. ;
3 See 4. eee
requests to Puzzle Dept.,
Readers are invited to send for a free copy of Mr. Lewis's
The Nation, 20 Vesey Street, New York 7, New York,
4, 3, Implyin rng the “Street of
thieves” is well-paved?
(8, 3, 2, 13, 2,4)
5 Difficult; perhaps, but formerly as-
sociated (at least in part) with
play? (8)
—e makes the deer most cynical.
5
Take drug, and in real bad condi-
tion you'll get beat faster! (9)
You might put an end to smoke in
one of them, (8)
This god makes nothing but noise
finally. (4)
15 Unlike 7, this might imply a rela-
tively slow beat. )
17 Paine’s was to do good.
18 A broken arm wants a perjured wit-
ness to set it. (5, 3
21 See 4 down.
22 Bow with a roguish appearance. (4)
24 When someone like Lafitte doesn’t
have a soft spot he’s just plain
angry! (5)
eo oN &
B
SOLUTION TO PUZZLE No, 457
ACROSS :—5 PULSATE; 9 UPNWND: 10
STOCKYARD; 11 KISS; 12 SALAMANDHR:
j4 STWP IN; 15 DENOUNCE; 17 NUT
SHELL; 19 MANTIS; 22, 23, 6, 1 across HULL
HATH NO FURY LIKW A WOMAN
SCORNED; 26 TREMULOUS; 27 ANTIC;
93 CUTTERS; 29 ENTREAT
DOWN :—1 SHU CK; 2 O¥ERSED
4 DISBAR;: 5 PROBATES: 7 ABANDONS
PNDORSERS; 13 LIGHTHOUSE; 14 SYN-
THE os 16 I ACHT. 18 TALLEST; 20
TRUSTEE T; 2 an
AND SEE. ae WAIT
.
ground rules.” Address
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Me Truman, a. Aside—an Fditorial
A bel J, 1952
Joe McCarthy i in|
W isconsin
BY WILLIAM T. EVJUE
—and at Princeton
BY KARL E. MEYER
+
| Impressions of New China
BY V. K. R. V. RAO
; VOTE YOUR CHOICE
FOR PRESIDENT! neg
CENTS A COPY + EVERY WEEK SINCE 1865 - 7 DOLLARS A YEAR
a
The Goulding Case
UL W. GOULDING, for ten
years a member of the faculty gf
Nazareth (Pennsylvania) Area High
School, recently submitted his resigna-
tion to the school committee rather than
sign the loyalty oath passed last year by
the state legislature.
Mr. Goulding is a Quaker, is married,
and has three children. Fortunately, he
will still be able to provide for his
family, for he has been offered a posi-
tion at the Abington Friends School near
Philadelphia. But he will sacrifice a
thousand dollars a year in income. He
chooses to pay that price rather than
conform to a law which he says carries
the “‘superficial and unreal implication
that we have only to close our minds to
communism in order to save America.”
Mr. Goulding taught seniors at
Nazareth in a course called ‘Problems
in Democracy” which ait across many
fields of thought in the social sciences.
His methods were much admired by his
colleagues. He turned his class into
something like a forum in order to
elicit student opinion of all shades.
Before deciding to give up his post
at Nazareth, Goulding carefully weighed
many factors, not the least of which
were economic. In a statement to the
press he said: “Frankly, I don’t know
whether I would have had the courage
to refuse to sign the oath if I had not
had another position open to me.” His
opportunities were narrowly limited by
his act, for he could hardly find em-
ployment in the public schools of any
state, whether or not it requires an
~ eath of loyalty of public servants.
The Pennsylvania oath requires all
persons in state- or local-government
employ to pledge allegiance to the Con-
stitution and laws of the United States
and Pennsylvania and to swear that they
are not, and during the period of their
employment with state or local govern-
ment will not become, members of any
organization advocating overthrow of
the government by force or other un-
constitutional means.
What were Mr. Goulding’s reasons
for refusing to sign this oath? He
has answered that question for us:
I think that each one of us must follow
his own conscience. Mine was not a snap
decision. I have followed this trend to<
ward regimentation, and I am unable to
continue to conform to this kind of pres-
sure in public schools.
That the actual words of the Penn-
sylvania loyalty oath are relatively in-
nocuous is a tribute to the resistance by
a free people and their representatives
against coercive forces that would cast
our very thoughts in a mold of con-
formity, mechanization, and violence. In ~
spirit, however, the oath is one of several
instruments by which we are being “per-
suaded” that totalitarian regimentation
must be met by totalitarian, one hundred
per cent Americanism. In a day when the
impulse to conform, to acquiesce, to go
along is the instrument used in subjecting
men to dictatorial rule throughout the
world, nonconformity—with a religious
motivation—becomes a means of preserv-
ing the dignity of mankind,
F. A. Marcks, superintendent of
Nazareth schools, commented:
This man-is certainly no Communist or
subversive. He may be over-sensitive. The
law itself may be futile, but we have no
choice in the matter. He must take the
oath or leave his post. We are going
through what might be called an epi-
demic of loyalty oaths, and in time we
may recover a little more of our perspec-
tive. A Communist might well be ex-
pected to take such an oath without
qualm. Mr. Goulding has indicated that
he cannot conscientiously take the oath,
His attitude is one of protest against what
he calls regimentation by influences work-
ing together to deprive us of our free-
dom. His protest recalls the fable of the
oak and the reed. The oak refused to
bend before the prevailing wind and
was broken. The reed bent and stayed.
Of course, the attitude of bowing to the
prevailing wind can be carried too far.
Marcks admits we have lost our
perspective and thinks we may tecover
it in time. Mr. Goulding, having fol-
lowed the trend toward regimentation in
the public schools, doubts our chance of
recovering it. At what point Marcks
believes we might bow too far to the
prevailing wind he does not say. Mr.
Goulding makes his position clear by
the very act of resigning.
The reactions of Nazareth residents to
Mr. Goulding’s refusal to take the oath
showed a virtually unanimous belief in
his sincerity of purpose and his courage;.
members of organizations instrumental
in securing the loyalty legislation even
revealed something approaching a sense
of guilt. For them it was one thing
to go on record as indorsing the Amet+ —
icanism represented by the statute; it —
was another thing when a quiet, te —
spected school teacher suddenly tem —
minated his relationship with the com-
munity because his conscience would not
let him acquiesce in what they looked
upon as a simple oath of loyalty.
The president of the Lions Club said
Mr. Goulding had great courage, and he
felt certain that “state and nation were
behind him.” Several people thought
that if he “did it on account of his
religion, it was all right.” Surprisingly,
the V. F. W. post commander said
Mr. Goulding “had every right to re-
fuse to sign the oath,” and added that
he “agreed in part” with the attitude
of teachers toward the oath.
As a result of the pressure exerted
by certain groups which have made
themselves the custodians of American
democracy, Paul W. Goulding must
leave Nazareth. Once again, in a blind
attempt to destroy something which it
fears because it does not understand it,
an American community has lost the
services of a man of talent, sterling hon-
esty, and great courage.
RICHARD STROTHER COOLEY
[Mr. Cooley ag eee a :
Bethlehem ~ vg hale ae
Times. } = <
Introducit,
Beginning z
tion will pu
litical profiles
been mentic ; ; ;
Presidential “2 PC ee Le
will be of Gets oe Fa See
son of Illino = ice
veteran Chic;
uled for the A eet i ok ee
of The Nation will be a study "of
Justice William O. Douglas by Fred
Rodell of the Yale University Law
School, and one of Estes Kefauver
by Charles Bartlett of the Wash-
ington Bureau of the Chattanooga,
Tennessee, Times. Profiles of Gen-
eral Eisenhower, Senator Taft, Gov-
ernor Warren, and others are now
in preparation, ae
Get to know your next Presi- |
‘dent through The Nation!
VOLUME 174
a
a
Ihe Shape of Things
SOMEWHERE ON THIS EARTH THERE IS A
congenial home for the follower of every political
‘philosophy save the anti-Nazi. He alone has become a
kind of international outlaw, a pariah as unwelcome now
on the other side of the Elbe as he has long been on this.
So much emerges unmistakably from the Soviet proposal
‘that “‘all former members of the German army, including
Officers and generals, and all former Nazis” should have
the right to participate in the building of a united “demo-
‘cfatic peace-loving Germany.” The Russians propose
urther that Germany, having achieved democracy and a
‘state of peace-lovingness with the aid of former S. S.
Brigadenfihrers and general staff officers, be permitted
to have its own “army, navy, and air forces.” The moral
‘obtuseness of these proposals are unfortunately paral-
leled in the West’s answer. True, we did not bother to
promise jobs to ex-Nazis, but that was because we have
been giving them jobs for years—for example, see Mr.
_ del Vayo’s story on page 318. But we share with Russia
_ afervid desire to rearm the Germans, except naturally we
want them to fight on our side. So we offer the Germans,
instead oftheir old gray-green uniforms of unhappy
'_ memory, the more-colorful garb of the European army—
| British cloth, perhaps, with a French cut to the jacket
and more than a touch of American in the pockets. Both
_ sides offer all-German elections, but only under condi-
,tions—again naturally—which would assure predeter-
-~ mined results. The exchange of notes are further moves
_ in the courtship of a Fraiilein whose “yes,” The Nation
! is convinced, will make the successful suitor an even
b .unhappier man than the rejected one.
. +
BY FILING AN ACTION FOR LIBEL, SENATOR
McCarthy has upset our prediction of last week that he
would not accept the challenge to test in court the truth
of Senator Benton’s charges against him. But Joe’s latest
move is probably not so much an act of brashness as
one of desperation. In an election year he simply could
mot afford to ignore Benton’s charges indefinitely. By
filing the suit he obviously hopes to stall the investigation
f the charges by the Senate subcommittee on elections
and to create the impression that he is “fighting back.”
NEW YORK + SATURDAY «+ APRIL 5, 1952
AMERICA’S LEADING LIBERAL WEEKLY SINCE 1865
NuMBER 14
But the point to note is that McCarthy remains on the
defensive. By forcing him to act Senator Benton has
kept his charges current. He has insisted on an early trial
and has driven McCarthy to say that he too wants an
early trial. Thus it is clear that McCarthy has not only
failed to regain the offensive but has been driven into
a corner from which he is now trying to escape. He
has simply underscored the weakness of his case by
saying that Benton’s charges would never have been made
had it not been for his, McCarthy’s, attacks on “Commu-
nists in government.” If he has no better defense than
this, he might as well drop the libel action now.
+
JOE McCARTHY DISPLAYS A CURIOUS TALENT
for getting hold of other people’s mail. A University
of Minnesota student wrote to Myles McMillan, political
editor of the Madison Captial Times, asking him to sug-
gest some questions to ask McCarthy when McCarthy
spoke at the university on March 8. The speech was
given, and at its conclusion, before any questions could ~
be asked from the floor, McCarthy read aloud a garbled
version of the student’s letter. What's interesting is that
McMillan had never received the letter, although the
student swears that it was properly addressed, stamped,
and posted. A week later McCarthy spoke before
the Young Republicans of Dane County in Madison,
Wisconsin; this time McMillan was in the audience.
Again McCarthy, at the close of his speech, began to
read the letter. Interrupting from the floor, McMillan
explained that, although the letter was addressed to him,
he had never received it; charged that McCarthy had
read a garbled version of it the previous week; and de-
manded that the letter be shown to him as its legal
owner, But McCarthy refused to yield the document;
instead, turning to the audience, he said slyly that from
time to time he “borrowed” material from Time and the
files of the Institute of Pacific Relations, the implication
being that he had “borrowed” McMilian’s letter too.
McMillan has entered a formal complaint with the postal
authorities; “borrowing” other people’s mail can be a ~
criminal offense. Members of the Senate enjoy many
pfivileges, including access to documents not normally
available to the public. But when a Senator turns up
in possession of a letter which the addressee swears he
™~
E rs wi
og at ee oe
t*
*
ot CVX eee ie ee ee
° IN THIS ISSUE
EDITORIALS
The Shape of Things 309
The Wilson Fiasco 311
Mr. Truman Steps Aside 312
ARTICLES
Joe McCarthy in Wisconsin by William T. Evjue 315
McCarthy at Princeton by Karl E. Meyer 316
~ Rebirth of the Nazi International
by J. Alvarez del Vayo 318
Impressions of New China by V.K.R.V. Rao 320
Experiment in Industrial Democracy
by Fritz Sternberg 322
The Crusade Against Bridges by Fowler Harper 323
The Saga of Goa by Mario Rossi 326
BOOKS AND THE ARTS
Notes by the Way by Margaret Marshall $27
Personal Chronicle by S. K. Ratcliffe 328
Dr. Hayes on Spain by Thomas J. Hamilton 329
More Than One Way 6y Barbara Cadbury 330
Epic in Technicolor by Harvey Swados 331
Books in Brief 331
Films by Manny Farber 332
Records by B. H. Haggin 333
LETTERS TO THE EDITORS 335
CROSSWORD PUZZLE No. 459
by Frank W. Lewis opposite 336
EDITORIAL BOARD
Editor and Publisher: Freda Kirchwey
Editorial Director Director, Nation Associates
Carey McWilliams Lillie Shultz
Managing Editor: Victor H. Bernstein
Foreign Editor Literary Editor
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Financial Editor: Keith Hutchison
Drama: Joseph Wood Krutch Music: B. H. Haggin
Assistant Editor: Charles R. Allen, Jr.
Copy Editor: Gladys Whiteside
Assistant Literary Editor: Caroline Whiting
“ Staff Contributors
Andrew Roth, Alexander Werth, Howard K. Smith, Carolus
Business Manager: Hugo Van Arx
Advertising Manager: Mary Simon
The Nation, published weekly and copyright, 1952, in the
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Entered as second-class matter, December 13, 1879, at the Post Office
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a a j
310
Perhaps
able to induce McCarthy to explain this mystery when, —
if ever, it holds hearings on Senator Benton's resolution
calling for his colleague's ouster. In the meantime, all
critics of the gentleman from Wisconsin had better keep
a sharp eye on their private mail,
+
FRANCO'S INTENTION TO BLACKMAIL THE .
United States into giving him the maximum number of'
dollars for the minimum amount of military help was:
confirmed by the aloof and almost indifferent attitude of
the authorities when the new American ambassador, Lin-
coln MacVeagh, presented his credentials in Madrid.
While the humorous Madrilenos were saying “this is not
the Lincoln who liberated the slaves,” the official recep- *
tion was much cooler and less lavish than on the ar- |
rival of Stanton Griffis. “The general impression,”
wrote the New York Times correspondent, “is that of
subtle snubbing of the United States.” The snubbing was
made even sharper by the absence of Foreign Minister,
Artajo, who, instead of remaining in Madrid to wel-
come the new ambassador and open the long-awaited
negotiations with him and the American military mis-
sion, had departed on a much-publicized tour of the Arab
countries. Franco's idea is to create the impression that
he has the entire Arab world in his pocket and thus
still further improve his bargaining position. The ar-
rogant attitude of Madrid might well lead President Tru-
man and the State Department to reconsider their policy
toward Spain, especially since Admiral Fechteller de-
dared in a Congressional hearing on March 27 that
Spanish bases were not essential to this country’s defense
plans. wa
SERETSE KHAMA, SUSPENDED CHIEF OF THE
Bamangwatos, largest tribe in the British Protectorate
of Bechuanaland, is to be permanently barred from
power. This decision of Lord Salisbury, Tory Secretary
of Commonwealth Affairs, compounds the error of his
Labor predecessor, who banished Seretse from the
Bamangwato reserve for five years. It will be regarded
by native Africans from the Gold Coast to the Cape as
unwarranted interference in tribal affairs inspired by a |
desire to appease South African champions of white
supremacy. Seretse’s offense is marriage to a white
woman. This, Lord Salisbury maintains, is a violation
~ of tribal Jaw that disqualifies him from the chieftainship,
But as his junior in the House of Commons was forced
to admit, the Bamangwato have accepted the marriage
and in several tribal meetings have asked for Seretse’s re-
turn. The fact is that it is not tribal law or custom that
has been outraged but white taboos. In the Union of
South Africa the fear of miscegenation is such that not
The NATION |i:
rely punished, “Thus the British Be parent is afraid
fcountenance the mixed marriage of a chief in ter-
itory bordering and economically dependent on South
Africa, whose Nationalists have long claimed the right to
“rule Bechuanaland and two other native enclaves which
remained subject to the British crown when South
Africa became a dominion. Yet it ought to be dear by
now that Britain cannot appease the Malan government
of South Africa without alienating native opinion in
other parts of the continent that are moving irresistibly
toward self-government.
*
E RY W. GRUNEWALD, “MYSTERY” FIGURE
in the investigation of the Bureau of Internal Revenue,
becomes a little less mysterious with each new phase of
the investigation. When it was revealed that Grunewald
had made contributions to the Democratic Nationa] Com-
Mn ittee, the Senate’s Republican leaders clucked pious dis-
approval. But it now appears that Grunewald was oa
equally good terms with the high command of the Re-
publican Party. Senator Owen Brewster used him as “a
ind of conduit” to funnel contributions of $5,000 each
‘0 Senators Milton Young and Richard Nixon. He also
dmits having known Grunewald for “a good while’; in
act, Grunewald has called at his office as often as two or
three times a month over a period of several years. The
Republican leader of the Senate, Styles Bridges, also
knew Grunewald well enough to intervene in a $7,000,-
000 tax case at his request. It should now be fairly
clear that the “mystery” never really existed. For ex-
ample, there is no mystery about the large sums which
Grunewald listed in his tax return as “brokerage fees
and commission’’ but which he now says were really
winnings from gambling, “primarily on horses.” Grune-
wald seems to have been the kind of gambler who bet on
both political horses, the Democratic and the Republican.
The Wilson Fiasco
HE responsibility for a steel strike, if one occurs,
will rest directly upon the President’s ill-chosen, in-
| competent ex-mobilization director, Charles E. Wilson.
Although officially withdrawn, Wilson’s petulant criti-
isms of the Wage Stabilization Board’s recommenda-
ions in the steel-wage dispute obviously stimulated the
‘industry to resist the proposals and in effect invited the
‘\ffteel operators to force a strike to force the government
nto a stiff price increase. For this disservice to the coun-
y, among others, Wilson’s resignation over the week-
nd was accepted at the White House.
) Two issues were involved: (1) whether the Wage
Board’s steel proposals were in fact equitable and ap-
“April 5, 1952
t
:
.- tad (2) whether Wilson, even if the pfo-
posals were faulty, had not shown himself, once too often,
incapable of mastering the social and political overtones
of economic mobilization in a democracy.
Nathan P. Feinsinger, chairman of the Wage Stabili-
zation Board, truthfully said that the steel-wage pro-
posals were reasonable. When price controls are shot
through with loopholes deliberately created by Congress,
wage stabilization cannot mean a wage freeze. The most
liberal interpretation of W. S. B. regulations on cost-of-
living wage adjustments would have given the steel
workers substantially more than the 15-cents-an-hour
basic increase the board recommended. W. S. B. pro-
cedures have always provided for correction of inequities,
It was an inequity for steel workers not to have been paid
holidays when other industrial workers had them, and
six paid holidays a year was the principal “fringe” bene-
fit allowed by the wage board.
The broader question was Wilson’s bias and malevo-
lent ignorance whenever he was forced to deal with a
question involving labor. If he believed the wage pro-
posals seriously threatened our economy he should have
used a little tact and discrimination, He could have called
in Philip Murray, president of the United Steelworkers.
He could have tried to argue his case with Roger L. Put-
man, stabilization director, with Ellis Arnall, price direc-
tor, and with Feinsinger.
Instead, Wilson ran up to New York to discuss matters
with the masters of the steel industry, went to Key West
to talk to Truman, returned to Washington to issue pub-
lic denunciations of the proposed settlement. Having
provoked the fiery retort from Murray that the unions
would not cooperate with the Wage Board if Wilson
could arbitrarily dismiss its findings as false and wicked,
Wilson belatedly tried to climb off his high horse. By
that time he was confronted not only with labor’s boycott
threat but with the possible resignation of the public
members of the W. S. B., and of Putman and Arnall as
well, none of whom were willing to be exposed to snap-
judgment repudiations when they were working in good
faith to get a practical answer to wage and price questions.
Of course, Wilson said, the W. S. B. is a “duly consti-
tuted” body with authority to handle wage questions; its
proposals should naturally be considered the “basis” for
settling the steel-wage dispute. But he made these admis-
sions only after he was driven to them by the explosive
reaction of Murray and the board’s public members,
only after he had given aid and comfort to the steel in-
dustry if it chose to resist the board’s proposals, only
after encouraging the anti-labor majority of the House
Rules Committee to clamor for an “investigation” de-
signed to assist the companies.
The question of prices is and always has been the
major issue in the steel dispute. But the companies want
more than a price rise: they want undiminished profits
311
i
Wan b is
py Wi;
x ad — atts ee eS $
engl es F 2th is Tolan: | ™
i ‘ ra =e OR rt) py) ean
ue
a bel
y :
ran ¥ : Tak
1 ae
just this kind of “relief” or to induce a strike by whit-
tling down the wage-board proposals—after the union
has four times voluntarily postponed its deadline to give
the W. S. B. a chance to act.
The President's letter accepting Wilson's resignation
gives the gist of the dispute in the following words: “As
far as steel prices are concerned, it is true that I agreed
to a ‘possible necessity’ of allowing some price increase.
. . . Such a determination should obviously be made only
after a thorough examination of the facts. For example,
it seems to me to be quite material and important that the
profits of the steel industry are continuing at extraordi-
_ fatily high levels—that their profits amount to a good
many times as much as any increased costs they would
incur under the recommendations of the Wage Stabiliza-
tion Board.”
Mr. Truman Steps Aside
HE timing and occasion of the President's announce-
ment that he is not a candidate surprised nearly
everyone, but his withdrawal itself is no surprise, Mr.
Truman has not been acting like a candidate for months.
The most significant aspect of the announcement was the
flat statement: ‘I shall not accept renomination.” Clearly
the President's decision is irreversible. He will not be
drafted; he will not reconsider; he cannot undo what he
has done. This means, of course, that the race for the
Democratic nomination is now wide open.
The tardiness of the President’s statement confronts
liberal elements in the Democratic Party with a major
crisis, In the first place, Mr. Truman has now lost, if he
ever possessed, the power to name the candidate. It has
never been easy for an incumbent—even a popular in-
cumbent—to handpick his successor. Mr. Truman is not
a popular incumbent and he has permitted the control of
the delegations to get completely out of his hand.
Consider, for example, the chaotic political scene in
California, After months of painful negotiation a unity
slate was finally assembled. It must be assumed that Mr.
Truman was informed of every detail of these negotia-
tions and that he approved the plan of uniting the Roose-
_ velt and Pauley elements—the left and the right—in a
pro-Iruman delegation, Yet in the wake of the Minne-
_sota and New Hampshire primaries he suddenly in-
sisted (March 19) that the delegation must disband.
Now, with the deadline rapidly approaching, a single
delegation has been entered, one pledged to Senator
Kefauver. A politician of Mr. Truman’s experience does
not present an upstart rival with the California delega-
tion unless he has some compelling reason, Either Mr.
Truman was afraid that he might suffer a humiliating
defeat in the California primary or the size of the write-
in vote for Eisenhower in Minnesota convinced him that
512
Ve
Ay) ig z
PET oe
<4 | We
after taxes, and Wilson has encouraged them to demand
a candidate of whom he disapproved, Thus choke in
think that it will be easy for Mr. Truman to hand the
nomination to, say, Governor Stevenson, had better re-
survey the situation. .,
Now that Mr. Truman has withdrawn, the pre-conyen-
tion bargaining will really start..The outcome will be |
largely determined of course by the way in which each ,
of the various groups making up the Democratic coalition’ ‘
appraises the relative strength of the other groups, alone
and in combination. The Southern Bourbons are at the
present time the best-organized; in fact, they hold the
initiative. The Bourbons no longer have any reason to
fear the Republican Party, Not one candidate for the Re-
publican nomination even vaguely threatens “white su- ,
premacy.” On the other hand, the power of the South in '
the Democratic Party has increased since 1948—witness .
the conciliatory attitude which Senators Douglas and.
Humphrey have lately shown on civil rights. To be sure, -
the Negro vote in the key states is as important as it was *
in 1948 but the bargaining position of the Negro has
deteriorated, No one knew in 1948 how many Negroes
might vote for Henry Wallace if the Democrats failed to
adopt a militant civil-rights program, But the Negro vote —
is not likely to swing to Taft, and it is difficult to imagine
Warren or Stassen or Eisenhower becoming passionate
advocates of civil rights overnight. The Bourbons know —
exactly what they want—a “compromise” nominee for
the Presidency who is “reasonable” about civil rights, the
Vice-Presidency, restoration of the two-thirds’ rule, pro-
tection of seniority in Congress, and more power for the
South in the councils of the party. In a wide-open con-
vention, the Bourbons can make deals right and left;
their compactness will give them great bargaining —
strength. Right now the Bourbons are odds-on favorites
to win a strategic victory in Chicago. Only some counter- ‘J
vailing power can offset their tactical advantage. What
the liberals need, above all, is a left wing within the
party. Without a left flank of some kind they can exhort
and argue but they are captives; they have no alterna-
tive.
Furthermore, the liberal elements of the Democratic
coalition have been weakened by the witch hunt which
has driven men like Frank Graham and Claude Pepper
from elective office and chased most of the liberals from’
~ Washington. Immobilized, demoralized, disunited, they
have lost the initiative, For years these elements relied
on the magic of Roosevelt’s name and his political skill;
since his death they have coasted along with Truman—
for the ride. Collectively they possess great power, but
they lack the habit of united action, Each individual
organization knows what it wants and will have spokes-
men at Chicago to suggest excellent planks for the Dem-
candidate, a ‘stator, and a seer. they are
be outmaneuvered by the Bourbons and their
lies. The danger is not that the Bourbons will bolt but
that they will win most of their objectives by astute bar-
gain in 2.
| The ctisis faced by the liberal elements is enhanced
by reason of the fact that General Eisenhower is precisely
he kind of candidate who, if nominated by the Republi-
cans, will draw votes from every element making up the
pid Roosevelt coalition. It will be relatively easy for
Republican therapists to induce large sections of an anx-
pus public to transfer their affection and loyalty for the
Roosevelt father-image to the symbol of the friendly,
warm-hearted General. Unless prompt action is
taken, moreover, there will be a strong tendency for cer-
t2 si elements of the old coalition, specifically in the labor
movement, to climb aboard the Eisenhower bandwagon
and to make deals while they can be made. If Eisenhower
S nominated, he will not be defeated by a Democrat
Micise principal virtue is his general “acceptability” to all
_ elements of the party. Only a candidate who offers a real
| alternative to the General’s point of view and program is
ikely to defeat him.
In the wide-open fight that has now developed, the
Democratic convention can easily be deadlocked. Kefau-
ver, Russell, and Kerr will control important delegations,
d much of the remaining strength will be par-
eled out to tenacious favorite-son candidates. With many
_ explosive issues certain to arise—civil rights is one—the
I / convention may have to look around for a dark horse
' Candidate. While there are not many dark horses in the
Trank
}
i cE
2
|
7
OTE NOW FOR
YOUR CHOICE
FOR PRESIDENT
ct atic Feiiuee these days, there are some that offer
attractive possibilities from the point of view of the
Bourbons and their allies—for example, a Paul oh Does
Richard Russell ticket.
Faced with this emergency, what should the liberal ia
the Democratic coalition do? Organized groups should,
first of all, take polls to find out, if possible, the kind of
candidate their members really want (see page 314 of
this issue). Secondly, the leaders of these organizations
should immediately get together for the purpose of work-
ing out a strategy and platform and agreeing, if possible,
upon a candidate. If they do this, the liberal elements
can have a decisive influence in the convention even if
they control no delegations; for no Democratic nominee
can hope to win without the support of such groups as
the A. F, of L., the C. I. O., the Farmers’ Union, the
United Mine Workers, and the Railroad Brotherhoods.
If the Democratic Party is not to fall apart at the seams,
or to be taken over completely by a fusion of conservative
Northerners and Southerners, the liberal wing must re-
gain the initiative. The objective cannot be the selection
of a “harmony” slate that will “hold the party together”;
already this theme is being ballyhooed far and wide as
the major task of the convention. The Bourbons are much
too strong today, in alliance with other conservative ele-
ments in the party, to be held in line by a few minor
concessions. Concessions and compromises will not hold
the Democratic Party together; only a candidate and pro-
gram that will capture the imagination of the people can
serve the purpose. For this is 1952, and the world moves.
The Democrats must not compromise with those
“dinosaurs” of whom the President spoke; they must find
a road to the future.
(Turn This Page)
313
4
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. at th
N THE last few weeks The Nation’s readers have
been firing questions at us: What kind of President
does the country need in this year of decision? Will the
candidates chosen in the Chicago conventions truly re-
_ flect the people’s wishes? Will liberals have any say in
the matter? Can they even make known their prefer-
ences? How can we assure the selection of candidates
who will offer the people a real choice?
To these readers—to all our readers—we say: who is
your candidate? And to enable you to answer that ques-
tion simply and directly, we have prepared the ballot
printed below.
This is your opportunity to make your choice known.
The American electoral process puts up many bar-
riers between you and the chance to vote for the man you
want: a tangle of conflicting state laws governing the
selection of convention delegates; the power of political
machines and pressure groups; the ability of the mass
communications media to mold opinion,
INSTRUCTIONS
1, All ballots must be mailed not later than April 25 and should be addressed to: POLL EDITOR, THE
20 VESEY STREET, NEW YORK 7, NEW YORK.
2. You may vote for your first and second choice irrespective of the column in which the names appear,
but only two choices may be indicated. Use the figures I and 2 to indicate your first and second choice.
NATION.
3. Knowing that every copy of The Nation is read by more than one reader, we have printed extra ballots,
one of which we will send to any individual who requests it in writing before April 19.
YOUR BALLOT
The Nation’s PREFERENTIAL BALLOT FOR PRESIDENT
to be mailed not later than April 25 to POLL EDITOR,
THE NATION, 20 Vesey Street, New York 7, New York
Vote for any two, indicating fwst and second choices: 3
DEMOCRATIC REPUBLICAN
William O, Douglas 0 Dwight D. Eisenhower []
Estes Kefauver Cj Douglas MacArthur EF]
Robert S. Kerr O Harold E. Stassen Cy
Richard B. Russell TO Robert A. Taft CO
Adlai B. Stevenson | Earl Warren rea
Alben W. Barkley CO ”
é Write-ins
e My state is ee
7 I am a Republican [] (Please Check)
Democrat []
PBA
Vor Your’ Ch S /
The only way you can register your preference is
through the informal poll. The remaining primaries, like
many which have already taken place, offer but a limited
range of choice. Many states have no primaries at all. We —
don't pretend that informal polls will be a decisive face
tor at the nominating conventions. But they can influence ©
the platforms adopted and the candidates considered, __ :
In any case, the people's preferences should be re- |
corded, Fill out and return immediately the ballot below. —
Urge other readers to mail their ballots. You need not
sign your name. Space is provided for a “write-in can- |
didate in case your own preference is not on our list.
Nation readers form an important country-wide audi- i
ence. If enough of you mark and return these ballots to
give a good sampling, the results can have weight. The ©
larger the return, the more interest and influence the ‘
poll will have, This is your chance to tell not merely us |
but the politicians and the country at large who you think ©
should be the next President of the United States, >a 3
/
(any other)
: a sy. ‘ *:
Pa» ML. ee aa
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‘ Madison, Wisconsin
XV/T ISCONSIN is taking seriously the accounting it
must make to the nation this year for electing
Joseph R. McCarthy to the United States Senate in 1946
and for giving the nation the ugly cult of McCarthyism.
__ Somewhat more than two years ago McCarthy began
"his rampage in a speech at Wheeling, West Virginia, in
which he charged that he held in his hand the names of
_ 205 Communists in the State Department who were
| working there with the knowledge of Secretary Acheson.
Like the rest of the country, Wisconsin was stunned and
‘puzzled by his reckless charges. Even the people who
__ knew him best and had come to expect the worst were
mystified, What was he up to now? they asked. They
‘knew that he had been pretty thoroughly discredited in
_the state. A succession of revelations which broke after
his election in 1946—including his failure to report
~ $42,000 of his 1943 income to state tax authorities, a dis-
_ barment recommendation brought by the state Board of
_ Bar Commissioners, and the finding of the Supreme
Court that he had violated the Constitution, the laws, the
legal code of ethics, and his oath as a judge and lawyer—
‘ added up to a record which seriously weakened his posi-
__ tion at home.
; In late 1949 and early 1950 Republican politicians
__ casting about for a possible weak spot in the organization
| which they could take advantage of to satisfy their own
| ambitions leoked hopefully toward 1952, when Mc-
1 ‘Carthy would have to face reelection. They looked be-
| yond 1950, when the state’s senior Senator, Alexander
| Wiley, would be up for reelection. The situation was
|. summed up by one prominent Republican with Sena-
| torial ambitions in a remark to newsmen: “J think I could
_ take Wiley, but I'll wait for the easy one in 1952.”
, In February, 1950, McCarthy opened his anti-Commu-
| nist campaign. It caught the Republican leaders in Wis-
| consin by surprise, and for some time they maintained
4° a discreet silence. Soon, however, it became obvious that
\ McCarthy’s gamble to rehabilitate his political prestige
| was working. In the atmosphere of suspicion and fear
"hanging over the country his campaign caught on and
“spread, Anti-communism was not a new issue to Wiscon-
1 sin Republicans; they had been using it for years against
| the La Follettes and Roosevelt. But McCarthy had added
| a dash of reckless irresponsibility which made it look
like a new formula for political dynamite.
7
;
i WILLIAM T. EVJUE is the editor of the Madison Capital
Ts
ed é
April 5,1952
Ne
~
x
/isconsin
tr
BY WILLIAM T. EVJUE
The inferiority complex of the national Democratic
Administration helped to make the concoction even
more formidable, There was obviously no disposition in
either the executive branch or the Senate to clear the
decks and take on this demagogue who was using his
ptivileged position in the Senate to destroy reputations ©
and damage national prestige abroad. I was in Washing-
ton in the summer of 1950 and was astounded at the ter-
ror a poolroom politician from my home state could
instil in men holding responsible positions in the gov-
ernment. The President tried to ignore him. The State
Department could do no more than act injured, Senators
sat mute as he brought the tactics of the gutter brawler
into the chamber and made a shambles of the Senate’s
dignity. He had only to speak, and the newspapers
opened up their front pages and radio its air lanes.
The hate groups and the malcontents rallied to him
without waiting to see whether he could get away with
it. As soon as it became obvious that he could, the big
and wise money went on his nose. When McCarthy re-
turned to Wisconsin in the early summer of 1950 to
address the state Republican convention the word had
gone down: “This is our boy.” In consequence he got a
roaring welcome and an indorsement of his campaign
without dissent.
As McCarthyism grew and spread throughout Wiscon-
sin, I could recall only one thing similar to it in the his-
tory of the state. It had all the characteristics of the
campaign of persecution carried on against citizens sus-
pected of “pro-Germanism’”’ when the hysteria of the First
World War was at its height. In those days it was as dan-
gerous to be suspected of “‘pro-Germanism” as it is today
to be suspected of communism, I recall them vividly,
having lived through them as a supporter of the elder
Senator La Follette and having felt the sting of the ad-
vertising and circulation boycotts organized against the
fledgling Capital Times in Madison by the souped-up
patriots of that period. It is significant, incidentally, that
McCarthy and his latter-day patriots have urged a boy-
cott against the Capital Times because of its opposition to
McCarthyism, the first publication in the country to be
so distinguished.
In the days of “pro-Germanism” hysteria it was only
necessary to start a rumor questioning the loyalty of a
citizen and he would find his house or barn daubed with
yellow paint. La Follette was the target of the same
charges of disloyalty as are hurled at Acheson, Jes-
sup, and Marshall today. But that hysteria spent itself —
against the fundamental good sense of the people, In
315
1922 La Follette, the symbol which it had attacked,
was reelected to the Senate by an unprecedented majority.
The difference between the two situations is of course
great. La Follette used his position in the Senate to fight
against the hysteria, McCarthy is using his to fan it into
new fury and to exploit for his political advantage. There
ate signs, however, that McCarthyism is spending itself.
For one thing, Washington shows a greater disposition
to carry the fight to him. Senator Benton’s resolution
questioning his fitness to serve in the Senate could be a
valuable offensive weapon against him if the rest of the
Senate had the courage Benton displayed in introducing
Sie oat, {See page 309 of this issue for editorial comment on
McCarthy’s libel suit against Benton. }
This advantage will probably be lost through the
_ timidity of Senator Gillette, chairman of the Rules Com-
mittee, and the refusal of progressives like Douglas,
Humphrey, O'Mahoney, Fulbright, and others to depart
from the ridiculous patterns of conduct called “Senatorial
courtesy.” The President, who in the summer of 1950
seemed afraid even to recognize McCarthy's existence,
_ thas spoken out with more courage than most of the Sen-
ate liberals. But the Democratic National Committee,
which has done nothing to justify its existence since
McCarthyism became a part of the national vocabulary,
is still in the storm cellar.
HERE are signs that the people here are catching
up with McCarthy, He is running into the beginning
of the “big doubt,” which he exploited so shrewdly to
defeat Tydings in Maryland. It is not a “big doubt” yet,
but it is growing. It showed itself in the last session of
the legislature when a young Republican Assemblyman
introduced a resolution for an amendment to the legisla-
_ tive-immunity clause of the state constitution. The
amendment was debated on a pro- and anti-McCarthy
basis and was defeated by the Republicans, but it pulled
six Republican votes in the Assembly and all the Demo-
cratic votes except one which has since turned Republi-
. can, ;
Unlike the 1950 Republican convention, the 1951
convention saw some determined delegates take the floor
to speak against a resolution indorsing McCarthy. When
they were booed down by the McCarthyites, Governor
_ Walter Kohler denounced the un-American conduct of
_ the McCarthy supporters, Kohler seemed to be preparing
- himself to lead the opposition to McCarthy. On his
return from a European tour last fall he announced
that he was contemplating running for the Senate. His
statement gave great impetus to the efforts to retire Mc-
Carthy, particularly after subsequent polls indicated that
he would win in a primary contest. Since then, however,
Kohler, who is not a political leader of strong convic-
tions, has collapsed under pressure from party bosses and
announced that he will seek reelection as governor,
316
hind the Dixiecrats as well as Dewey. These things make
thes thi: mentions the names of for
mer Governor Oscar Rennebohm; Leonard Schmitt, a
young Republican attorney who has been leading the
fight against the present bosses of the party; and Delbert *
Kenny, a prominent Republican once indorsed by the —
party for governor but later double-crossed. The candi- *
dacy of state Senator Chester Dempsey, which was an- ~
nounced some time ago, is taken seriously by no one but.
Dempsey. One Democratic candidate, Henry Reuss of
Milwaukee, has announced, He is conducting a vigorous
campaign, but the party is not agreed that he is the,
strongest possible candidate, and there is still a chance
that others may enter. ‘
One thing that makes it difficult to gauge the senti-
ment about McCarthy is the prevailing atmosphere of hys-
teria and intimidation, which is not conducive to the free
expression of opinion against him, The pro-McCarthy
forces, on the other hand, with the Chamber of Com- —
merce, American Legion, and knife-and-fork-club crowd ~
offering ready-made forums, are very articulate. The anti-
McCarthy people were recently given a demonstration of .
what they can expect when a group of Republicans, inde-
pendents, and Democrats at Wisconsin Rapids sponsored
a newspaper advertisement criticizing the Senator. A few |
days later McCarthy dived into his fox-hole of immunity |
in the Senate and charged that Philleo Nash, a Presiden-
tial aide and the brother of Jean Nash, one of the
sponsors of the advertisement was a Communist, The —
Nash family are well-to-do, highly respectable cranberry
farmers at Wisconsin Rapids,
The hysteria responsible for McCarthyism is clearly on
the wane in Wisconsin. Whether it is diminishing rapidly —
enough for Wisconsin to right the wrong it did the
nation in 1946 is a question that cannot now be answered,
McCarthy at Princeton
BY KARL E, MEYER
Princeton, New Jersey
OTHING red is in evidence at Princeton Univer- —
Nis but the picturesque brick floor of two-hundred- |
year-old Nassau Hall. One pundit has described Princeton
as “the farthest north of all Southern schools.” In
a Presidential straw vote taken among the undergraduates —
in 1948, Harry Truman ran a lame third, trailing be--
the current-reaction of Princeton undergraduates to the: ff
Senator from Wisconsin, Joseph Raymond McCarthy,
worthy of notice. When the evil smells of “McCarthy-
KARL E, MEYER, a Wisconsin voter, is a graduate student
at the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International —
Affairs at Princeton.
The NATION |
n’ penetrated the ivied Eden of Princeton, an old and
table conservatism was confronted with the Realpolitik
f Know-Nothing Republicanism.
Tt all began last February, when five Princeton
_ sophomores, with commendable curiosity, decided to at-
‘tend a meeting of the Essex County Republicans in
"nearby Milburn which Senator McCarthy was to addsess.
| They went, they listened, and they were called Com-
‘Munists—a traumatic experience for a Princeton sopho-
More and newsworthy enough to be featured on the
_ front page of the Daily Princetonian. The headline read:
| “Five Princeton Sophomores Attend McCarthy Talk;
| Senator's Fans Term Them ‘Intellectually Twisted.
‘The story revealed that the Princeton Five showed a lack
_ of reverence at the meeting by asking, among other
things, if Senator McCarthy would repeat his pro-
Communist charges against Ambassador Philip Jessup
from the immunity-free Pesos of Milburn High School
pnd were told by two “dowager ore that they were
P intellectually twisted.”
Before the evening was done the young scholars were
| in for further, if less horrifying, surprises. In an in-
ormal question period after the address, the Princetonian
feported, one of them made a skeptical remark about the
V irtues of Joe McCarthy. “Some neighboring listeners,”
it ‘continued, “hearing the remark, demanded that the
two Princetonians be ejected from the meeting. Others
proclaimed, ‘Let the Commies talk, let the Commies
) talk.’ At this stage a ‘little man in a blue suit’ appeared
a a declared -that he heartily wished that the Prince-
in onians be sent to Korea and be brought back in a
basket.” “This suggestion,” concluded the paper, “met
, with no objection from nearby spectators.”
_ Instead of enlisting in the marines, however, the five
enomores drafted a long letter to the student paper,
which, under the circumstances, was a model of te-
) straint. The letter began:
15, 1952
q
oC
i
:
— SS See ees
ae ES SS cea
Until last Friday night we had only read about,
never experienced, a demagogue. But then in Milburn,
New Jersey, we saw Senator Joseph McCarthy in action.
This was one of the most eye-opening experiences of our
lives, for this representative of the American public
transformed a crowd of supposedly intelligent citizens
into a mob of . . . haters. To say that these people’s
minds were putty in the hands of this oratorical artist
is too trite and feeble a statement.
The conclusion of the letter warned:
We feel that McCarthy’s appeal to the existing inse-
curities and fears of the people, his appeal to emotion
and not reason, serves to label as subversive any ctiti-
cism of the status quo. The inference is that amy position
to the left of McCarthy must be disloyal.
This might have been the end of the story, but even
at Princeton there are some freshmen foolish enough to
believe what they read in the papers, if they read beyond
the sport and—at Princeton—financial pages. One such
freshman wrote a letter immediately to the Princetonian
complaining that he was “sick and tired of hearing one
of our most courageous and honest living Americans
slandered by such terms as ‘bigot,’ ‘character assassin,’
‘neurotic,’ and ‘pathological.’ ” The victimized citizen
was Senator McCarthy.
Many students were profoundly disturbed by the
fact that even a freshman should have such an idea.
In an editorial entitled McCarthyism a Threat to In-
dividual Dignity, the Princetonian scolded the erring
freshman and warned, “In our opinion, McCarthyism
and its effects are as dangerous a threat to the security of
this country as any move by the Soviet Union ot its
satellites.”
There were several more letters correcting the fresh-
man. The most interesting was one jointly drafted by five
fellow-freshmen who desired to restore the honor of the
317
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“thy
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a
dass of 1955. eCastsg the five stu oe
called “courageous” and “honest.”
But is it honest to exaggerate, to distort? [they
asked}. Is it honest to maliciously assail a person with-
out giving any real proof, as he did with Mr. Jessup?
Is the Senator courageous to hide behind Congressional
immunity or, when bluffed out of this protection, to
make threats so vague and hazy they can hardly be
defined ?
The demands of honor, however, are still more
stringent than a mere rebuke at Princeton, The final
touch was supplied by the Carlsen Club, an organization
recently set up to honor the exploits of the skipper of the
Be a Flying Enterprise. The club president, a Sal an-
- nounced that the offending pro-McCarthy freshman was
being dropped from its membership. He explained:
7 . P is = uate
ner for which we Scent sie hindered by dive exist-
ence within our midst of such libelous views... . =
This was a unique and in some ways an unfortunate e
twist: a Princeton freshman being dropped from of.
ganizational membership for supporting a Republica
Senator. ;
There may be repercussions, Princeton has been called
as politically pure as a Vermont Senator, If Senator.
McCarthy learns of recent developments, Princeton's,
reputation may change. After all, one of Princeton's |
famous alumni is Norman Thomas, and as McCarthy
will tell you, a Socialist is only a Communist marching —
at half-time. 4
Rebirth of ihe Nazt International
HE other day the Bavarian Radio revealed that
“85 per cent of the leading officials in the West
German Foreign Office are former Nazis,” a proportion
_ even greater than when the ministry was headed by
Joachim von Ribbentrop. The broadcast included an in-
teresting statistical picture of the current personnel, by
_ departments, as follows:
Political Department. The entire executive staff of ten,
cs including the department head and all desk chiefs, are
; _ former Nazis who served under von Ribbentrop.
Linder Department (Department of the Federated
ry States). Seven of the eight top officials are veterans both
of the Nazi Party and of the Nazi foreign service.
Commerce Department, All five top officials were once
_ party members and also employees of Hitler's Foreign
ie Office.
Cultural Department, Three of the four executives are
_ party veterans,
Personnel Department, Eighteen of the nineteen top
officials worked for Hitler's Foreign Office; fourteen
were Nazi Party members. (The Personnel Department
has primary responsibility for choosing the Foreign Office
staff.)
Protocol Department, Two of the three top execu-
tives were party members.
The qualitative break-down of this oa is as imptes-
_ give as the quantitative. Among the men now serving
in the Bonn Foreign Office are Legation Counselor
von Keller, first assistant to Woermann, a Hitler Sec-
retary of State who was sentenced to death as a war
BY J. ALVAREZ DEL VAYO —
criminal at Niirnberg; Legation Counselor Melchers, a
Middle East expert who conducted the Fihrer’s nego- |
tiations with the Grand Mufti, Jew-baiter and war crimi-
nal; Herr von Triitzschler, who helped prepare Ribben- ~
trop’s famous White Books; Heribert von Strempel, sec-
retary of Hitler's embassy in Washington and one of the
organizers of the Nazi fifth column in the United States,
who is now in a position to resume his contacts in this
country. This is only a small sampling of what the
Hitler regime has bequeathed to Herr Adenauer’s For-
eign Ministry. Other ministries are only a little less con-
taminated, Last fall, at a meeting of experts called to
Paris to discuss the question of a European army, French -ff
officers expressed resentment that their German opposites
were accompanied by advisers who had formerly been
notorious Nazis.
The situation in Germany has become more dangerous —
because of the number of disgruntled ex-servicemen who
have been drawn into soldiers’ leagues by ex-General
Friessner. They constitute a political army of a distinctly _
fascist stripe. Friessner himself has been so outspoken —
in his Nazi sympathies—he characterized the abortive-
- 1944 revolt against Hitler as a “cowardly attempt to
murder the Supreme Commander behind the front line’:
—that Bonn felt compelled to replace him. But his suc- ;
cessor, on assuming office, declared: “I had to obey the
orders of my Fithrer. I could not stab the Supreme Com- ff
mander in the back as the Social Democrats did in World |
War I.” It would not seem as though the change were i "
cal aed to modify the nationalist fervor of the war
a
The Manon |
\.
t
municipal elections to be held at the end of next month,
Foreign observers in Rome were shocked by the recent
eo-Fascists. But these evidences of fascist arrogance in
Uy are less important than the underground effort to re-
ize the Fascist militia, or the fact that important
| henchmen of Hitler are still in hiding and presumably
playing active roles in the Fascist underground. One may
_ doubt the report recently published in the Berlin Socialist
daily Telegraf that Martin Bormann, the Fiihrer’s deputy,
| is hiding in a Rome monastery under the name of
| Brother Martin. It is a fact, however, that many Nazis
have found refuge in Italian monasteries.
_ They also continue to find refuge in Switzerland. Re-
cently a reporter for the weekly Die Nation of Berne
| discovered that a resident of Lugano was receiving a
‘great deal of mail, especially from South America, and
was making frequent rush trips to Italy and Austria, The
ugano man also made a trip to Egypt, where a group of
_ ex-Gestapo members has been active for a year, operating
friendship which has sprung up between Franco and
: certain Arab feudal chiefs. The Berne reporter finally
2
L°
fe
.
penetrated the alias of this seemingly inoffensive resi-
dent of Lugano. He turned out to be former S. S. leader
Eugen Dollman, once a close associate of Heinrich
i _ Himmler and intermediary between Marshal Kesselring,
| commander of German forces in Italy, and the Gestapo,
i which was then trying to liberate Mussolini. As a result
of Die Natian’s exposé, Dollman has been deported;
|
\,
|
i
Swiss authorities, who like authorities elsewhere had
come to believe that fascism was an outmoded affair of
erest only to historians, are now carrying on a
thorough investigation of Nazi activities in their
‘country.
“A few days after Die Nation’s story appeared, John J.
McCloy, American High Commissioner for Germany,
“denied knowledge of the existence of an important
Ztoup of Nazi conspirators in Cairo. It is apparent that
Mr. McCloy does not read the German press with suf-
i ficient care. For the Echo der Woche of Munich had
t ready carried a long article, entitled Nazi Conspiracy in
| Cairo, Madrid, and Rome, which presented detailed in-
| formation on what the paper called “the new Fascist
| International” and its operations in the Middle East at
b a time when that area was becoming increasingly a focus
hc East-West conflict.
| The title of the Munich article was not a literary
Caprice. An international fascist conference held
etly in Sweden some time ago—a recent issue of
within the framework of the amusing but dangerous
wrt POF aa. PaO Ne Te Pee ne Fe Pee ty ey
Tame Tor! ae ie a
& i
ores n publisher of the daily Neve Zeitung
of Munich, which carries on its masthead the
legend, “An American Newspaper in Germany,” is the
United States High Commissioner for Germany. Re-
cently the newspaper in an editorial sharply warned
Chancellor Adenauer that his foreign policy could
never win back the confidence of the world so long
as his Foreign Office employed men who had served
the Nazi regime and were accessories to Hitler’s
crimes.
A few days later, at the specific request of the High
Commissioner's office, the Neue Zeitung ran the follow-
ing retraction: “A speaker for the American High
Commissioner made this statement on Monday: ‘In view
of the fact that the political past of certain members of
the Foreign Office is being investigated upon the in-
itiative of the Foreign Office itself, the editorial of the
Neue Zeitung was out of place. The Neue Zeitung had
no intention of influencing the authorities charged
with the investigation.’ ”
Tactfully ignoring the hint of internecine squab-
bling at high American levels implicit in the inci-
dent, the Social Democratic News Service, an organ of
the German Social Democratic Party, made the follow-
ing general comment: “For the price of a German
defense contribution, the United States High Com-
mission is apparently willing to accept even gravely
incriminated members of the Foreign Office, regardless
of the fact that these people have dishonored the
German name.”
Time magazine makes reference to it—adopted as its
slogan: “Fascists of the World, Unite.” The few in-
telligence agents in Europe who are paying any attention
to the problem are convinced that an executive commit-
tee is reorganizing fascist forces throughout the world
from underground headquarters in Madrid. These agents
are also convinced that the fascists have a great deal of
money at their disposal. It will be recalled that during
the war official investigations revealed that considerable
sums had been transferred to several Latin American
countries, notably Argentina, from Germany via
Madrid,
In the war’s closing months, when Hitler knew that the
struggle was irremediably lost, fund transfers from Ger-
many to Spain increased. Other Nazi assets were either
hidden in a physical sense or deposited in various coun-
tries under aliases. A sensational discovery in a Tyrolean
village in 1950 disclosed that S. S. forces, before they
withdrew from the area in April, 1945, buried forty to
fifty million dollars’ worth of loot. Surely there must still
exist many caches of gold and foreign currency which
319
we LARRY ot Asp oe
the Slaps ook ow Jews and oiler ‘Nal victims, = 0
not only in Germany but in the occupied countries,
As for the United States, one can assume that the
thousands of Nazis who were in this country before
Pearl Harbor, and about whom the FBI made seyeral
interesting reports at the time, have not simply disap-
Impressions of New
{[V.K.R.V. RAO is one of India’s most distinguished
citizens, a scholar and economist of international repute.
He has represented the government of India at the
United Nations and at many important international
conferences and ts now head of the Delhi School of
Economics and of the Department of Economics at Delhi
University. This article is the first of two based on his
experience as a member of a group of Indian intellec-
tuals who made an official good-will tour of China last
fall. We think Mr, Rao’s reports of special significance
as reflecting an important segment of non-Communist
Indian opinion on Communist China.—EDITORS THB
NATION. }
Delhi, India
T THE outset I wish to state that my observations on
the new China have a very limited basis. They are
derived largely from a stay in China of hardly more than
five weeks, during which I visited Canton, Peking Muk-
den, Tientsin, Nanking, and Shanghai. I was able to in-
spect a number of factories, villages, shops, universities,
and exhibitions, as well as visit places of cultural and
historical interest. In addition, our group held discus-
sions, either together or singly, with important person-
ages in the political and economic field, including the
_ Prime Minister of China, the Governor of the People’s
_ Bank of China, the Mayor of Peking, the Vice-Chairman
of the All-China Federation of Labor, and several uni-
_ versity professors, In a number of cases the conversation
_- was in English and carried on téte-a-téte, while in others
r interpreters had to be utilized. A trained observer is also
_ adept at using his eyes and ears in a foreign country, and
_ though ignorance of the local language may put the ears
out of action, the eyes discover many interesting things
on a long rail journey.
Let me begin with some remarks about the new gov-
ernment of China. It is a multi-party government in the
sense that it contains representatives of political parties
- other than the Communist Party and prominent indi-
_ viduals with no special party affiliations, but leadership is
unquestionably in the hands of the Communist Party,
and the three most important posts—Chairman, Premier,
and Commander-in-Chief—are held by Communists, It
Gi oe0
in ees America protected by totalitarian reich lik ke
Perén’s, America has become a kind of refueling point:
for the busy and wide-ranging fascist conspirators,
ye
’
BY V. K.R. V. RAG]
is based on what is called the “people's democratic united
front,” which includes not only the working class and the
peasantry but also the petty bourgeoisie, or trading ,
classes, and the national bourgeoisie, or patriotic capi-
talists. Admittedly the government functions as a dice '
tatorship, but the only groups conscious of repression are +
those with vested feudal interests and persons who, hav- *
ing lost their special positions of privilege or power, °
China .
.
would like to bring back the old regime. I cannot help”
feeling that part of the emphasis one finds in China
on the suppression of these classes is due to the fact that _
Chiang Kai-shek’s rule in Formosa constitutes a standing |
threat to the Peking government, especially since it is
supported by the United States.
For the rest of the population, and this means the
vast majority, the constitution provides for people’s
congresses at all levels; these are elected by universal
franchise and in turn elect the central, regional, state,
municipal, county, and village governments, A few
cities and counties have already elected people’s con-
gresses; in others local power is wielded by represen-
tative conferences constituted on the multi-party lines of
the Central Chinese People’s Consultative Conference.
The system has brought the people into close contact with
the government and given them the opportunity to ©
ventilate their needs and express their criticisms.
Moreover, the people are being organized according
to locality, occupation, sex, and so on, and these organiza-
tions function actively, directing their attention not so
much to ideological issues as to the concrete problems —
of daily life. The people discuss their own faults and
ways of helping themselves as well as the faults of
government officials and ways of obtaining more ef-
fective government aid. Of course their meetings are
also used by the government to expound its program, —
explain its actions, and seek popular support for its’
policies. The government is constantly explaining and |
educating; the people are constantly discussing. China —
has become one large talking shop or rather a multitude ©
of little discussion clubs; and there is an undeniable
feeling in the air that the people are participating in |
the government,
1€ p olitical liveliness, the wide-
wledge of and interest in details of govern-
activity, and the government’ $ sensitiveness to the
need for educating public opinion and enlisting public
"support make an overwhelming impression even on a
comparatively hard-boiled and much-traveled visitor.
Curiously enough, the only other country I know where
there is the same mass interest in governmental activity
and the same governmental sensitiveness to it is the
United States. Perhaps the new China, in spite of its
denunciation of “American imperialism,” is being un-
consciously influenced by the democratic processes char-
acteristic of the nation with which the old China had
“more friendly associations for a century and a half than
it enjoyed with any other country.
There is no doubt that the new government is an ef-
fective government; its writ runs the length and breadth
of continental China. It is true that most of the bridges
are still guarded by armed sentries, and that officials,
both civil and military, have an alertness which suggests
they are conscious of hostile forces across the seas and
_ of the possible presence of saboteurs and counter-revolu-
tionaries at home. But soldiers were little in evidence in
the cities and villages we visited, and the police of the
_ Cities generally carried no arms. One could sense in the
_ people walking on the street, hurrying to their work,
_ crowding into department stores, or returning from
_ movie houses that intangible something. which betokens
confidence in the maintenance of law and order, Women
_ moved about as freely as men. There were no black-outs,
_ and neon lights livened up the streets at night.
Me HE strongest impression I received from the tour
- was of normality with perhaps a little more mass
activity and enthusiasm than one would find under a
| longer-established regime. Obviously the new govern-
“in China appeared convinced of this, At last the country
{. has one government, one flag, one national anthem, one
|. currency, and one system of law. I could feel the con-
“sciousness of strength this evoked in the most ordinary
eople I met. It was a great change from the old regime,
eople told me. Unless everyone was lying and my own
eyes were deceived, the effectiveness, stability, and popu-
) larity of the new government of China are beyond all
doubt. The magnificent, five-hour-long .parade I saw
| on the national day in Peking confirmed this impres-
sion. It was like nothing I had ever seen before in India
_) or outside,
Naturally, I was curious to know héw the new govern-
iment had become so popular. It was partly, of course,
ibecause of the contrast between the austerity, devotion to
work, and honesty of the new Communist-led officialdom
oni 1 do not ey
me. And it was partly because of the contrast between.
the Communist armies and all the atmies the people had
known before. A non-Communist, American-educated
university professor said to me: “These people up-
set all our old notions about the army. They never
entered our houses without permission; they refused
gifts and would take nothing which they did not pay
for; they treated our women with respect, helped our
old men across streets, and showed themselves willing to
do odd jobs for us, especially those which needed heavy
labor. They talked of serv-
ing the people, and soon
we found they meant what
they said. They certainly
deserved their title, Peo-
ple’s Liberation Army;
and they were the best
ambassadors of the new
regime. We would do any-
thing for them.”
Another reason for the
government’s popularity is
the sense of national dig-
nity and pride it has pro-
moted among the people.
A good example of its
methods is its insistence
that the Chinese language
be used everywhere; even
the soaps and cigarettes
manufactured by foreign
concerns in China, like the
Imperial Tobacco Company and Lever Brothers, now
bear Chinese names and trademarks instead of English.
Women are finding opportunities for work and self-
expression they never had before. Young people are
taken more seriously and allowed to play a more impor-
tant role in national reconstruction than they had ever
thought would be open to them.
One thing is absolutely clear to my mind. It is not mere
propaganda or skill in psychological approach that has
V. K. R. V. Rao
won the new government of China the support of all
classes; nor is it solely its high code of personal conduct,
or its evocation of national strength and pride. In addi-
tion to these factors there is a hard material base for the
loyalty of the people. And that is the concrete improve-
ment in their material condition which all classes see is
the result of action taken by the government, though
less than three years have elapsed since it was estab-
lished,
This cannot be better illustrated than by reference
to the attitude of the largest class in China, the peasantry.
The new government has broken the grip of the land-
lords and thereby secured the support of the vast
majority of those who work on the land.
B21
aif
ODAY Yugoslavia is still a one-party state: at elec-
tion time the voters receive a single list of candi-
dates. The press represents the view of the government,
_and there is no freedom of assembly for enemies of the
regime. In spite of this, the assumption that the Yugo-
hh glav dictatorship is as absolute as that of Russia is
i - nee
contradicted by several recent political and economic de-
‘ velopments. The stated goal of present-day Yugoslav
policy, in sharp contrast to post-war Soviet tendencies, is
7a
to curb the government's powers in various directions.
meas,
If this change continues, it will have significant con-
sequences far beyond Yugoslavia’s borders, for it will
be the first instance in modern history of a dictatorial
government relinquishing part of its control.
The trend, of course, is comparatively new. The Yugo-
slavs embarked on their political and social reforms only
when they became convinced that the break with the
Soviet Union was irrevocable. One of the first changes
instituted was in the direction of decentralization—of
what in this country would be called “states’ rights.”
Yugoslavia, which is made up of a number of repub-
lics representing widely different stages of economic de-
velopment, had at first sought to govern these republics
—whose own powers were nominal—through a kind of
bureaucratic centralism. Today the autonomy of the re-
_ publics is being strengthened, and only the most urgent
matters are being regulated by the central government.
A similar process is going on in Yugoslavia’s economic
life. As late as 1950, in line with its Five-Year Plan,
Be Yugoslavia’s economy was strictly controlled by the
- central authority. In recent months this principle has
been partly abandoned, The government still directs
_ over-all planning, but industrial, business, and agricul-
_ tural enterprises are being given greater freedom.
In practice the system works like this: The govern-
a ~ ment’s over-all plan merely lays down the minimum
rs production quota in vital industries; it further establishes
- minimum wages for skilled and unskilled workers and
for technicians. It fixes the approximate quota for new
investments and decides at the same time in what indus-
_ tries and plants new investments are to be made. In addi-
_ tion, it controls almost all foreign trade. In this way
_ the government assures the armaments industry the
imports it needs and also decides how much certain
FRITZ STERNBERG is the author of the widely discussed
book “Capitalism and Socialism on Trial.” He contributed
an article on other aspects of Yugoslavia to The Nation of
March 8.
is 322
_ Major decisions. The central over-all plan provides-that
“trol, for example, in case of difficulties in raw-material
BY FRITZ STERNBERG |
branches of industry must export in order to pay for es- >
sential imports. 4
Within these limits. individual industrial, business,
and agricultural enterprises are allowed a fairly wide j
margin of contfol. For example, plants are given a free’,
hand to produce more than the minimum government. q
quota, and in the same way once a factory has passed its —
minimum production quota, both total and individual’ |
wages may rise above the government minimums in pro-
portion to the increased output. Similarly the state de-
termines minimum investments; however, beyond this,
the workers themselves may decide whether, and how
much, they want to invest in their own plant. ,
This system is no longer abstract theory; it is being
turned into practice. I visited a tractor plant near Bel- —
grade, In the previous few months this plant had pro- *
duced about 50 tractors a month—an annual output of
600 tractors. If it could be better. supplied with raw
materials, or, to put it differently, if arms production did
not swallow up so much iron ore, then the annual output
could be raised to nearly 1,000 tractors. Considering that
Yugoslavia has altogether some 6,000 agricultural col-
lectives, this tractor plant is obviously vital to the
economy. It employs about 1,600 people. By American
and Western European standards its equipment is not
first-rate, but compared to most Balkan countries it is
quite modern. Recently houses for the workers have been
built near the plant; half the workers already live there,
while the other half live in neighboring communities.
They work eight hours a day, forty-eight hours a week;
the plant has a good restaurant, which the majority of
the workers patronize, and good sanitary facilities.
The plant manager—and he alone—was chosen by the —
central planning bureau; together with him a workers’
council elected by the workers themselves makes all the
the minimum output is to be fifty tractors a month; it
further provides for the necessary raw materials, sets the
minimum wages—which are paid even if the minimum
quota is not reached and unemployment or part-time
work results for reasons beyond the management’s con- ©
deliveries, Apart from these basic regulations, however,
the workers’ council is given considerable leeway. When-
ever production and productivity go up, it can raise the —
minimum quota and pay higher wages. By examining the _
wage scales in the various work categories I discovered
that wages paid to the workers are considerably higher @ yt
than the prescribed minimums, often more than one-
o them faite as well as legally.
ee “The change taking place in this particular tractor
o plant, like that going on throughout the country, is aimed
_ at broadening social democracy in the labor process itself
“and also in the relationships between worker and pro-
‘duction. It is part of an effort the success of which is
oy no means assured. But the cumulative effect of
erything I saw in Yugoslavia justifies a moderate op-
_timism. And this feeling is’ increased by the fact that
_ young men are at the helm of the government. With the
E ~ exception of Tito most of the ministers are between
_ thirty and forty and most of the men who run industry
' are just as young. They are vigorous and hopeful, and
_ ready to experiment with new ideas.
This attempt to substitute industrial democracy for
centralized control, if it does succeed, can have far-
reaching consequences. For it comes to grips with a
' world-wide problem. With an ever-increasing share of the
’ world’s industrial output being produced by large plants,
| a kind of dehumanization of labor has come to pass.
_ Many Socialists have believed that this evil could be
E eliminated by the nationalization of vital industries.
Perea re
ae ARRY BRIDGES, now seeking a reversal of his
Ve ee ictiva of perjury in connection with his natu-
talization as an American, was born in Australia of
_ middle-class stock. As a young man he was exposed to
| the moderate trade-union, socialist political philosophy
. which prevailed there during the early years of the cen-
i tury. At nineteen he came to the United States as a legal
| ‘immigrant and atter a few years in various maritime jobs
settled down in San Francisco. For ten or twelve years
_ this fellow earned his living, such as it was, in the same
) wretched way as the thousands of others who toiled,
when they could get work, on the San Francisco water-
if front, But when the depression and the New Deal got
ie into full swing, Bridges became distinguishable from the
¢ other waterfront employees. In 1934 he was elected
| chairman of the longshoremen’s strike committee.
) From that time on Harry Bridges has been one of the
} most effective labor leaders in the United States. He has
'¥ also been a marked man. In 1936 he became president
of the West Coast Longshoremen’s Union and has held
Soe feel that it belongs —
T chaie: by itself is not enough.
In Great Britain the Labor government nationalized a
number of key industries, but the position of the worker —
himself, his personal attitude to his work, remained
basically the same, It was this experience, among others,
which led many British Fabians to visit Yugoslavia dur-
ing the past year, to gather concrete evidence as to how
the problem was being tackled there, where the govern-
ment has absolute power. Germany has also recognized
the importance of this question, The Bonn Parliament
has passed a law which gives the workers equal power
with management in determining the policy of major
industries; so far its effect has hardly been felt. But
Germany too is beginning to realize, on the basis of
Britain’s experience, that a nationalized and planned
economy in no way solves the problem of giving the
worker a stake in the enterprise, in the growth of pro-
duction and productivity. Responsible German labor men
and Socialists intend to acquaint themselves with the
concrete results of Yugoslavia’s experiment, They realize,
of course, that one country’s findings cannot be schemati-
cally applied to another. But it would be of great value —
for the growth of social democracy everywhere if British,
Yugoslay, and German experience could be shared,
The Crusade Against Bridges
BY FOWLER HARPER
militant leadership he has raised the average earnings of
its members from a starving wage to more than $5,000 a
year, as compared to the $1,700 average of Joe Ryan’s
boss-ridden East Coast unionists. It may or may not be
significant that the government has shown almost com-
plete indifference to Ryan’s conduct of his union, which
is notoriously a disgrace to the labor movement. Until
the 1934 West Coast strike the government showed no
interest in Bridges, or in his social, economic, or political
views. Since then it has waged a campaign against this
Australian immigrant that has no doubt been matched in
some countries but hardly here.
Although Bridges has been in the United States since
1922, he was first investigated late in 1934 by the Dis-
trict Director of Immigration and the San Francisco
police department. The District Director reported that
his investigation failed to show that Bridges was “in any
Manner connected, with the Communist Party or any
radical organization.” He also reported that the San Fran-
cisco police had “likewise been unable to obtain any evi-
dence that the alien [Bridges] has ever been a member
of the Communist Party or in any manner directly affili-
ated therewith or a member of any radical organization,”
323
_"
y
Bf
yy
i
y
°
i
i
:
;
In 1936, notwithstanding this clean bill of health for
Bridges, the Commissioner of Immigration, under pres-
sure from certain West Coast interests, appointed a three-
man committee to start a new investigation of Bridges’s
alleged subversive behavior. The committee reported that
“whenever any legal ground for the deportation of
Bridges has been brought to the attention of the Depart-
ment of Labor [which at that time had jurisdiction over
the Immigration Service}, it has been investigated, but
invariably it has been found that he was in the clear, and
that his status as an immigrant was entirely regular.”
Bridges and his union no doubt thought that the end
of the matter—three investigations and three clearances,
But they did not reckon accurately the power of those
who wanted to crush the union and get rid of its tough
leader. These people represented large shipping com-
panies, the American Legion, the Associated Farmers,
and even so-called labor leaders like Ryan and Lundberg.
The Secretary of Labor finally ordered a fourth investiga-
tion by the department’s solicitor. He made it and came
up with the same answer. Nevertheless, the pressures
continued, A resolution was even introduced in Congress
to impeach the Secretary of Labor. Whether as a result
or not, the Secretary issued.a warrant for Bridges’s arrest
with a view to deportation on the ground that he was a
member of the Communist Party, and hearings were
held before a specially appointed examiner, James M.
Landis, former dean of the Harvard Law School. The
government threw everything at Bridges, including 138
exhibits. The accused himself submitted 136. Sixty wit-
nesses were examined, The stenographic transcript ran
to 7,700 pages. Dean Landis made an exhaustive analysis
of the record and concluded that on the evidence Bridges
was neither a member of nor affiliated in any way with
the Communist Party. The Secretary of Labor approved
the report. Here was the fourth clearance.
The pressure to get Bridges out of the country in-
creased. The House passed a special bill directing the
Attorftey General to deport him, “notwithstanding any
other provision of law.” The bill died in the Senate
after Robert H. Jackson, then Attorney General, de-
nounced it as unconstitutional. But Congress and the
men behind some of its members were not content. The
Immigration Act was promptly amended, admittedly to
achieve the desired result by making past membership in
the Communist Party ground for deportation. Indeed,
the author of the bill said: “It is my joy to announce that
this bill will do in a perfectly legal constitutional manner
what the bill specifically aimed at the deportation of
Harry Bridges seeks to accomplish. This bill changes the
law so that the Department of Justice should now have
little trouble in deporting Harry Bridges and all others
of similar ilk.”
The Department of Justice got right on the ball. A
new warrant was issued for Bridges’s arrest and deporta-
324
Ne
=
tion on the charge that he had once been a member of
the party. Another hearing was held before Judge
Charles B, Sears, who found against Bridges. The Board
of Immigration Appeals reversed him. The Attoraey
General reversed the Board of Appeals and ordered
Bridges deported. A writ of habeas corpus was de-
nied in the Federal Distict Court, The decision was -
afirmed in the Circuit Court of Appeals by a divided
court, The Supreme Court reversed it and found for’
Bridges in two blistering opinions. Justice Murphy said:
The record in this case will stand forever as a monu-
ment to man’s intolerance to man. Seldom if ever in the
history of this nation has there been such a concentrated
and relentless crusade to deport an individual because he
dared to exercise the freedom that belongs to him as a
human being and that is guaranteed to him by the Con-
stitution. . . . Industrial and farming organizations,
veterans’ groups, city police departments, and private
undercover agents, all joined in an unremitting effort to
deport him. . . . Wire-tapping, searches and seizures
without warrant, and other forms of invasion of the
right of privacy have been widely employed in this
deportation drive.
HAT manner of man is this who for fifteen years
has created a civil-liberties furor heard round the
world—unfortunately even behind the Iron Curtain? One
has to see Harry Bridges in action to catch his temper—
see him in the hiring halls with his men, note their
grim devotion to him, see him hard-bargaining with the
Waterfront Employers’ Association, hear him testifying
to his faith in democratic processes and his simple belief
in the rights of workers and their trade unions. Justice
Douglas quoted a revealing passage from Landis’s
report:
Bridges’s own statement of his political beliefs and
disbeliefs is important. It was given not only without
reserve but vigorously, as dogmas and faiths of which
the man was proud and which represented in his mind
the aims of his existence. It was a fighting apologia
that refused to temper itself to the winds of caution.
It is obvious that Bridges made a deep impression on
Landis as he has on many others. Bridges is contagtous.
People around him catch fire from his zeal. Ask the de-
termined organizers who faced riot acts and hoodlums’
violence to invade Hawaii.and organize the sugar work-
ers! But the array of money and power against him is
more.than any immigrant labor leader can overcome in. ~
the atmosphere that pervades the nation today.
Shortly after the Supreme Court decision was handed *
down, Bridges pressed his pending application for citi-
zenship and thought he was naturalized by decree of a
federal court. But in May, 1949, he was indicted for con-
spiracy to defraud the government—by lying when he
testified that he had never been a member of the Commu-
nist Patty. There is evidence that more than a year earlier
The NATION
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p
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__ Bridges was tried on a charge which in substance was
perjury. The Department of Justice assigned a battery of
_ six lawyers to the case, Bridges was convicted on the tes-
tim ony of a parade of witnesses as dubious as those in
bi the preceding trial, who had been characterized by Dean
a andis in a way to leave little doubt that he thought they
had all petjured themselves. Indeed, the government's
evidence i in the earlier trial, in the words of one of the
~ Appeals Court judges, “would be condemned and pro-
_ scribed without hesitation by any American court.”
| a In July, 1950, while his case was pending on appeal,
as it still is, on motion of the government, Bridges’s bail
"was revoked, and he was thrown into jail because he
ae Pcie out for a cease-fire in Korea. Now, twenty months
_ and a hundred thousand American casualties later, most
people, including Senator Taft, also want a cease-fire.
' The trial court’s revocation of bail was reversed by the
_ Court of Appeals, and the most hated and most respected
labor leader in the country is for the time being running
his union as usual,
_ Aside from the question of who is lying about
_ Bridges’s relationship to the Communist Party, one of
_ the principal issues in the case is the statute of limita-
tions. This statute has always been considered important
in the administration of justice; it is not a mere techni-
cality. It is not fair to prosecute a man for something he
__ is alleged to have done many years before. Witnesses dic,
__ their memories fail, records are lost. The general statute
| of limitations on criminal prosecutions sets a time limit
_ of three years. The present prosecution was initiated
‘| . mote than three years after the alleged perjury. How-
_ ever, a war-time “Suspension Act” lifted the limitation
| where “fraud” was charged. The legislative history of
|* this act shows that the fraud which Congress had in
| mind was in connection with contracts and other nego-
| tiations involving pecuniary loss to the government. The
| Supreme Court had held that a similar earlier statute
| was inapplicable to perjury in connection with an income-
|) tax return, Cheating the government out of money is no
| part of the crime of perjury. But the trial judge in
Bridges’s pending case stretched the suspension act to
* knock out the statute of limitations.
| Pie many times does a man have to defend himself
i against the same charge? What of the constitutional
} Provision that a man may not be tried twice for the same
z offense? This is the third proceeding in which Bridges
~ has had to face the accusation that at some time after his
entry to the United States he joined or somehow became
moving party each time. The two administrative
e proceedings for deportation may technically not be crimi- —
hal in nature, although banishment, as Justice Brandeis
has said, “may result also in the loss of both property
and life or all that makes life worth living.” In the pres-
ent case the charge
was criminal in nature
and the loss of citizen-
ship incidental — just
thrown in for the tax,
Nevertheless, Bridges
has been put in jeop-
ardy of exile from the
United States three
times.
Repeatedly Bridges’s
attorney raised the
point, and repeatedly
the trial judge ruled
against him, The at-
torney sought to in-
troduce in evidence
the decision of the
Supreme Court. The
trial judge charged the
jury specifically that no force or effect whatever could
be given to any of the prior decisions, Bridges was
defending from scratch, The government, of course,
introduced much evidence which had not been pre-
sented in the deportation proceedings. Practically all
of it, however, was at least questionable as hearsay,
There was no documentary evidence to substantiate any
part of the charge.
On the main issue—had Bridges ever been 2 Commu-
nist since he came to the United States?—the principal
witnesses against him were ten labor organizers, or offi-
cials, who were renegades from the party. Bridges had
necessarily had considerable traffic with them during his
long career on the waterfront. With some of them he
had had strong differences in the rough and tumble
union activities of the period. It is not easy to prove a
negative proposition, and Bridges’s witnesses would natu-
tally be less convincing than the government’s on this
issue. How many persons could anybody get to testify
that they knew he had never been a Communist? Under
cross-examination it would invariably come down to a
matter of belief. There is no escape from the fact that
either Bridges himself or most of the government's prin-
cipal witnesses lied. The record of the trial discloses a
good bit of evidence that at least two and probably three
of the government's witnesses perjured themselves, Two
others look pretty bad, and one admitted ex-comrade had
been on the government's pay roll to the tune of several
thousand dollars. .
In his charge to the jury on the credibility of the wit-
325
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Harry Bridges
r BRAN: ee io Poe ey , '
Rb “nesses the trial ee sel up a less onet- - tration a ve elected by the forty raxpaye
ous standard for the trustworthiness Ss the government’s to | of int er a G
_ witnesses than for that of the defense witnesses. In any
event, now that the trial is over, there is not much doubt
__ where his sympathies were while it was in progress, At
_ the outset of his charge he said, poetically, “I trust you
_ may be able to perceive the truth shimmering like gold
in the crucible of this trial, in the searching light of legal
_ principles applicable.” After the verdict of guilt he told
them triumphantly, “You have finally found the golden
_ truth shimmering in the fiery crucible of this trial.”
: Yes, after sixteen years and six tries, the government
national ¢ as the memorandum ‘says:
a
?
Since no practical steps were taken by the Indian
government to implement its verbal statements [in favor
of Goan independence}, the government of Goa still
enjoys the privileged position assured to the Portuguese
in India by their formes protector [Britain]. . . . This
is largely due to the attitude of English-trained civil
servants toward the Portuguese authorities. They act in
direct opposition to the declared policy of Pandit Nehru,
and still seem to consider Portugal the “oldest ally.”
finally found the “golden truth”. about Bridges,
The Saga of Goa
BY MARIO ROSSI
AN INTERESTING little document was smuggled
out of Portuguese India the other day. Goa, on the
west coast of India, with a population of 600,000, is still
ek L __a Portuguese colony, though it would like to join greater
"India. The people have offered passive resistance to
Portugal’s repressive rule and have
tried to inform the Western world
that they are being denied the right
to self-determination, but the Port-
uguese authorities have managed to
keep the matter under cover. Now at
last a well-documented memorandum
prepared by one of the leaders of the
Goa liberation committee, or National
Congress, and setting forth the peo-
ple’s grievances has been received in
this country.
Civil liberties, the memorandum
demonstrates, do not exist in Goa.
A strictly enforced censorship ex-
tends to every kind of printed
matter, including advertisements, cal-
endars, and wedding invitations, The
police are all-powerful and are mostly
troops imported from Africa. All
contacts with India are forbidden to
, the people under threat of imprison-
ment or deportation; Goans may not even visit the Indian
consulate.
_ The Congress charges that the colonial administration
has no semblance of democracy. The Governor General,
_ appointed by the Minister for Colonies in Lisbon, is the .
supreme authority. He is assisted by a Council of fourteen
members, nine of whom are nominated by the adminis-
Challenging the contention that Goa is profiting eco- |
nomically from its ties with Portugal, the memorandum
states that according to the latest available statistics im-
ports are six times greater than exports, the deficit being
made up by heavy taxation and remittances from Goans
who have emigrated to India or Africa. The standard of
living of the Goans is purposely kept low. Some 90 per
cent of the population is illiterate, and no more than 5
per cent can speak Portuguese.
Those Goans who have been converted, usually under
duress, to Catholicism favor union with India as strongly
as the others, but the church opposes it. The church con-
siders Goa one of its bastions in the Far East and main-
tains a patriarchate there. The Patriarch, D, José da
Costa Nunes, has said: “In carrying out the church’s
program of work I can and I must inculcate love for
Portugual in the people and condemn the imbecility of
the country’s incorporation into greater India.” Of
course, the preeminent position of the church would suf-
fer from union with India, where Catholics are a tiny
minority. Salazar has thus found the church a convenient
instrument of the dictatorship’s colonial policies.
Portugal first gained a foothold in India in the
sixteenth century but acquired most of the Goan territory
in the eighteenth. The Goan liberation movement began
to be formidable in 1946, when campaigns of civil dis-
obedience were instituted, An Indian government official
-told me that Prime Minister Nehru is in complete sym-
pathy with the aspirations of the Goans and is trying to
induce Portugal to hold a plebiscite. Mahatma Gandhi —
was a great friend of Goan independence and repeatedly
condemned Portuguese rule. On August 2, 1946, he
wrote to the Governor General of Portuguese India:
What I see and know of conditions in Goa is hardly ©
edifying. That the Indians in Goa have been silent is
proof not of the innocence or the beneficence of the
Portuguese government but of its rule of terror. You
will forgive me for not subscribing to your statement
that there is full liberty in Goa and that the agitation
is confined to a few malcontents. Every account re-
ceived by me personally and seen in the papers here in
this part of India confirms the contrary view.
The Nation —
ao P r
OTES BY THE WAY.
_ BY MARGARET MARSHALL
‘JN THE March issue of Harper's
-4 Magazine, Joyce Cary attacks what
he calls our favorite folly, the belief
that one of the end-products of modern
industrial democratic society is and must
_ be the mass mind. He subscribed to this
belief himself, he says, until he went to
administer the affairs of a primitive
tribe in Africa—and found that “the
Peibal mind was much more truly a
mass mind than anything I had known in
_ Europe.” He takes, one by one, the
_ arguments usually invoked to prove that
- ae elity is vanishing from the
Western world and shows that they
are actually evidences of the opposite
' "tendency.
é Ene of these arguments is the
“enormous increase of law and regula-
" tion”—it is sometimes referred to as
) regimentation. In a primitive society no
_ such elaborate structure is necessary,
“says Mr. Cary, for the reason that no
one questions the authority of the tribal
chiefs or the sanctity of old customs.
‘Men and their demands are really
_ standardized—and_ severely _ limited.
“But the modern state, simply because of
the independence of its citizens, the
_ complication ‘of their demands, needs a
e huge machine of law and police. This
_ is not a proof of the mass mind but the
_ exact opposite—of a growing number
.. of people who think and act for them-
selves and, rightly or wrongly, are
et, to defy the old simple rules found-
_ed on custom.”
| To the argument that “mass educa-
tion” is debasing the standards of
'|— thought and producing mob minds—an
argument tirelessly repeated in sorrow
| of, in anger by liberals as well as re-
actionaries—he replies that no kind of
education, however narrow, “can pro-
. duce the mass mind. The reason is that
) minds are creative, that thoughts wan-
det by themselves and cannot be con:
“trolled by the cleverest police... . To
) steach people to think, if only to make
| them more useful as soldiers and
mechanics, is to open all thoughts to
them—a whole world of ideas,”
i
IT IS A long-term answer. But in any
assessment of the merits of the demo-
cratic idea—and that is the real issue
in the argument Mr, Cary has joined—
only the long view is applicable. Rela-
tively speaking, the democratic idea has
been in operation only a very short time,
No one will deny that it has released the
bodies and the minds and the creative
faculties of millions who would other-
wise have passed their lives in serfdom
or slavery or the tribal uniformity that
Mr. Cary describes. To expect that, in
so brief a time, it should also have
brought these millions to a high level
of taste, of judgment and discrimination,
not only in the arts but in every other
field, is both unfair and, as Mr. Cary
points out, profoundly defeatist. He is
not dismayed by “the crowds at the
cinemas and the bus loads on the sight-
seeing tours. . . . They have already
left the mass; they are individuals seek-
ing ideas for themselves.” At least, as he
says, there is a great variety of taste—
and while the continuous search for
novelty may be a sign of dissatisfaction,.
dissatisfaction is not characteristic of the
mass mind.
As for the quality of public taste, per-
haps the wonder, on balance, should be
not that it is as low as it is but that it
is as high as it is, considering all the
hazards. I am thinking of such hazards
as the commercial exploitation of bad
taste by cynical entrepreneurs who nev-
ertheless feel called upon to exonerate
themselves by taking refuge in the
hoary claim that they are providing
“what the people want”; and of such de-
vices as the Motion Picture Code, which
in the name of morality has forced the
production of hundreds of “inoffensive”
and “'non-controversial” films which
ace so immoral and vulgar in the true
sense of these words that your genuine
moralist can't sit through them.
I do not mean to exaggerate the
quality of the public taste. And I am
quite prepared for the possibility that it
may get worse before it gets better. But
having made these generalizations, I
hasten to assert that any generalization
about so vast a development as the
spread of democratic society is bound to
be at best no more than half true. Public
taste is made up of millions of private
individual tastes and uneven develop-
ment is of its essence. In some sectors
it will assuredly get worse before it
gets better. In others it will never again
be worse than it is and is getting
better.
“If you want to write a best-seller,”
says Mr. Cary, “your best subject nowa-
days is probably cosmology.” This fact _
offsets somewhat the fact that the market
for good fiction and poetry is very
limited. As it happens, fiction in general,
the bad and mediocre as well as the
good, has shown a large decline in sales
these past years—ask any publisher. It
could be that the lack of interest in good
fiction, together with the growth of in-
terest in cosmology, is not an indica-
tion of the increasing vulgarity and
mediocrity of the democratic ‘mass’
mind but, instead, a sign that at this
stage the desire for knowledge is upper-
most, It need not mean, either, that fic-
tion and poetry are “‘finished’”; it is at
least possible that the desire for knowl-
edge will be succeeded by a demand
for the more rarefied nourishment of fic-
tion and poetry. This is the usual
sequence in individual development,
and the individual is the unit and the
mainspring of the democratic process.
THIS LAST FACT is too often over-
looked or forgotteri—and to me one of
the great ironies of the past thirty years
is that it has been so often overlooked
and forgotten by the very people who
consider themselves the champions of
the democratic idea. It is they, for in-
stance, who are most likely to use a
term which I have used myself, which
I shall never use again, and which I
think should be banished from the dem-
octatic vocabulary—I mean that con-
descending, arrogant, and subtly self-
glorifying term “the masses.” It is a
term that corrupts the user, for as soon
as one reduces human beings, in one’s
mind, to a featureless, undifferentiated
“mass,” one is on the way to being
ready to treat them not as human beings
but as insentient sings, to be categorized,
manipulated, even destroyed—and all of -
327
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")
;
course for their own good. The totali-
tarians have shown us and are still
showing us where this sort of de-
humanized thinking leads. Another, re-
lated irony is that the defense of the
individual has become the shibboleth of
old-fashioned reactionaries who really
regatd the majority of people as “a
great beast.”
IN REPORTING last week on “Flight
Into Egypt’’ I didn’t get round to men-
tioning an element which other review-
ers noted and which was very much in
evidence. This was the piling up of af-
flictions—on the characters and on the
audience as well—to the point where
one had to become insensible or walk
out. The situation presented was cruel
enough—that of a cripple and his wife
and child, almost penniless, waiting
from moment to moment for a visa to
the United States—though it was some-
how alleviated by the information that
they had their steamship tickets! But a
gruesome and to my mind quite unnec-
essary twist was added. The cripple had
a radio on his wheelchair and we were
carefully told that when the pain was
upon him he turned on the radio to
drown his screams. It seems to me that
sadism—in this case directed at the audi-
ence—could go no farther; and there
are other details almost as harrowing.
“Flight Into Egypt’ may be intended
as a serious play about a subject of press-
ing interest; it often gives the effect
of being an attempt to exploit current
emotions about refugees, war cripples,
and mean American consuls,
Personal Chronicle
AFTER ALL, The Autobiography of
Norman Angell. Farrar, Straus and
Young. $4.50.
OT many elders of our time can
have been more badgered than
Sit Norman Angell to set about the
writing of reminiscences, and there is
one curious point in the persistent de-
mand. The men and women who make
up his immense circle of acquaintance
have for the most part esteemed him
only as author and international evan-
gelist. They are unaware that his life
has comprised an abundance of adven-
ture; that this man of slight physique
spent his early manhood in the fierce
labor of a pioneer in the great West,
328
and that until the onset of old age he
found his recreation in home-building
and stiff sailing. To the large majority,
therefore, of those readers who can
claim some personal knowledge of the
author, “After All” will come as the
revelation of an original man of ac-
tion.
Norman Angell is a native of eastern
England, coming from a small Lincoln-
shire town not many miles from Old
Boston. His parents were moderately
well-to-do. They would gladly have sent
him to Cambridge and backed him for a
lucrative profession, but from the start
he had other ideas. His schooling was
mainly in France, at the /ycée of St.
Omer. At the age of sixteen he was edit-
ing a little paper in Geneva, and a year
Jater, with £50 sterling from his father,
he sailed for New York. An emigrant
train carried him to southern California
when Los Angeles was hardly a town.
Being ready for anything he worked as
farm hand, cowboy, and hauler. As an
intending settler he built his own house.
All the physical conditions were rough
and enjoyable; it was the human ob-
stacles that proved to be insuperable. A
quite grotesque animosity was the lot of
this friendly and hardworking young
Englishman. Lying testimony in the
court did him out of his quarter-section.
At the end of seven years he gave up
and had a brief spell of reporting in
San Francisco.
The next stage made a startling con-
trast. His knowledge of French was an
asset. He went to Paris and was soon
writing editorials with energy and a
wide range. His gifts were discovered
by Harmsworth, the future Lord North-
cliffe, then on his first ascent to power
and needing an organizer for the Con-
tinental Daily Mail. Angell accepted the
job and held it with notable success for
ten years. No two men could have been
farther apart in conviction and aim; yet
the personal association was good to the
last, and meanwhile the governing pur-
pose of Norman Angell’s life was tak-
ing shape.
The violent racial hates he had known
in California made him reflect upon the
roots of international conflict. In France
the raging passions aroused by the
Dreyfus affair drove home the lesson.
The climate between Germany and
England was rapidly changing for the
worse. This student of affairs at the
center recognized all the forces that
were making toward a European dis-
aster, and in 1910 ‘The Great Illusion”
was published, after a trial venture with
a pamphlet. The famous book was a : |
compact masterpiece of exposition, logic,
and prophecy. It proclaimed that the.
powers were rushing to the abyss. Their
fatal course might be stayed, but only
if the governments and other makers ‘—
of policy took heed in time, ac- ,
knowledged the iron facts, and threw ‘
away the superstitions by which the na-:
tions were being destroyed. Should war
be allowed to come again, the warning’
rang, victors and vanquished must suf-
fer alike: the European system would |
be overturned, indemnities could not be
collected: the writing on the wall was ,
repudiation. “The Great Illusion” was
translated into a score of languages, the +
sales ran into millions, a debate was —
opened that spanned the globe.
The author's
shortening of his patronymic—was soon
universally known, but by an ironic
perversity for which there is no paral-
lel in the annals of political controversy, ©
it was attached to a mythical soothsayer
who was alleged to have announced
that great wars had become impossible. ~
During forty years of protest Norman
Angell wrote hundreds of letters under-
lining the truth that what he had writ-
ten was the precise opposite. All efforts
were unavailing; the idiotic blunder is
still being repeated, even by would-be
serious writers. Hence Norman Angell
is now disposed to quote Charles Dar-
win and say that he must have been a
very poor explainer. That, of course, is
not so; no man could be more lucid.
All we can say is that the libel is unique
and inexplicable.
Norman Angell is now within hail of
fourscore. He can look back upon a half-
century of public work inspired by de-
votion to a single cause: the salvation
of mankind from a third global conflict
which would bring the final overthrow -
of Europe as we know it and the end
of Western civilization. His opponents _
assert that in demanding a policy of
realistic cooperation between the “free”
powers he has identified himself with a
fundamental blunder. That is, he has
assumed that peoples and governments
are capable of being convinced by rea-
son and experience or by arguments
based upon vital interest. He replies that
The NATION |
a *
name—an_ effective
S> S&S Be Be ee See
—_- 4
e irrational forces now
.g the world and blackening the
future. He knows that for himself there
was no other course possible than the
‘one to which his mind and energies are
dedicated. Upon the essentials of or-
unic peace he has written and spoken
ntiringly. His coworkers are found in
every land. In England after the First
War he became a valued counselor of
the Labor Party, fought four elections,
“and endured rather than enjoyed two
years in Parliament. He is given to won-
_ dering whether, for a complete inter-
nationalist, this turn to the left was
‘tight. He notes with a touch of good-
_ humored irony that when, for a very
}.!
| bs
|
simple reason, he accepted a knighthood
- from Ramsay MacDonald, he received
>
many more congratulations than on the
_ occasion of the Nobel peace award.
In these present hours of crisis, amid
' conditions more threatening to the
| _world order than ever before, it is plain-
ly impossible for anyone to estimate,
in terms of positive result, the life-
effort of a creative social and political
| thinker. Here for us, however, is the
I: personal chronicle of a life and char-
acter that shine out in the murk of our
distressful day. It is throughout candid
| and humane, written with sustained ani-
_ mation. And I do not doubt that the
| sensitive reader will feel that it reflects
_ the thoughts and affections of a happy
man, a spirit deeply fulfilled.
| S. K, RATCLIFFE
ih Dr. Hayes on Spain
THE UNITED STATES AND SPAIN.
‘By Carlton J. H. Hayes. Sheed and
Ward. $2.75.
| ye latest contribution by Dr. Hayes
e- to the Viva Franco school of his-
tory is an expanded version of lectures
| he delivered last year at the College of
the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massa-
| chusetts. Despite the fact that it is a
slender little book in more ways than
| One, it contains elements of truth which
are sometimes overlocked. Spain, as the
‘ is fated to remain so, not because of
_ the indolence of Spaniards—they are an
_ industrious and sober people—but be-
‘cause of its deficiency in natural re-
sources. Though there are vast treasures
: in Spanish cathedealat
el
ha.
_ author points out, is a poor country and
a:
d monasteries,
the Catholic church in Spain is also
poor. Spain’s record as a colonizer is not
so bad as it has Been painted by such
historians as Prescott; in some respects
it was better than England’s,
Even in dealing with matters of back-
ground Dr. Hayes’s prejudices are ap-
parent, but if he had confined himself
to giving background information his
book would have served a useful pur-
pose. Far too many people holding
strong convictions about Spain appear to
have confined their reading to the period
since 1936, or at most go back to the
fall of the monarchy in 1931. Dr,
Hayes’s aim is to convince Americans
that the Franco regime is not really
fascist, that it helped us during the war,
and that now it should be brought into
the North Atlantic Pact whether the
British and French like it or not. For
the moment the Pentagon is more con-
cerned with arming Germany, and until
that issue is disposed of, Franco will
apparently have to wait.
However, the absence of Franco from
an alliance that is intended to save the
Atlantic democracies from totalitarian-
ism has not dismayed the Pentagon, and
it is rushing its preparations to arm
Franco in exchange for bases; if all goes
according to Dr. Hayes’s wishes the
United States should soon be able to
welcome Franco into the North Atlantic
Pact and the United Nations as well.
Thanks to Mr. Acheson’s representa-
tives, in fact, the General Assembly has
already repealed the resolution that
barred the Franco regime from organiza-
tions affiliated with the United Nations
and asked member nations to withdraw
their ambassadors from Madrid.
Most advocates of aid for Franco
either profess to be mere generals or
admirals, knowing nothing about for-
eign policy but much about the value of
airfields in Castile, or like President
Truman keep on saying they don’t like
Franco while doing what Franco wants.
No person who values the good name
of the United States will approve of
such an attitude, though it is possible to
understand it and even to respect those
who hold it. Dr. Hayes, however, is a
champion of Franco a outrance. To say
that he is an apologist would be to
understate the case. According to Dr.
Hayes, Franco is a fine man, and the
Spanish civil war was a struggle, not
tgif
Duveen
By S&S N. BEHRMAN. The astonishing career of
the most spectacular art dealer of all time... whose
audacious selling methods lured millions from the
richest collectors in America.
Back of Town
By MARITTA WOLFF. In the author's own word
“My new novel is an excursion into that part o
life chat Dr, Kinsey ignored in his repor-—the
effect of love on the relations between men and
women.” $3.50
Great Voices of
the Reformation
Edited, with commentaries, by HARRY EMERSON
FOSDICK. Selections from Martin Luther, John
Calvin, John Knox, George Fox, Joha Wesley,
and many others. $5.00
lncredible
New York
By LLOYD MORRIS. A panorama of New York's
high life and low life for the past 100 years. With
many drawings, paintings, lithographs. $5.00
$3.50
THE
live of the Kite
By FLEMING MACLIESH. A novel about an orgle
astic transcontinental flight, arranged by an indus. _
trialist with a diabolical taste for playing God. $3.00
Chost and Flesh
By WILLIAM GOYEN. Eight tales of the flesh and
the pact of its desires, by one of the most stylis-
tically brilliant writers in America today.
A Land
By JACQUETTA HAWKES. The aor of the earth
is told charmingly and with poetic feeling in this
beautiful book. Drawings by Henry Moore. $3.73
At all bookstores, RANDOM HOUSE, N. ¥.
329
eae. |B
{
ee
between communism and fascism, but
between Communists and “anti-Com-
munists,” and was ‘“‘a prelude not so
much to the Second World War as to the
subsequent ‘cold war’ and the struggle
in Korea,”
Two examples of Dr. Hayes’s use of
Aistorical method, which he presumably
passed on to his students at Columbia
University, must suffice. The first con-
cerns the composition of the forces sup-
porting the Nationalists at the start of
the civil war: after a fairly accurate ac-
count of the moderate Republicans,
Requetes, and so on we come to the
last of the list: “In addition, there was
a new semi-fascist group, the Falange,
headed by José Antonio Primo de
Rivera, son of the former general and
dictator, and recruited chiefly from
youthful ultra-patriots impatient alike
with monarchy and with republic.” This
is the closest Dr. Hayes comes to ad-
mitting that there were any fascist ele-
ments among Franco’s supporters, and
he does not refer to Franco's decree of
April 14, 1937, making the twenty-six
points of the Falange the official pro-
gram of his regime, still less to the
fact that this decree has not been re-
pealed. If Dr. Hayes wants to know
whether this was just a “semi-fascist”
group, perhaps he will accept evidence
from me: on more than a dozen occa-
sions between 1939 and 1941, I, an
American newspaper correspondent, was
forced by Franco's police to give the
fascist salute.
The second example of Dr. Hayes’s
methods concerns the “sinister propa-
ganda of Moscow and _ international
communism,” which “‘tirelessly repeated
the most blatant lies about Spain’s fuel-
ing of German U-boats. . . .” It so
happens that the State Department
White Paper on Spain reproduces a re-
port from the Nazi embassy- in Spain
in which a Nazi official stated that he
had been urging the Franco government
to permit the refueling of Nazi de-
stroyers, using as his main argument the
fact that the Franco government was
already permitting the refueling of sub-
marines. What does Dr. Hayes say about
that? Well, he does not mention this of-
ficial report, but he dismisses all the
documents in the collection as “a
tendentious ‘white paper,’”’ which was
“basically dishonest.”
Perhaps a special word should be said
330
about the use of quotation marks as part
of the technique of innuendo which is
constantly employed by Dr. Hayes and
his school. It might seem that to call a
collection of Nazi documents “tenden-
tious” would be enough. Are the in-
verted commas intended to mean that
it was not a White Paper, or even that
it did not exist at all? To take another
example, Dr. Hayes quotes from an
article by Robert Bendiner and says it
appeared in the “liberal” Nation. This
means presumably that The Nation,
while it professes to be a liberal pub-
lication, is not any such thing, and the
implication is meant to be sinister.
Indeed, Dr. Hayes’s use of innuendo
deserves a special article. Space does not
permit republication of a remarkable
passage which manages to connect Alger
Hiss, Mr. Acheson, and the Yalta con-
ference with the adoption at the San
Francisco conference of the resolution
barring Spain from the United Nations
as long as Franco remained in power.
One sentence must suffice: “There was
also a new, non-career Under Secretary
of State, Mr. Dean Acheson, who was
a close personal friend of Alger Hiss
and had the reputation at the time of
being especially conciliatory toward Rus-
sia and hostile to ‘Franco Spain.’”’
Dr. Hayes’s “Select Bibliography” —
the habit is catching—lists under the
heading “Anti-Franco Criticism and
Propaganda” the excellent book on
Spain by Emmet J. Hughes, which is
written from a Catholic point of view
and which condemns the Franco regime
with bell, book, and candle. Mr. Hughes
was a protégé of Dr. Hayes and worked
under him throughout their stay in
Madrid; it is good to be reminded that
“liberals” are not the only people who
refuse to accept Dr. Hayes’s prejudices
and innuendoes.
THOMAS J. HAMILTON
More Than One Way
FOUR THOUSAND MILLION
MOUTHS. Scientific Humanism and
the Shadow of World Hunger. Edited
by F. Le Gros Clark and N. W. Pirie.
Oxford University Press. $3.
A CALM approach to problems of
population and food resources is
unusual in the literature turned out on”
these subjects. Axes have to be ground,
points scored, facts forced to ft national
or religious prejudices or economic
theories. Writers set out to deal objec-
tively with “food and population” only _
to find themselves emotionally involved
in “hunger and sex,” and there are al-
ways politicians, priests, and defenders
of the taxpayer's pocket only too ready
to further the confusion. Even the disin-
terested rarely see that the problem can ~
be tackled from both ends. One school
puts all its faith in the synthesis of pro-,
teins, the transforming of plankton, the:
more equable sharing of the planet's re-
sources, and is sure that population
limitation is impossible, foolish, and un-
necessary. The other school, alarmed by
the fact that the world’s population is
increasing by about twenty-eight million!
a year, warns that if we do not arrest it’,
rapidly, even to the extent of withhold-.
ing penicillin—from races other than’
our own—we are all headed for extinc-'
tion by self-strangulation.
Into this murky emotionalism a group
of British scientists have dropped a
little book so honest and sensible, so
full of solutions which mean hard work
but are deduced from scientific facts,’
and so Jacking in appeals to fear, greed,
and prudery, that it is unlikely to be
paid the slightest attention.
In the first chapter they present the
problem: “Within the lifetime of some
of our children the world’s population
may be expected to reach 4,000 mil-
lions. It stands at present at about
2,300 millions. .. . How shall we work
the miracle of feeding the 4,000 mil-
lions?” Then follow chapters on soil
conservation, the use of manure, genetics
.
7)
.
and food, improvement of pigs, milk’ |}
supply and crops, the use of fish, the
processing of food, and the circumven-
tion of waste.
Each contributor is distinguished in
his own field, and all show a familiarity
with what is being done in their fields
in the rest of the world. They also have
a refreshing ability to write simply, fj
though no amount of good writing can ff]
make such subjects easy going for the
general reader. '
In the last essay it is remarked that
“the world’s population problem has
been largely created by the uneven ap-
plication of science; the solution de-
pends on whethet the farmer and the
biochemist can restore that uneasy
balance between food and population
which the engineer and the doctor have
The NATION)
——
o the biochemist not only to im-
the food supply but also to
yprove contraceptive technique.”
_ The kind of detachment which makes
it possible for one contributor to write
that “the development of contracep-
tion permits some dissociation of the
th rate from the moral code” will
_ give a vested interest in the neglect of
_this book to those who would rather we
f ll perished than permit any such dis-
"sociation. The rest of us should make
_ efforts to see that it is read and studied.
BARBARA CADBURY
Epic in Technicolor
SPARTACUS. By Howard Fast. Pub-
lished by the Author. $3.
M* FAST’S new novel was presum-
, ably rejected by a sufficient num-
__ ber of publishers to convince him that it
would be necessary to publish it himself.
_ This raises several interesting ques-
tions as to the responsibility of commer-
ye cial publishers to bring out books by
"previously successful authors whose po-
_ litical opinions, as expressed beyond the
confines of their books, are distasteful to
| most Americans; for Mr. Fast’s latest
iat
P
novel contains no ideas that could not
_ be wholeheartedly accepted by all men
of good-will, and it exhibits no diminu-
tion of the special talents that have in
the past won him substantial audiences
_and royalties. Apparently, therefore, the
_ publishers who rejected “Spartacus” de-
cided to forgo the substantial profits
~ that might very well have been theirs in
| order not to have to defend the inclu-
,
_ sion on their list of an author closely
| associated with the Communist Party.
| As for the book itself, it tells of the
_ slave revolt against the dying Roman
‘tépublic led by the remarkable Sparta-
_ cus, who has already been celebrated
_ from a somewhat different angle by
_ Arthur Koestler in his early novel ‘The
| ¢ ladiators.”” Mr. Fast has chosen to re-
_ count the tale in a curious series of
| parenthetical reminiscences which zigzag
| backward and forward in time, perhaps
| because he hoped in this way to raise
_ the curtain from the clouded past as
Robert Graves has done, and to show
us a fragment of revolutionary history
s it was experienced not only by its
he, PLAS,
ally affected by it.
The result, however, is that the im-
pact of the story is diffused and scat-
tered, and it is to be doubted that read-
ers will carry away a coherent memory
of the sequence of events that led to
Spartacus and the slaves becoming mas-
ters for a time of all southern Italy.
What they will remember with some
vividness is Mr. Fast’s description of
crucified slaves along the Roman high-
ways, of gladiatorial combat, of pitched
battles against the Roman legions.
Mr. Fast’s conception of history is not
really much different from that of Cecil
B. DeMille. His technicolor characters
are determinedly banal, stubbornly re-
fusing to speak in any other accents than
those we have come to expect from the
heroes and heroines of the movie epics.
He has provided Spartacus with a lovely
and loyal wife named Varinia, and as if
to make sure that we will not miss the
point, he has contrasted their splendid
fidelity with the homosexual carryings
on of the degenerate members of the
master class. The prose style of ‘Sparta-
is congruous with the delineation
of the characters.
There is an epilogue, in which Mr.
Fast thanks the anonymous contributors
who have made possible the publica-
tion of the book. The last sentence
reads as follows: “He hopes that for
some future edition, at a time when it
would not subject them to danger and
reprisal, to be able to name these people
to extend personal thanks to each in
turn.”
One can only wonder what will be
the reaction of readers in the Soviet
Union, where Mr. Fast seems now to be
regarded as America’s greatest living
writer, to the translation of this celebra-
tion of a great slave laborers’ revolt.
HARVEY SWADOS
cus”’
Books in Brief
THE LETTERS OF PRIVATE
WHEELER. Edited by B. H. Liddell
Hart. Houghton Mifflin. $3.75. This is
a real discovery: the letters of an ex-
traordinarily articulate English soldier
who fought under Wellington in Spain
and at Waterloo. Particularly fascinat:
ing is Wheeler's description of the
Please accept this
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INGIMC ios scecesecsoevesvevsscsevossceves oprcon veers ssvepssenrni sassvaavoanwenestoh eis
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331
“three days’ fight” at Waterloo; a fitting
companion piece to Stendhal’s famous
vignette of the battle in ‘The Charter-
house of Parma,” and of the long and
arduous contra-dance up and down the
Iberian Peninsula. This is war in all its
boredom and ferocity as the common
soldier has seen it in every age.
A GUIDE TO THE STUDY OF
PUBLIC AFFAIRS. By E. E. Schatt-
schneider, Victor Jones, and Stephen K.
Bailey. William Sloane Associates.
$1.50. Three Wesleyan professors have
produced the most useful handbook
for the study of politics. Labor unions,
League of Women Voters, and citizens
anxious to understand the operation of
government will find it indispensable.
In ten brief chapters, annotated and
illustrated by pages reproduced from
innumerable references, the authors
have provided techniques to enable any
citizen to find out the facts about public
affairs. With skilfully selected ex-
amples the reader is shown “how to”
read a newspaper, a budget, a statute, a
judicial decision, and how to study a
pressure group, a federal government
agency or department, the record of a
Congressman, or the operation of a city
government. Throughout, the authors
demonstrate “that the task of knowing
about public affairs is infinitely simpler
than is generally made out.”
THE VICTORIAN TEMPER. By
Jerome Hamilton Buckley. Harvard.
$4.50. After an interesting beginning, in
which some of the conflicting opinions
about the period are reviewed and the
numerous little-known English poems in-
spired by Goethe’s ‘Faust’’ are surveyed,
Professor Buckley's discussion of Victo-
rian culture loses its sense of direction. It
is full of names, dates, quotations, and
allusions, but it suffers fatally from the
lack of any apparent principle of organi-
zation. In his preface the author offers
his work as a study of the “moral
aesthetic,” but it attempts to be too many
other things besides, As a result, it boils
down to a series of discussions set
end to end for no clear purpose. It is
impressive only in its scope. The au-
thor’s intention seems to have been
descriptive rather than definitive, and
his production opens to serious question
the value of literary “surveys” intended
to give their readers a knowledge of
literature while spating them an ex-
perience of it. It could not have been
Professor Buckley's intention to write a
textbook, for he makes no attempt to
proportion his discussion adequately. He
could hardly have meant to give stu-
dents a clear picture of Victorian cul-
ture by treating W. H. Mallock in
greater detail than George Eliot, and
devoting as much attention to Bailey as
to Browning.
NATION
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FARBER
Films
LONGSIDE “Boots Malone,” a
race-park drama executed in a re-
laxed and mobile fashion, most of the ~
current films appear to be moving on’
club feet. The story in capsule form, }
shows a track-struck rich kid being:
adopted by a jaded jockey’s agent, put
through an intensive training, and
turned into an expert bug-boy. The
necessary problems are provided along
the way by a quiet, matter-of-fact, grim
syndicate that muscles the agent, who!
is for a hero surprisingly timorous; also ;
there is a snobbish mother who prob- |
ably learned her acting trade at the ‘
rodeo—she practically throws her eye-
brows off her face. It is fashionable these
days to show corruption in the United”
States; so the story has all but one of
the jockeys, trainers, and so on mer-
rily fenagling with horses and mutuel ’
prices. All this corruption is probably '
exaggerated but treated with remarkable
plausibility: the techniques and docu-
mentation obviously derive from a
thoroughgoing knowledge of the sport
of kings and bookies. The only possible
moral is that horse-racing is a fascinat-
ing sport but don’t place too much con-
fidence in your scratch sheet.
There has been so much blowing on
what is stale in this movie and what is
-wonderful—paddock lingo and lore—
that I won't swell its volume, except to
suggest that kid athletes are not likely «ff
to learn their professton via the ABC
instruction meted out by the agent to
his apprentice rider. I suspect that if
basketball coaches told the rookie
players to dribble in zigzags, keep their
eyes on the basket, or imparted any
other kindergarten knowledge, there
would be an outbreak of-assassinations in
American athletics, Ninety-nine per
cent of American athletes learn their’
trade in their own way, and I see no
reason why jockeys should depart from®
the norm. Such instruction (“Cock your
knees, grab a handful of mane. . .”)
is there to please the critics who like
educational movies and the chalk-
sniffers who want to peep into the
bowels of their favorite sport. As for
the authentic racing talk (‘‘fourteen-
The NATION
”), quite
is sensitive, accurate, and
doctber swithy delipht a
using: his winniag mutuel tickets as
ers, and the stark sentences: “All
respect is force. They are mere
utes who have had all the intelligence
red out of them.” And the entire han-
dling of a fat, rich “win-crazy” owner
is one of the most accurate examples of
“grec d that I have seen this year. But a
good deal of the fancy talk is contrived,
ind it hangs between people like tiny,
sshapen dirigibles.
Milton Holmes, a movie specialist
im who writes only horse epics, is a born
story-teller even if his stuff runs to pulp.
His script treats the actuality of working
for a living and does it without those
short cuts that chep current movies into
atic fragments. The kid is shown
arning how to ride on back-to-back
chairs, a bale of hay, a chalk drawing,
'and finally race horses; this variety of
mounts is obviously a gimmick for
3 voiding monotony, but it makes for a
enuine movie atmosphere in which you
see figures involved with racing and
nothing else from dawn to midnight.
| This type of continuous and untightened
| narration gives actors room for small
| natural movements which never seem
| to get into a movie like ‘Detective
| Story,” where close perspectives and
“absence of actjon force the actors into
) slightly ‘hysterical business with eyes,
iHips, and hands. Holden, as the tarnished
agent, is a-dour sort who usually muffs
the climactic scenes that demand big
“emotion (the pocket-picking in the be-
‘gitning), but he is masterful in these
» realistic stretches—doing some relaxed
¢ caching in the starting gate or gallop-
fe ng along with the boy telling him how
9.whip his mount (the best working
| shots I’ve seen in recent films). Holmes
“knows and likes the sights of a race
| ck well enough to waste footage on
‘trip to the diner, motel life near the
and the unrelated wanderings of
acing troupe stuck on the highway.
is last scene, with its credible terrain
) and each shot connected into a lite of
4 Race that lead easily and logically
from one thing to another, seems rather
wonderful when compared to any of the
fulgar settings and crazily viewed scenes
f such over-touted masterpieces as
“Boots Malone’”’ is seepeaeoaics, but
it does show professional men actually
working; the surface of their lives is al-
most real; and thanks to Holden, the
story tells you a good deal about the
grace, recessiveness, and quiet discern-
ments of a moderately gifted man going
nowhere.
A word or two further about the act-
ing. However he does it, Holden seems
in constant motion standing still; his
posture, coloring, and disinterested tech-
nique are so perfectly adjusted to a natu-
ral setting that he appears to be a worn,
moving part of the air currents in a
scene. Basil Ruysdael’s kindly trainer is
so full of lofty spiritual feeling and the
visual qualities of a daguerreotype that
he could be a farmer who wandered off
the set of ‘Tolable David” into this
picture of corruption at the tracks, The
rich kid, done in a controlled, over-
trained Broadway style by Johnny Stew-
art, is just this side of revolting.
Also recommended: “Five Fingers,”
“The Captive City,” “Los Olvidados.”
B. H.
HAGGIN
; e VICTOR'S second group of LP
records with dubbings of record-
ings by famous singers of the past again
includes one devoted entirely to Caruso’s
performances. Most of them offer noth-
ing that was not already offered, in bet-
ter music, by the performances on the
first record; but two—the 1908 AA, si,
ben mio and 1906 Di quella pira from
“Il Trovatore’’—are interesting as fine
examples of Caruso’s singing in the
early years when his voice was light in
color (the high C’s of Di quella pira
come out as B’s).
An entire record also is devoted to
Ponselle, and rightly, since hers was one
of the most extraordinarily - beautiful
voices ever heard at the Metropolitan.
Its voluminously sumptuous beauty is
reproduced perfectly by the 1926 electri-
cal recordings of two arias from “La
Vestale,” but with alteration of its color
by the dubbings from noisy-surfaced
shellac pressings of the 1924 acoustic re-
cordings of the Willow Song and Ave
Maria from “Otello.” I hear nothing in
a 1924 “Home, Sweet Home” (with the
- voice altered in color) and a 1936 Schu-
bert “Ave Maria” (with an offensive
violin obbligato) that compelled their
inclusion in place of, say, the acous-
tically recorded performances of arias
from ‘Ernani’” and ‘La Forza del Des-
tino,” which are two of the best.
The record devoted to McCormack
offers his 1910 performances of arias
from “L’Elisir d’Amore” and “Lucia” —
superb examples of the flawless taste
with which he used his beautiful voice
in Italian opera. But for the rest there
are Wagner's ““Triume’”’ and O Kénig
from “Tristan,” recorded in the thirties
—the voice rough, the singing undis-
tinguished; and instead of reissuing his
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SALISBURY RECORD SALES
Box 172, Falls Village, Connecticut
GERTRUDE LAWRENCE
In A Rew Musical Play
The King and 7
with YUL BRYNNER
DOROTHY SARNOFF. DORETTA MORROW
ST. JAMES THEATRE, West 44th St
Evenings at 8:25: $7.20 to 1.80. Matinees
Wednasday & Saturday at 2:25: $4.20to 1.80.
Pulitzer Prize & Critics’ Award Musical Play
MARTHA WRIGHT
GEORGE BRITTON
South Pacific
with MYROM McCORMICK
MAJESTIC EERIE West Ath St. St.
20: $2.50 0 120. sat at $4.20 to 1. 20.
MONDAY EVES. ONLY: CURTAIN AT 7 SHARP
Scouae of S
Victor wastes space on the t
on which he wasted his talent.»
Hempel, to whom an entire record
might have been devoted, doesn’t, in
Victor’s estimation, rate even a place on
the omnibus record Stars of the Golden
Age. And though Battistini, Melba, and
Destinn are included this time, Bat-
tistini’s powers in quiet sustained mel-
ody are not employed in a duet from
“Ernani” and Melba is not impressive in
Voi che sapete from “Figaro.”
what Galli-Curci did to Sempre libera
from “La Traviata” in 1919 and her
slithering about in “Song of India” in
1930 should have been kept hidden;
Scotti’s L’Onore! from “Falstaff” is un-
distinguished; Bori’s voice had become
unpleasantly edged by 1928 when she
recorded Un bel di from “Madama
Butterfly’; and Tetrazzini is not at her
most impressive in Veracini’s simple
“Pastoral.” On the other hand the rec-
ord offers an outstanding Caruso per-
formance, his 1906 M’appari from
““Marta,”” with Destinn’s Suicidio! from
“La Gioconda,”’ Homer's Mon coeur
from “Samson et Dalila,” and Ruffo’s
1920 Pari siamo from “Rigoletto.”
On the record Famous Duets are sev-
eral beautiful performances. Alma
Gluck’s lovely voice is heard with Ca-
ruso’s in Libiamo from Act 1 of “La
Traviata’; Bori and McCormack are
heard in a 1914 Parigi, o cara from
Act 3; the style and taste of Schipa en-
able one to endure Galli-Curci in a duet
from “La Sonnambula”; Gigli sings
with beautiful quiet lyricism in the sec-
ond part of a duet from “Lucia” with
Pinza, after sobbing through the first
part; Martinelli is impressive in a 1917
duet from “William Tell” with Journet;
Farrar’s voice is lovely in the Barcarolle
from “The Tales of Hoffmann” with
Scotti (but I would have preferred their
La ci darem la mano from “Don Gio-
vanni’’). Space also is given to the
Farrar-Caruso duet from “Madama But-
terfly” that would better have been
given to, say, the Hempel-Amato duet
from “La Traviata” or the Gadski-
Amato duet from “Il Trovatore.”
Except for Gigli’s Celeste Aida the
record Aida Yesterday offers excellent
performances: Rethberg’s Rétorna vin-
citor (cut), the Temple scene with
Pinza and Martinelli (his voice tight
and enveloped in buzzing distortion),
‘songs
Also,
shellac record de perottee the pers
formance a half-tone sharp), the Gad- |
ski-Amato Su, dunque!, the 1924 Pon-
selle-Martinelli Pur wt riveggo (her
voice altered in color;~the performance
reproduced a half-tone sharp), the -
Homer-Caruso Gia i sacerdoti.
Decca’s second group of Lotte Leh- . ‘4
mann’s Parlophone recordings offers
Porgi amor (in German) from “Fig- ‘
aro,” which begins well but gets breath-
less and comes off the record a little
dim; Wie nabte mir der Schlummer
from “Der. Freischiitz,” beautifully —
sung, but with some constricted and
shrill high notes; an aria from Strauss’s
“Arabella,” also beautifully sung; So sei
er gut from ‘Der Rosenkavalier,” which
is a pale copy of the performance in the
great Victor set; and three passages from
“Die Fledermaus’—Mein Herr, was
dachten Sie, which is enchanting, the
Czardas, in which there are again con-
stricted and shrill high notes, and the
Finale of Act 2 with Tauber, Branzell,
and others. The loud passages of “Die
Fledermaus”, suffer from buzzing dis-
tortion.
To turn now to songs, and specifically
to the celebrated HMV recording of
Aksel Schiotz’s performance of Schu-
bert’s ‘Die schéne Miillerin,” which has
at last been issued here dubbed onte an
LP record in Victor's Treasury setics:
Schiotz’s singing turns out to be agree-
able to the ear, his phrasing musically
flawless; and wondering why neverthe-
less the performances of the songs leave
me unmoved and disappointed, I think
I find the reason to be their lack of
vitality and intensity even in the degree
demanded by these songs. I find this
deficiency also in Gerald Moore’s dis-
creet playing of the piano parts; and it
is made worse by the lack of brightness
and power in the recorded sound.
CONTRIBUTORS
S. K. RATCLIFFE is a distinguished
British journalist and lecturer.
THOMAS J. HAMILTON, author of
“Appeasement’s Child: The Franco
Regime in Spain,” is the United Nations
correspondent of the New York Times,
BARBARA CADBURY has made a
special study of problems of population
and birth control,
The NATION 4
‘ ied eit
ological Error?
n Scarecrow in the February 16 is-
of your excellent magazine. How-
ever, there is one statement in the article
which merits clarification from the en-
rinological point of view. I refer to
the following: ‘‘Fecundation in women
is closely related to the amount of estro-
*n produced in the system. Now since
the liver controls the amount of estrogen
which is put into the blood stream, any-
thing that impairs the natural function-
ing of the liver would affect fertility.
Protein deficiencies lead to cirrhosis and
fatty degeneration of the liver, which
in turn cause the release of more estro-
gen and an increase in reproductive
Capacity. Sexual appetite, a determinant
_ of fertility, also depends on the amount
_of estrogen in the system.”
Most endoctrinologists agree that
_ the amount of estrogen in the body plays
only a minor role in stimulating the
libido ‘and that too much estrogen sup-
| presses ovulation through the pituitary
gland, and therefore would increase the
_ percentage of sterile females, an opin-
don which is just the opposite of Mr.
de Castro’s.
Los Angeles MONTE SALVIN
Exchange Scholarships
= ee
| Dear Sirs: Never before in history have
countries had so many facilities for get-
_ ting to know and understand each other
_ as today; and yet one half of the world
does not know or has only superficial
_ ideas as to how the other half lives and
. what it thinks. It may be possible to
_ find reasons for this condition in the
. éase of countries which differ in lan-
_ guage or culture or tradition, but it is
-difficult to explain it in respect to
_ America and Britain.
|. Apart from ordinary travel—which
__ may be enjoyable though not profoundly
_ instructive—Anglo-American exchanges
_ frave been practiced for many years, al-
* though they have been confined mainly
to the academic, scientific, and industrial
fields. Since the war the valuable inter-
change of teachers has been initiated,
as well as the Fulbright and Smith-
_ Mundt plans. All these measures ate
_ to be greatly applauded, but none of
_ them appear to recognize sufficiently
- the social-revolution which the world
_ fs undergoing, or the resulting emer-
a
oss
gence of the common man. The common
man has been somewhat ignored or
‘treated in Cinderella-fashion in the
Anglo-American exchanges.
I founded, therefore, in 1947 Trans-
atlantic Foundation for the purpose of
arranging Anglo-American exchanges of
young people in spheres which were not
covered by governmental or other agen-
cies and which were to include the com-
mon man. In this connection it seemed
well to remember that those of academic
or similar status need not necessarily
have, while people in other occupations
may possibly have, wide liberal interests,
social enthusiasm, and the urge and abil-
ity to spread the gospel of Anglo-Amer-
ican understanding.
At the suggestion of the then general
secretary of the Workers’ Education
Association, Mr. Ernest Green, I ap-
proached Ruskin College, which occu-
pies probably a unique position in the
two countries as a workers’ college.
Founded by the American historian
Charles Beard, it serves, par excellence,
adult education in its broadest sense,
with the added advantage of being lo-
cated at Oxford. Fortunately, it had a
few vacant places which enabled me to
fix up five scholarships, based on one
year’s free board and study which I de-
cided to donate for the benefit of Amer-
ican trade-unionists. I took this decision
to fill a blank in the exchange field,
although I have no connection with
labor. An American committee was con-
stituted by Mr. Harold Taylor, president
of Sarah Lawrence College, which in-
cluded representatives from the Institute
of International Education, American
Federation of Labor, Congress of Indus-
triai Organizations, American Labor and
Workers’ Educational Services, and in-
dustrial employers. Simultaneously,
Transatlantic Foundation set up on the
British side an advisory council compris-
ing a political economist, the editor of
the Economist, the rector of Lincoln
College, and representatives of the Brit-
ish Trades Union Congress, Workers’
Education Association, Ruskin College,
and Poinby Hall.
Working through trade-union ma-
chinery, the American committee chose,
among two hundred applicants, five
suitable persons. Thus a start was made
to put the idea of Transatlantic Founda-
tion into action. The five first American
scholars found their experience enor-
mously stimulating and valuable, while
the British college profited, in turn,
from the presence of Americans in its
midst. The success of this beginning
was undoubted, and we felt justified
in trying to broaden the basis of the
plan. We therefore approached the
Trades Union Congress Educational
Trust and also a fund of which the late
Ernest Bevin was a trustee. Both organ-
izations agreed to fall into line and to
assume the responsibility for four schol-
arships, which they carried for some
years. The T. U. C. is still carrying two
and the writer one at present. In addi-
tion to Ruskin College, scholarships
have now also been made available to
young Americans at Harlech and Fir-
croft Colleges, which are likewise prom-
inent in the field of adult education.
Since the beginning, the American
scholars have been drawn from all parts
of the Union and from such varying oc-
cupations as business agent, telephone
operator, union organizer, farmer,
linotype operator, worker's counselor,
automobile worker, educator, journalist,
research worker, truck driver, seaman,
librarian. Over twenty have returned
to their own country, much enriched by
the knowledge which they gained dur-
ing their stay in Britain and immensel
broadened in their outlook. ~
Since Transatlantic Foundation aims
at exchanges, the reader may desire to
know the American side of the plan.
Unfortunately, this has not developed
to any measurable extent. At the present
moment there are only four young peo-
ple from Britain who are enjoying schol-
arships granted to them at Antioch,
Sarah Lawrence, and two Midwestern
girls’ colleges. So it is evident that some-
thing has to be done to make the plan
truly reciprocal. It is not for us in Brit-
ain to say whether the initiative should
come from independent individuals,
from organizations such as the C. I. O.
and A. F. of L., or from local unions.
The outlook on exchanges of some
American labor leaders is so well
known that it would be indeed sut-
prising if there were further delay.
Not only all associated on both sides of
the Atlantic with Transatlantic Founda-
tion but also many young people in Brit-
ain are eagerly awaiting offers of schol-
atships and the chance of visiting the
United States.
It will, 1 hope, be realized that the
kind of education which Transatlantic
Foundation envisages is not vocational
332)
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336
a a a ee
seek to deal with people wh 9
reached a measure of maturity in the
field, factory, workshop, or elsewhere,
crave for further education, particularly
those Americans who are keen to learn
about conditions in Britain—and vice
versa. . . . In the United States em-
phasis in workers’ education is perhaps
laid on “provide the tools for the
job”; that is, preparing the student for
growing into an effective trade-union
leader and instructing him in labor leg-
islation and collective-bargaining tech-
niques. These things are not ignored in
Britain, although the main aim may be
to provide a liberal education in the hu-
manities and to equip the student for
accepting social responsibility within the
community. An attempt is made to teach
him not what, but rather how, to think.
In these grave disturbed times each
country depends largely on its leaders,
not merely in the political but also in
the labor field, on men not only of char-
acter, personality, and moral stature, but
also of trained intellect and wide expe-
rience. Transatlantic Foundation hopes
that it may be allowed to play its own
small part and, at the same time, to con-
tribute toward Anglo-American friend-
ship. SIR ROBERT MAYER
London, England
,
, Navin
[Any inquiries concerning Trans-
atlantic Foundation should be addressed
either to Transatlantic Foundation, 3,
Lombard Street, E. C. 3, London, Eng-
land, or to Harold Taylor, Sarah Law-
rence College, Bronxville, New York.
—EDITORS THE NATION. }
Wittfogel vs. ...
Dear Sirs: By restricting my answer to
Lattimore to 300 words you force me to
reduce to a few sentences the discussion
of a problem that is politically immeas-
urably more important than the Lysenko-
Mendel issue. I shall therefore not com-
ment on Lattimore’s lapse of memory
regarding my political past. A man who
cannot remember his visit to the Presi-
dent of the United States can hardly
be expected to recall his talks with me.
This much, however, for the record:
1. In September, 1935, Lattimore
wrote Frederick V. Field: “. . . I have
just been traveling with Wittfogel, who,
as you probably know and I dimly sus-
pect, is a bit of a heretic from either the
Stalinist or the Trotskyist point of view,
when it comes to the bourgeois feudal
controversy over the nature of Chinese
society.” Clearly Lattimore knew my
scientific and my political position then.
2, Lattimore Y 0 }
‘the political sig © of words
“feudal” and “feudal survivals” i
scribing Asiatic societies comes oddly —
from one who himself emphasized the —
role they play in official Soviet ideology.:
In March, 1944, in Pacific Affairs Latti-
more lists Stalin's concept of “feudal
survivals” as among the “paramount
Communist theses” that ‘a Communist. -
writer has . . . to maintain” when deal- .
ing with China; and he notes that “the *
social data are somewhat obscured by.’
loosely used terms like ‘semi-feudal’ and '
‘feudal survivals’. In the late 1940°$
and without explanation Lattimore
shifted from his view of the “bureau-
cratic’’ nature of Chinese society to the
“feudal’”’ position required of scientists |
of the U.S. S. R. i
At times the “feudal” terminology is ‘
used in good faith but naively for ’
civilizations ruled by a managerial bu- +
reaucracy. For Japan it is generally ac- :
cepted as correct. Lattimore, who despite .
his pro-Soviet leanings once upheld the
“bureaucratic” theory, which seemed
only slightly heretical and which was
scientifically so productive, can hardly ,
plead ignorance on these points now.
KARL A, WITTFOGEL,
Professor of Chinese History, Uni-
versity of Washington; Director, Chi-
nese History Project, University of
Washington and Columbia University
New York
/
... Lattimore
Dear Sirs: 1 thank the editors of The
Nation for giving me the opportunity
to comment on Dr. Wittfogel’s letter.
I have no comment to make other than
to point out that this kind of tortured
polemic by Wittfogel was accepted by
the McCarran committee as “evidence”
in a supposedly serious investigation.
OWEN LATTIMORE,
Director Walter Hines Page- School
of International Relations, Johns
Hopkins University
Baltimore
Forgotten Actor?
Dear Sirs: In The Nation's review of
“Golden Boy” the actor who played :
the part of the “ham” prizefighter was
praised, but his name—Arthur O’Con- 2
nell—was omitted. This often happens
to actors in minor roles, and they take |
it hard since their bread and butter —
depend on good notices. aq
New York PAUL ALLEN
The NATION |
sey
ACROSS
_ 1 Might it fly over a U-boat, and still
_ _ be less than perfect? (11)
_ .9 It makes mother hesitate... (8)
10... while little brother, understand,
___ might be 23. (6)
11 See 27. +
_ 12 A gloomy fellow doesn’t rise in his
shirt, perhaps. (7)
os 14 Look at the present form before the
h ast goes up and down. (6)
16 Hid in the wrong piano, like St,
din Patrick’s foes. (8)
“17 Such a creature is not all it’s
_ .. cracked up to be, (8)
> 20 Stations that a. tyrant might
—._ organize. (6)
_ 22 It certainly isn’t the outlook that
% makes discernment, (7)
- 24 oper’ a this, and more power to
ie. you:
+ 26 A habit the rich have of getting
ft things built with it. (6)
27 and 11. Sandburg, perhaps, isn’t
f well and caves in finally. (8, 7)
| 28 Bit by an adder? (Certainly not an
' Original idea!) (11)
: DOWN
_ 2 and 13. Catholichang-out? The move-
' . ment is permitted by it. (9, 5)
; 8 The place isn’t exactly found again
__. between two points. (7) : +
_ 4 Father William wouldn’t let his son
have them as a gift! (4)
‘5 oe
ie
ssword Puzzle No. 459
BY FRANK W. LEWIS |
PFE PTE PL Plt
Hhin ta
Pott |
Janae
asl
5 ol
U
= -
Readers are invited to send for a free copy of Mr. Lewis's “ground rules.” Address
requests to Puzzle Dept., The Nation, 20 Vesey Street, New York 7, New York.
Siete oe
TT
Wits
5 The gal who comes out wears a
_ expression in coming out,
6 These birds must stand next to
horses first. (5)
7 String along with father if you
want a stately mansion. (6)
8 The bar maid? (6)
13 See 2.
16 See 18,
18 and 16. Comes in handy in an oral
examination. (6, 9)
19 If you can read this you’re probably
. not so cruel. (7)
20 A bad girl and I get caught between
little members of both parties, (7)
21 Skull drill of old, but boring in any
pe on (6)
won’t change it to fol -
quently (3.8 low 10 fre
n the surface, it seem
enh tb S worse than
R
SOLUTION TO PUZZLE No, 458
ACROSS:—1 A FOOL TH .
STARTLY; 11 AVERRED: 12 THEM Ain”
13 TENON; 14 AT LAST; 16 ENROLLUR:
19 SORORITY; 20 HYMNAL: 22 AcHnS:
23 ASSUAGING:; 25 CUTWORM; 26 AGI
TATO; 27 DOTS AND DASHES.’ ;
DOWN1—2 FLAIR; 4, 3 and 21 TE
OF TRANSGRESSORS IS HARD 5 EXACTS
ING; 6 ELECTRODYNAMICS; 7 ADRENA-
eee eter ad 9 recap 15 LARGHDT-
; SLIG N; 18 STR 5
ARCH; 24 IRATH. eat 8
Printed in the U. 8. A. by Szminexea Paxss, Inc,, Morgan & Johnson Aves., Brooklyn 6, N.Y. —
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3
!
Maj or Carl . Sitter, usmo .
Tur HILL WAS STEEP, snow-
covered, 600 feet high. Red-held,
jt cut our lifeline route from
Hagan-ri to the sea; it had to be
in our hands.
Up its 45-degree face, Major
Sitter led his handful of freezing,
weary men—a company against a
regiment! The hill blazed with
enemy fire. Grenade fragments
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and arms. But he continued head-
ing the attack, exposing himself
constantly to death, inspiring his
men by his personal courage.
After 36 furious hours the hill
was won, the route to the sea
secured. Major Sitter says:
“Fighting the Commies in
Korea has taught me one thing—
in today’s world, peace ts only for
the strong! The men and women
of America’s armed forces are
building that strength right now.
But we need your help—and one
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is by buying United States De-
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“So buy Defense Bonds—and
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Remember, when you’re buying bonds for
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Peace is for the strong...
Buy U S. Defense Bonds now!
The U.S. Government docs uot pay for this advertisement. It ts donated by tits publication i cooperation With the Advertising Council and the Magazine Publishers of Amortod,,
Pas Pepe Re ee Pee eT
A bs
ve
April 12, 1952
South African |
Madness ‘
An On-the-Spot Report
BY E. S. SACHS
>
Stevenson of Illinois
BY ALAN WHITNEY
+
Morris, McGrath—and Hoover |
q AN EDITORIAL 1
+
if A New Art Column by S Lane Faison, Jr
20 CENTS A COPY ~* EVERY WEEK SINCE 1865 ~- 7 DOLLARS A YEAR
“this
_ desperate
fight...”
What the 2nd Big
ge Foley Square Trial means to you.
' «THE LATE HAROLD L. ICKES SAID:
i . “_..this trial may well prove to be one of the
_--—s most important constitutional lawsuits of our
_ time.”
Standing in the dock before Judge and Jury in
Foley Square Federal Court are 16 New Yorkers
,..your fellow Americans...on trial—charged
with violating the Smith Act.
¢
These Communists are not the only ones on trial.
es You... your ideas, your thoughts, your liberties
+. are on trial, too!
In an historic letter expressing regret that he was
not physically strong enough to join the legal staff
of the 16 defendants, Harold L. Ickes wrote:
“T dearly wish that I might engage in this des-
_ perate fight to protect our liberties from further
whittling...”
- Thinking of his own two children, Ickes emphasized
the grave danger in the Smith Act in these words:
fh: “I also owe them whatever I am reasonably
capable of doing ...to preserve for them and their
children the liberties that you and I have been able
! to enjoy, and felt assurance of, until the unfortu-
nate majority opinion was handed down by the
_ Supreme Court in the earlier Communist (Smith
i Act) Case.”
_ p The Smith Act nullifies the Constitutional right
_ of free speech and free press.
- p None of these 16 defendants has been charged
_ with criminal acts.
__p They have been charged only with such acis as
mailing letters, attending meetings, writing arti-
cles, etc.
» If convicted, they face long prison terms.
» If convicted, all our Constitutional rights and
liberties will be in jeopardy!
sity for the maintenance of the Bill of Rights.
Rarolg
9 Fast 4
New York
Dear Mr. oo .
Id
to prop *erly wis
hod
The swift repeal of the Smith Act is a sheer neces- «
veer onOL? LJoney
eH AVENVE am
wrong
- PYPONT ong,
Southwe
August Ms Harbor
* Cammer
Ot: » Eaq,
, W. yreet - 95," Maine
t A th
ect at
. Our libert I ghe 7
tho, 1°? from Puree?
tenedq Pa
° 7
isk mi ify Yoere ten :
Years
dq
hope, wy1. tVoly
» wi od
ors. 2 be ag oe in,
wi}
Yet, such repeal can be hastened and assured only
by you—the people. The distinguished journalist,
I. F. Stone, said of this case:
“.. The Smith Act may begin to be ‘repealed’
in the court. There is a fighting chance, if not for
acquittal, then for reversal on appeal.”
A FIGHTING CHANCE! WILL YOU TAKE IT?
WILL YOU HELP US ASSURE A COURTROOM
VICTORY? WILL YOU HELP US TO START
THE REPEAL OF THE SMITH ACT IN THE
COURTS?
We urgently need your full support!
Such support requires taking no position on the
political program of the defendants. It requires
only the defense of their Constitutional rjghts as
Americans. And by defending their rights we de-
fend the rights of ALL Americans!
FUNDS ARE NEEDED for legal expenses, to issue
literature, to sponsor radio broadcasts, to print ad-
vertisements, pamphlets and leaflets, and to utilize
other media to inform and arouse the people to pre-
serve their rights and liberties. CONTRIBUTE
NOW!
ACT To Repeal the Smith Act!
FILL OUT COUPON AND MAIL TODAY!
[MT eee eee a eee
i
Clifford T. McAvoy, Chairman
CITIZENS EMERGENCY DEFENSE CONFERENCE
Room 604, 401 Broadway, New York 13, N. Y.
I herewith contribute the sum of $
Please send me material to distribute 0.
NAM EAA
ADDRESS.
CITY. ZONE STATE 25
Fee ee SS =
The Citizens Emergency Defense Conference was originally sponsored
by: Mrs. Charlotta Bass, Prof. Henry Pratt Fairchild, Ben Gold, Dr,
W. Alphaeus Hunton, James Imbrie, Prof. Robert Morss Lovett, Clif-
ford T. McAvoy, John T, McManus, Arthur Miller, Dr. Philip Morrison,
Rev, Herminio L, Perez, Albert Pezzati and I. F. Stone. Now, more
than 450 other Americans have joined with them for the specific
purpose of defending the 16 Communists on trial at Foley Square
AMERICA’S LEADING LIBERAL WEEKLY SINCE 1865
VoLuME 174
q h
Ihe Shape of Things
FRENCH COLONIALISM HAS LEARNED LITTLE
_ from the loss of Syria and Lebanon, little even from the
_ bloody stalemate in Indo-China, When the French au-
thorities in Tunisia arrested the Premier and several min-
_ isters, declared martial law, and forced the aged Bey to ~
accept a pro-French Premier, they appeared to believe
that their coup de main had settled things. Acting brisk-
__ ly, Jean de Hauteclocque, the Resident General, had him-
_ self appointed Foreign Minister, while the new Premier,
M. Baccouche, searched for men willing to join a Cabinet
_ set up to do French bidding. At the same time, and in the
| same tradition, de Hauteclocque came up with a
| _ program of domestic reform, offering an approach to-
_ ward internal autonomy by very slow stages, while retain-’
ing for France many special powers including a veto over
the decisions of Tunisian ministers. By completing these
moves with brutal speed, France checkmated the Asian
and African countries sponsoring a complaint to the
Security Council that French rule in Tunisia represented
a threat to international peace and security. Their request
for a debate was lost without a vote when the United
States delegation received orders from Washington not
to support it. But the issue is far from closed. There will
be more trouble in Tunisia and more protests in the
U.N. As the Chairman of the Council, Dr. Ahmed
: Bokhari of Pakistan, said in a bitter, indignant speech
| from the floor: “To whom else can the Tunisians come
if not the United Nations? . . . What is the United
Nations for?”’ Once more the dictates of Atlantic diplo-
|. macy have aligned the United States with the colonial
\ | powers; Russia, Nationalist China, Chile, Brazil, and
| Pakistan were prepared to support the Tunisian com-
| plaint. Washington’s role will not be admired in those
}) * countries it hopes to save from “neutralism’” and the
blandishments of Moscow.
-—— +
eee ee
-
*-
+
THE REPUBLICAN PRIMARIES IN NEBRASKA
_ and Wisconsin seem to have pleased everyone: Taft is
elated; the Eisenhower leaders are “optimistic”; Warren
is satisfied, Stassen cheerful. The results were not surpris-
_ ing. Both states are part of Taft’s ideological terrain. Taft
_ also enjoyed the benefit of powerful organized support,
_ and his investment in time, energy, and funds was enor-
= s. Neither state has a significantly large independent
ae
a a)
NEW YORK + SATURDAY «+ APRIL 12, 1952
NUMBER 15
or “shifting” vote; there was little crossing of party lines.
Under the circumstances Taft’s vote was sufficiently large
to keep him in the running but not large enough to
offset the advantage Eisenhower currently enjoys. The
ludicrously opportunistic Mr. Stassen—the Republican
vote-splitter—was naturally pleased to make any showing
at all, even if his intervention in Wisconsin gave twenty-
four delegates to Taft. The candidate who has the most
reason to be pleased with the Wisconsin primary is Gov-
ernor Earl Warren, who kept expenditures to a minimum
in the campaign. He was a late starter; his campaign was
hastily improvised; he had to commute from Sacramento;
and his delegates were a hybrid lot, Yet he picked up six
delegates, made no enemies, and with the aid of those
experienced campaigners, his two daughters, left a
pleasant impression, Warren is certain to be a powerful
figure in the Republican convention; indeed his ine
fluence could be decisive. Senator Kefauver also has
good reason to be gratified: in Wisconsin he picked
up an important delegation for a minimum investment.
and in Nebraska he not only defeated Senator Kerr by en
impressive margin but knocked the Oklahoman out of
the race. As a candidate Kefauver warrants much more
serious consideration than he has received to date; he
knows when to box and when to punch. His two-fisted
attack on Kerr in Nebraska was perfectly timed and left
little to be desired on the score of frankness.
+
LANCASHIRE’S COTTON INDUSTRY FOUND
the boom it had been riding shot from under it at the
end of last year and now seems headed for an alarming
bust. According to Anthony Greenwood, Lancashire
Labor M. P., who called the attention of the House of
Commons to the situation recently, 70,000 workers,
between one-fifth and one-fourth of the industry’s labor
force, are now unemployed or working part-time. Many
mills have shut down, and others are working for stock
and will have to close soon unless buying revives, But
apart from some accelerated government orders, it is = |
difficult to see where new business will come from.
Depression in the textile industries—wool is as hard hit
as cotton, and even synthetics are feeling the pinch
is now world-wide. Unemployment in New England is
at least as severe as in Lancashire, and similar tales of
woe are being heard in Belgium, Canada, Japan, and
Australia. The immediate trouble in textiles appears to
EDITORIALS
The Shape of Things
Morris, McGrath—and Hoover
“ARTICLES
Stalin and Germany by J. Alvarez del Vayo
Stevenson of Illinois by Alan Whitney
South African Madness by E. S. Sachs
Gagging Our Foreign Students
~ by Sally Liberman
Impressions of New China, I
by V. K. R. V. Rao
BOOKS AND THE ARTS
_ Off with Their Heads by Ernest Jones
The Business of Government by Willard Shelton
The Art of Biography by Robert Halsband
Books in Brief
Drama by Margaret Marshall
Records by B. H. Haggin
Art by ‘. Lane Faison, Jr.
CROSSWORD PUZZLE No. 460
; by Frank W. Lewis
EDITORIAL BOARD
Editor and Publisher : Freda Kirchwey
Editorial Director Director, Nation Associates
Carey McWiliiams Lillie Shultz
Managing Editor: Victor H. Bernstein
Foreign Editor Literary Editor
J. Alvarez del Vayo Margaret Marshall
Financial Editor : Keith Hutchison
Drama: Joseph Wood Krutch Music: B. H. Haggin
_ Assistant Editor: Charles R. Allen, Jr.
Copy Editor: Gladys Whiteside
Assistant Literary Editor: Caroline Whiting
Staff Contributors
Andrew Roth, Alexander Werth, Howard K. Smith, Carolus
Business Manager: Hugo Van Arx
Advertising Manager: Maty Simon
The Nation, published weekly and copyright, 1952, in the
by The Nation Associates, Inc., 20 Vesey Street, New waka: £ *
Entered as second-class matter, December 13, 1879, at the Post Office
of New York, N. Y., under the act of March 8, 1879, Advertising
_ and Circulation Representative for Continental Europe: Publicitas.
Subscription Prices: Domestic—One year $7 ; Two years $12; Three
f «years $17. Additional postage per year; Foreign and Canadian $1.
Change of Address: Three weeks’ notice is required for change of
ee which cannot be made without the old address as well a3
@ new.
Information to Libraries: The Nation is indexed in Readers’ Guide
_ to Periodical Literature, Book Review Digest, Index to Labor
_ Articles, Public Affairs Information Service, Dramatic Index,
turers then raw material:
ill-timed Washington announcements of large-scale gov- ,
ernment stockpiling; wholesalers and retailers built up *
inventories frantically; consumers bought with both fists,
remembering the textile famine during the last war.
When the scare subsided, linen closets, wardrobes, and gy
bureau drawers were well filled, and even big price. —
concessions failed to move goods. This is the short-
term position, which presumably will be gradually al- a
leviated if other sections of the economy remain pfos-
.
perous, However, the textile industries also face serious
long-term problems involving such factors as the tend- -
ency of manufacturing to shift, nationally and interna-
tionally, to cheaper labor markets and the effect of the
development of synthetics on natural fibers, In the near
future we plan to publish two articles by Keith Hutch-
ison discussing both the immediate situation in textiles
with emphasis on the American scene, and the outlook
for the future,
Morris, McGrath, && Hoover
UBLIC discussion of the Morris-McGrath fiasco has
Ree yet penetrated to the basic issue nor has the key
figure been publicly identified. The issue may be simply
stated. Investigation has shown corruption to be fairly
widespread in certain federal agencies and in the legisla-
tive branch. But aside from the abortive Morris affair,
the investigations have been under the exclusive control
of Congressional committees whose members, regardless
of party affiliation, have upheld a dual standard of ethics:
one for government officials, another for Representatives
and Senators. When Grunewald’s relations with Charles
Oliphant were under scrutiny, the questions came thick
and fast, but when his relations with Senators Brewster
and Bridges were accidentally brought to light, the dis- _
cussion became polite and meaningless,
If it was unrealistic to expect McGrath to authorize a
real investigation of the Department of Justice, it is
equally unrealistic to expect Congress to investigate-it-
self. And just as it would be dangerous to permit roving —
Congressional committees to harass the Administration
by endless investigations, so it would be dangerous to
permit the Executive to keep members of Congress under
a surveillance which could be used for political purposes.
Nor should a permanent law-enforcement agency like
the FBI be assigned the job of investigating corruption
in either branch of the government. The FBI must seek
appropriations from Congress; moreover, it is conceiv-
able that some corruption might be found in the Bureau
itself, not to mention the department to which it belongs,
Presumably it was with these thoughts in mind that
Truman approved the appointment of Morris as an in- | a
fi om investigation.
_ Hoover began to show signs of uneasiness the moment
| Newbold Morris was appointed. His uneasiness became
' More apparent after March 10, when it was revealed that
_ Mr. Morris did not intend to rely upon FBI investigators
_ and that he had failed to appoint alumni of the FBI to
"his staff. Hoover’s uneasiness seems to have been im-
_ mediately communicated to certain Senators and Repre-
_ sentatives, who would probably have shared his feeling,
_ however, without any prompting. One might have ex-
_ pected anti-Administration elements in Congress to sup-
_ port an independent investigation of corruption in the
executive branch of government conducted by an able
_ Republican lawyer, the more so since there was good
_ feason to believe that Mr. Morris meant business, To be
| sure, Mr. Morris had said that al] public officials, includ-
ing Congressmen, who earned more than $10,000 should
fill out a pesky questionnaire about net financial worth,
_ but the Congressional opposition has another explanation.
In a broadcast on March 16 Walter Winchell sug-
_ gested that Max Lowenthal, author of a book on the
_ FBI and J, Edgar Hoover's pet hate, had recommended
Newbold Morris for the job of chief investigator. A few
days later Representative George A. Dondero repeated
the statement, These were the individuals who had previ-
ously raised the hue and cry that Lowenthal was attempt-
ing to engineer the removal of McGrath (see, The White
House Under Surveillance, The Nation, February 16,
1952). Both men are cronies of Mr. Hoover's. Their
;
} _ “new theme was immediately picked up by David Sentner.
_. of the Hearst press. Then, on March 18, Representative
_ Patrick H. Hillings complained that Mr. Morris had not
been cleared by the FBI. A few days later Senator Pat
McCarran demanded an investigation to determine
= who had recommended Morris, and finally Representa-
| . tive Francis E, Walter proposed that the entire corrup-
tion inquiry be turned over to the FBI.
: oe te Tt did not take Mr. Mottis long to realize the ‘outca
1 of his difficulties. On March 19 he told the press that the
one unit of the Department of Justice he did not intend
to investigate was the FBI, and he went out of his way to
say that questionnaires were not being sent to FBI per-
sonnel. He never explained just why J. Edgar Hoover a |
should not fill out the same questionnaire he had asked
the Attorney General to answer. In the same interview _
Mr. Morris carefully denied that Lowenthal had pre- .
pared the famous questionnaire, Even these elaborate as-
surances, however, failed to quiet Mr. Hoover's strange
fears, When McGrath read his curt dismissal of Morris
to the reporters, he was conspicuously flanked by the —
top G-man.
Although J. Edgar’s support was not sufficient to keep
Mr. McGrath from being fired, he was able to block an
independent investigation. The newly appointed Attor-
ney General, James Patrick McGranerty, in his first state-
ment to the press, announced that he would rely upon the
FBI to investigate corruption in government and that
there would be no “outside” aid. Nor will any use now
be made of the Morris questionnaire. Nor will an inves-
tigation be made of the FBI or of the need to place its
entire personnel under civil service. Thanks to McCarthy,
McCarran, and Nixon, aided by J. Edgar Hoover, the in-
vestigation has not merely been set back to where it was
two months ago—it has been blocked.
The “resignation” of McGrath is the one net gain of’
the investigation to date. Te Nation was one of the
first publications to suggest that his removal would be
definitely in the public interest. “I have done my duty,”
he now says, “I have stood up for what I believe to be
great principles of personal liberty and the fundamental
rights of employees of the federal government.” It is a
measure of McGrath’s candor and intelligence that he
should ask the public to believe that the filling out of a
simple questionnaire on net worth would jeopardize per-
sonal liberty and the fundamental rights of federal em-
ployees. Presumably it is perfectly proper to cross-
examine citizens on their political beliefs, to force federal
employees who are not Cabinet officers to take test oaths,
Vote Your Choice for President in The Nation’ Poll
arta RETURNS indicate widespread interest in the preferential ballot for President
printed in last week’s issue of The Nation. Have you mailed your ballot yet? If not—
and you cannot obtain another copy of last week’s Nation—write us a postcard immediately
asking for a ballot. We can send only one ballot to each reader. All ballots postmarked not
later than April 25 will be counted; so you still have time. Address Poll Editor, The Nation,
20 Vesey Street, New York 7, New York. And watch next week’s issue for first returns.
April 12, 1952
~ Taree aS ATTAN: Wake ret aN
Nar means
ata to turn Congeaieet ingdtie into savage witch-
i hunting forays. No Attorney General since A, Mitchell
Palmer has had a worse record on the score of protect-
: i ing personal liberties and the fundamental rights of gov-
_ @rnment employees than McGrath, But it was in his
_ remarks on March 16 to the Sons and Daughters of Eire,
_ when he implied that he was being investigated because
of his “faith and race,” that McGrath revealed his true
Bee This crude attempt to use religion as protective
pees coloration was of a piece with the suggestion
that a request for financial information from public
officers might undermine the Bill of Rights.
As for Mr. McGrath's successor, it should be noted for
Pas record that Philadelphia's District Attorney Richard-
son Dilworth, a Democrat, has protested his appointment
in these words: “The appointment of McGranery as At-
. f torney General of the United States is so bad as to be
almost unbelievable. For the regime of McGranery will
_ be marked by incompetence, bias, favoritism, and ward
- politics at its worst.”
Only an independent inquiry by a commission ap-
pointed for the special purpose, with authority to select
Fs i its own staff and under orders to disband upon comple-
_ tion of its work, can cope with the issue of corruption
a it has arisen in this instance. Instead of facing the
problem and drawing the obvious conclusion, the Presi-
dent has surrendered to his enemies in Congress, aided
and abetted by Mr. Hoover, and has thereby forfeited
___ the chance to turn the corruption issue to his own and his
es country’ s advantage.
~
i
Stalin and Germany
BY J. ALVAREZ DEL VAYO
QO TALIN’S message to the American editors, his fare-
S well statement to the Indian Ambassador, the an-
_sia’s readiness to expand foreign trade with capitalist
countries, all indicate that the Kremlin is prepared to
ipply the formula of “total diplomacy,” once advocated
by Secretary Acheson, at every point where the possibility
of negotiation still survives. But this series of moves did
not alter the fact that Moscow’s note of March 10
marked the start of a new Russian policy on Germany.
The Soviet note has had an electric effect on those
who consider the rearmament of Germany, whether
undertaken by the Russians or the Americans, to be the
most threatening development of the cold war. But it is
not enough merely to record one’s disapproval; it is also
_ mecessary to recall the circumstances under which the
_ shift in Russia’s policy took place. Otherwise the
gravity of this most important event will be missed.
From the beginning Germany has been the focus of
_ East-West conflic—the place where a truce could be
340
tne
ed
nouncement at the Moscow economic conference of Rus--
eee
4 ee ay oe pe
ac. ieved o 5 ( sides - must c
. Rae ae ee a. Mees 7
d proximity on terms excludin een
But matters took a turn for the worse aly hae fall, w <i f
it became clear that the rearmament of West Germany
had become the central item of American strategy. On the
opening of the Sixth United Nations Assembly in Paris
last November, I wrote that Moscow would revise its
policy should it become convinced that the United States
was determined to reject all negotiation on Germany out ©
of fear that any kind of talk with the Russians would
endanger the American military program. The Russian
note of March 10 was the product of just such a revision
of policy, as will be all Russia’s moves in the coming
months, The note reflected no transitory state of mind;
it was neither improvisation nor fleeting maneuver; it
was a major action resulting from long and earnest
deliberation.
Moscow's conviction that the United States had turned
its back upon negotiations as a means of settling the
German problem was buttressed by a long series of
events: the conference at Lisbon, the breakdown of
French resistance to the rearmament of Germany, the
mounting probability that General Eisenhower—the man
of NATO—would be the next President of the United
States, the State Department's aggressive disapproval of
American participation in the Moscow Economic Con-
ference, which had been called precisely for the purpose
of attracting business men from the United States.
After analysis of the international situation in Janu-
ary and February had convinced the Soviet leaders that
there was no likelihood of a change in the American |
attitude, they concentrated on handling the German
problem in a way that would completely disrupt Wash-
ington’s German policy. That they must have expected
their proposals of March 10 to be rejected was indi-
cated by the comments of the Soviet press and radio
before the reply was received. But they could reasonably
expect that the European members of the Atlantic
coalition, beginning with Mr. Churchill, would insist—
as in fact Mr. Churchill did—on an answer preserving
at least the appearance of a desire for a settlement. In
other words, the Russians could count on a communica-
tion which would justify the dispatch of a second note
—and a third and a fourth if that served their purposes.
It has been rightly said that the Russians are running
a great risk in sponsoring a united, independent, and
_rearmed Germany. They have as much reason as the. —
rest of the world to fear the revival of German power.
It is now known that the other Cominform members
were stunned by the change in Soviet policy. But the
Russians may be hoping to reduce the threat if their
ptoposal becomes a ‘reality. They have confidentially
assured their Cominform colleagues that the Germany
of tomorrow would have an army only large enough to
protect its neutrality, certainly a smaller army than West 4
The NATION
would be less faninedints and less formidable
that which Russia would face if the military
“capacity of West Germany were added to that of the
Atlantic coalition backed by the mobilized industrial
_ capacity of the United States.
For a long time many of the leading European ex-
-perts on Russian policy have maintained that the one
_ thing which might decide the Soviet Union to go to
war would be the rearmament of West Germany.
Under these circumstances it is not so extraordinary that
the Soviet leaders are willing to take the risk implied
_ in their note of March 10.
The difficult position in which Moscow has placed
_ all the movements and parties that have made prevention
of German rearmament their main purpose was reflected
_ in the long deliberations in Paris of the “Partisans
of Peace,” called together to take a stand in regard
to the new Russian policy. Finally they came out with
_ @ statement that left no doubt about their feelings;
| _ M. Yves Farge, leader of the French “Partisans,” de-
_ livered an important speech reaffirming his hostility to
“any form of German rearmament.” But nobody at the
Chicago
HEN the politically unknown Adlai E. Steven-
ho \X, son was elected Governor of Illinois in 1948 by
i} a record-breaking plurality of 572,000 votes, many local
political observers contended that the magnitude of his
victory should be attributed less to his own strength
than to his opponent’s weakness. They may have been
partly right. But today few persons would bet against
| Stevenson’s ability to repeat the accomplishment, regard-
| ___ less of who his rival might be.
_ A poll taken in Chicago several months ago by a pro-
fessional agency at the behest of Republican ward leaders
indicated that Stevenson would get 10 per cent of the
e votes cast by registered Republicans if he ran for re-
_ election. That his stock as a Presidential candidate has
been boosted by Truman’s withdrawal is small comfort
to the Grand Old Party in Illinois and offers no cause for
_ fejoicing to Republicans nationally. For here is one
Democratic office-holder who seems almost immune to
the ills that now rack his party at various levels through-
out the country. This political amateur who looks and
_ ALAN WHITNEY is political editor of the Chicago North
ov Newspapers.
} Apri il 12, 1952
er
Stevenson of Ilinors
pee hasbored any illusion that the Moscow decision
was of a temporary character.
That the United States will now be confronted by a
series of actions expressing Moscow’s new German
strategy has been recognized by the conservative and
well-informed Wall Street Journal in an article on
March 31 by Joseph E, Evans,
of their own,” Mr. Evans wrote, “the Soviets should
really want a united Germany, the United States is in
the odd position where it must either oppose it—thereby
earning German hatred—or give in slowly, grudgingly,
and at the expense of the present policy which has cost
it much in time and money. That is the trap which the a
United States created for itself, ready for the Soviets
to spring at any time.”
Moscow will not have an easy victory. The United
States is going to fight now more determinedly than
ever to make West Germany the hard core of its re-
armament program. Should this prove successful, even
though anti-Adenauer feeling is mounting through-
out Germany, then the whole issue will return to its
point of origin, and the Russians will have to make up
their minds whether to accept defeat on this central
issue or to take more drastic action,
BY ALAN WHITNEY
talks like a kindly professor of English has aroused
amazement, apprehension, and grudging admiration
among the professionals since he first stepped before a
hostile legislature early in 1949,
Although his name meant nothing to most Illinois
voters in 1948, Stevenson had had experience in im-
portant but unglamorous federal offices, and his an-
cestors had been prominent in politics, both state and
national, for generations, His grandfather, for whom
he was named, was Vice-President during Grover Cleve-
land’s second term in the White House, and his father,
Lewis Stevenson, was Secretary of State of Ilinois from
1914 to 1916, A great-grandfather on the maternal side,
Jesse W. Fell, was a close associate of Abraham Lincoln.
Born fifty-two years ago in Los Angeles, where his
father was then a newspaper executive, Stevenson was —
brought to Bloomington, Illinois, at the age of six. He
grew up in that college and farm-market town of 40,000
inhabitants, where his mother’s family owned the Daily
Pantagraph, still one of central Illinois’s leading news-
papers. At Princeton he was managing editor of the
campus newspaper and seemed to be headed for a career
in journalism after his graduation in 1922, He worked
for a short time in the editorial department of the
341
“Now, if for any reasons ~
i ih _ Pantagraph, and then, yielding to his father’s wishes,
entered Northwestern University’s law school. He got
his degree in 1926 and began the practice of law in
Chicago. While a young attorney, Stevenson met and
_ married Ellen Borden, whose family owns the dairy-
products firm, Public
life never appealed to
Mrs. Stevenson, and
the divorce she de-
manded soon after he
became Governor is
probably his greatest
political liability.
Stevenson entered
government service in
the early days of the
New Deal. George N.
mB Peek, an Illinoisan
who had been associ-
ated with Stevenson's
father in pressing for
better farm legislation,
ms was appointed admin-
__ istrator of the Agricultural Adjustment Act, and he took
the youthful lawyer to Washington as his special coun-
~ sel in 1933, Stevenson had early become interested in
- international affairs, and gave up the presidency of the
Chicago Council on Foreign Relations to go with Peek.
Back in Chicago in 1935, he was elected to that office for
_ two more terms. After France fell in 1940, he became
active on the Committee to Defend America by Aiding
_ the Allies and through promoting rallies for this group
"came into close contact with the foreign staff of the
Chicago Daily News and with its publisher, Colonel
_ Frank Knox. As soon as Knox was named Secretary of
the Navy, he pressed Stevenson to become his special
assistant and personal counsel. Stevenson joined him late
_ in 1941 and remained with the Secretary until his death
: in 1944, He served as special assistant to Secretaries of
State Stettinius and Byrnes in 1945 and was a member of
_ the United States delegation to the San Francisco Con-
ference on International Organization, At the first U. N.
_ General Assembly he was senior adviser to the United
_ States delegation; he attended the General Assemblies of
1946 and 1947 in New York as a delegate.
Governor Stevenson
HEN Stevenson returned to Illinois late in 1947,
local Democratic leaders, without much hope of
victory, faced the task of picking a team to run for Gov-
ernor and United States Senator the following year. Lib-
erals were urging that Paul H. Douglas, a University of
Chicago professor and a marine combat veteran, be
chosen as the candidate for Governor. Douglas had served
in the officially non-partisan Chicago City Council and
342
had bucked the Democratic organization in primaries -
+
PME ee “fem i
witht success, Soon Stevenso on, ¥ is experience in
the federal government, was belly octhed Sen- ea
ate, At the last minute, for reasons not made hie th
party leaders switched their choices, putting Douglas on
the ballot for Senator and Stevenson for Governor. There
has been considerable speculation about the reasons for
the change. The deciding factor was probably a desire to
match the well-known Douglas, a supposedly stronger
Democrat, against the tougher Republican candidate, and
to pit Stevenson against the weaker member of the
G. O. P. team, In any event, the campaign was hardly
under way before it became clear that the candidate for
Governor was going to pull his own weight,
Stevenson has been compared to both Lincoln and
Franklin D, Roosevelt as an orator. He has some of the
Emancipator's ability to frame literary documents on
scratch paper while on his way to a meeting hall. His
inaugural address as Governor is said to have been
composed on the train taking him to the state capital for
the occasion. Another short-order offering was his recent
invitation to the Republicans to nominate their best pos-
sible man to oppose him for the governorship, “It
is of little importance,” he said, “whether the next Gov-
ernor of Illinois is named Adlai Stevenson, but it is of
the highest importance that he finish what we have
started. No matter then who loses, the people will win.”
Like Roosevelt, Stevenson has the ability to convince
his audiences that he is an uncommon man with the inter-
ests of the common man at heart.
When the ballots were counted in 1948, Stevenson car-
ried the state by 572,000 votes, Douglas by 407,000, and
Truman by 33,000.
That a Democrat could be elected Governor by more
than half a million votes and find a Republican majority
in the state Senate and only an eight-member Democratic
margin in the lower house testifies to the peculiar system
by which legislators are chosen in Illinois. That was the
situation Stevenson faced when he took office in 1949.
It became worse in 1950, when both houses went Re-
publican in the off-year election. This obviously unrép-
resentative government in Illinois stems primarily from
the Assembly’s long refusal to reapportion its election
districts every ten years, as required by the state con-
stitution. Stevenson’s record of accomplishment in the
face of legislative hostility is due chiefly to his con-
tinuous appeal to the electorate, On television monthly,
on the radio more frequently, and in hundreds of per-
sonal appearances throughout the state he has kept the,
people constantly aware of the issues.
His administration has been chiefly engaged with
streamlining the state government, cutting out waste, ap-
plying the money thus saved where the need is greatest,
and holding the line against legislative pork-barreling.
During his first few months in office the Governor or-
dered 1,300 jobs cut from the state pay roll. Fifty of
The NATION
—
eee ree eRe,
oS mire
o undertake the long- |
g eff
ions, Stevenson ae Walter V. Schaefer, a New
Dez L lawyer then teaching at Northwestern University.
‘Bent on giving Illinois better law enforcement, the
Governor knew that reform of the state police was a
ne ecessary preliminary step. Appointments to the force
r
|
|
the merit system and made professional training com-
_pulsory for every member. This reform has visibly im-
proved law enforcement in Illinois.
In the early days of his administration Stevenson was
determined to call a convention to modernize the state’s
outmoded constitution. When the plan was blocked by
_ the legislature, he spearheaded a drive for the next best
thing, the Gateway amendment to facilitate amend-
_ ments to the constitution, This was passed in 1950,
Under the Stevenson administration truck license fees
have been increased to finance the first major program of
road construction in twenty years. State aid to the public
_ Schools has been doubled. Appropriations for welfare
‘services in general have been increased, and the state’s
facilities for the mentally ill have been improved to a
| point where they now rank among the best in the nation.
N THE civil-rights front Stevenson has worked, so
i far without success, for state F, E, P. C. legisla-
| tion. To the same end he has instituted new procedures
_ in the state employment service. Questions regarding
_ tace, religion, and nationality have been dropped from
job applications, and employers can no longer specify
racial requirements in applying to the state for workers.
The Goyernor’s record-breaking 141 vetoes have been
_ almost as important as his positive performance. He pre-
vented passage of the Broyles bill, a state counterpart of
the McCarran act which was in some ways a worse men-
_ ace to civil rights. Another veto killed the Larson bill, a
| a Measure which would have reduced the principle of local
| “option to an absurdity. Public housing in Chicago would
___ have been virtually killed by its provision that all sites
_ for such construction must be approved by the voters of
| the surrounding area. Most of the Governor's other
_ vetoes served to keep the legislature from spending non-
existent funds on pet projects of their constituents.
7 “ Unlike some amateurs in public office, Stevenson has
_ not hesitated to use his reputation with the electorate in
7.
—
I
Py
es
political maneuvering for the cause of good government.
Late in 1950 death created a vacancy on the Illinois Su-
‘preme Court, The term was about to expire, and party
leaders began looking for a deserving Democrat to spon-
sor in the June, 1951, election. The next thing they
knew, Stevenson had appointed Walter Schaefer, his
-executive-department streamliner, to fill the vacancy, and
he politicians had no choice but to slate him for election.
‘April 12, 1952
7
|
i
ee,
es
b Ly y newspaper eaters S 4
had hitherto been purely political. Stevenson introduced .
‘numerous Riedals that have rocked Chicago and.
Illinois in the past few months have not left the Steyen-
_ on administration entirely untouched. While the general
quality of the Governor's appointments has been high,
some dishonest politicians have been placed in state jobs
through connections with the Democratic organization.
But Stevenson’s reaction to charges involving his subordi-
nates has contrasted sharply with that of other Democratic
office-holders. The culprits have been called on the carpet
immediately and offered the opportunity to establish rea-
sonable doubt of their guilt. Failure to do so has meant
immediate dismissal.
When Republicans in Illinois look for a chink in
Stevenson’s political armor, they usually settle on his
character deposition for Alger Hiss during the latter’s
perjury trial. In reply, Stevenson asks them if they would
have lied about their impression of Hiss in order to be on
the popular side. G. O. P. candidates have also tried to
hold Stevenson responsible for the West Frankfort coal-
mine disaster. The truth is that he had urged passage of a
better mine-safety code at the last session of the legisla-
ture and his proposal had been buried through the efforts
of downstate members of the Assembly, most of them
Republicans,
Stevenson’s brand of liberalism is as free from dogma
as his Unitarian religious persuasion. His fundamental
attitude toward government is that it must be clean, effi-
cient, and close to the people; that the people can then
be relied upon to shape it in such a way as to fulfil the
promise of democracy.
A supporter of the principles of the Truman Adminis-
tration’s foreign policy, Stevenson has summed up his
view of the world situation as follows:
The preservation of the free world hangs upon our
ability to win the allegiance of those millions and mil-
lions of people throughout the world who have not yet
made their choice between our democratic system on the
one hand and the promises which communism offers on
the other. That choice will be mainly shaped by our own
performance. It will turn upon such things as our ability
to avoid the disruptions of depression, to guarantee
equality of opportunity, to narrow the gulf separating
economic status, to preserve freedom of thought and
action, to make democracy accord in practice with its
promises and professions of faith.
Speaking at the battlefield of Gettysburg last Novem-
ber, the Governor of Lincoln’s state made this declara-
tion about one of our chief domestic problems:
Proud of the past, patient with what Washington
called “the impostures of pretended patriotism,” it is
for us, the living, to rekindle the hot, indignant fires of
faith in the free man, free in body, free in mind, free
in spirit, free to hold any opinion, free to search and
find the truth for himself; the old faith that is ever new
—that burned so brightly here at Gettysburg long ago.
343
‘
Ry
Johannesburg, South Africa
HE lamps of liberty, which have never shone very
brightly in South Africa, have now become pain-
_ fully dim, The non-Europeans who constitute the over-
_ whelming majority of its people have always lacked even
is elementary citizens’ rights, Since the Nationalist govern-
ment of Dr. Daniel Francois Malan assumed power in
Re May, 1948, the bulk of the European population is also
_ in danger of losing its say in government.
“ Dr. Malan’s fundamental policy is apartheid, which
- Jiterally translated means “separation.” But its meaning
is more accurately summed up in the brutal Nationalist
be slogan Kaffer op sy plek en Koelie uit de tané— The
mae -Kaffir in his place and the coolie out of the country.” To
the ten million native, colored, and Indian people of
i South Africa, apartheid means violence, terror, whole-
oe _ sale imprisonment, and slavery; it means landlessness,
rH _ poverty, and the denial of education, vocational training,
; and elementary democratic rights. To the Niatioualists.
_ apartheid is a philosophy based on the conception that
ye jgaen who do not possess white skins are inferiors
_ destined by Providence to remain servants of the whites.
iq Campaigning on this policy, the Nationalists in 1948
obtained a majority of 7 in the 153-member House of
_ Assembly; in the Senate their majority for some time
consisted only of the casting vote of the chairman. They
; j and their ally, the Afrikaner Party, polled between them
only 442,338 votes as against 623,716 in opposition.
_ From the moment they assumed power, the Na-
_ tionalists—drawing their inspiration from the Nazis
f —embarked upon a policy of intimidating and terroriz-
ing this majority opposition. Hooligans broke up
anti-Nationalist meetings; the trade-union movement
as been subjected to a campaign of vilification and vio-
ence; a Suppression of Communists Act was passed
yhich gave the Nationalist Minister of Justice power to
eclare any person a Communist, to suppress publica-
tions, and to banish people from certain areas without
trial or hearing.
On the legislative front the Nationalists resorted to
grant juggling of the franchise in order to strengthen
their frail parliamentary majority. In 1948 they dis-
franchised the 300,000 Indians in the country who had
ormerly been represented by three delegates in the
‘House and two in the Senate—who by law had to be
i by E. S. SACHS, general secretary of the Garment Workers’
__- Union of Johannesburg, is author of “The Choice Before
_ South Africa,” to be published next month in South Africa,
344
ch AL) 2 SiR ee —
° J ee ‘% i p> <i m4 Page " eam
| : South A frican ’"Madna 2
Justice van de S. Centlivres, in the current case, spe- *
= ar i ‘
‘ ¥f nae ee
5 a) eee ed he i °*
3 *y yen i ree ; , ae Aled
iS ee « ity os nae 9
“ ny
BY E. S. SACHS
Europeans, incidentally. In 1949 they passed a law which
gave the Europeans of South-West Africa—fewer than
20,000 voters in all, many of them Germans and Nazis _
—the right to elect six members of the House and four
Senators. (In South Africa's urban areas a member rep-
resents an average of 12,000 voters; hence the vote of a
German in South-West Africa is worth three or four
times that of a citizen of Johannesburg or Capetown.)
The Union of South Africa has no constitution, but
the South Africa Act, the legal basis of the union, has
always been regarded as taking the place of a constitution,
Section 35 of the act provides that no person may be dis-
qualified as a voter by reason of his race or color except
by the vote of two-thirds of the total members of both
houses of Parliament sitting in joint session, ef
Today there are about 1,000,000 colored people—
non-Europeans of mixed origin as distinct from Bantus
or Indians—in South Africa. The overwhelming ma-
jority live in the Cape, southernmost province of the
Union, where they have always enjoyed franchise rights
equal—at least technically—to those of Europeans. Be-
cause of stringent property and educational qualifications
fewer than 50,000 succeeded in becoming registered
voters for the last election. Nevertheless, this colored
vote was of great importance in about ten constituencies.
In the face of nation-wide protest the Nationalist gov-
ernment last year passed the Separate Representation of
Voters Act, which placed colored voters on a separate
roll and limited their representation to four Europeans
in the House and one in the Senate, The act was passed
by a bare majority in separate sittings and not by a two-
thirds’ majority in a joint session as provided by the
South Africa Act. Four colored voters challenged the
law before the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court,
and last March 20, in a dramatic moment, the Honorable
A. van de S, Centiivres, Chief Justice of the Union,_de-
clared it was the unanimous decision of the five-man
tribunal that the law was null and void,
The opinion was, in effect, a reversal of an earlier
one by the same court—then differently constituted—
which had upheld a 1936 act placing mative voters, as -
distinct from colored votets, on a separate roll. Chief
cifically said that he and his colleagues believed the
earlier decision to have been wrong.
The court’s action elated the masses of non-Europeans
as well as all liberty-loving whites in the country, But
on the afternoon of the same day Dr, Malan grimly
challenged not only the decision but the court:
‘Neither Parliament nor the people of South Africa
will be prepared to acquiesce in a position where the
legislative sovereignty of the lawfully and democratically
elected representatives of the people is denied. .. .
There are now two conflicting judgments of the
Appeal Court in regard to a constitutional issue which is
of the very highest importance. . . . It is imperative that
the legislative sovereignty of Parliament should be
placed beyond any doubt, in order to insure order and
certainty. The government will take the necessary steps
to do its duty and will, at the appropriate time, announce
such steps after reasons for the judgment have been
studied and considered.
Many anti-Nationalists saw in Dr. Malan’s reference
to the “democratically elected representatives of the peo-
ple” only a bitter jest, in view of the general state of the
franchise. They felt that if he had really wanted to test
the sentiment of the country, he should have resigned
and held an election. But most of all, they saw in his
challenge to the judiciary a dire threat to the whole
people and to the few liberties left to them. The people
of South Africa have always been proud of the integrity
and independence of their high courts; moreover, as in
the case of the American Supreme Court and of the
“¥OU TO0:”
April 12, 1952
Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in Britain, the
right to reverse decisions of predecessors has always been
accepted as a prerogative of the Appellate Division.
The following day Dr. Malan announced that legisla-
tion would soon be introduced which would deprive the
courts retroactively of all rights to pass on acts of Parlia-
ment. The question arises: Would such an act be itself
legal? Suppose it were approved by Parliament; suppose,
in preparation for the general election scheduled for next
year, Dr. Malan proceeded to put the colored voters on
a separate list; suppose his act were again challenged and
the Appeals Court again decided against him, Suppose,
further, that on the basis of the March 20 opinion,
voters again challenged, this time successfully, the 1936
law which had put natives on separate lists? What then
would be the situation?
In effect, the people of South Africa would have to
decide between the law as enunciated by an independent
judiciary and by the independent Dr. Malan, There are
some who believe that, in such a crisis, the Nationalists
might decide to carry through a national revolution and
proclaim a Nazi-style republic. Others believe that the
position of the courts, if maintained, would force Malan .
in the end to dissolve Parliament and call for new elec-
fs oe J LX :
RRO |
iG
World Copyright.
By arrangement with Daily Herald
345
?
U
af
a
iS
tions on a “white-supremacy” and “sovereign-Parlia-
ment” platform.
Meanwhile mass demonstrations are being held
throughout the country, organized chiefly by the War
Veterans’ Torch Commando, now a year old. With a
membership of 150,000, its sole purpose is to seek the
removal of the Nationalist Party from power by lawful
means; it emphasizes that South Africans, thousands of
whom gave their lives to help rid the world of Nazism
and fascism, want no part of either in their own country.
The alternative to apartheid is a truly democratic
‘ South Africa, with all racial groups enjoying full democ-
racy and equal opportunities for advancement. Unfor-
_ tunately the Nationalists’ major opposition, the United
oy which was led for thirty years by the late General
_ Smuts, is in opposition only in the play for power, not
in basic tenets. There is little difference between Malan’s
apartheid and the United Party's “Christian trustee-
ship.” Both aim at maintaining a reservoir of cheap na-
tive labor for the mines and the farms—the cornerstone
of national policy in South Africa for a half-century.
The Nationalists can always count on the vote of the
tural Europeans, to whom the preservation of a cheap
labor market and of high wool and maize prices would
appear to be the only function of government. The urban
middle class is overwhelmingly United Party, but much
of urban labor was captured at the last election by the
Nationalists, The explanation is simple: most of these
city workers are Afrikaners only recently come from the
hinterland and have nat yet developed a labor tradition.
But tens of thousands of Afrikaner workers who voted
Nationalist in 1948 are today bitterly disappointed be-
Gagging Our Foreign Students
HE foreign students now studying in American
colleges and universities are among the less well-
‘ fe victims of the post-war witch hunt. Being “for-
ign,” they are of course suspect, and since they are here
as a matter of grace and not of right, they are particu-
atly vulnerable. To many of them the price tag on a
university degree is strict conformity to the prevailing
_otthodoxy. Those who express dissenting views are likely
to suffer a chain of penalties—close surveillance, investi-
- gation, loss of their student visas, and in some cases
_ arrest and deportation.
SALLY LIBERMAN is the author of "A Child’s Guide to a
Parent's Mind.” Last year she wrote a series of articles
for the New York Post on the World Assembly of Youth,
346
iP Pearly
ate égere' a rTe “a
Service is “not satisfied clearly and beyond a doubt that —
from tie ayaa of | Hisdiephic ma it
are ripe for political plucking—but not by the
Party, which they consider the party of “capitalists” and
“imperialists.” What is urgently needed is a strong and 4
influential Labor Party which could recruit the Afrikaner
workers away from the Nationalists. Such a drive could |
destroy Malan’s party forever as a political threat. :
The defeat of the Nationalists would not of itself
bring about any immediate fundamental changes in
South Africa, It would, however, open the door to the
possibility of a clear political division between those who °
want to see South Africa evolve into a “Third Reich” *
and those who want to see it evolve into a great demo- |
cratic state leading the rest of Africa in progress and
civilization. Moreover, the defeat of Dr, Malan will not
be achieved on constitutional issues which interest only
the middle class, Workers are more interested in living
standards. South Africa can only be wrested from Malan
by a strong and militant Labor Party in combination with | |
a rejuvenated United Party and the solid backing of the ©
trade unions, These must unite on a short-term construc-
tive economic policy—a “New Deal” for the workers of ~
South Africa—involving the destruction once and for all
of the semi-slave, cheap native-labor system.
Unless the democratic forces of the country unite and
challenge reaction, South Africa for a long time to come
will continue to travel backward toward the dark ages.
The process may even continue until one day the 150,-
000,000 black people of Africa say forcefully, “We shall
no longer be Kaffirs,” just as millions of Asians re-
cently declared that they would no longer be “coolies.”
oe ae
Jo tec a
t
BY SALLY LIBERMAN
Most of the foreign students—there are about 31,000
in all—live on tight budgets and cannot afford legal |
counsel, By and large they are not familiar with immigra- —
tion procedures, nor are they always aware of their
rights. Immigration officials, moreover, seldom consult
the college authorities before taking action against a stu-
dent. If they refuse to renew a visa, they make no charge; —
the district office simply announces that the Immigration _
the merits of the case are such that the applicant is en- _
titled to remain longer in the United States in pursuance |
of the purpose for which he originally entered.” Offie
cials of organizations Certs with foes students are y
noncommittal. “Above all,” they say, “we must maintain —
the best relations with the Immigration Service.”
aq
The Natio J |
Christian Association is on the Misses Gen-
eral’s “list.” Sixteen students at the University of Ilinois
yete ordered returned to China primarily because of
membership in this organization. None had committed
any overt act of subversion, but according to Arthur
‘Han ilton, an adviser to foreign students at the univer-
y, the Department of Justice took the position that it
was unable to determine which were Communists and
j which were not and therefore decided to send them all
back “where they came from.”
_ Even Canadians fare no better. William Willmott, a
Canadian citizen born in Chengtu, China—his parents
“were missionaries—enrolled in Oberlin College in 1949,
He was active in a number of organizations—the Meth-
'Odist Federation for Social Action, the Y, M. C. A., the
_ Young Progressives, the Student Volunteer Movement,
and the Student UNESCO Committee. In September of
his sophomore year Willmott filed a routine application
f for extension of his student visa, A month later, in a let-
ter to the Oberlin Review, he questioned the reliability
. of information in the American press about the Korean
war and developments in China, declared that South
Korea might have invaded North Korea, and supported
| the Quaker peace proposals (“Steps to Peace’).
Soon afterward he was summoned to the Cleveland
office of the Immigration Service and informed that “a
_ well-meaning patriotic student” had forwarded a copy of
his letter to the FBI. He was then asked about member-
' ship in certain organizations and whether he subscribed
to the Compass or the Daily Worker, Other questions
dealt with literature he had received from China, particu-
larly a magazine called The People’s China, and his views
on Nationalist versus Communist China,
}
HE interview took place on December 15, 1950.
On January 10 of the next year Willmott was in-
ormed by the Buffalo regional office of the Immigration
_ Service that he should make arrangements to leave the
_ United States before February 10. President Stevenson of
Oberlin wrote the district director that Willmott was a
good student, that he was neither a Communist nor a fas-
dst, and that his presence in Oberlin would not be detri-
‘mental to the security of the United States, In reply the
trict director wrote: “The situation involves a young
n who doubtless is as good as you say he is but who
nevertheless could be a deleterious force in the lives of
certain others, and it is for this reason that the denial ac-
t on was taken.” The basic reason, however, appears to
nave been Willmott’s interest in the Committee for a
De emoctatic Far Eastern Policy, whose publication he had
tead but of which he was not a member. The district
ct 0 saci “1 note ven say that Mr. Willmott
alli ed himself with certain organizations here ‘not un-
like a great many other young people here in America.’
Those other young people, however, are doubtless citi- —
zens of the United States, which he is not.” Apparently
the Immigration Service is not familiar with a statement
by former Attorney General J. Howard McGrath in a
four-page pamphlet entitled “To All Alien Students
Entering the United States.” The statement reads: “Dur-
ing your stay here you are given the rights to the free-
dom and privileges enjoyed by citizens of the United
States and aliens residing here permanently.”
At President Stevenson’s suggestion an attorney ar-
ranged a hearing for Willmott. The respite thus obtained
enabled him to finish the academic year at Oberlin, but
in March he chose to leave the United States voluntarily. _
To the Immigration Service a foreign student whose _
studies keep him in this country more than six years is
a “potential” immigrant, regardless of overwhelming evi-
dence that he intends to return to his own country. In
1945 a young man from Sierra Leone, Africa—the first
man in his village to learn to read and write—came to
the United States to study. He had a burning ambition
to become a doctor, rarely missed a class, and supported
himself with odd jobs. He had taken a full course in
medicine and was within six months of receiving a
doctorate in public health at New York University
when he was ordered, last October, to leave the United _
States before November 23.
An Iranian student who has been here since 1945
studying for a Ph.D. in city planning has been refused
an extension of his student visa and told to leave. He
believes that the chief reason is his potential-immigrant
status but that his public stand in support of the oil-
nationalization program in Iran may be another factor.
Last summer he spoke at Lafayette College in favor
of the program and later published an open letter to
Premier Mossadegh congratulating him on the nationali-
zation campaign. Copies of the letter; which was signed
by members of the Iranian Student Group of New York,
were sent to newspapers in Iran, to the New York
papers, and to the press associations, The Daily Worker
devoted considerable space to the letter, to the con-
sternation of Iranian students in New York, who
charged that its meaning had been distorted.
The immigration officials are under great strain—
ill-paid and poorly prepared to enforce the increasingly
complex laws and regulations demanded by Congres-
sional inquisitors. Young foreigners are handy scape-
goats and too often are treated in a way that is in-
consistent with the American tradition of hospitality to —
visiting students. They have to prove their innocence of
any disloyalty to our government instead of being pre-
sumed innocent until proved guilty, as the American
system of justice prescribes,
47
Fe aor 7
Mra oe y=.
Delhi, India
HE basis of agrarian reform in China is quite
simple, The tiller must own the land he tills; a land-
lord who rents out his land is a non-producer and has no
right to his income. He has no right to land on which
he does not work or to own more houses or agricultural
implements or cattle than are required for cultivating
an average holding in his village, All land or equipment
_ that a landlord owns in excess of the village average 1s
considered surplus and may be confiscated by the state
and made available to the land-poor and landless peas-
ants in the village. The distribution is per capita: larger
families get larger holdings, women and children being
_ taken into account as full persons for this purpose.
Surplus equipment, cattle, and houses are similarly dis-
tributed. No compensation is paid to the landlord, and
those to whom this property is awarded get it as a free
_ gift from the state. The new owners must pay the land
_ tax, which amounts to about 18 per cent of the produce,
but as against this they previously paid rent to the land-
lords of between 50 and 60 per cent of the produce. We
_ were told that the relief thus granted to the actual
tillers amounts to twenty million tons of food grains.
The so-called rich peasants, those whose holdings
exceed the village average but who work on their land
and are usually the best farmers of the village, are not
disturbed in their property—they are, in fact, actually
protected, as are the so-called middle peasants, whose
holdings roughly equal the village average. Exceptions
\ G to the rule of no tilling, no ownership are made in the
_ case of soldiers, teachers, civil servants, writers, and
ae other workers residing in towns, provided that their in-
a - come from land constitutes only a small portion of their
Phaed
4
i
i i
Land reform in each area was preceded by education
and intensive propaganda. The actual redistribution of
have committed acts of oppression usury, or inhuman-
ity against their tenants were publicly accused and tried.
V. K.R.V. RAO is a distinguished Indian economist whose
views reflect important non-Communist opinion in his coun-
wry. This article is the second of two embodying his con-
_ elusions about the new China formed during a recent official
visit. The first appeared last week.
348
7 mpressions of ee |
rt F os " Ow oe
yt oe Sy ere Moe Sa
A 1 Se ae a
“iS 24 Se
BY V. K. R. V. RAO”
Whether one approves of this procedure or not, there — |
is no denying that it has linked the vast majority of the —
peasants to the new government by almost indissoluble:
ties,
The industrial workers, the petty bourgeoisie, and the *:
private capitalists have one thing in common: they live
in towns and have to purchase their food and other con-
sumers’ goods. The price level has therefore a direct |
bearing on their welfare. When the Communists came
to power, China was in the throes of a severe inflation.
By July, 1950, inflation had been checked and prices had
been stabilized. It is true that there has since been some
rise in the prices of industrial goods, especially of cloth,
owing primarily to increased rural purchasing power; but
prices of essential commodities as a whole have not risen
very much.
While the government has obtained the support of the
general urban population through this successful imple-
mentation of its anti-inflation program, it has taken
special steps to win the favor of the different classes.
The industrial workers enjoy many more benefits and
amenities than they had under the previous regime. Social
insurance on modern lines has been introduced, includ-
ing workmen’s compensation and maternity, sickness, and.
old-age benefits. A beginning has been made in the pro-
vision of rest houses, dormitories, sanitariums, and so on.
Workers who distinguish themselves in increasing prto-
duction are given the title of labor heroes or model work-
ers and held up to the admiration of their comrades and _
of the entire country.
While government corporations have taken over for-
eign trade and a large sector of domestic wholesale trade,
a certain portion of wholesale trade and the entire retail
trade have been left in private hands, Storekeepers seem
to be quite happy as the result of the increase in rural
purchasing power and also of the new emphasis placed
by government on the flow of commodities between
towns and villages. An additional source of satisfaction
is the rationalization of taxation and, with it, the aboli-
tion of petty and multiple taxes.
As for the capitalist class, Article 30 of the Common -
Program declares that “the People’s Government shall
encourage the active operation of all private economic
enterprises beneficial to the national welfare and to the
people’s livelihood and shall assist in their development.”
The private capitalist has therefore a definite place in
the new Chinese economy, Taxation of profits does not
exceed 30 per cent. Dividends are limited and there is a
general ban on sending profits abroad, but all possible
The NATION —
of r ae concerns operating in China. At the
time the state has far more effective control over
he private sector of industry than in either the United
states or India. In effect, private industrial concerns in
China either carry out processing activities for the gov-
“ment or produce finished goods on government order.
Th ere is no interference in operational or managerial
aatters, markets and reasonable profits are guaranteed,
bu ‘there is effective integration of the private sector
in the government’s over-all economic program.
og
YO MUCH for the new government’s hold on the Chi-
S nese people. What are its long-range plans? Politi-
cally, there is intense concentration on what is called “Aid
Korea and Resist American Aggression.” Simultaneously
Sino-Russian friendship is being built up, with emphasis
on the Sino-Russian treaty of alliance and the armed
might of the Soviet Union. In the economic field the
problem of industrialization—the need to meet the newly
awakened demand of the peasantry for more consumer
goods and thus stave off inflation—is certainly the sub-
ject of serious thought among the policy-makers, China
‘needs both capital equipment and technical assistance to
. “speed up industrialization, but because of the economic
blockade recently imposed at the instance of the U. N.
| it is finding it difficult to get supplies from the Western
_ world. As a natural corollary, a radical change is taking
place in the direction of its foreign trade, and China is
leaning heavily today for both technical assistance and
supplies of capital goods on the Soviet Union and its
sociates in Eastern Europe.
' The cultural ties between China and the Soviet Union
are also being strengthened. The Russian language is
“now taught as a second language in many of the middle
schools, and books and journals in Russian dominate the
foreign-language bookshops that are found in the princi-
pal cities, The Chinese press contains little foreign news
as compared, for example, with the Indian press, and the
‘news agencies whose releases are published are mainly
Asinhua or Tass, not Reuter’s or A. P. or U. P. Hostile
Tiers see in all this the beginning of a new order in
China in which contacts with the outside world will be
‘mainly with and through the Soviet Union; some even
fear that the new China will be a menace to the rest of
AASIA.
_ I myself feel certain the hostile observers ate wrong
in their reading of the Chiriese puzzle. Undoubtedly
Sino-Soviet friendship will be an enduring fact, but it is
equally true that China is not and can never be a Soviet
ite. The Chinese leaders are essentially Chinese
iots; the program by which they are consolidating
12, 1952
Id is essentially a ane pcre teal hie to.
¢ many economic, social, and cultural ptoblems-
‘that confront the Chinese people.
The most noteworthy characteristic of the present —
Chinese leadership is its strong sense of actuality and its
aversion from a doctrinaire course. The major factor in
Mao’s rise to power has been his realism, his framing of
policies closely connected with concrete conditions, Thus
the basic facts of the Chinese situation, together with the
quality of the leadership, argue against militaristic ad-
ventures on China’s part.’The intense anti-American feel-
ing that now prevails
has arisen largely
because the United
States has been linked ag
with the two things #ieea
the Chinese people
hate most — Chiang
Kai-shek and Japanese
rearmament; and even
this feeling is directed
against the’ American
government rather
than the American
people, for whom
there seems still to exist considerable regard.
The Chinese are conscious that they are a great power
and will not tolerate any threat to their territorial integ-
rity. But given understanding and recognition of present
realities by the Western world, which means adoption
of a policy toward China not based on the thought that
it is a Soviet satellite, I have no doubt that friendly rela-
tions between China and the West can be revived and
peace restored and made enduring in Asia, We Indians
have just cause to be proud that, thanks to the statesman-
ship of Mr, Nehru, India is the one country that has
shown a correct understanding of the Chinese puzzle.
The Chinese leadership is so anxious to improve the —
condition of the people that it would hesitate to revive
internal disorder in pursuit of a doctrinaire mirage. Not
that the Chinese Communist Party denies its goal of a
Communist society; it is simply prepared to wait till the
people voluntarily effect the transformation, I visualize —
the definite possibility that during this transition period
Chinese culture, tradition, and psychology will influence
the nature of the final goal, and that given peace and
absence of foreign intervention, a new society will even-
tually emerge in China which may embody at least some
of the West’s liberal values.
To my mind, however, the brightest hope for the
Mao Tse-tung
future of new China vis-a-vis the rest of the world, both
East and West, lies in India’s friendship for China and
China’s for India. On the development of that friendship
depends perhaps not only the maintenance of peace in
Asia but also the future form of communism in China,
349
BOOKS an dA tl
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i
Off with Their Heads
LET IT COME DOWN. By Paul
Bowles. Random House. $3.50.
THE SWIFT CLOUD. By Sigrid de
Lima. Charles Scribner's Sons. $3.50.
THERE WAS A MAN IN OUR
TOWN. By Granville Hicks. The
Viking Press. $3.
AUL BOWLES'S “Let It Come
Down” has been praised by peo-
ple who should know better; it has also
become the best-seller it was intended
to be. I have not read his first novel,
“The Sheltering Sky,” but I recollect a
real if qualified delight in the short
stories of “The Delicate Prey.” Most of
them are about the same subject: the
destruction of effete Westerners by the
arts, the skulduggery, and the implacable
hostility of primitive \peoples, usually
Mexican or Arab. Like D. H. Lawrence,
Mr. Bowles sees the natural, which he
equates with the primitive, as bound, one
way or another, to destroy artifice. Un-
like Lawrence, who found—by fits and
starts at least—our eventual salvation in
such destruction, Mr. Bowles’s natural
_ forces embodied in primitive peoples are
worse than the human trivia they de-
stroy. This is a view of things which
when applied to the writing of fiction
can lead quickly to a dead end. After
“The Delicate Prey” the question re-
mained: Can anything more of im-
portance be written on this matter?
The answer is that Mr. Bowles has
_ popularized his radical preoccupation by
diluting it and sentimentalizing it. “Let
It Come Down” is the history of a few
weeks in the life of an American bank
clerk, in flight from neurosis, who takes.
a job in Tangier. There he slips easily
into a maelstrom of intrigue and de-
_ bauchery which swallows him up. But,
we are assured, in sloughing off his New
York bank-teller standards, Charles
Dyar has somehow found himself at the
moment of his complete undoing.
Compared to “The Delicate Prey’
this novel is studiously muted, as if
Mr. Bowles were addressing himself to a
_ Ladies’ Home Journal audience which
must be simultaneously shocked and in-
350
formed—but-never too much so—by an
account of strange goings-on in far
places. Long passages read like a rather
dull travelogue. And where the writing
in the short stories was wonderfully
stripped of unnecessary detail and often
deliberately flat so that no attention
might be diverted from the subject, this
writing seems flat merely out of care-
lessness or ennui. The process of cheap-
ening has been drastic and thorough.
“The Swift Cloud” is a disappoint-
ment—the more so if one remembers
Miss de Lima's first novel, “Captain’s
Beach,” and the expectation it aroused
of even better things to come. Its cen-
tral theme, the importance of any kind
of love, is developed through the close
examination of one day in the life of
a good man wrongfully accused of hav-
ing murdered the idiot son whom he
loved. During his brief stay in the jail
of a small Southern California town,
Clyde Cassen relives the problems which
his son’s idiocy and his own devotion
created. Unhappily, in order to do this,
Miss de Lima has constructed a special
manner instead of writing quietly and in
her own good fashion or, at least, in the
fashion of “Captain’s Beach.” It is a
manner which shuttles back and forth in
time, often for no compelling reason,
and which relies on repetition to create
density and a sense of life going on.
There is nothing wrong with these
devices, but Miss de Lima uses them
and others so excessively that they ob-
scure what they were meant to clarify.
Yet “The Swift Cloud” has its excel-
lences. The man, Clyde Cassen, and
his family are re-created; Miss de Lima
knows how to convey sights and sounds
beautifully; she gets perfectly the feel-
ing of September as it falls on one of
those small Southern California towns
which lie east of Los Angeles toward the
desert. Nor does her unfortunate man-
ner ever mask the acuteness of her .
moral sensibility.
Granville Hicks’s new novel, “There
Was a Man in Our Town,” is the story
of a retired college professor who sets
out to break the Republican machine in
an up-state New York town. He learns
that “politics is people’ the hard way.
Though he gets himself into some
strange predicaments he acquires wis-
dom and is undefeated in spirit after
various material defeats. The characters —
are all stereotypes conceived in great |
high spirits. The high spirits, indeed,
are the most engaging thing about this. .
novel, a roman a thése on a theme so —
worn that Mr. Hicks should probably be
congratulated on having managed to be.
amusing as often as he is.
ERNEST JONES
The Business of Government |
HOW TO GET RICH IN WASHING-
TON. By Blair Bolles. W. W. Norton
and Company. $3.75.
T IS difficult to decide whether Mr.
Bolles in writing this book hyp-
notized himself into being earnestly
scandalized by the sorry Washington
chicanery he rehashes, deliberately pro-
duced a quickie designed to sell on the
basis of a snappy subtitle (‘Rich Man’s
Division of the Welfare State’’), or does
not really understand the truth about
our kind of government. In any case
he makes no serious contribution to an
understanding of the truth. The book
is largely a recapitulation of stuff pa-
raded in Congressional hearings and
newspapers, a college undergraduate’s -
version of those celebrated novelties for
the gee-whiz set—Washington, New
York, Chicago “Confidential.”
There are some slick generalizations.
Taxes are so high that “there is not
much left for the Morgans and those
in private life who used to finance the _
spread of capitalism.” “Washington it-
self has become J. P. Morgan.” Yet
“economic royalists’ are regaining
“paramountcy.”” ‘(Regulatory agencies
tend to become prisoners of the inter- —
ests they are supposed to regulate. ~
What we have now is “military so-
cialism.””
If Bolles is aware that even half-
way smart financiers avoid stiff upper-
bracket income-tax rates by manipulating
the purchase and sale of assets so as to
benefit through lower taxes on capital
gains, he does not indicate it. Nor does
he seem to realize that some of the
The NATION ~
REC is a potential check on a re-
ic to the private monopoly of credit.
Com plaining that the independent agen-
ic have too much power and that
Songress “has less control over the real
wature of government”
ubber-stamp” early New Deal days,
» also writes, a little later: “Congres-
ion al laws and military policy in effect
waranteed a profit to the war con-
inept they might be.”
If he would stick to that last state-
ment he would be closer to the facts.
Congress does not lack “control” of
agency and department policies. The
power of the sugar industry in the
Department of Agriculture is a reflection
of the power of the sugar industry in
~ Congress. The important oil lobbyists
are elected members of Congress. The
oo insurance lobbyists—the ones
who helped decide the liability of fire-
insurance firms under the anti-trust laws
and the tax liabilities of life-insurance
firms—are elected members of Congress.
Even the collapse of the Federal Power
Commission, a once vigilant regulatory
agency, followed enactment of a bill
by Congress to emasculate its work.
F ruman vetoed the bill, but the com-
missioners saw what happened to Leland
2. Olds after he fought the utilities and
aA companies: the Senate refused to
‘confirm his reappointment. This re-
viewer doubts the validity of Bolles’s
-insinuation that the FPC wrote itself out
of the regulation of natural-gas com-
panies becatse Senator Kerr, who op-
_ posed regulations, supported President
Truman against General MacArthur.
_ Passage of the Kerr bill and the stake-
burning of Olds in the Senate were signs
that any timid commissioner could read.
_ “Business men have always got rich or
poor depending on policies in Washing-
ton—not less in the 1880's and pre-
Civil War days than now. High tariffs
dimmed long beyond the period of
“infancy” in industry were simply pub-
lic plunder approved by the same kind
of Congressmen who today insist that
defense contractors make a profit no
matter how improvident or inept they
may be, the same kind of Congressmen
iol ‘the ae: of manu
than during”
factors no matter how improvident or
acturers, mid-
dle men, and retailers be guaranteed.
The business of government is always
closely related to control of the economy,
to the dispensing or withholding of
favors, to the issue of who pays how
much in taxes.
We shall not get rid of deep-freeze
artists, mink-coat grabbers, and Presi-
dential aides who free-load at luxury
hotels by making a few wisecracks that
obscure a basic problem. We had a bet-
ter-balanced government in early New
Deal years because the people had
elected a Congress with some interest
in the general welfare, and members of
that Congress, such as Senators Norris
and Black, had guts enough to force
through legislation despite the howling
opposition of holding-company pirates
and the whole community of legalized
plunderers. It is not necessarily true that
regulatory bodies continually deteriorate;
the Federal Trade Commission in recent
years has been far more vital and vig-
orous than it was under Roosevelt. If
the people elected a better Congress
again, the effect would quickly become
evident in many departments and in-
dependent agencies.
WILLARD SHELTON
The Art of Biography
NELL GWYN, ROYAL MISTRESS.
By John Harold Wilson. Pellegrini
and Cudahy. $4.
BIOGRAPHY usually raises the
query: is it entertaining or reli-
able? Mr. Wilson’s is both. Its first
advantage is its subject, a woman who
rose from a player in Drury Lane to a
royal mistress of Charles II; the whole
concept of official mistresses is pleas-
antly shocking to our modern sense of
public decorum. Then, too, she flour-
ished during the Restoration, an era
brilliant with lust, wit, intrigue, candle-
light and brocade, with even a great
plague and fire thrown in.
Yet even with these aids to entertain-
ment, the biographer who wishes to
write an honest, reliable book has his
problems. Mr. Wilson tells us candidly
at the beginning what sources he had
available: reliable evidence, like deeds,
wills, warrants, state papers, theatrical
records; questionable kinds, like news-
papers, letters, diaries, histories, and
anecdotes; and, finally, the least reliable,
prose and verse lampoons or libels.
These materials are the kind usually
used in scholarly biographies, often with
edifying but unpalatable results. They
are also sometimes used by the popular
biographer, who then projects himself
into the mind of his heroine, and tells
us what she thought and said. This
method, for all its popularity, is a falsi-
fication of history.
Mr. Wilson exhibits here the best
qualities of the scholar and the popu-
larizer and none of the faults of either.
A good sample of how he raises a
sound and graceful structure on a foun-
dation of documents is his ninth chap-
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351
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352
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Nae “wr bh ba Fd opus "
life on Pall Mall. He gives us the con-
crete facts about her house, taxes, serv-
ants, sedan chair, coach, food, drink,
doctors’ bills, cosmetics, gambling,
shopping, clothes, bed (decorated with
silver and costing about a thousand
pounds); and then he ends the chapter
with the concert she gave for the King
in her new house. All this—as the brief
chapter bibliography at the end of the
book details—is based on reliable
sources. The facts are specific without
being diluted into pseudo-dramatic pres-
entation. The reader, it is true, must
work a little too, visualizing and inte-
grating, but he ends with an authentic
picture of Nell's home and not the
painted prop of a stage set. The de-
scription here is rounded out by an an-
ecdote. At the end of the concert the
King, wishing to reward the players,
fumbled in his pocket without finding
any money and then asked the Duke of
York, who had only a guinea or two.
Whereupon Nell, turning to the other
guests and borrowing the King’s favo-
site oath, cried, “‘Od’s fish! What com-
pany am I got into?”
But what if the biographer of the
documented, critical method is faced
with conflicting evidence? If he is “‘cre-
ative’ he will choose the version which
his intuition reveals as the true one.
Mr. Wilson simply states the origin of
the disputed fact, thus indicating its
weight. If he has two versions, he gives
them both—particularly if they are
amusing and illuminating. Thus, there
are two accounts of how Nell persuaded
the King to give their son a peerage.
According to one, she held the child
out of an upper-story window and
threatened to drop him unless—when
the King cried, “God save the Earl of
Burford.” The other relates that once
in the King’s presence she called out to
the boy, “Come hither, you little bas-
tard,” and when the King reproved her,
replied that “she had no better name to
call him by.’’ Whether true or not these
traditional stories point up what the in-
disputable facts show—that Nell ex-
erted herself for her son and that the
King procrastinated in granting honors
he had awarded to his other illegitimate
sons.
In sketching the background Mr.
Wilson picks his way through vast com-
plexities, yet manages to write always
2 2 eee
a d , (tA ;
ot 4s ee nena ar
ter, which describes Nell’s manner of
but he packs into it all the color an
controversy of Nell’s rivalry with the ;
other principal mistresses, the Duch- —
esses of Cleveland and Portsmouth, and —
her friendship with the court wits— |
Dorset, Rochester, Sedley, and Bucking- —
ham. Historically, the capering of the _
King’s mistresses is only an entertaining |
surface ornamentation; beneath it a
grim struggle was being fought to make:
England a constitutional monarchy and)
a pivotal European power. Still, to ¢ont-
pare Charles II’s mistresses with the
dowdy ones of the first two Georges is
to mark the evolution of the monarchy —
from the aristocratic insouciance of the —
Stuarts to the middle-class stolidity of |
the Hanoverians. ;
It is personal, not national, history —
that has kept Nell Gwyn in the popular ~
imagination since her own day. Her suc-
cess story has classic appeal: the daugh-
ter of a man so obscure that his first
name is not recorded, she was the
mother of the royal Duke of St. Albans. |
Remembered by Charles as he Jay dying |
—when he apologized for being so
long about it—she herself died rich,
respected, and not especially repentant.
The Victorians tried to explain away
the profession by which she earned her
honors. In his biography Mr. Wilson
has removed the whitewash to restore
her to what she looks like in the Lely
portrait that serves as frontispiece—an
impudent beauty. ROBERT HALSBAND
Books in Brief
THE NEGRO FREEDMAN. By Hen-
derson H. Donald. Schuman. $4. A de-
tailed and dispassionate study of the ef-
fects of freedom on 4,000,000 former
slaves in the years just after the Civil ©
War—a perplexing and difficult period
in which the Negroes, suddenly freed
from bondage and preyed upon by car- —
petbaggers, were faced with the prob-
lems of earning a living in a ruined
land and of adjusting themselves to a |
new way of life.
RAG, TAG AND BOBTAIL. By Lynn
Montross. Harper. $5. The author has —
attempted to give an “eyewitness ac- —
count” of the American Revolution by
extensive quotations from diaries and |
letters, tied together by his own rather —
The NATION —
Obes
‘ATION COUNTY. By Morton
. University of North Carolina
ss. $3.50. This volume, the first of
ac Field Studies in the Modern Culture
f the South, prepared under the direc-
a of John Gillin, describes the pres-
social strata and ways of life in a
ypical Black Belt county with a popula-
. The author is a Jew, a Bostonian,
* a cultural anthropologist, but in
spite of what must locally have been
considered three strikes against him, he
seems to have been successful in win-
ning the confidence of the people dur-
ing the year that he spent among them.
A useful addition to our knowledge of
the economic and social patterns of
American life.
MARGARET
MARSHALL
HE GRASS HARP” (Martin Beck
Theater) is about four sensitive mis-
fits who run away from their crass fam-
ilies in a small Southern town and take
refuge temporarily in a forest tree,
where they live for a time on fried
chicken and hard-boiled eggs brought
along in a shoe box. Considered just as
-a plot, this is, I suppose, no sillier than
the plot of ‘As You Like It’"—which, as
a matter of fact, it very remotely re-
_sembles: “Blow blow, thou winter wind,
thou art not so unkind,’ etc. There
are no banished dukes, no convenient
ions to eat up a villain, and no holy
hermits to produce a quick reform. But
there are other personages and incidents
equally surprising, including, for in-
stance, a crooked promoter out to get
“possession of the formula for a secret
_dropsy cure owned by one of the refu-
Bees, a last-minute conversion, and a
certain Miss Baby Doll Dallas who wan-
_ ders into the forest peddling a line of
cosmetics guaranteed to transform any
hag into a Hollywood starlet.
_ hasten to add that the purpose of
f
Pe of 5,000 whites and 20,000 Ne-,
: ik ;
ph?’ H
Grass Harp”; : it is simp! a way of con-
fessing frankly that to tell the story of a
fantasy may be to do it less than justice.
Conceivably a story like that just re-
counted might be transformed by some
magic of poetry, imagination, or humor
into a delightful piece. But Truman
Capote, who has made the play from his
own recently published story, is no
Shakespeare, and though at least one of
the leading critics thought the perform-
ance thoroughly delightful I found my-
self hanging my head in embarrassment
at what seemed to me the fatuous
goings-on presented on the stage.
The moral of the play is plain enough
and like the plot might conceivably have
served a purpose. Temperamentally I am
not unsympathetic to those who find the
world too much for them. On the whole
I think I also agree with the author that,
regrettable though the fact may be, utter
flight is no solution, and one must come
down out of one’s tree to make some
sort of peace with the world. But these
are familiar thoughts and hardly call for
long exposition unless one has some
effective method of presenting them,
For all I know, Mr. Capote’s narra-
tive may have generated a special at-
mosphere. The only ‘parts of the play
not clumsy are the two or three long
speeches in which one of the characters
simply explains to another what he
thinks it is all about. But so far as any-
thing is dramatized, it fails to come off.
What was no doubt intended as poetical
naivete comes out as mere clumsy child-
ishness, and it is obvious that the per-
formers—on the whole they are good
ones—feel from time to time as though
they had wandered into a high-school
play. In short, though I hope I am not
only responsive to imagination but in
some degree capable of making the best
of whimsy, I am compelled to say that
“The Grass Harp” just won’t go down.
Considerable pains have obviously
been taken with the production. There
is incidental music by Virgil Thomson
and there are settings by Cecil Beaton,
whose tree house is one of the best
things in the show. Russell Collins is
almost convincing as the retired judge
who joins the runaways, and Mildred
Natwick does her very good best as the
heroine who knows how to make the
dropsy cure out of wild herbs.
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B. H.
HAGGIN
Records
OSCANINI'S broadcast of Beetho-
ven’s Ninth Symphony completed,
as the N. B. C. announcer pointed out,
his fifteenth season with the N. B. C.
Symphony Orchestra. I would add that
it was the fifteenth year in which the
radio public has heard what have been
in large measure falsifications and dis-
tortions of Toscanini’s performances.
The first thirteen of those years the
sound of the performances was falsified
at its source by the acoustic defects of
Studio 8H, and the proportions and bal-
ance were distorted partly by these de-
fects and partly by method of pickup
(i. e., microphone placement) and trans-
mission; but the last two years pick-up
and transmission alone have produced
the continuing falsification and distor-
tion of performances originating in Car-
negie Hall, where their sound has been
fabulously beautiful, and from where
C. B. S. has transmitted excellent fac-
similes of the New York Philharmonic’s
performances—facsimiles, that is, in
which the orchestra appears to be heard
from a sufficient distance for its compo-
nents to reach the ear with the spacious-
ness, clarity, balance, and beauty they
have in the hall. N. B. C. could have
used the same set-up as C. B. S. and sent
out equally good facsimiles of the
N. B. C. Symphony performances; in-
stead it has used a set-up which brings
us close to the orchestra where the vio-
lins often get to be strident, or in the
middle of it where its components are
GERTRUDE LAWRENCE
in A New Musical
The King andT
with YUL BRYNNER
DOROTHY SARNOFF. DORETTA MORROW
ST. JAMES THEATRE, West 44th St.
Evenings at 8:25: $7.20 to 1 80. Matinees
Wednesday & Saturday at 2:25:$4.20to 1.80.
Pulitzer Prize & Critics’ Award Musical Play
MARTHA WRIGHT
GEORGE BRITTON
South Pacific
with MYRON BcCORMICK
MAJESTIC PHEATRE West 44th St.
0. Wed. Mat. at
230; $5.00 te Meo oa i $4.20 to 1.20.
MONDAY EVES. ONLY: CURTAIN AT 7 SHARP
ae
nee Sg ae
‘tightly crowded | eee ad nee
CAMS yes ~
where the woodwinds
louder than tuttis, and where the grada-
tions of dynamics and the balances so
carefully and laboriously and precisely
worked out by Toscanini are destroyed.
This makes it difficult to evaluate the
performances—to know, for example,
whether one is hearing excessive tension
in the performance of the Ninth, or
only the tightness and stridency of the
transmitted sound.
Two new recordings have been issued
of one of Bach’s greatest works, the
Cantata No. 4 “Christ lag in Todes-
banden.” The Bach Guild offers a
straightforward performance by Vien-
nese musicians under Prohaska; Decca
a performance by German musicians
under Fritz Lehmann, whose pacing,
shaping, and sensitive inflection give it
greater expressive power and create
more life in the contrapuntal texture.
The recorded sound of the Decca per-
formance suffers from occasional distor-
tion, especially near the end of the first
side. The Bach Guild record offers also
the Cantata No. 140 “Wachet auf, ruft
uns die Stimme,” one of the works with
superb choral passages and less interest-
ing music for the soloists.
Bach’s Magnificat is another of the
works in which the arias move me less
than the choral passages. The Decca rec-
ord offers a performance by German
musicians under Ferdinand Leitner,
whose slower tempos are more effective
than Shaw’s fast ones in the RCA Victor
performance of a few years ago (though
in one or two instances they are too
slow); but the chorus is not good or is
poorly reproduced. The soloists, how-
ever, are good.
Handel's Te Deum for the Peace of
Utrecht and his Coronation Anthem are
agreeable but not among his most im-
pressive works. They are excellently per-
formed on a Haydn Society record by
Danish musicians under Mogens W6l-
dike.
Another work that I find unimpres-
sive is Haydn’s Missa Solemnis (““Har-
moniemesse”’) in B flat, performed on a
Period record by Viennese musicians
under Alex Larsen. It is the less effective
for the shrill and wobbly singing of the
solo soprano, the not much better sing-
ing of the solo contralto, and the ear-
Jacerating recorded sound.
oe Sake ‘
sometimes are
of the genre, well sung by rtra
Hopf, soprano, with the Vienna Sym
phony under Von Zallinger. The shai
recorded sound requires reduction of
treble to minimum. .%
Schiitz’s “Musical Exequies” is a rec=/
itative-like setting of verses chosen for
the purpose by the prince at whose
funeral the work was sung. Its interest |
is entirely in its detail, some—but not
all—of which I found impressive. It'is”
well performed on an R. E. B. record,
but poorly reproduced: when the vol--
ume is right for the soloists the chorus
is ear-shattering; and the sharpness 7
quires reduction of treble to minimum!
Mahler's “Lieder eines fahrenden,
Gesellen” are beautifully sung by
Blanche Thebom with an orchestra un-
der Boult and excellently reproduced —
by the RCA Victor LP, which offers also
Thebom’s previously issued perform:
ances of Wolf songs.
Mahler's “Das klagende Lied” is an
early and immature work that I would
recommend skipping. It is well per-'
formed by Viennese musicians under
Fekete and reproduced with excessive
sharpness by the Mercury record.
'$. LANE
FAISON, JR.
Art
{[Mr. Faison, who has contributed
many reviews of books to these pages
during the past few years, bas now be- ;
come The Nation’s art critic. His col-
umn, dealing with current exhibits, will
appear every four weeks. |
UPPLEMENTING its fall show of
paintings, the Whitney Museum of ©
American Art offers its annual spring
selection of sculpture, water colors, and
drawings (through May 4). There are
72 items in the first classification, 80 in —
the second, and enough in the third to
bring the total to 187, by as many artists. _
As in its previous shows of this sort, the ©
Whitney is making a serious effort to
discover new talent and to keep the
work of interesting artists in the public’s
mind.
With an eye to the recent, and still
current, controversy sparked by the pro-
test of the National Sculpture Society to
The NATION
a he e D! acne a
Tt does indeed include conserva-
as the most advanced work
den Pleissner’s slick Sargent-in-the-
water color of Avignon is, alpha-
, next to Jackson Pollock's No.
1951. The management has made no
empt to represent all current manners
equal amounts; and if modern art pre-
minates, “it is because it is unques-
y the leading movement in art
day, and has exerted the greatest in-
uence on younger artists to whom the
Vhitney Museum has always been hos-
itz ble.”
Fair enough: the prevailing idiom is
nodern. But this is no guaranty against
rediocrity, superficiality, and the forced
| effect. There are plenty of all three in
his show, and the sculptors are the
worst offenders. Aside from the terrific
impact of Roszak’s Skylark, a wild,
scythe-like skeleton in three-four time,
‘saw little in the sculpture sections that
made me want to linger, or else I had
seen similar things represented long ago
and elsewhere—Baizerman’s powerful
bent Unknown Soldier, of ham-
meted copper, for instance. Minna
‘Harkavy’s Adagio seemed to me an in-
erior example. The staff of the Whit-
ney selected the pieces shown; but I
do not happen to know what there was
to select from. In the case of David
Smith I do: The Hero is not so large as
its size, and it gives as pale an idea of
what Smith can do as the Head in the
Museum of Modern Att.
__As a matter of principle, I prefer to
‘single out for comment only those works
ee , ,
' which struck me as having something
"positive to offer, unless it be a lesser ex-
) ample of an artist who generally does.
But Archipenko’s Exaltation struck me
s so little exalted that I cannot forbear
; Decne; it is merely larger than some
of the other paperweights in the show.
There is something doubly depressing
about bad sculpture: the time, the trou-
ble, the expense, and, saddest of all, the
permanence.
_ The water colors run a full-gamut
rom the tender suggestion of Fein-
Gnger "s Houses in Hildesheim—in low-
key orange and neutral—to the meaty
impasto of James Brooks’s No. 3, 1952,
in a layers, partially superimposed, of red,
1952
U Ld
rather ‘than a “paintinle for the fall
show is, it seems to me, chiefly a matter
of chemistry. But anyone who has ever
organized an art show will have discov-
ered the ridiculous pitfalls of classifica-
tions.
I was strongly impressed by John
Atherton’s Rocky Farmyard, though it
may-turn out to be too much School of
Shahn; while Shahn himself, in Homeric
Struggle, seems to be struggling homeri-
cally to be different from Shahn. He is
an artist I admire, and I honor the
struggle without applauding this par-
ticular result. Fortunately, Marin’s repu-
tation does not have to depend on the
Sea Piece here shown. Tchelitchev’s
Head, except for its queer color, can be
found in Renaissance instruction books
on perspective, and Gwathmey'’s An-
cestor Worship essays a thin elegance in
which he cannot compete with the com-
bination of Charles Demuth and Henry
James—whether or not such competition
was intended,
Among names new to me, I remember
with pleasure works by Hans Moller
and Janet Marren.
One memorable wall upstairs features
non-objective black-and-whites: Pollock,
deKooning, Kline, and Reinhardt. They
are separated in the catalogue because
Kline, who uses ink on paper, and de-
Kooning, who works in oil on paper,
are in the drawing class, while the other
two are listed among the water-color-
ists. But they are properly hung to-
gether. It is impressive how strongly
four individualities have been projected
by nothing but a few black marks on
white. The attention the ancient Chinese
paid to calligraphy as an element of
poetry comes to mind. Of the four, on
this occasion Reinhardt seemed to have
the greatest staying power. I would seri-
ously like to see his Number 25 beside a
Piranesi Prison, because they both
achieve something of the same grandeur,
though I have no doubt about which is
the more resonant.
Across the room there is a small
Motherwell drawing, Toledo (presum-
ably not Ohio). I have often admired
Motherwell, but this time it’s the turn
of the little boy who pointed out that
the king has no clothes on. Me for Saul
Steinberg, whose Cowgirl has plenty of
clothes on.
- CONTRIBUTORS
ERNEST JONES regularly reviews fic-
tion for The Nation.
WILLARD SHELTON was formerly
The Nation’s Washington correspondent.
ROBERT HALSBAND is assistant pro-
fessor of English at Hunter College.
S. LANE FAISON, JR., is chairman
of the Art Department at Williams
College.
Nation Readers are cordially invited
to the
47» Annual Luncheon of the
League for Industrial Democracy
Saturday, APRIL 26, 1952, 12:30
HOTEL COMMODORE
NEW YORK
Subject:
NEEDED: A MORAL
AWAKENING IN AMERICA
Citations at Luncheon to JOHN HAYNES
HoutmMes and Puirre Murray ° John
Dewey Awards to Stoney Hoox and
LELAND OLDS ¢ Other participants:
JAMES B. Carey, WALTER P. REUTHER,
HELEN GAHAGAN DOUGLAS, CHARLES S.
ZIMMERMAN.
Tickets:
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night, April 25, Ethics in Hdueation; Satur-
day morning (10 to 12:15) on Industry ; Satur-
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Great Britain, George S. Counts, August Claes-
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Javits, Abraham Lefkowitz, James Rorty,
Clarence Senior, Mark Starr, Norman Thomas,
Louis BE, Yavner. (Admission; 50¢ each.)
For further information write
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Crossword Pure No. 460
BY FRANK W. LEWIS
ACROSS
See 1 down.
A loss? Not when repeated. (5)
and 23. An associated expression
sounds like a good look with warn-
ing, but we a sort of pit when I
drop it. (5, 4, 5)
They hold breakfast food. (3, 4)
Circumspect. (7)
Not certain as death, but no more
pleasing. (5)
Born 1932; died 1945. (9)
Cattlemen find their home with
Cupid. (9)
The least sort of thing is wrong if
you do it. (5)
The end pays off with difficult
breathing, (7)
A drummer does with retreat, but so
does everyone else. (5, 2
He wasted a lot of time on reflec-
tion. (9)
See 10 across. ;
Where the students are used to cut-
ting classes? (6, 7)
DOWN
and 1 across. Implying rotten re-
sults from saving measures?
(5, 3, 3, 3, 5, 3, 5)
The way the nag outran another
animal? (9)
An inlaid sort of gun, but not ac-
tively engaged. (7)
4 Spring is found in northern Ari-
zona. (5)
5 an items from the floor of 24?
6 Acquaintances keep it, if you feel
there’s sense here. (2, 5)
7 Offensive with military men, but in
soca taste with Red Cross workers.
5
8 and 14. Goodfellow’s. reflection im- ©
plies all races are silly.
(4;-55.5, 712)
14 See 8.
15 coe or the toe-tapper does it.
o,
17 The comparatively well- armed
would necessarily be. (7)
18 24’s clue might describe the place
one learns to use it. (7)
20 Not used regularly to clean up. (5)
21 io to a degree, it’s fundamental.
R
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NEXT WEEK
A Personal Memoir of
EDNA ST. VINCENT
MILLAY
BY
Edmund Wilson
A DISTINGUISHED American critic pre-
sents a vivid portrait of one of America’s most
gifted poets —and the record of a life-long
friendship.
This ten-page essay will be the leading feature
of The Nation’s
SPRING BOOK NUMBER
which will also contain reviews of important
books as well as The Nation’s regular columns
on Poetry, Art, Music, and Films, as follows:
ROME AND A VILLA
by Eleanor Clark
Reviewed by Frances Keene
THE BOLSHEVIK REVOLUTION
by E. H. Carr
Reviewed by Barrington Moore, Jr.
THE NECESSARY ANGEL
by Wallace Stevens
Reviewed by Hayden Carruth
WILKIE COLLINS
by Kenneth Robinson
Reviewed by Robert Phelps
®
Verse Chronicle by Rolfe Humphries
Music by B. H. Haggin
Art by S. Lane Faison, Jr.
Films by Manny Farber
in THE NATION
a ee
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Sten
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Sep+odh ee.
ro eo
FIRST
“J would nominate this for the Book-of-the-Year if there were
euch an award given for courage and honesty in writing of the
crisis of our time. Here there are no sensational charges, no un-
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events and statements, searching always for the motive behind the
act, like a good historian-detective.” —Matthew Josephson
TOO HOT TO HANDLE!
said the commercial publish-
ers. Read it and see why.
As thrilling as a detective story
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as a “J'accuse,"’ this sensa-
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piercing flood of light on the
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Chinese intervention, the real
reason MacArthur was fired
and the tangled truce nego-
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They found it ‘‘too hot to
handle’’; you will find it too
exciting to put down.
Monthly Review is an independent magazine devoted to analyzing, from a socialist point of view, the most
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BOUQUET and BRICKBAT
~(May, 1949), said: “Clarity about the aims and‘
*
“IT can’t imagine why you’d expect me to be interested in th
Stone book. It may all be true; but what difference does it make?!
We had to bring Russia to a stop somewhere, and this (Korea) /
happens to be the place. If we hadn’t done it, she’d have been in
Jugoslavia now, and if we don’t stand by it now she’d be in Iran,
Indo-China and Germany before the year is up. ‘Futile slaughter”
be damned! No fighting was ever less
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2
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AROUND THEU.SA.
A Three-Point Program
Cleveland
OME 2,500 delegates assembled in
Cleveland, April 3-6, for the Fifth
International Education Conference of
the United Auto Workers. The theme
of this yeat’s conference—'Freedom,
Abundance, Security’’—was sounded in
Walter Reuther’s keynote address, “We
have to find a way,” he said, ‘‘to mobi-
lize our great productive power, the
tremendous material resources that we
possess in America, and gear these
things to the needs of the people; to
translate our technical progress into
human happiness, into human dignity.
That is the unfinished work that lies
ahead.”
An array of distinguished speakers
tackled the key issues of the conference.
Leon Keyserling developed the thesis
that peace and prosperity are dependent
upon a constantly expanding production
accompanied by a wider and more equi-
table distribution of income. The objec-
tive, he suggested, should be not to pro-
vide equality of wealth but equality of
opportunity through the removal of the
disparities which now exist. As for the
defense effort, Keyserling contended
that those who are now clamoring for
curtailment of production because our
economy is strong are the same groups
which in the early thirties clamored
for restriction of production because the
economy was weak. Production, in his
view, could be increased another 6 to 10
per cent, which would more than offset
the defense budget, and this added pro-
_ ductive capacity, converted to peace-
time production, could be used to create
an unprecedented prosperity.
_ Walter White of the N. A. A. C. P.
and Zechariah Chafee, Jr., spoke on
“Civil Rights—Human Liberties.”
White received considerable applause
when he charged Senator Robert A.
- Taft and Senator Richard Russell with
responsibility for defeating civil-rights
legislation in Congress and when he
said that if the Democrats nominate
either Russell or Senator Kerr, the party
might just as well ‘‘kiss the Negro vote
goodbye.’ In a strong speech, Chafee
deplored the “gradual erosion of human
rights,” the glorification of spies and in-
formers, and the “development of an
a
American Party, deviations from which
are regarded as disloyalty.” “I am not
saying all this is illegal,” he added.
“Everything Charles I did was strictly
legal but he lost his head. I say it is time
to look back and see how many steps
we have taken away from freedom and
ask, ‘Is it necessary to abandon so much
freedom?’ ”’
On the “morals and responsibilities”
of Congress—a timely topic—the dele-
gates heard from Senators Wayne
Morse, Hubert Humphrey, and William
Benton. Morse urged adoption of a na-
tional Presidential primary and discussed
a bill which he has introduced requiring
Senators to make public reports on the
sources of their income. “Any man who
wants to be a Senator,” he said, ‘should
expect to live in a fishbowl.” Senator
Humphrey had some unkind words for
the Dixiecrats, “who use the cloak of
white supremacy to conceal the dagger
they would plunge into the back of
progress.” Senator Benton lashed out
against “the disgraceful spectacle of un-
limited and irrelevant debate’ and
urged enactment of the Lehman resolu-
tion (SR 205) under which, in case of
grave emergency, two-thirds of the Sen-
ators present and voting might limit
debate. All three Senators blasted Mc-
Carthyism. Benton was particularly ef-
fective in pointing out the impact of
McCarthyism in Europe, where the peo-
ple still retain vivid recollections of
Mussolini and Hitler. Wherever he had
traveled in Europe, he had been asked:
Will McCarthy take over in America?
“You can be certain,” he said, ‘‘that
McCarthy is much better known in
Europe than Robert A. Taft.”
Willard E. Goslin, who was forced to
resign as Superintendent of Schools in
Pasadena, and Arthur Schlesinger cau-
tioned vigilance against those who attack
the public schools on the familiar
grounds that the schools are teaching
“socialism” and substituting various
“frills” for the old-fashioned ‘“‘three
R's.”” Both agreed that these attacks are
not directed at specific evils but are part
of a subtle assault on the public-school
system.
This being an educational conference,
no action was taken by delegates on po-
litical issues, but politics echoed in the
corridors. There was considerable talk
X
‘4 i rt nN
Ra ve ue i
for Justice William O. Douglas, Senator
Estes Kefauver, and Governor Adlai
Stevenson. Senator Kefauver, in Cleve-
land during the conference, visited the
last session and lost little time introduc-
ing himself to delegates in the lobby.
Later he joined Reuther on the plat;
form. Leonard Woodcock, a member of
the executive board, voiced the union’s
disapproval of a strictly labor party.
Labor already has the means, he said, to
exercise its political responsibilities with- .
in the framework of the existing parties.
“We will get nowhere,” he said, ‘‘chas-!
ing down the primrose path to some,
Utopian dream of a third party.” é'
As I sat through the sessions of the’
conference, I kept thinking of a day in’
1930. On that day I walked through’
Cleveland's Public Square and saw if
packed with hundreds of unemployed
workers milling about in hopeless frus-
tration and despair, unorganized and
leaderless. By contrast this conference '
showed careful organization and able
leadership. The delegates impressed one
as being the kind of people who de- '
mand good leadership. There was no
demagoguery. No threats were voiced.
There was no chest-thumping. Every-
thing about the conference showed pa- ~
tient preparation, painstaking research,
careful planning. The delegates had ob-
viously come to Cleveland to learn
something about the issues being dis-
cussed and their close attention to the
proceedings reflected favorably on the -
care with which the conference had been
planned.
On the subject of peace, Reuther said:
“Either we find a way to mobilize the —
will and the power and the resources of
the world and dedicate them to the
human needs of people in peace-time or
they will be geared to making the weap-
ons of war and destruction. . . . In the.
kind of world in which we live, free-
dom and justice and peace cannot live
side by side with great poverty. We *
found in World War I that peace is in-
divisible. We found in World War II
that freedom is indivisible. If we are to
avoid a third world war, we must under-
stand that the question of economic —
well-being within the framework of
basic human needs of people ore 4
where is also indivisible.”
HERSCHEL G, HOLLAND
es ae
TY
he Shape of Ibings
JRCHILL’S GOVERNMENT IS IN SERIOUS
able. Judging by Labor's striking gains in the County
uncil elections, the. public is already regretting its
of last October with a degree of warmth that
ald melt the Tory majority in the event of new Par-
mentary elections. Churchill is also having difficulties
th the rank and file of his own party. One group feels
at the government's proposals for advance army pur-
Mehases will do little to ameliorate the textile slump and
cs pressing for drastic revision or abolition of the pur-
¢ tax on textiles. A still more powerful right-wing
se ct tion, restive because the Cabinet has as yet taken no
s to implement its pledge to denationalize stecl, has
tdly been soothed by the Prime Minister’s promise that
F: Dill will be “initiated” this year. Finally, the govern-
lent is under heavy fire from its moneyed supporters,
acked by such powerful voices as the Times, the Daily
elegraph, and the Econgmist, which are furiously op-
osed to the new excess-profits levy. In these circum-
ances, Churchill may find some compensation in the ill-
ind of the local elections which serve as a warning to
issident Tories to close ranks and postpone a general
ection as long as possible. The swing to Labor is too
nounced to be explained as a normal reaction. Labor
established its ascendancy in London with a thumping
lajority and polled astonishingly well in the suburbs
here the Tories had made important gains in the last
wo general elections. It captured Lancashire, most con-
Wsetvative of the industrial areas, and won numerous vic-
ities in the politically backward rural areas. There can
= no doubt that the voters were protesting broken Tory
fomises. That suggests to the New Statesman and Na-
that the results also spell danger to Labor—a danger
f F return to office by “an angry electorate before it has
oned out its own divisions or decided on a program.”
+
HE RECENT DECISION IN DELAWARE BY
adge Collins J. Seitz ordering the admission of Negro
udents to non-segregated elementary and high schools
as been characterized by Thurgood Marshall, special
unsel of the National Association for the Advancement
f Colored People, as “the first real victory” in the cam-
ign to abolish segregated public schools. After hearing
a he
ek,
_-
ee oe
pat Fo.
E174 NEW YORK + SATURDAY « APRIL 19, 1952
[MERICA’S LEADING LIBERAL WEEKLY SINCE 1865
NuMBER 16
much expert testimony, Judge Seitz found that segrega-
tion often leads to lack of interest and extensive absentee-
ism on the part of Negro children, as well as ‘a mental
health problem . . . with a resulting impediment to their
educational progress.” The decision, however, actually
turned on a finding that the white schools had “such an
obvious superiority” to the Negro schools “as to be
depressing.” Rejecting Delaware’s promise to equalize
facilities through a building program, Judge Seitz or-
dered the education authorities to admit Negro students
immediately to non-segregated schools. The decision will
make it extremely difficult for the Supreme Court to
dodge the central issue of segregation when the court
passes, for the second time, on the Clarendon County,
South Carolina, case soon to be heard together with simi-
Jar cases from Topeka, Kansas, and Prince Edward
County, Virginia. *
IF THE SOVIET ECONOMIC CONFERENCE WAS .
deliberately arranged to coincide with the spring peace
offensive, it was a neat bit of timing. But even the
master planners of the Kremlin could hardly have fig-
ured on the added coincidence of a world textile slump;
this was sheer luck. It injected a note of urgency into de-
liberations that otherwise might have been more con-
cerned with the broad issues of East-West trade than
with concrete orders and agreements, As it was, the con-
ference produced a total of some $200,000,000 in con-
tracts, according to Harrison E. Salisbury’s report in the
New York Times, with British business men alone de-
parting with orders valued at $48,000,000—or twice that
on a two-way basis. But if the eagerness shown by West-
ern visitors was stimulated by the emergency in textiles—
a commodity in which Russia had previously shown little
interest—it also reflected a widespread desire to break
through the cold-war controls and embargoes that have
strangled world trade and to reduce their economic de-
pendence on the United States. The over-all effect of
these barriers is discussed by Eric Josephson on page 366
of this issue. That Moscow has done its full share in
using trade restrictions as cold-war weapons, did not
diminish the effect of last week’s performance. On the
contrary, the businesslike procedure at Moscow suggested
that the Russians might now be prepared to “substitute
action for words,” as Washington has so often advised,
while the absence of American business men equally
0 CNS LA alain a a oe
| == aa ees ee ee ee
Department — d have avoid | this | rol e very si
e IN THIS ISSUE e Since the Moscow conference purported to be a ne
' government affair, Mr. Acheson could have washed his
EDITORIALS hands of it, as other Western nations did, permitting’
The Shape of Things 357 Americans to attend in their private capacity if they
Steel and Stabilization 360 pleased. By warning them off he made their absence an}
Perén Turns to Torture by J. Alvarez del Vayo 361 official gesture of repudiation, thus handing Moscow full
credit for a concrete, popular step in the direction of
ARTICLES easier East-West relations. This seems to us unfortuna re |
The Trieste Boomerang by Alexander Werth 361 oe ay of view. including, Saat a
Ickes; American Legend by Ruth Gruber 363 ' + a
ines yg. | LAST SUMMER THE ISRAELI GOVERNMENT
Do Lie-Detectors Lie? by Jules H. Masserman circulated among the Big Four powers a bill for mate~
and Mary Grier Jacques 368 rial claims against Germany arising out of the Nazi pers)
secution of Jewry. Though not directly addressed, the
BOOKS AND THE ARTS Bonn government announced its readiness to negotiate
Edna St. Vincent Millay: A Memoir the matter directly with representatives of Israel and of
by Edmund Wilson 370 the Jewish people. To most Jews the idea of direct nego-
U. S. S. R.: The Early Years tiations with Germans was repugnant; the crematories of
by Barrington Moore, Jr. 383 Auschwitz and Dachau were still operating only a little
Ecce Roma! by Frances Keene 384 more than seven years ago. Many doubted German siti-
The “Zone of Silence” by Albert J. Guerard —-386 cerity, feeling that nothing would come of the talks ex-
Natural History, with Ideas by Ruthven Todd 388 cept good-will propaganda for the Germans. But the
American Journey, 1868 by Keith Hutchison 389 Israeli government and leaders of Jewish communities
Verse Chronicle by Rolfe Humphries 389 outside Israel felt that the best tribute they could pay to
Records by B. H. Haggin 390 the dead victims of Nazism was to achieve something for
metry bs Lane/Paizon, Jr. 391 the living: any sum received from the Germans would be
spent chiefly on housing and other necessities for new-
eee ee eee toy 461 comets to Israel. So negotiations started a few weeks
egos ene ago at The Hague, It must be said that certain aspects of
Ie the German approach to the talks have justified the fears
EDITORIAL BOARD
Editor and Publisher : Breda Kirchwey of those who have steadfastly opposed direct negotia-
tion. The Bonn delegates announced from the first that
Editorial Director Director, Nation Associates :
Carey McWilliams Lillie Shultz any settlement with the Jews must be scaled down in ac-
Managing Editor: Victor H. Bernstein cordance with whatever agreements are made at the Con-
Foreign Editor Literary Editor ference on German Debts in London, where other Bonn
J. eee neve Margaret Marshall delegates are discussing commercial debts with interna-
ee ne eith Matchison tional bankers. That the Germans should take such an
Wesmas Joseph Wood Krutch Music: B. H. Haggis attitude will surprise few. But it is to be hoped that by
Assistant Editor: Charles R. Allen, Jr. i
aor: Gladys Whine the time The Hague talks (now in recess) resume early
Assistant Literary Editor: Caroline Whiting in June, the Western capitals will remind thé Gérmans
oo Staff Contributors that obligations due on a 3-per-cent bank loan are not to
ew Roth, Alexander Werth, Howard K. Smith, Carolus . be equated with those arising out of the murder and
Business Manager: Hugo Van Arx ; plunder of a people. me
Advertising Manager: Maty Simon ; x
The Nation, published weekly and i , 2
by The Nation Associates, Inc,, 20 Vesey Stecee hoe nk oe SENATOR MORSE’S PROPOSAL LAST SUMMER
es as second-class matter, December 13, 1879, at the Post Office 7 ° : : : :
of New York, N. Y., under the act of March 3, 1879. Advertising to investigate the China Lobby and the investigation of
and Circulation Representative for Continental Europe: Publicitas, seat {
las pire rice: Toomeatio One sav $1. tainigeace Fle Dae Senator Benton’s charges against McCarthy—stalled
years $17, Additional postage per year: Foreign and Canadian $1. these many months—moved a little nearer realization
eee of nee ae ve ke pas is required for change of y Pi
Snares, which cannot be made without the old address as well as last week. The Senate’s 60-to-0 vote of confidence in the
Information to Libraries: The Nation is in , mimi ing i
sot epeagtion £0 libraries: The Nation is tndexed in Readers’ Guide subcommittee looking into Senator Benton’s charges was
Articles, Public Affairs Information Serviee, Dramatic Index, not only a stunning rebuke to McCarthy but a clear direc-
Mera sin vo aisiitte navy, jy etve to the subcommittee to proceed with/its wor aes
358 The Nation
1
| mei by Séedtors Smith, Hendrick-
I , McFarland, and Humphrey. Joe's bag of
tric ks is now almost empty and his colleagues, by acting
Ee intly, have finally found the courage to say what they
Peak Sationt him. The proposal to investigate the China
| y was edged several notches forward by Senator
. s€'s introduction into the Congressional Record of a
Series of messages sent from the Chinese Embassy to
sneralissimo Chiang Kai-shek. For nearly a year, now,
mmiittee of the Senate has been examining Owen Lat-
}/timore’s “influence” on State Department policy in the
.
ar East. But the messages presented by Senator Morse
dicate who has really been influencing the State De-
tment. According to these messages; Representative
falter Judd and Senator William Knowland have acted
§ “unregistered” advisers to the Chinese Embassy on
ays and means of influencing American policy. The
ew documents, read in the context of the Reporter's ex-
ellent articles on the China Lobby (April 15), fully
istify Senator Morse’s statement of the pressing need
of a reappraisal of our Far Eastern policy, Should the
ate push both investigations, the prime condition for
th a reappraisal will have been realized, namely, an
mposé of the China Lobby and its tie-in with McCar-
hyism. oi
REFUSAL TO ACCEPT NON-CAUCASIANS
neighbors is usually justified by reference to the myth
hat the presence of such “invaders” necessarily de-
.
}
|
i ptesses property values, regardless of other factors.
| omic Research of the University of California, has just
|)in mixed neighborhoods fluctuate in response to general
f
)
|
suigi Laurenti, of the Bureau of Business and Eco-
ompleted a study which suggests that real-estate values
Conomic pressures and that property values bear little
elation to the racial composition of the inhabitants.
Df nine neighborhoods included in this study two were
almost adjoining. Six Negro families have moved into
one of these neighborhoods since February 1, 1950; the
other remained all white. The presence of Negro families
m the one neighborhood, however, has not depressed
roperty values; on the contrary, values have increased
os neighborhoods, Even if these findings had been
lable they would probably not have been accepted
y the irate property- ownets who snubbed a young
thinese family in the Southwood area of South San
‘fancisco in February, or by the residents of the Rolling-
rood tract in San Pablo who recently stoned a Negro
amily that had “invaded” the area. Nevertheless, the
cumulation of such findings will weaken the coercive
ect of the myth that the presence of non-Caucasian
Rvaders” depresses property values in residential
rei ghborhoods
April 19, 1952
os ae asked the ae to ‘aenplae the fitness of fides
Leon Yankwich to retain his federal district judgeship in
Los Angeles. Five years ago Judge Yankwich presided at
the trial in which a jury returned a verdict in favor of Les-
ter Cole, one of the Hollywood “ten,” in a breach-of-con-
tract suit against Loew-M-G-M, his former employer. The
judgment was reversed on appeal, but the case was final-
ly settled out of court. The basis for the attack on Judge
Yankwich is that he chose to “interpret the law arid
evidence in diametric opposition to the national inter-
est.” The notion that a suit for breach of contract
should be determined by the way in which a judge
appraises the impact of a jury’s verdict on “the national
interest’’ is strikingly reminiscent of Adolf Hitler's
peculiar views on the function and responsibilities of the
judiciary. Under American law it is possible to reverse
a judge if he commits an error, to disqualify him if he is
ptejudiced, or to impeach him ‘if he is corrupt. But
Representative Vail would like to add to these remedies
by making it possible to investigate judges—and why
not jurors?—who decide cases in a manner that the
House Committee on Un-American Activities does not
regard as furthering the national interest.
tempt to conduct the investigation should be accom-
panied by a demand that Mr. Vail disclose just who it
was that prompted him to make this attack on Judge
Yankwich five years after the trial of the Cole case.
+
THE MONTH-LONG HEARINGS WHICH REAR
Admiral Francis C. Denebrink has been conducting in
Hawaii on conditions aboard the U. S. S. Reclaimer, an
auxiliary repair and salvage ship, have finally come to a
close. The investigation was ordered after seventy en-
listed crewmen, and two newspaper reporters, had com-
plained that the skipper, Lt, Marion C, Kirkpatrick, was
a petty tyrant who crushed morale and violated navy
regulations. From these complaints it would appear that
the Reclaimer—dubbed “‘U,. S. S. Ridiculous” by the
crew—was rather like the ship described in ‘The Cainé
Mutiny.” The case is important not only because of the
gravity of the charges but because of the manner in
which the navy has conducted the inquiry. The inves-
tigators seem to have been more interested in finding out
who made the charges, and how, than in investigating
conditions aboard the ship. Closed to the press, the hear-
ings were conducted in a “hush-hush” atmosphere despite
a recent directive from the Secretary of the Navy enjoin-
ing officers and their spokesmen to “give frank, honest
answers to questions from newspapers and wire services”
and to “tell the truth, even when the truth hurts.” If the
navy wants to inspire confidence in its investigations, it
should carry out the spirit of Secretary Kimball’s direc-
tive by stopping the practice of excluding the press.
359
>) eae >
Any "at-s
-
:
:
4
7 ry
eS
|
ee Cae a ™ —— - ae - -
aa Seat A Conn ear ae . : : ee LCE Te
+ Ee 7 r “st = es ®;
9 ipeeie eon to ies ~ Sates a - on = ane e ; Ps Sh << ‘ a, he - =<
ae oe re =~ JESS:
: ' ~Ae =
a. 360
Steel and Stabilization “*
PRING has brought a sudden blossoming of strikes
and industrial controversies—in steel, in oil, in com-
munications. Putting aside for the moment the question
of the President's “right” to seize the steel industry, the
undeniable fact behind the disputes is that a substantial
part of organized labor is fed up with the stabilization
program.
There are three basic reasons. First, the Administra-
tion’s delay in imposing economic controls in the summer
and autumn of 1950 allowed speculative price jumps that
cut consumer purchasing power. Second, the price-con-
trol laws passed by Congress contained built-in profit
guarantees for business men but were otherwise punc-
_ tured with loopholes. Third, while the Wage Stabiliza-
tion Board is struggling with a backlog of cases, it has
been constantly handicapped by the overt hostility of big
industry and its spokesmen in Congress.
Industry spokesmen fought bitterly to cut down the
board’s sphere of activity even before it was organized.
An “emergency” committee, with the Chamber of Com-
merce and the National Association of Manufacturers
cooperating, was formed to persuade Eric Johnston, then
Economic Stabilizer, that the wage board should have no
jurisdiction over “non-economic” labor disputes. The
departed Charles E, Wilson's General Electric Company
denounced the record of the earlier War Labor Board for -
giving too much to labor in wages, union security, and
other “non-economic” clauses.
The attitude of the steel companies before and after
the W. S. B. recommendation in the current dispute has
reflected unrelenting hostility to any wage increase for
which the companies could not immediately recover all
direct and prospective indirect costs in the form of
higher prices.
It should be clearly understood, estos: that labor
unions never have consented and do not now consent to
the idea of a wage “freeze.” Prices are not frozen; taxes
are not frozen. Under these circumstances wages cannot
be frozen, nor do the laws of the land require it.
Clarence Randall, president of Inland Steel Company,
who was chosen to reply on behalf of the industry to
President Truman’s steel-seizure speech, asserted that if
the W. S. B. recommendations were accepted, steel wages
_ would have been raised above the increase in living costs.
_ That is one way to argue. But another way is disclosed in
W. S. B. Chairman Feinsinger’s testimony before a Sen-
_ ate Labor subcommittee that, with a cost-of-living esca-
lator clause in their December, 1950, contract, the
steelworkers would have been entitled this year to a boost
of sixteen cents an hour instead of the average 13.75
cents (in the basic wage) recommended by the board.
Wage stabilization has never been proclaimed as a
formula tying wages to living costs as of any particular
g the < : | a in
OE bee inbinaces a industry resist so bitte terly that
strikes were called and the President was led to interven e
with seizure or other drastic measures.
The steel companies’ protests that they should not be
compelled to grant “‘fringe”’ benefits, such as six paid
holidays a year and premium pay for Sundays, serves as a
reminder of the long years during which steel protested
that it could not operate with less than a twelve-hour day,
Long after other industries had accepted the shorter day,
the masters of steel had to be appealed to by President
Harding to follow suit. Moreover, workers in dozens of
industries and literally hundreds of thousands of com-
panies long ago won paid holidays and Sunday overtime
pay. Steel lagged in these just as it lagged in instituting
the eight-hour day. It has little reason to complain if it is;
now asked to catch up with the parade.
Adjusting inequities is part of the W. S, B.’s business.’
Many companies have voluntarily joined unions in ask-:
ing the board’s approval of “fringe” benefits: in the
Curtiss-Wright case the board granted longer vacations
for veteran employees; to the workers of the American
Smelting and Refining Company it granted reclassifica-
tion of job categories.
Part of the savage attack on the W. S. B. in the steel.
controversy has been executed through Representative.
Ralph Gwinn, a propagandist for the Committee for
Constitutional Government, who has tried to smear pub- |
lic members of the board as biased because they are
financially “beholden” to unions. But George W. Taylor,
one of those he mentioned, left the board long ago and
had nothing to do with the steel award. Chairman Fein-
singer is as much “on the payroll” of industry as of
unions, for in private life he arbitrates labor contracts
and is paid jointly by management and labor, This is
also true of one or two other public members.
The basic issue in stabilization is and always has been
prices. If stabilization is destroyed, it will not be because
of the W. S. B. proposals in the steel case. It will be be-
cause the steel companies, defying the government, suc-
ceed: in forcing a greater increase in prices than is
justified by the Capehart amendment and by their capacity _
to cover some added costs out of profits.
The Natton’s Presidential Poll
a is the last call to those who have not yet voted
in The Nation’s Presidential-preference poll. If
you missed the issue of April 5 in which the ballot
appeared, drop us a postcard now and you will receive
a ballot by return mail. Address: Poll Editor, The
Nation, 20 Vesey Street, New York 7, N. Y. All bal-
lots postmarked by April 25 will be counted,
4
The Nation | |
= BY J. h ALVAREZ DEL VAYO
AM in possession of a document that reveals better
than any published story on Argentina both the
bid deterioration of the Perén regime and its mounting
utality. In general the Latin American dictatorships
e preferred to take over from the Franco dictatorship,
which they are the spiritual heirs, everything but its
stapo methods. It is only when their power is directly
en then terror is usually applied only to workers, but
= document I have received—which was excluded from
: Buenos Aires papers on the express orders of the
esidency—cites acts of torture perpetrated by the gov-
Ament against high-ranking army officers and other
ading citizens, All of them had been arrested on sus-
cion of participation in the attempt to upset the Perén
pime Jast February.
The author of the charges is Dr. Arturo Frondizi, one
the most courageous politicaldeaders in the opposi-
n. In the last general elections he was the candidate
Vice-President of the moderate democratic party,
pién Civica Radical, which polled more than two mil-
n votes. Now a deputy, Dr. Frondizi submitted in the
fgentine Chamber on March 21 of this year a series of
guestions to the government which form the basis of the
locument in my possession.
_ 1. Who ordered the beating and torture with picana
eléctra (electric goad) of Colonel José Domichelli, and
shores Oscar G. Martinez Zemborain, Alfonso Nufiez
falnero (former member of the staff of La Prensa), and
her political prisoners who have been held in jail since
ebruary 3? *
2. Will anyone challenge the names of the police of-
ets who performed these acts of terror and of those
hers who witnessed them? (The names, given orally,
ere not included in the document. )
» 3. Will it be denied that police officers, whose names
te known, when ordering the use of the electric goad
ecified that it should be applied to the most sensitive
arts of the body—to the soles of the feet, under the
ugernails and to the sexual organs, with further instruc-
ms that the victims should be soaked with water so
at the pain would be more intense? Or that one of the
ctims was tortured directly on the penis?
|. Will anyone challenge the list of doctors whose
nction, during the application of the goad, was to
the pulse of the victim so that the torture could be
ited if death seemed imminent? ~
. Will it be denied that officers, after blindfolding
: of the prisoners and binding him to a table, slashed
vein in his wrist and then put the bleeding hand to his
pril 19, 1952
LS) is
akened that they pass from repression to terror.
Vea eheac
manded of him?
Dr. Frondizi concluded his challenge to the Argentine
government with these words: “Does the Executive
Power not consider that the moment has arrived to put an
end to these tortures, since they are methods that violate
the rights of man, are repugnant to the moral conscience
of our people, and lower the level of civilization of the _
Argentine Republic?”
I have been informed that within the next few ca
the Frondizi document will form the basis of a special
communication to the United Nations.
The Trieste Boomerang
BY ALEXANDER WERTH
Rome, Italy
FEW days after I arrived here there were several
mild police charges in the Piazza Colonna, where
the students—Fascists, Monarchists, Communists, every-
body—werte raising an infernal row over Trieste. The
chalk trade must have done a roaring business, On every
wall, bus, trolley car and shopwindow were scribbled:
W (meaning “long live”) Trieste, W Fiume, Tito Go
England (in English), M (meaning ‘death to’) Tito,
with a picture of a pig and the legend: ‘Pig, don’t be
offended if we call you Tito.”
The trouble started with the riots in Trieste on March
20, the fourth anniversary of the famous Tripartite
Declaration by which the Western Big Three promised
to do their best to see the Free Territory of Trieste re-
stored to Italy. Whoever conceived that idea in March
1948—and Ernest Bevin is considered the chief culprit —
—was playing with fire. The Yugoslavs were then on the
“other side”; the peace treaty inaugurating the F, T. T.
had been signed; but on the appointment of a governor
—after which the Allied troops were to withdraw from
Trieste—a deadlock had been reached between the West
on the one hand and Yugoslavia and Russia on the other.
It was then that Sforza started working for revision of
the Trieste provisions of the treaty and, benefiting from
the West’s ferocious anti-Yugoslavism as well as from
the fact that a general election was impending in Italy,
won the restoration pledge from Washington, London,
and Paris.
The Nenni Socialists and Communists, evicted by that
time from the government, were quick to point out that
this unilateral declaration by only three of the signa-
tories of the peace treaty was strictly illegal; they de-
clared it also to be a double-cross calculated to influence
ALEXANDER WERTH, The Nation’s correspondent in
Paris, is now visiting in Rome,
361
| that ie ity a peline he oaita bleed ‘to
death if} he did not give thé police the information de-
—
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ro So eet tel
i
i
el
v
4 A
4
i
ee
RE nt eae aes
non
at eGanes
the election in favor of De Gasperi edid | fe tobean
important political factor in the election; and once
De Gasperi had won, the West—as the Left had fore-
seen—promptly forgot all about it. The West’s memory
failed the more readily inasmuch as the Tito-Soviet quar-
rel had created the need to keep Tito in just as good
humor as the Italians.
Today everybody agrees that the declaration was
nothing but an election stunt, for which De Gasperi at
the time had every reason to be grateful but which has
now, since its virtual repudiation, made things very
awkward for him. For one thing is certain: On the
question of Trieste there is a deep and genuine national
feeling. Trieste zs an Italian city, and the majority of the
population of the F. T. T. és Italian; and even the popu-
lation of Zone B (its southern section, now in Yugo-
slav hands) used to be predominantly Italian and may
even be so still, in the opinion not only of Italians but
of many Western diplomats here,
The Nenni Socialists, though not chauvinist, have
warned the De Gasperi government that the nationalist
frenzy over Fiume after World War I was the real
prelude to the establishment of the Fascist regime in
Italy; and what Fiume was then, Trieste may be now.
Like many others, they consider it insulting to Italian
national pride that Zone B should in fact have already
been fully annexed by Yugoslavia, while in Zone A
(the northern section, including the city of Trieste,
_ which adjoins Italy) Anglo-American troops should be
in indefinite occupation, Nor does it help matters that
the present negotiations are aimed at admitting a few
Italian civilian or military representatives to Trieste as
“foreign co-occupiers.” The Nenni Socialists, the Com-
munists, and independent liberals like Nitti and Orlando
are concerned, above all, with the withdrawal of the
Anglo-Americans. The Nenni view is that the peace
treaty should be applied, a governor (no matter who)
appointed by the United Nations, and the foreign
troops withdrawn. After that the “‘beacon of Italianism”
would shine so brightly in the F. T. T. that a territory-
wide plebiscite would surely see the area return to Italy.
S FOR the Yugoslavs, their ethnic case for Zone A
—except for a few small enclaves—appears non-
existent. Their case is not very strong even in Zone B,
‘where despite the exodus of a large proportion of the
‘Italians and the ingress of Slovenes, the existence of a
Yugoslav majority is still doubtful. But for Tito, Trieste
is a matter of prestige and the abandonment of Zone B
is out of the question. His recent proposal for a joint
Italo-Yugoslay administration, with alternating gover-
nors, is considered unrealistic and demagogic by both
the Italians and the Anglo-Americans. The conditions
which Tito has laid down for a plebiscite are based on
the assumption that Italy has changed the city of
362
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B, where evidence is accumulating of genuine Yu gos!
terrorism against the Italians, i
On the other hand, a general plebiscite for the whole
zone is unacceptable to Tito, since the great majority.
the population is Italian, With Tito in an uncompromis
ing mood, backed by a Yugoslay parliament whee: has
adopted a resolution against “further concessions,”
solution seems to be in sight. Clearly Tito feels himself
in a position from which only a strong American Pi sh
can dislodge him.
But the Americans, as the Italians constantly and.
gtetfully recall, want to maintain good relations wit
Tito, whose army is more valuable (in the American
scheme of things) than the Italian, Moreover, the Anglo
Americans frequently argue that it is impossible to wi
draw their troops because the Italians and Yugoslavs
can’t be trusted not to fight each other. This is a posi
tion with which Tito seems to have no quarrel; indeed,
he may even prefer the presence of the Anglo-Americans,
for so long as they stay in Trieste the transfer of the
area to Italy must remain in abeyance. Tito seems to
feel that time is on his side; he believes his army will
become steadily more important to the Western allies
whereas the Italian army will become less so.
Opinion here is divided on whether the De Gasperi
government itself encouraged the demonstrations and
riots of March 20 in Trieste. Certainly the government
needed something to prop up its flagging prestige on the
eve of the local elections to be held in May in southern
Italy, and the concessions it hoped to get in Zone A
were perhaps calculated to improve its chances. But if so,
then the government was lagging far behind Italian
public opinion. The concessions offered in Zone A are in-
terpreted here, both on the Left and on the Right, as im-
plying a tacit surrender to Yugoslavia for all time of
Zone B, and, simultaneously, the perpetuation of the
Anglo-American occupation of Trieste.
So all of De Gasperi’s opponents are making political
capital out of the result. It may be argued that Trieste is
not that important to Italy. But mixed up in the
Italians’ attitude toward it are factors in addition to
genuine national feeling. There is the old Fascist dislike
of Anthony Eden; strong anti-American and “anti-
Atlantic’ feeling on the Left and, to some extent, on the
Right; and dissatisfaction with De Gasperi—for quite
different reasons—by the Vatican. Trieste, moreover, is
a peg on which many grievances against the government
will be hung, including some with no selation to the fy
problem of Trieste. The whole situation greatly increases jj
the danger of a swing to the extreme Right in Italy, and,
consequently, the danger to the present democratic Re-
public—such as it is.
=
_ “7
FT IS fitting that a memorial meeting for Harold L.
Ickes, who died February 3, should have been sched-
ile d for April 20 on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial.
“It is especially fitting that Marian Anderson should
"journey to Washington to sing there. It is now thir-
teen years since that historic Easter Sunday afternoon
yhen Mr, Ickes invited Miss Anderson, barred from the
of the Daughters of the American Revolution, to
ing before the lonely, brooding figure of the Great
Emancipator,
There is no fighter left to fight the way Ickes did.
There is no voice today like his. .
_ For me the key to Ickes was that he was an American.
a no other country could he have functioned as he did;
no other country could have produced him. He was an
ll-American combination of German, Swedish-Finnish,
french, and Scottish ancestry, with relatives who fought
n the Revolutionary War; a combination of small-town
insulated childhood and big-city political sophistication;
"of belly-racking poverty and real wealth.
He was the best liberal, the best Negro, the best
‘Indian, the best Nisei and the best Jew in Washing-
' ton. He was on the side of every oppressed minority.
| He fought their fights, rejoiced if they were victorious,
_ stormed if they were hurt. “There has been no time since
| my resignation,” he wrote barely six months before he
, that I have been able to go to bed at night with
comfortable feeling that all was well along the
ndian front.” The five years that I worked for him were
unforgettable years of working with one of the liveliest
| personalities Washington has ever known. He was that
‘are thing—a reformer with wit. He hated revolution.
| He hated Nazism. He hated communism, He hated fas-
Cism, including Franco’s variety. Like Roosevelt, whom
he adored, his reforms were aimed at saving the country
fom revolution,
“JFTAHE Old Curmudgeon was his trademark. He cre-
r , ated it. He taught the world what a curmudgeon
3 fas. He loved to boast, as he did in his “Autobiography
@ Vof a Curmudgeon,” that he was America’s No. 1 Sour-
a . “There was a time,” he confessed, “when I was,
wing to my mother, in danger of becoming, if not ex-
‘actly a mellow and urbane human being, at least a reason-
UTH GRUBER, author and lecturer, worked for Secretary
ches as special assistant and Field Representative for Alaska
| 1941 to 1946. Her most recent book is “Israel Without
; 19, 1952
BY RUTH GRUBER
able facsimile thereof. I claim sole credit for having
rescued myself from such a ghastly fate.”
It was a fine pose, and nobody enjoyed it more than
he. But it was a carefully grown crust to hide the things
he knew better than to expose to his critics—a fierce
idealism, a thick vein of sentiment, a complete freedom -
from race prejudice, a devotion to his employees that was
almost the devotion of a father (and he could be hurt,
like a father, by any betrayal), a great loneliness, and in
his last years, an agony of spirit.
He loved America. He loved its institutions, He loved
its heritage. According to Jane Ickes, his wife, when he
could no longer fight for that heritage, he died. “Ac-
tually,” she told me recently at her farm in Maryland,
“he died in February, 1946, the day he resigned. It took
him six years to stop breathing. He died because he
had no more will to live. He died because he felt he
could no longer be of service to the country and the
world.”
His fights were epic fights—and most of them he
won. He fought for the rights of American minorities.
He refused to send helium to Germany to fly Hitler’s
dirigibles over the protests of the army, navy and State
Department. He refused to let scrap iron from America
and shipments of lubricating oil go to Hirohito’s Japan.
To the exasperation of his critics, who were legion, he
was outrageously upheld by history.
Soon after Roosevelt surprised Ickes as wall as the
nation by appointing him Secretary of the Interior be-
cause, as Roosevelt told him, “Mr. Ickes, you and I have
been speaking the same language for the past twenty
years,” he gave him the ammunition with which to fight
against revolution in America. He made him head of the
Public Works Administration, with the biggest appro-
pfiation ever voted until then in the history of the
country.
Ickes used the depression-born agency to battle the
diseases of depression. He fought for slum clearance and
low-cost housing. He struggled to outlaw Jim Crowism
in any of his projects. He helped lick starvation through
a subsistence-homestead program that became the basis
of the present Farm Security Administration. In his
twin role as Secretary of the Interior and Public Works
Administrator, he called a federal halt to the looting of
the West that had been going on almost undisturbed
since the nineteenth century. The huge dams, the rec-
lamation projects which created sorely needed power
and cheap energy, the Big Inch pipeline which brought
oil to the East during the war when our tankers were
363
=
SR TO
ie GPa et eS I He
(OES EEO UE ane
being sunk, were first initialed on his desk. He turtied a eh
department that had one of the least savory reputations
in history (Teapot Dome had come out of it) into a
department whose honesty became a watchword in gov-
ernment. |
It took a Roosevelt to recognize an Ickes, Roosevelt
soon realized that with Ickes’s guts, his driving energy,
his full-steam-ahead approach, he was the best adminis-
trator in Washington. Roosevelt kept dropping bigger
and tougher jobs in his lap, At one time in World War
II he held sixteen jobs, each of them enough to keep an
ordinary man busy twenty-four hours a day. He was the
boss of all the nation’s coal mines, Fishery Coordinator
for War, Petroleum Administrator for War, Coordinator
of Solid Fuels, as well as, of course, Secretary of the
Interior, He was boss of all the lubricating oil that kept
our planes flying over Germany and Japan and our ships
patrolling the seven seas,
How did he do it? “By having a damned good organi-
vation,” he told an interviewer. He knew how to dele-
gate authority, and once he did, he backed his employees
to the hilt. In turn, most of them gave him blind
devotion.
IS tests of character were simple ones—honesty,
loyalty, political incorruptibility. And he was incor-
ruptible. His enemies sought a chink in that armor of
| incorruptibility and never found it. In three different elec-
tion campaigns, the Republicans went over his depart-
ment in what must surely have been the most thorough
attempt at political muckraking in history. Each time
he came out unscathed. His very resignation after
thirteen years was over the question of bribery and cor-
ruption. Edwin Pauley, a wealthy oilman from Cali-
fornia, had offered him a huge sum for the coffers of
the Democratic Party if Ickes would let some of the
untold riches of the California offshore oil fields go out
of the federal jurisdiction to the states and private hands.
When Pauley was nominated as Secretary of the Navy
(with potential control of those very oil fields), Ickes
revealed the offer as “the rawest proposition ever made
to me.” He resigned with fireworks, refusing to “com-
mit perjury for the party.” It was his last great fight and
again he won, Pauley’s nomination was withdrawn.
Harold Ickes’s humor and poison-arrow wit, as well
as his joy in battle, made his press conferences second
only to Roosevelt's, He was a wonderful wordsmith, and
__ the reporters were forever scurrying to their dictionaries.
_ At one press conference, he called Martin Dies a “‘zany.”’
Some of the boys rushed to their Webster’s to see if he
had made the word up.
Ickesisms have already become part of American folk-
lore. He attacked Wendell Willkie as “the simple,
barefoot Wall Street lawyer’ and Tom Dewey as
“Thomas Elusive Dewey, the candidate in sneakers’ who
364
called Mastin Diss “Loaded Dies,” anid ln a cy
flamboyant battles he told Huey Long what his hat
friend wouldn't tell him, that he had “‘halitosis of t
intellect,” and he diagnosed Hugh Johnson's ailments a:
“mental saddle sores.’
He educated nearly everyone around him, expeciall
in grammar, It was no mean task for a Cabinet member to
give English lessons to 50,000 people. But he managed.
He was not merely a perfectionist; he was a classi-
cist of the old school, He insisted upon having the con-
junction that put in, wherever possible, in any letter or
draft written for him, Many of us who had written for
newspapers had been trained to leave out the thats as
much as possible. Now we put fhats in by the dozen.
But it was rarely enough. Back would come the page
with that scrawled all over with a thick, stub pen. The
staff finally got even. At a birthday party for “The Boss,”
he was presented with about a thousand huge card-
i each bearing the word THAT, with instructions
o “sprinkle as desired.” i
"EE hated waste—big or small. He would fight just as
hard to save a penny’s worth of electricity in an office in
the Interior Department as to save billions of dollars of.
oil which belonged to the people. His own day never
ended. He came to work at 7:30 a, m, and, for a long
time, stayed until midnight. At the beginning, he would
frequently call up his bureau chiefs at 7:45 to see if they
were at their desks. He stopped the practice later on,
but in the early years he would walk around the building
to make sure everyone was working. ;
He made everyone who worked for him feel impor-
tant. He would constantly call even minor officials into his —
office for advice. He was as ready to fight for the rights
of an elevator girl as for the rights of victims of Hit-
Jerism abroad. One of his subordinates scolded a Negro
elevator operator sharply one day, with stern threats of .
firing her because she failed to recognize him and took
him one floor above his own. Ickes learned of the inci-
dent, called the terrified girl into his office, apologized
for his staff, and promised that she would not be fired.
She was later promoted, and today is a clerk in the
Interior Department.
Washington was a “border town’’ when Ickes arrived.
It still is a “border town,” though much less so now than
in 1933, and Ickes played no small role in that prog--
ress. Today the National Theater is reopening, and
Negroes may sit in any seats they can afford. Negroes:
work in government bureaus—not only as cleaning girls,
janitors, chauffeurs, and handymen, but as secretaries,
clerks, research workers—in fact in any jobs for which
they qualify. At his recommendation, President Roose-
velt appointed a Negro, Judge William H. Hastie, Gov- —
ernor of the Virgin Islands. (Judge Hastie is now on the
The Nation
ue! ee
Gnd in Washington, He not only appointed
Negro advisers to his staff, but permitted Negroes to eat
n the Interior Department's dining room—something
that rocked Washington. He then forced the Willard
a el to admit Negroes to the birthday party for his
teat friend Jane Addams,
BP iekces personally declared war on Hitler's Germany
long before the rest of the Administration. It was a lit-
tle embarrassing for Washington to have one Cabinet
member at war, but it never bothered Ickes. He swung
out at Adolf every chance he got. He called him “the big-
gest liar in history.” He said that Germany's treat-
ment of Jews carried it back to “a period of history
hen man was unlettered, benighted, and bestial.’”” The
Fuhrer demanded a national apology. But President
Roosevelt, personally approving his Secretary of the In-
terior’s private and slightly premature war, directed
Sumner Welles to announce to the world, in his iciest
diplomatic manner, that there would be no apology to
‘Mr. Hitler from the United States.
Of all the minorities, Ickes fought longest and hardest
for the American Indians. They were his special care.
¢ had been trying to protect them as a lawyer in
Chicago for many years, and one of his first acts of
| Office was to appoint John Collier Commissioner of
| Indian Affairs. With a humility that most of his critics
| would never dream lay behind the crusty, belligerent
| exterior, he once told me, “Long after I’m gone and
forgotten, the world will remember John Collier.”
| _ The most dramatic fight he ever led for civil rights
_ was that for Marian Anderson in 1939. Miss Anderson,
less well-known then, had been billed to sing for the
_ Daughters of the American Revolution in Constitution
‘Hall. The D.A.R. suddenly canceled her contract. Ickes
immediately announced that he would grant her permis-
Sion to sing on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, which
|” Was under his contro! as a National Monument. The con-
| tert would take place on Easter Sunday. Everyone—and
| he meant everyone—was invited,
|| | The Washington metropolitan police went to the Sec-
retary and offered him the entire police force. Obviously,
\) they said, there would be race riots. There had never
been such a huge mixed crowd as they now expected.
| The Secretary declined the offer. Then the army came
"7 around. “There’s going to be bloodshed,” they pre-
dicted. “We'll give you a whole regiment.” He de-
dlined that too. He told them there would be no trouble
df only the army and police would stay home.
_ But he began to get a little ‘nervous. He called in the
Superintendent of the National Capital Parks, Marshall
/Finnan.
“We want about eighteen of your park patrolmen to
keep order. You're responsible—do you understand?”
"April 19, 1952
| - Se
of the crt Jia eae ede ps
é.Firine-
Drawing by Ernest Fien@
Harold L. Ickes
“Yes, sir,” Mr. Finnan said. Most of his park patrols
were grandfathers, a good deal of whose policing con-
sisted of finding lost children or pointing the way to the
ladies’ room.
“We've got elevator operators, too,” Ickes said,
“Yes, sir.”
“They have uniforms.”
wes, sir.”
“All right, use them too.”
It was a beautiful Easter afternoon. Seventy- oak
thousand people had come from the North and the
South to hear a Negro girl sing in the shadow of the
man who had freed her people. The audience, in their
best Easter finery, was about equally divided betweem
Negroes and whites, They were so proud to be there that
if anyone had so much as jostled anyone else, the crowd
would have taken care of him. It was one of the greatest
self-policing jobs in history.
The leaders of the nation were there—Eleanor Roose
velt, who had resigned from the D. A. R. in protest, Cab-
inet members, Senators, Congressmen, Supreme Court
Justices. Hugo Black had been nominated for the Su-
preme Court and was being fought on the grounds of
having been a member of the Ku Klux Klan, The
newsreel cameras shot a full sequence of Mr. and Mrs.
Black walking across the platform.
Marian Anderson sang, perhaps as she had never sung:
in her life. There were tears in the audience. But evety-
one stood with his head high. It was a day for pride.
Ickes had won another victory for civil liberty. “Under
this open sky,” he said “all men are free and equal.”
365,
ee
B
———
Fast Purcell
Me
Now
Geneva, Switzerland
New industrial revolution, little understood in the
West,-has swept Eastern Europe in the brief period
since the close of the war. It is in the light of certain
features of this revolution that the whole question of
East-West trade, and the significance of the international
trade conference which closed last week in Moscow, can
best be studied.
The first post-war goal of the smaller countries of East-
ern Europe was immediate industrial and agricultural
recovery. Trade with the West was still important at that
time and there was even some competition among East-
ern countries in the world market—as between Poland
and Czechoslovakia in coal. With the exception of
Czechoslovakia, of course, all the Eastern countries were
producers of raw materials, Nevertheless, even before
the Council of Mutual Economic Assistance was created
in Moscow in January, 1949, Czechoslovakia and Pol and
had begun to integrate certain features of their produc-
tion and foreign-trade policies.
A new phase of cooperation, however, began with the
signing of the Moscow mutual-economic-aid agreement,
by which the long-term plans of the Eastern countries
were integrated. Since 1950, original long-term pro-
grams have been revised extensively to place greater
emphasis on heavy industry; the specific objectives are to
increase supplies of steel and investment goods, to avoid
duplication of effort, and to provide for greater regional
specialization based on the national resources of each
country. Entirely new industrial centers were planned,
such as the giant Nowa-Huta steel works in Poland. One
of the biggest projects is the Oder-Danube canal joining
the Baltic with the Black Sea, which will give Hungary
and Czechoslovakia access to the sea and make possible
closer integration of the supply of equipment and raw
materials within the region as well as an increase in for-
_ eign trade, According to the plans, it will be the respon-
sibility of the Soviet Union to provide the needed raw
- materials and some of the necessary capital equipment.
_ The complementary character of the integrated plans
is illustrated by Czechoslovakia, which will continue to
produce a wide range of industrial machinery and also
specialize in light engineering, precision instruments,
and automobiles, while depending to a certain extent on
its neighbors for food. Czechoslovakia’s engineering ex-
ERIC JOSEPHSON is a former instructor at Dickinson
College who is doing graduate work at the University of
Lausanne, Switzerland.
366
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BY ERIC JOSEPHSON |
ports are stated to be entirely intended for the Soviet
Union, other Eastern countries, and China; in all, more
than half of its planned production of heavy engineering,
machine tools, and road vehicles in 1953 is slated for |
export,
Poland, which will concentrate on heavy engineering,
offers another interesting example of specialization. —
within the area: Polish targets for the production of rail-
road cars have been raised and those for East Germany
reduced, In fact, according to a survey by the Economic
Commission for Europe, it appears that Poland manufac-
tured almost as many railroad cars in 1951 as did Britain.
Furthermore, Hungary will specialize in textiles and '
food processing, Rumania in petroleum and its by- .
products, and Bulgaria in agricultural machinery.
HE industrialization of this formerly agricultural -
‘Ee. has been described as a major event in Euro-
pean history, and its appeal to the young people and
intellectuals of Eastern Europe must not be underesti-
mated. The industrial potential of this area is already far |
greater than is generally supposed in the West. Its ninety
million people produce as much industrial goods per
capita as the U. S. S. R. Their output of coal amounts
to one-half, of steel one-third, and of oil more than one-
fifth that of the Russians. The rate of industrial growth
in the region is now faster than Russia’s: in 1951, the
ECE estimates, the area produced 9,300,000 tons of
steel; its goal for 1954-55 is more than sixteen million
tons.
The production of consumer goods, of course, reflects —
the high priority given to heavy industry; Czechoslovakia,
whose consumer-goods industries were the most impor-—
tant in the East, has further shifted emphasis away from
this sector. So far, the rate of increase in capital-goods
production throughout Eastern Europe has been much
higher than that of consumer-goods output, which has’
barely managed to surpass the pre-war level. Neverthe-
less, the ECE reports that the total volume of consump-
tion in Eastern countries increased up to 5 per cent in
1951 compared with smaller increases or, in many
cases, actual decline in the West. The modest climb in
living standards in Eastern countries, however. The
ECE ascribes the fall chiefly to the fact that the pace of
industrialization increased the number of workers faster
than it did the supply of consumer goods. |
Compared with pre-war levels, total industrial ptoduc-
tion has risen faster in the East than in the West;
The NATION,
oe
re-war the difference between isl and in-
al growth is much larger here than in the West. It
s clearly recognized in the East that this lag creates a
ns najor obstacle to further economic development.
Progress made toward industrialization and closer eco-
omic integration within Eastern Europe is reflected in
hanging trade policies. There has been a large increase
n trade between the Soviet Union and other East Euro-
ean countries; at the same time, general intra-regional
de has made gains all the more striking since the tradi-
onal pattern of production was not complementary to
ny large exent. The key to further trade increases is the
jutual adaptation of production plans; during 1951
everal long-term trade agreements were concluded,
OV . generally the period of national production
lans. Among the more important changes in the ‘‘struc-
ure of imports” has been a decrease in consumer goods
proportion to capital goods and raw materials.
Even critics of the Eastern regimes have admitted that
ne industrialization and coordination of resources in the
egion have been forward steps making possible a far
etter utilization of manpower and resources, In so far as
he region is becoming a single large producing and con-
ming afea, economic interdependence has tended to
weaken national differences. Here the interest of the
ussians in helping to build the industrial power of the
Bast coincided with the economic needs of the smaller
ountries themselves, Of course, it is readily admitted in
he East that one of the major objectives of the mutual-
id pact between the U. S. S. R. and the People’s De-
acies was to make the area independent of Western
arkets. ,
'N THESE circumstances, what is the future of East-
West trade in Europe? It is clear that the East would
li like to import capital goods, but since this is no
ger possible and the region is not particularly inter-
ted in the West’s offers of consumer goods, it has made
fenuous efforts to achieve self-sufficiency. If this is the
p, it may be asked, why all the talk about reviving trade
ty veen East and West? Why the recent trade conference
Moscow? While Britain reduces its exports to the
iet Union by more than a third in order to deny the
ssians “strategic materials” (and therewith expects
Dsonicts to quit the British market to “launch a trade
ault on backward tropical countries”), the U.S. S. R.
s that Britain can solve its economic difficulties by
sun Sung heavy trade with the Soviet Union and other
tern European countries. Although the Moscow con-
ference has been interpreted variously as propaganda
esigned to weaken and divide the West and as the open-
rl 19, 1952
OR, NOM Pattie” ep eee
me pean countries have as much to gain as has the East Setar
a revival of East-West trade.
The interest of the Eastern countries—which was ad-
mitted frankly by one of. their delegates at the last ECE
session—is to make Europe as a whole less dependent on
the United States. However, it must be realized that
when and if East-West trade in Europe is revived, the
position of the Eastern countries, and particularly of the
People’s Democracies, will be far different from what it
was before the war when the region had no more to
offer than raw materials. On the other hand, certain
Western countries face the unpleasant alternative of be-
coming more dependent on America—which in turn
must make up for the West European loss of trade and
raw materials—or competing with the rising industrial
power of Germany and Japan. Despite the curious logic
of certain Congressmen who would like to end both our
subsidies to Europe and all East-West trade, the West’s
basic interest in reviving this trade remains. It is not the
East, but the West, that must export to live.
But what does the East itself have to offer? In con-
sidering the sincerity of its appeals for increasing East-
West trade, it should be remembered that the Eastern
European countries outside the Soviet Union, although
themselves constituting a grain-deficit area (since grain
production is hardly above pre-war levels), have repeat-
edly expressed, along with the U. S. S. R., their willing-
ness to expand grain exports, depending on the nature
and quantity of counter-deliveries offered by the West.
Nevertheless, the ECE is skeptical about the possibility
of increasing this trade:
When exports in any case account for only a small
proportion of total production—as is true of nearly all
the major export products of Eastern European countries
—the concept of export availability becomes rather
vague, and within a given volume of production the
supply of exports may be extremely elastic. It ‘can be
safely assumed, therefore, that the increase in exports
from Eastern Europe which has actually taken place since
the immediate post-war years was smaller than it could
have been in a different political atmosphere.
The U. S. S. R., of course, as the second industrial
power in the world and a major producer of basic com-
modities, is in a far stronger position to engage in ex»
panded East-West trade than the People’s Democracies,
but as the smaller Eastern countries industrialize further,
they may be in a better position to increase their trade
with the West, and the entire area may be able ultimately
to compete with the West in world markets outside ©
Europe. The ECE concludes:
Available information on the development of produc-
tion in Eastern Europe tends to suggest that the next few
years will bring about some further increase in export
367,
1 trade | war’ ae aeditak the United States and
hen *
are
=
oa
9
aS
rs
Ror:
ao ewn A MET Pee 7 oes a
possibilities, which is a necessary, albeit insuffic ient, cee
dition of expanded East-West trade in sdk
It has been pointed out in both East and West that any
trade between the planned economies of the Eastern
countries and the less planned economies of the West
presents certain problems not easily overcome. However,
stable exchange between East and West is still believed
Do Lie-Detectors Lie? q
BY JULES H. MASSERMAN and MARY GRIER JACQUES”
URING periods of social stress and tension every
body politic is apt to become sensitive to real or
supposed enemies in its midst and to cast about for
means of revealing and eliminating them. But even in
societies with a latent sense of justice the juridical
methods adopted may be somewhat unreliable—as wit-
ness the trials by combat in the “heroic” ages, or the
prescribed techniques of torture employed by the judges
of the Inquisition to detect witches and heretics for pub-
lic execution. More in accord with our modern era of
technology and psychosomatics, we now have the “lie-
detector,” a device which is being used with increasing
frequency by police laboratories on suspected criminals
and their accomplices, and by some government agencies
on suspected Communists and “fellow-travelers.”” How-
ever, our talent for gadgetry has not left our sense of
equity so far behind that we cannot still ask: What is
this mysterious lie-detector? Does it serve any useful
function? How trustworthy are its findings? What is their
legal status?
What is the lie-detector? This first of our queries is
easy to answer: it is a relatively simple device for making
a graphic record of a person’s breathing and blood pres-
sure while he is being questioned. Formerly, the rate of
sweating of his palms (the so-called “‘psychogalvanic re-
flex”) was also determined, but this proved to be so
unpredictable that it was abandoned. The usual pro-
cedure is to seat the subject “comfortably,” put a rubber
tube around his chest and an inflated cuff on his arm, con-
_ mect each to a pneumatic diaphragm which operates a
_ pen, and start these writing on a moving sheet of paper.
When, after about ten minutes of preliminary observa-
tion, the respiratory and blood-pressure tracings seem
to have reached a relatively stable level, the subject is
DR. MASSERMAN is Associate Professor of Nervous and
Mental Diseases and Scientific Director of the National Foun-
dation for Psychiatric Research at Northwestern University
Medical School, Chicago. DR. JACQUES is Clinical Psy-
chologtst, Hines Hospital, Chicago.
368
_ turn state’s evidence before being involved by an ac-
ad e emain, ie abe toads believe themsel\
capitile of taking up the slack and will do so, if. neces
sary, through mutual agreements and a continued em:
phasis on economic self-sufficiency. It may soon be. i
possible for the West to turn the clock back,
/
'
i
i
asked a series of supposedly innocuous “control” ques- |
tions interspersed with various “crucial” ones, such as,
“Is your name John Doe?” “Are you forty-eight years,
old?” “Did you kill Cock Robin?” “Do you live in’
Washington?” “Is your wife named Emmy?” “Is today
Thursday?” “Did you ever read the Daily Worker?”
and so on. The subject is required to confine his replies:
to “yes” or “no,” since any extension of his remark$
would interfere mechanically with the record. Finally,
after a period of ostensible “rest,” the procedure may be
repeated to follow up any leads that have been revealed,
The entire method is founded on a principle with
some basis in fact: namely, that when people with a fairly
well-developed conscience violate it by deliberate pre-
varication, they experience an inner anxiety which may be
expressed physiologically not only by transient blushing,
muscular tensions, and other signs, but also by alterations
in respiration and blood pressure that can be limned in
neat squiggles for exhibition to a jury. But can these
changes, no matter how accurately detected and recorded,
be interpreted categorically as valid evidence for the
truth or falsity of any statement? In other words: Does
the lie-detector serve any useful purpose?
As is usual in scientific discourse, the answer to our
second rhetorical query must be: yes, and no, and usually
both—depending on what is meant by “useful purpose.”
To begin with, the general public and not a few
criminals have built up so many fears of the oracular
powers of the device that true confessions are sometimes
obtained by the mere threat of its use, or by the desire to
complice about to be examined. F. E. Inbau, in his
“Lie Detection and Criminal Investigation,” also justi-
fies its use in this connection on the basis that “the
availability of the lie-detector technique will reduce the
extent of ‘third degree’ practices, especially upon inno-
cent suspects.” Again, there is no question that a
thoroughly trained and experienced observer—of which,
incidentally, there are relatively few—can use this
method to obtain valuable clues which can then be fol-
The NATION.
ere serious “difficulties arise. On aa grounds
iE scaly exhaustion or systemic diseases of the lungs,
near , of circulation can put gross distortions into the
tecord. In all cases, then, it devolves upon the examiner
fo prove that such disorders did not exist at the time of
he test—a task made doubly difficult by the circum-
stance that some healthy and guiltless people are subject
9 unpredictable irregularities in respiratory and cardiac
unction. Again, various grades of mental deficiency may
ender the subject incapable of understanding the mean-
ng of the questions, whereas schizoid or other psychotic
endencies may lead to gross misinterpretations of, or in-
lifference to, the import of examination. But of even
preater concern is the more common psychologic fact that
oth “positive” and “negative” responses on the poly-
graph may be either invalid or seriously misleading.
thus, one falsely accused subject may become so anxious
over the implied threat to his reputation and career that
€ may over-react to the ‘‘crucial questions’; another
may show the repressed hatreds of a martyr being per-
secuted; a third may fear the detection of some other
quite unrelated culpability—yet in each case the cardio-
respiratory deviations may be spuriously “positive.” Con-
versely, a guilty person may have rationalized his
tions so effectively that he suffers few pricks of con-
Science during his examination and therefore remains
| subjectively and physiologically placid. Or if he lacks
t pis inner serenity, he may have learned how to “beat the
detector rap” in a number of ways. He can, for instance,
tense his muscles undetectably in such a manner that his
ings during “control” observations indicate greater
deviations from normal than those in response to the
ctucial” questions; or he can vitiate the results even
hore subtly—as an intelligent spy or saboteur can be
tained to do—by maintaining certain “mental sets” or
by concentrating on emotionally stimulating topics during
he entire examination.
"THESE are but a few of the reservations on the relia-
; bility of so-called “lie-detection” by the polygraphic
eehnique; there are many other medical and psycho-
nalytic qualifications to the method too technical for
scussion here. In their totality such difficulties led a
toup of Northwestern University investigators to con-
de that even under favorable circumstances at least
nme record out of four is either invalid or erroneous, and
lat with less careful control the proportion of seriously
usleading results may be much-higher. In view of this,
ur last question becomes particularly relevant to con-
derations of liberty and justice, namely: What is the
gal status of lie-detector evidence?
April 19, 1952
~
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Ea)
ot
we
< criminal cases, though, of course, duly attested confes-
RRS My Sel pie SIRS US STi
e not admissible as evidence in the trial of
sions obtained by the polygraphic or any other non-
violent method may be so admitted. The Bureau of
Legal Medicine and Legislation of the American Medical
Association recently reported such a decision in the fol-
lowing words: oe
We are of the opinion, said the court, that the fore-
going enumerated difficulties alone in connection with
the lie-detector present obstacles to its acceptability as
an instrument of evidence in the trial of criminal cases,
notwithstanding its recognized utility . . . for uncover-
ing clues and obtaining confessions. This conclusion is
in line with the weight of authority repudiating the
lie-detector as an instrument of evidence in the trial of
criminal cases. In addition, the authorities give other
cogent reasons for its inadaptability as an instrument of
evidence in the trial of cases, such as the impossibility
of cross-examining the machine (a constitutional im-
pedient) and those human elements of fallibility which
surround interpretations of the lie-detector recordings
predicated upon the hazards of unknown individual
emotional differences, which may and oftentimes do
result in erroneous conclusions. We can foresee condi-
tions where to ascertain the truth, it would become neces-
Sary to require the operator of the machine to submit
to a test to determine the truthfulness of his inter-
pretations.
And yet, despite such rulings, the “lie-detector” con-
tinues to be given credence as evidence for Congressional
committees, in interviews of applicants for government
positions, and in “loyalty” investigations in military or
civilian life, Since it is here in particular that the com-
petence of the investigators themselves plays so im-
portant a role, let us turn to an article in the Journal of
Criminal Law and Criminology by Professor Inbau for
an opinion on this subject:
Some branches of the armed services have used and
are perhaps still using as examiners certain: individuals
who are basically unqualified and improperly trained.
They have at times conducted tests—and on a large-
scale basis at that—upon persons whose loyalty was
under scrutiny, and in many instances the reports of
these examiners appear to have been accepted at face
value and upon the assumption that the technique pro-
duced results approximating perfection. For the future
welfare of this nation, let us hope that somewhere along
the line of persons responsible for the security of our
secret weapons or of any other project or interest of
national importance there develops a realization that the
dependability of lie-detector-test results is no greater
than the qualifications and ability of the examiner him-
self. Moreover, there should be an awareness that even
as regards a highly qualified examiner mistakes are still
&@ possibility.
369
Tee courts have ruled ae eee he
,
atm
EDNA ST. VINCENT MILLAY: A MEMOIR
NE is grateful to Vincent Sheean
for having written the memoir of
Edna Millay that he calls “The Indigo
Bunting” (Harper), because, since this
extraordinary woman's death, no ade-
quate tribute has been paid to either her
work or her personality, and Mr. Sheean,
though he saw her only a
few times in the later years
of her life, has been able
to bring to the subject his
almost novelistic gift for
dramatizing contemporary
personalities. What sets
Mr. Sheean off from the
ordinary writer of mem-
oirs, who depends on mere
big names or on gossip, is
his ardent sense of human
greatness. Nothing, for ex-
ample, could be more dif-
ferent from the way in
which celebrities are usual-_
ly described than the way
of Mr, Sheean in such a
book as “Between the
Thunder and the Sun.” In
his account of a house
patty on the Riviera, he
can give you the colors and
contours of Maxine Elliott
and Winston Churchill—
like a portrait painter in
the best old tradition—in
such a way as to make
‘them impressive, without relinquish-
ing a strong sense of character and
personal idiosyncrasy. It is the special
Irish faculty, no doubt—which one finds
in Yeats’s autobiography—for seeing
‘people in their most human, and some-
times in their comic aspects, and yet
making them walk the earth like the
creatures of heroic legend. In Edna
Millay, who had herself so much Irish,
Mr. Sheean finds an ideal subject, since
one needed no romantic temperament,
no predisposition to hero-worship, to
recognize in her an exceptional being.
370
ae
BY EDMUND WILSON
It is one of the themes of his portrait
that she exercised over wild birds what
seemed to him a special attraction. This,
he says, she pooh-poohed herself—she
was not a romantic or a mystical person
—explaining that they came to her win-
dow or circled about her head simply
because she fed them; but what he tells
us does show unmistakably that she
exercised an enchantment for Vincent
Sheean and induced him, for the first
time in his life, to become acutely aware
of birds, of which he seems hitherto to
have been subnormally ignorant. One
never forgot the things she noticed, for
she charged them with her own intense
feeling. This power of enhancing and
ennobling life was felt by all who knew
her. M
It was probably a mistake, however,
for Mr. Sheean to try to make a small
~ ™
el
« a
book out of his necessarily slender mem-
oirs. There is a whole chapter on birds”
in general, which seems little to the pur- ©
pose and reads like padding—though I ©
believe it is true, as he says and as the |
following pages will confirm, that Edna ©
Millay had some special affinity with
birds; and he runs later to | |
speculations along the lines "
of his recent interest in +
Hindu religion, in which —
he conveys the impression —
that she did not seem eager-
to follow him—not sur-
prisingly, in view of her
exclusive preoccupation
with the actual human
world. (God never, I
think, appears in her work
after such early poems as .
God’s World and Renas-
cence, except as a mytho- —
logical property, and her
vision of man and the uni-
verse is expressed in her
Epitaph for the Race of
Man.) But ‘The Indigo
Bunting” has a certain im-
portance, for Mr. Sheean
has recognized and been _
able to convey something
of Edna Millay’s qualities,
and he has given the lead.
for others who knew her
better and longer and to
whom her work has meant more
(Mr. Sheean says he read her poetry
only after he met her in the forties)
to supplement what he has written of.
his visits to the Boissevains at Austers
litz, New York, and on the island
in Maine where they spent their sum-
mers. I propose to take advantage of
this cue, with apologies to Mr. Sheean
for using “The Indigo Bunting” as a
pretext for a kind of counter-memoir.
I hope that others who knew Edna Mil-
lay will also write about her. There
ought to be a memorial volume. The |
a
_ The Nation.
> her- with the exception a
Jumphries, who registered a brief
atest in The Nation against the stupid-
ity or indifference with which the.news
FE ther death was received—has done
anything to commemorate this great
ter. It is the proof of Mr. Sheean’s
instinct for spotting and his talent for
celebrating what is really important in
his own time that he first should have
oken the silence.
I
" FIRST met Edna Millay sometime
PE early in 1920, but I had already
nown about her a long time. A cousin
f mine, also a poet, Carolyn Crosby
Wilson (now Carolyn Wilson Link),
had been in Edna’s class at Vassar, 1917,
ind when I had visited her at college in
we spring of 1916, she had given me
ie April number of the Vassar Miscel-
Jany Monthly, of which she was one of
he editors. I had read it coming back on
‘the train and had been rather impressed
y the leading feature, a dramatic dia-
logue in blank verse called The Suicide,
y Edna St. Vincent Millay; and later,
\i in “A Book of Vassar Verse,” published
j/in 1916, I found The Suicide and an-
‘|/other similar poem by Miss Millay called
\Interim. In 1917, when Miss Millay’s
|b book “‘Renascence” came out, I was in
‘France with the A. E. F., and my cousin
ts e me a copy of the book, which im-
|)pressed me mueh more than the Vassar
ems. In 1920, when I was back in
a. I read in the March issue of
le new literary magazine, the Dial, a
net called To Love Impuissant, which
1 immediatly got by heart and found
self declaiming in the shower:
YY
a
; ion
Love, though for this you riddle me with
. darts,
i nd drag me at your chariot till I die,—
‘0b; heavy prince! Ob, panderer of
hearts! —
ret hear me tell how in their throats they
‘lie
Vo shout you mighty: thick about my
hair,
Jay in, day out, your ominous arrows
‘purr,
Who still am free, unto no querulous care
i fool, and in no temple worshiper! -
"TI, that have bared me to your quiver’s fire,
ifted my face into its puny rain,
0 wreathe you Impotent to Evoke Desire
_ As you are Powerless to Elicit Pain!
Now will the god, for blasphemy so
_ brave,
rril 19, 1952
|
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i
Jos ‘cane? A , me, Sua with the
Bees eee ae ee Re
shaft J
‘crave! )
The fascination that this poem had
for me was due partly to its ringing de-
fiance—at that time we were all defiant
—hbut partly also to my liking to think
that one who appreciated the poet as
splendidly as I felt I did might be
worthy to deal her the longed-for dart.
This was a different, a bolder voice, than
the brooding girl of ‘““Renascence.” How
I hoped I might some day meet her!
This was finally brought about—
sometime in the spring of that year—by
Hardwicke Nevin (the nephew of Ethel-
bert Nevin, the composer), whom my
friend John Peale Bishop had known at
Princeton. He had further excited my
interest by his description of Edna’s
enchanting personality, and he had in-
vited John and me to an evening party
at his apartment in Greenwich Village
to which Edna came, late, from the
theater, where she was acting with the
Provincetown Players. I think it was just
before this that 1 had seen the double
bill there: a play of Floyd Dell’s, in
which she had acted, and her own
“Aria da Capo,” in which her sister
Norma played Columbine. I was thrilled
and troubled by this little play: it was
the first time I had felt Edna’s peculiar
power. There was a bitter treatment of
war, and we were all ironic about war;
but there was also a less common sense
of the incongruity and the cruelty of
life, of the precariousness of love
perched on a table above the corpses
that had been hastily shoved out of
sight, and renewing its eternal twitter
in the silence that succeeded the battle.
In any case, it was after the theater that
Edna came to Hardwicke Nevin’s. She
complained of being exhausted, but was
persuaded to recite some of her poems.
She was dressed in some bright batik,
and her face lit up with a flush that
seemed to burn also in the bronze re-
flections of her not yet bobbed reddish
hair. She was one of those women whose
features are not perfect and who in
their moments of dimness may not seem
even pretty, but who, excited by the
blood or the spirit, become almost super-
naturally beautiful. She was small, but
her figure was full, though she did not
appear plump. She had a lovely and very
long throat that gave her the look of a
muse, and her reading of her poetry was
thrilling. She pronounced every syllable
es ae
Paint she pave every sound its value.
She seemed sometimes rather British
than American—in her quick way of
talking to people as well as in her read-
ing of her poems, and I have never
understood how her accent was formed.
I suppose it was partly the product of
the English tradition in New England,
and no doubt—since she had acted from
childhood—of her having been taught
to read Shakespeare by a college or
school elocutionist. She had probably
also been influenced by the English
Mitchell Kennerleys—Kennerley had
been her first publisher—who had taken
her up when she was still a girl, and, in
a more important way, by the English
dramatist Charles Rann Kennedy, who,
with his wife Edith Wynn Matthison,
the actress, had also been interested in
her and had tried to persuade her to go
on the stage. In any case, the trueness of
her ear made it possible for her to write
verse which was really in the English
tradition. I believe that our failure in
the United States to produce much first-
rate lyric poetry is partly due to our
flattening and drawling of the vowels
and our slovenly slurring of the con-
sonants; and Edna spoke with perfect
purity. It may have been partly her
musical training, which came out also in
her handling of her voice.
Among poets whose phonograph re-
cordings I have heard, it seems to me
that Edna Millay and E, E. Cummings
and James Joyce give conspicuously the
best performances. Joyce, like Edna Mil-
lay, is a musician with a well-trained
voice; Cummings has, like Edna, the New
England precision in enunciating every
syllable. All three are masters of tempo
and tone. If you play the recording of
Renascence, you will hear how the r in
the first line gets just the right little
twist—so different from the harsh or the
slighted r’s of the American regional
accents; and how the vowels in Jong
and wood are correctly made, respec-
tively, short and long. If you play Elegy,
you will hear in the closing lines her
characteristic cadences that are almost
like song. I do not remember whether
she recited this poem the night that I
met her first. If she did not, I heard it
soon after. It was one of a series she
had written for a girl friend at Vassar
who had died, which I thought among
the finest of the things that she showed
me then. What was impressive and
371
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rather unsettling when she read ‘neh
poems aloud was her power of imposing
herself on others through a medium
that unburdened the emotions of soli-
tude. The company hushed and listened
as people do to music—her authority
was always complete; but her voice,
though dramatic, was lonely.
es ae ro
MY NEXT MOVE was to cultivate her
acquaintance by way of Vanity Fair, ia
the editorial department of which maga-
zine John Bishop and I were both work-
ing then. She had at that time no real
market for her poems; she sold a lyric
only now and then to the highbrow
Dial, on the one hand, or to the trashy
Ainslee’s, on the other. She was hard up
and lived with her mother and sisters at
the very end of West Nineteenth Street.
When I would go to get her there or
take her home in a cab, the children that
were playing in the street would run up
and crowd around her. It was partly that
she gave them pennies and sometimes
taxi rides, just as she later put out food
for the birds, but it was also, I think,
___ the magnetism that Vincent Sheean felt.
~We published in Vanity Fair a good
deal of Edna's poetry and thus brought
her to the attention of a larger public.
This was the beginning of her immense
popularity. Frank Crowninshield, the
editor of Vanity Fair, a clever and ex-
tremely entertaining man, was in some
ways rather shallow as well as unre-
liable, but he did have—as it were, as a
heritage from his distinguished Boston
family—a true instinct about painting
and writing and a confidence in his own
taste. He deserves a good deal of credit
for featuring Edna Millay’s poetry and
for enabling her later to go abroad.
There was nobody else in the publishing
world who was both qualified to appre-
ciate her work and in a position to do
something to help her in a financial and
practical way.
As for John Bishop and me, the more
we saw of her poetry, the more our ad-
_ miration grew, and we both, before very
long, had fallen irretrievably in love
with her. This latter was so common an
_ experience, so almost inevitable a conse-
quence of knowing her in those days,
that it is possible, without being guilty
of personal irrelevancies, to introduce it
into a memoir of this kind. One cannot
really write about Edna Millay without
bringing into the foreground of the pic-
BT 2:
o
A¥
et
oo, ER eee
ture her intoxicating ¢
because this so much
mosphere in which she li
posed. The spell that she exercised on
many, of the most various professions
and temperaments, of all ages and both
sexes, was at that time exactly that
which Vincent Sheean imagines she cast
on the birds. I should say here that I do
not believe that my estimate of Edna
Millay’s work has ever been much af-
fected by my personal emotions about
her. I admired her poetry before I knew
her, and my most exalted feeling for her
did not, I think, ever prevent me from
recognizing or criticizing what was weak
or second-rate in her work. Today, thirty
years later, though I see her in a differ-
ent my opinion has hardly
changed. Let me register this unfashion-
able opinion here, and explain that Edna
Millay seems to me one of the few
poets writing in English in our time
who have attained to anything like the
stature of great literary figures in an age
in which prose has predominated, It is
hard to know how to compare her to
Eliot or Auden or Yeats—it would be
even harder to compare her to Ezra
Pound. There is always a certain incom-
mensurability between men and women
writers. But she does have it in common
with the first three of these that, in giv-
ing supreme expression to profoundly
felt personal experience, she was able
to identify herself with more general’
human experience and stand forth as a
spokesman for the human spirit, an-
nouncing its predicaments, its vicissi-
tudes, but, as a master of human expres-
sion, by the splendor of expression itself,
putting herself beyond common embar-
rassments, common oppressions and
panics. This is man, who surveys himself
and the world in which he moves, not
the beast that scurries and suffers; and
the name of the poet comes no longer to
indicate a mere individual with a birth-
place and a legal residence but to figure
as one of the pseudonyms assumed by
that spirit itself.
This spirit so made itself felt, in all
one’s relations with Edna, that it tow-
ered above the clever college girl, the
Greenwich Village gamine, and, later,
the neurotic invalid. There was some-
thing of awful drama about everything
one did with Edna, and yet something
that steadied one, too. Those who fell
in love with the woman did not, I think,
“context,”
ved and com- i
one anothe: oats,
were bod, cate in very
moralized or led to commit e
cause the other thing was always there,
and her genius, for those who could
value it, was not something that one
could be jealous of. Her poetry, you
soon found out, was her real ov
mastering passion. She gave it to all the
world, but she also gave it to you. As i a
The Poet and His Book—at that tim m
one of my favorites of her poems
with its homely but magical images, its 4
urgent and hurried movement—she ad-/
dressed herself not to her lover, by
whom, except momentarily, she had
never had the illusion that she lived or
died, but to everyone whose pulse could
throb quicker at catching the beat of het
poetry. This made it possible during the
first days we knew her for John and me
to see a good deal of her together on |
the basis of our common love of poetry. ’
Our parties were in the nature of a
sojourn in Pieria—to which, in one of
her sonnets, she complains that an uns
worthy lover is trying to keep her from
returning—where it was most delight-
ful to feel at home. I remember particu-
larly an April night in 1920, when we
called on Richard Bennett, the actor, who
had been brought by Hardwicke Nevin
to the Provincetown Players, in the cheer-
ful little house halfway downtown
where he lived with his attractive wife
and his so soon to be attractive daugh-
ters; I sat on the floor with Edna, which
seemed to me very Bohemian. On some
other occasion, we all undertook to
write portraits in verse of ourselves,
John’s, under the title Self-Portrait, ap-
peared in Vanity Fair, and we wanted to
publish Edna’s, but one of her sisters
intervened and persuaded her that this
would not be proper. There-was also a
trip on a Fifth Avenue bus—we were
going to the Claremont for dinner, I
think—in the course of which Edna re-
cited to us a sonnet she had just written:
“Here is a wound that never will heal, I
know.” For me, even rolling up Fifth
Avenue, this poem plucked the strings
of chagrin, for not only did it refer to
some other man, someone I did not},
know, but it suggested that Edna could).
not be consoled, that such grief was in|}
the nature of things.
I used to take her to plays, concerts,
and operas. We saw Bernard Shaw's
“er
esses, D
in New York, ae
1920. I had not liked it much
read it and had told her that it
as a dreary piece on the model of
™ lisalliance.” But the play absorbed
and excited her, as it gradually did me,
d I saw that I had been quite wrong:
eartbreak House” was, -on the con-
y, the first piece of Shaw’s in which
had fully realized the possibilities
f the country-house conversation with
he had been experimenting in
Getting Married” and ‘Misalliance.”
At the end of the second act Edna be-
Came very tense and was rather upset
ver the scene in which Ariadne—who
ad just said, “I get my whole life
nessed up with people falling in love
with me’’—plays cat-and-mouse with the
jealous Randell; and when the curtain
went down on it, she said: “I hate
|) women who do that, you know.” She
}| must have had, in the course of those
crowded years, a good many Randells on
er hands, but her method of dealing
h them was different from that of
Bernard Shaw's aggressive Ariadne. She
was capable of being mockingly or stern-
hy gap with an admirer who proved a
\f e, but she did not like to torture
ep people or to play them off against one
another. With the dignity of her genius
|) went, not, as is sometimes the case, a
| coldness or a hatefulness or a touchiness
| in intimate human relations, but an in-
|| vincible magnanimity, and the effects of
he: — feminine malice would be
eled by an impartiality which was
amr ably humorous or sympathetic. It is
aracteristic of her that, in her sonnet
i O 0 SS xicating a Symphony of Beethoven,
she should write of the effect of the
sic:
| The spiteful and the stingy and the rude
| Sleep like the scullions in the fairy-tale.
( Spitefulness and stinginess and rudeness
)) Were among the qualities she most dis-
liked and of which she was least willing
be guilty.
BETWEEN JOHN BISHOP and me
telations were, nevertheless, by this time,
inshield was complaining that it was
| difficult to have both his assistants in
‘love with one of his most brilliant con-
| tributors. There was a time when, from
the point of view of taking her out, I
April 19, 1952
him, and
ecoming a little strained. Frank Crown-,
pone: or less manana Edna,
ana John, who, between the office and
his perfectionist concentration on his
poetry—which he recited in the bath-
room in the morning and to which he
returned at night—had collapsed and
come down with the flu. I went to see
afterward told Edna—no
doubt with a touch of smugness—that I
thought he was suffering, also, from his
frustrated passion for her. The result of
this—which I saw with mixed feelings
—was that she paid him a visit at once
_and did her best to redress the balance.
I knew that he had some pretty good
poetry to read her, and this did not im-
prove the situation.
But her relations with us and with
her other admirers had, as I say, a dis-
arming impaprtiality. Though she reacted
to the traits of the men she knew—a
face or a voice or a manner—or to their
special qualifications—what they sang or
had read or collected—with the same
intensely perceptive interest that she
brought to anything else—a bird or a
shell or a weed—that had attracted her
burning attention; though she was quick
to feel weakness or strength, she did
not, nevertheless, give the impression
that personality much mattered for her
or that, aside from her mother and sis-
ters, her personal relations were impor-
tant except as subjects for poems; and
when she came to write about her lovers,
she gave them so little individuality that
it was usually, in any given case, impos-
sible to tell which man she was writing
about. What interests her is seldom the
people themselves but her own emotions
about them; and the sonnets that she
published in sequences differed basically
from Mrs. Browning’s in that they dealt
with a miscellany of men without—since
they are all about 4er—the reader’s feel-
ing the slightest discontinuity,
In all this she was not egotistic in any
boring or ridiculous or oppressive way,
because it was not the personal, but the
impersonal Edna Millay—that is, the
poet—that preoccupied her so incessant-
ly. But she was sometimes rather a strain,
because nothing could be casual for her;
I do not think I ever saw her relaxed,
even when she was tired or ill. I used to
suppose that this strain of being with
her must be due to my own anxieties,
but I later discovered that others who
had never been emotionally involved
with her were affected in the same way.
an
She could be very amusing in company,
but the wit of her conversation was a¢
sharp as the pathos of her poetry. She
was not at all a social person. She did
not gossip; did not like to talk current
events; did not like to talk personalities.
It was partly that she was really noble,
partly that she was rather neurotic, and
the two things, bound up together, made
it difficult for her to meet the world
easily. When Mr. Sheean met her, late
in her life, she at first, he tells us,
seemed tongue-tied; then puzzled him
extremely by thanking him, as if it had
happened yesterday, for his having, in
some official connection about which he
had completely forgotten, sent her some
flowers five years before; then analyzed,
with a closeness he could hardly follow,
a poem of Gerard Manley Hopkins,
the sense of which she insisted, with
bitterness and an “animation” that
brought out “her very extraordinary
beauty—not the beauty of every day but
apart,”’ had been spoiled by Hopkins”
editor, Robert Bridges’ having put in «
comma in the wrong place. But although
Edna sometimes fatigued one, she was
never, as even the most gifted sometimes
are, tyrannical, fatuous, or vain. She was
either like the most condensed literature
or music, the demands of which one
cannot meet protractedly, or like a serl-
ous nervous case—though this side of
her was more in evidence later-—whom
one finds that one cannot soothe,
WHAT WAS THE CAUSE of this
strain? From what was the pressure de-
rived that Edna Millay seemed always
to be under? At that time I was too
young and too much in love to be able
to understand her well, and I afterward
saw her only at intervals and in a much
less intimate way. But I had found,
when I had come into contact with the
formidable strength of character that lay
behind her attractiveness and brilliance,
something as different as possible from
the legend of her Greenwich Village
reputation, something austere and even
grim. She had been born in Rockland,
Maine, and had grown up in small
Maine towns. I heard her speak of her
father only once. He and her mother
had not lived together since the children
were quite small, and her mother, who
had studied to be a singer, supported
them by district nursing, without ceasing
—as I learn from Mr. Sheean—to train
373
Soak
ry —-
1
urs.
Ay ty 2
—~ “res e
Soles
nee
eae
ee ees
eA
mt
+
oo Sy
‘the local orchestra and write out their
scores. They were poor; the mother was
away all day, and the three girls were
thrown much on themselves. To Edna,
her sisters and her poetry and music
must have been almost the whole of life.
Such suitors as she had had in Maine
she did not seem to have taken very
seriously. By her precocious and remark-
able poem, Renascence, written when
she was hardly nineteen, she had at-
tracted, at a summer entertainment, the
attention of a visitor, Miss Caroline B.
Dow, the New York head of the
National Training School of the
Y. W. C. A., who raised the money to
send her to college. She did not gradu-
ate, therefore, till she was twenty-five,
when she at last emerged into the free-
dom of a world where her genius and
beauty were soon to make her famous,
to bring all sorts of people about her,
with a character and intellect that had
been developed in solitude and under
the discipline of hard conditions. Her
human emotional life had, it seemed to
me, in her girlhood been rather cramped,
but she had herself given her emotions
their satisfaction through the objects—
the poems—she was able to create, and
this life of the mind, this life of art, by
which she had triumphed in a little
Maine town that offered few other tri-
umphs, was to remain for her the great
reality that made everything else unim-
portant.
It is all in the astonishing Renascence,
which is a study of claustrophobia.
Hemmed in between the mountains and
the sea of Camden on Penobscot Bay, the
girl is beginning to suffocate; she looks
up, and the sky seems to offer escape, but.
when she puts up her hand, she screams,
for she finds it is so low that she can
touch it, and Infinity settles down on
her—she can hear the ticking of Eter-
_hity; she is beset by a new ordeal, for
she begins to feel all human guilt, expe-
rience all human suffering, and this, too,
becomes an oppression which is killing
her; she now sinks six feet into the
‘ground, and she feels the weight roll
from her breast; her tortured soul breaks
away, and the comforting rain begins to
fall; but she is dead now and she wants
to escape from the grave, which itself
has become a prison, for she imagines
how beautiful the world will be as soon
as the rain is over; she prays to God for
the rain to wash away the grave, and a
374
oth ra
pbs ty
abe < comes ‘and sets T
beauties of the world s .
for; she springs up, enn! the eens .
hugs the ground, feels that nothing can
ever hide her from God again; the
world, she now knows, is as wide as the
heart, the heavens as high as the soul,
but East and West will close in and
crush you if you do not keep them apart,
and the sky will cave in on you if your
soul is flat.
This poem gives the central theme-of
Edna Millay’s whole work: she is alone;
she is afraid that the world will crush
her; she must summon the strength to
assert herself, to draw herself up to her
full stature, to embrace the world with
love; and the storm—which stands evi-
dently for sexual love—comes to effect a
liberation. Her real sexual experience,
which came rather late, was to play in
her poetry the role of this storm, for it
gives her the world to embrace, yet it al-
ways leaves her alone again, alone and
afraid of death. Withdrawal is her natu-
ral condition: she was always, as Mr.
Sheean indicates—and this made itself
felt as a part of the strain—extremely
shy of meeting people; and she-was ter-
rified by New York, of which I do not
think she saw much, for she would not
cross a street alone. She feels that she is
“caught beneath great buildings,” and
she longs to be back in Maine—though
the Maine she is homesick for is never
in the least idealized, but, on the con-
trary, a meager country with threadbare
interiors, wizened apples, and weedy
mussels on rotting hulls. One of her
poems of this time that impressed me
most was the long Ode to Silence, in
which she celebrates an immer sanctuary
that is like the grave of Renascence—a
garden which lies “in a lull,” like it,
“between the mountains and the moun-
tainous sea.”
OF THE HOUSEHOLD in which Edna
grew up I had a glimpse, in the summer
of 1920, when I went at her invitation
—she had John Bishop and me on dif-
ferent week-ends—to visit her at Truro,
near the tip of Cape Cod. It was already
dark when I got there—there was in
those days a train that went all the way
to Provincetown, shuffling along so
slowly that it might have been plodding
through the sand—and though I was
met by a man with a cart, he did not,
for some curmudgeonly Cape Cod rea-
but «
from it, so ary ‘0
field and ieee my suitcase rough
scrub oak and sweetfern in the ho
breathless August night, At last I saw a
gleam—a small house—which I ap.
proached from the fields behind it, and
there I found the Millays: Edna, with
her mother and her two sisters, none of
whom I had met. 4
The little house had been lent them b ,
George Cram Cook (always known a
“Jig’), the organizer of the Province- ~
town Players, who with Susan Glaspell
lived across the road. It was bare, with
no decoration and only a few pieces of
furniture; a windmill that pumped)
water and no plumbing. Norma has told,
me since that when it rained the first!”
night they got there, before they knew.
they had neighbors who could see them,
they had all taken a shower under
the spout from the roof. They gave me
a dinner on a plain board table by the
light of an oil lamp. I had never seen
anything like this household, nor have I
ever seen anything like it since. Edna,
tried to reassure me by telling me that
I mustn't be overpowered by all those
girls, and one of the others added, “And.
what girls!” Norma, the second sister,
was a blonde, who looked a little like
Edna; Kathleen, the youngest, was dif-
ferent, a dark Irish type. Edna was now
very freckled. All were extremely ptetty. [i
But it was the mother who was most
extraordinary. She was a little old
woman with spectacles, who, although
she had evidently been through a good
deal, had managed to remain very brisk.
and bright. She sat up straight and
smoked cigarettes and quizzically fol-
lowed the conversation. She looked not
unlike a New England school teacher,
yet there was something almost raffish
about her. She had anticipated the bo-
hemianism of her daughters; and she
sometimes made remarks that were start-
ling from the lips of a little old lady.
But there was nothing sordid about her:
you felt even more than with Edna that
she had passed beyond good and evil,
beyond the power of hardship to worry
her, and that she had attained there a
certain gaiety. The daughters entertained
me with humorous songs—they sang
parts very well together—which they
had composed in their girlhood in Maine,
Edna had been turning into verse, ie
ially one from Estonia, with a
erry and poignant tune:
, pipe a tune, call the dancers out!
‘the happy bag-pipes, the laughing
shout!
Now the merry step we are treading!
Health to all, and joy bless this wedding!
T Tra, la, la! Tra, la, la! Youth is all
pleasure!
a the beating foot strike the time of the
measure!
Now the master’s son, riches spurning,
Weds the farmer maid of his yearning;
Now the girl the rose garland covers,
Leaves her father’s house for her lover’s.
Tra, la la! Lonely my heart, dream-
laden.
‘Would that I the bridegroom were, of so
sweet a maiden.
The word Jonely in the second stanza
3 given a dramatic emphasis by being
put in the place of the second Tra Ja la,
in such a way that the first syllable was
‘prolonged in two drooping notes.
Since there were only two rooms on
the first floor, with no partition be-
tween them, the only way for Edna and
_ me to get away by ourselves was to sit in
a swing on the porch; but the
_ mosquitoes were so tormenting—there
being then no mosquito control—that
we soon had to go in again. I did,
however, ask her formally to marry
“me, and she did not reject my pro-
zi pPosal but said that she would think
about it. I am not sure that she ac-
said, ‘That might be the solu-
’ but it haunts me that she con-
“veyed that idea. In any case, it was plain
ito me that proposals of marriage were
not a source of great excitement.
The next morning she sat on the floor
and recited a lot of new poems—she
rarely read her poetry, she knew it by
heart. The Millays were rather vague
about meals and only really concentrated
on dinner, but they never apologized for
anything. We played the Fifth Sym-
‘phony on a primitive old phonograph
that had been left with them by Allan
oss Macdougall. She was committing
whole thing to memory, as she liked
‘to Sido with music and poems; and raspy
and blurred though it sounded, the
power of its bold or mysterious motifs
came through to me—surcharged with
hi power—as it never had done before.
ril 19, 1952
mh :
BP Re MRE
ad nd Hu Ye good
d by and sat on e of the
porch. The conversation was light but
learned, and I was rather astonished
when Jig quoted a poem in Sanskrit: I
did not know at that time that he was a
liberated Greek professor. But the things
that remain with me most vividly—be-
cause she called my attention to them—
are the vision of Jig Cook’s daughter,
Nilla, a handsome and sturdy little girl
in a bright red bathing suit walking
along the beach, as we looked down
from the cliff above; and a gull’s egg we
found on the naked sand—gulls do not
build nests—which made Edna stop and
stare. It came back to me seven years
later when, going up to Cape Cod in the
early summer, I found myself alone in
Provincetown:
We never from the barren down,
Beneath the silver-lucid breast
Of drifting plume, gazed out to drown
Where daylight whitens to the west.
Here never in this place I knew
Such beauty by your side, such peace—
These skies that, brightening, imbue .
With dawn’s delight the day’s release.
Only, upon the barren beach,
Beside the gray egg of a gull,
With that fixed look and fervent speech,
You stopped and called it beautiful.
Lone as the voice that sped the word!—
Gray-green as eyes that ate its round!—
The desert dropping of a bird,
Bare-bedded in the sandy ground.
Tonight, where clouds like foam are
blown,
I ride alone the surf of light—
As—even by my side—alone
That stony beauty burned your sight.
For I was not “‘the solution,” nor was
anyone else she knew; and she had come
to a crisis in her life. “I'll be thirty in
a minute!” she said to me one day. She
moved from the apartment she had
shared with her family and where, she
complained, the sewing-machine had in-
terfered with her writing, and took
two rooms and a bath on West Twelfth
Street, where Kathleen eventually joined
her. But this made her more accessible
and exposed her to the importunities of
her suitors, who really besieged her door.
She did not want to marry any of them,
and, having tried two Greenwich Vil-
lage ménages, she no longer had any
illusions about extra-marital arrange-
ments that were supposed to leave the
parties free but, since somebody was
PA at ey ols
always jealous, sohually made ‘their rela
tions intolerable. And even with her
literary career, she had lately been run-
ning into difficulties of a most dis-
couraging kind. Her new book, “Second
April,” had been set up a long time
before—she showed me the proofs when —
I first knew her—but Mitchell Kenner-
ley, who was having financial troubles,
did not bring the book out and would
not even communicate with her, Besides
this, her benefactress, Miss Dow, to
whom she had dedicated ‘Second
April,” did not approve of her re-
cent work—just as James Joyce’s patron,
Miss Harriet Weaver, was scandalized
by “Ulysses” —and this worried her very
much, for she could not write differently
to please Miss Dow, and did not know
how to answer her letters. She had one
or two depressing illnesses. Her apart-
ment was poorly heated, and I brought
her an electric heater. I remember how
miserable she seemed—though she never
lost a certain liveliness—wrapped up in
an old flannel bathrobe and bundled in
shabby covers. Above the bed was a
modern painting, all fractured geomet-
rical planes that vaguely delineated a
female figure, which the Millay girls
called Directions for Using the
Empress.
IT WAS DECIDED she should go
. abroad. She had never been in Europe,
and she wanted to get away from the
Village, She had begun to do for Vanity
Fair the satirical dialogues and sketches
which were published under the pseudo-
nym “Nancy Boyd,” and this made it
possible for Crowninshield to pay her a
regular allowance, He did his best to
induce Edna to sign these pieces with
her own name—he offered her, in fact,
more money; but she never would
compromise about her work. No matter
how confused her life became, she was
always clear about this. If one compares
the contents of ‘Figs from Thistles,”
written in the same year as the poems
n “Second April,’ with the contents
of the other book, one can see that she
imposed on herself a pretty rigorous
critical standard. She would not mix
with her serious work any of the mere-
ly cute feminine pieces that had some-
thing in common with the songs that the
sisters made up for their own amuse-
ment, nor any of the easier lyrics that
reflected the tone of the women’s mag-
BTS):
=~
Ss
et
oe ae
$
azines. This serious work, never foal?
written, was tragic, almost imisti
(though the best of her lighter verse
had the same sort of implications). It
was natural that Hardy and Housman
should have been among her admirers.
From Housman she partly derived (Mr.
Sheean, in asserting that Edna Millay
owed nothing to any other poet since
Shakespeare, has neglected this im-
portant exception), and she was closer
to this masculine stoicism than to the
heartbreak of Sara Teasdale. It was this
_tough intellectual side combined with
her feminine attraction that made her
such a satisfactory companion, and that
persuaded so many men that they had
found their ideal mate. She was quite
free from the bluestocking’s showing-
off, but she did have a rather school-
marmish side—which rapped Mr.
Sheean’s knuckles when he put out a
cigarette in his coffee cup. In just this
way I have heard her complain of the
vandalisms of Greenwich Villagers who
made a point of scorning bourgeois sanc-
tions. And so she reprimanded me once
_ when I tried to fulfil my editorial func-
‘tion by urging her to sign her name to
her Nancy Boyd articles. Her attitude
was: ‘Don’t you know it’s impolite to
the teacher and reflects on the home you
come from to throw chalk around in
class?”
I tried to help her get on with these
sketches, at the time when she was not
yet well, by typing to her dictation, but
_- she was anything but a facile writer
and she insisted on putting in as comic
lines remarks I had just made in earnest.
We had at this time some wonderful
conversations, at which quite a lot of
bootleg gin was drunk, and even in that
dreadful form, this exhilarating bitter
liquor has always kept for me a certain
glamour that others have not acquired.
On one of these occasions she recited to
_ me the fragments of a long poem she
had started, called Epitaph for the
__ Race of Man. This was something quite
_ different from the sonnet sequence that
_ she published in 1934. It was written,
like Renascence, in iambic tetrameter;
- but it was equally evolutionary: there
were monkeys, though not yet, I think,
dinosaurs. It surprised me, for it was
purely philosophical, and it gave me a
new idea of her range. One evening we
set out to talk French in preparation for
her coming trip. I remarked that her
376
wo sats
a. eee
association—to which shea ns} wered with
“On en parle
promptness and point:
toujours, mais on ne le fait jamais.”
John Bishop and I, who had realized
that we were both quite out of the
running without, however, we thought,
having yet been superseded by a seri-
ous rival, had renewed our good rela-
tions and spent an evening with her to-
gether, just before she left, on our old
high and festive basis. But neither of us
saw her off. I think that we were both
afraid of the possible unknown others
we might have to confront on the pier.
THAT I MISSED HER may be seen
from the following poem, I had read
the ‘“Georgics’” of Virgil in the sum-
mer of 1922, and the phrase in /uminis
oras—which he uses in connection with
the sprouting plants that reach upwards
to “the shores of light""—though a con-
ventional Latin formula that had ap-
peared in the older poets, had echoed
in my head with the accent of pathos
that haunts even fertility in Virgil, and
eventually gave me a motif.
Shut out the Square!
Though not for grayness and the rainy
path.—
For that intolerable aching air
Of meetings long resolved to silences
And absences like death—
For the throat a moment lifted, the wide
brow shaken free,
Where there was neither leaf nor wind
A dryad by her tree—
Against the narrow door that closed the
narrow hall,
Blank then but for a night that now for
all
With blankness wounds the mind.
Gaze out with steady glare!
Present the tough unbroken glove!
For suddenly you heard to-night
Your voice that speaks and saw your
hands that write,
Yet never speak nor write the name they
love—
And knew the hours were waves that
wash away
Farther each day to sea the summer sound
Of children shrill and late, of summer
hours that run
Late, late, yet never sleep and never tire,
Before they meet the sun.
We spoke the sudden words, the words
already known—
We spoke, and spoke no more, for
tongues were fire.
Now, watehing from this shore at last,
alone
I seem to wait the turning of that tide
That ebbs for ever.
_of their lives.
SS eye out foe f tee 4
ae mabe heart to
Divines the far of souls who have
died, ‘
Buried in sullen shadows underground- 5
That reach for ever toward the shores of
light,
II
SAW her in Paris in the summer of
1921. She had made new friends
and, both there and in England, was
having, I think, a very good time. I had_
the impression that Europe frightened
her less than New York, but she must’
have continued to live with considerable
recklessness, for at the end of two years
abroad she was in very bad shape again.
Returned home at the beginning of
1923, she married, in July, Eugen Bois-
sevain, just before she went to the hos-
pital for a serious operation. She had
met him at Croton since she had come
back from Europe, and had first got
to know him in a round of charades. He
was a Dutchman with an Irish mother,
the son of the editor of the largest
Dutch newspaper and himself a coffee
importer, with offices in New York. He
had been married to Inez Milholland, a
Vassar girl who had practiced law and
become a famous public champion of
labor causes and women’s rights, who
had died in 1917. He was a gentleman
and had once been quite well-to-do. Max
Eastman, in his autobiographical “En-
joyment of Living,” describes him at the -
time of his first marriage as “handsome
and muscular and bold, boisterous in
conversation, noisy in laughter, yet re-
deemed by a strain of something
feminine that most men except the crea-
tive geniuses lack.” With no particular
talent or bent of his own, it was possible
for him only vicariously to express this
imaginative and sensitive side, and he
was led, as it were, to the special -voca-
tion of assisting the careers of gifted
women. He was twelve years older than
Edna, and, although, as Max Eastman
says, he had “the genius, the audacity,
and the uncompromising determination -
to enjoy the adventure of life,” he made
one feel that he had always behind him -
a stout background of Dutch burgher
stability. She had made a very sound
choice. He took her on a trip to the
Orient and then bought a large farm
at Austerlitz, New York, where they
settled in 1925 and lived for the rest
a
*
The NATION
| out her color.”
slope, of which she made the
P shades of color and their often
ightful names start into a relief that
seemed almost as vivid as the voices of
he Fifth Symphony when she had
ed it on the phonograph in Truro.
m a notebook of 1928—it must have
early in the year, since “The Buck
n the Snow” had not yet come out—
I i that she ‘summoned me to the
fanderbilt to talk about [her} bobolink
oem,” about which I seem to have been
only moderately enthusiastic. ‘You
mean you think it sounds like Mary
Carolyn Davies!” I find she replied to
My criticisms. “I said,’ my record con-
tinues, “that at the time she had writ-
ten ‘Second April’ she had been un-
det so many kinds of pressure that the
people who read her poems hardly
thought about them as literature at all:
there had been an element of panic
about them. She said, ‘Yes, and I still
want to knock ’em cold!’ For two cents
| she would tear up the bobolink proof
| and not let the Delineator have it... .
She looked quite beautiful, very high
pink flush, and brown dress that brought
I noted, also, Boissevain’s
_ “protective attitude” and his saying
|) that her recent work was “more objec-
e.”’ He was right, and the volume of
lyrics called “The Buck in the Snow”
—the first she had published since “The
J arp Weaver” of 1923—which came
out later that year, contained work of a
“much less desperate, a more contempla-
five kind, which included, along with
| ‘the bobolink, several of her finest
poems: Dawn, The Cameo, Sonnet to
‘Gath, On Hearing a Symphony of
oven,
_ This book contained also a piece that
‘I read with both pleasure and embar-
‘rassment, for I recognized it—she after-
wards confirmed this—as an account of
an evening we had spent together—it
t have been sometime that same
winter, when I had been living in a lit-
‘He room on West Thirteenth Street op-
posite a taxi garage and just around
the corner from Eighth Avenue. I had
tead her the Latin elegiacs that A. E.
Jousman had prefixed to his Manilius
D
Bee
1 19, 1952
James Joyce's “
ee as to which I thought her
rather old-fashioned for objecting that
the title cheapened them, as if he had
let them go as the work of some
“Nancy Boyd.” I do not remember
behaving as she describes (as people
seem so often to say). I think she must
have combined this occasion with some
memory from our earlier phase, but it
is painful to me to reread this poem to-
day and to feel again, in retrospect, how
much I must have hated to part from
her.
PORTRAIT
Over and over I have heard,
As now I hear it,
Your voice harsh and light as the
scratching of dry leaves over the hard
ground,
Your voice forever assailed and shaken
by the wind from the island
Of illustrious living and dead, that never
dies down,
And bending at moments under the
terrible weight of the perfect word,
Here io this room with fire, without
comfort of any kind,
Reading aloud to me immortal page after
page conceived in a mortal mind.
Beauty at such moments before me like
a wild bright bird
Has been in the room, and eyed me, and
let me come near it,
I could not ever nor can I to this day
Acquaint you with the triumph and the
sweet rest
These hours have brought to me and
always bring,—
Rapture, coloured like the wild bird’s neck
_ and wing, :
Comfort, softer than the feathers of its
breast.
Always, and even now, when I rise to go,
Your eyes blaze out from a face gone
wickedly pale;
I try to tell you what I would have you
know,—
What peace it was; you cty me down;
you scourge me with a salty flail;
You will not have it so.
She had said to me in the course
of that evening that the only bad fea-
ture of Austerlitz was its not being near
the sea, of which she had a permanent
need, that the hills and the woods
walled her in and sometimes made her
feel imprisoned (this was, as I now can
see, one of the phases of her recurrent
claustrophobia). I suppose it was to
remedy this that they later bought their
island in Maine. In the May of 1928, I
—the prospect fa seeing her again must,
as usual, have stimulated my perceptions ni
—to find myself on the train, in the -
widening landscape of upstate New
York, with its dark and thick-bristling —
hills, today blurred with mist at the tops —
and misted at the bases with fruit- i
blossoms; and, in intervals of reading
Proust’s letters to Mme Sheikévitch,
I looked out on the long roads leading
over these hills, the white houses and
little red-cabins and large-looming tar-
nished barns, the stone fences that lay
in loose meshes, the small faded rural
hotels that so often stood opposite the
stations—with the soddenly wet gray
day superimposed rather queerly on the
freshest greenness of spring. There were
desolate yellow freight cars trailing
along the route, and the timbery marshes
were studded with the rank green of
skunk-cabbage leaves. The ponds and the
stream had a dark smooth luster even
under the rain, but the foam of the
apple blossoms, like some dirty sheep —
in a pasture, seemed yellowed by the
turbid weather. A growth of squarish,
whitish houses in the bowl of one of the
valleys seemed almost a product of the
damp, like the skunk-cabbage in the
swamp. . *
At Austerlitz—hirsute hills—the over-
cast sultry weather seemed brooding like
a mother bird over the not yet quite
opening beauties of spring, the little
pink fruit-tree buds that were just on
the point of bursting. The birds them-
selves seemed subdued, and Edna, when ~
I reached the Boissevains’ place, said |
that she imagined the farm hands—
“ominously silent,” also—perched some-
where with their heads under their
wings. I had, on my side, been saving
for her a simile and remarked that on
one of the lawns I had passed the
dandelions had looked like grated egg
on spinach. We were neither of us quite
at our best perhaps, but we always made
a certain effort. Above. the Boissevains’
house—called Steepletop—a big densely
green tree-grown hill, with the flat effect
of a tapestry, was stitched with distinct
white birch.
Gene Boissevain, when I arrived, was — |
ipa
planting a border of pansies with a
gardener’s intent application; but his
attention seemed scon to flag, for hia ae
ar
of his voice. Then he addressed himself
- to oiling the lawnmower; then suddenly
dropped it and proposed a drink, There
was a comfortable living-room, in which,
as one first came into it, one was startled
at being confronted by a dark black
human head staring fixedly and almost
fiercely from eyes that had black irises
and glowing whites: a bronze bust of
Sappho, painted black, on an immense
marble pedestal, which an admirer had
sent Edna from Italy. There were also
hangings from India, golden birds on
a background of green, that she had
brought back from her first trip to
London. We did a good deal of leisurely
drinking, all in the gamut of apple
products, on which people who lived
in the country much depended under
Prohibition: apple brandies and apple
wines that ranged in color from citron
to amber. Edna was interesting herself
in the local animals and birds and trees,
which begin to turn up in “The Buck
in the Snow’; but we decided not to
go for a walk, as it had been earlier
proposed to do. They had a sensitive
_ German police dog, who, when Bois-
sevain had given her a scolding, would
drag herself into the room, bump-
ing against the chairs, as if her hind
legs were paralyzed. They thought she
was a case for Freud.
There was a piano in the living-room,
and the next morning I asked her to
play. I had not heard her since years
before, when she had taken off her rings
and left them on the piano in my apart-
ment in Sixteenth Street, and I had
found in my mailbox the next morning
a note dated “three p.m. (out to get
food)”—since she lived only a few
blocks away—asking me to bring them
back. She had now, she told me, taken
_ up music again and was trying to work
regularly at it. She was studying a
_ sonata of Beethoven and played parts of
_ it with her bright alive touch, dropping
_ them, however, with impatience at the
_ saggedness of her own performance.
- Then she got out a lot of new poems,
- over which we had a long session. It
he? brought her back to her old intensity.
She was desperately, feverishly anxious
‘not to let her standard down. She some-
times kept a poem for decades before
she got it into satisfactory form. I re-
member one ambitious piece called Pitts-
burgh Rose, on which she had been
378
=
wv ns seat
Js *
aa a
began singing cockney songs at fie garcia, wa Bee hat in t impressed me _
very much at the time but that she never
got to the point of publishing—also
Menses, which was not printed till
“Huntsman, What Quarry?” in 1937.
I tried to relieve the strain that was
inevitably set up between us by talking
about current ideas and books—to which
at that time she paid little attention—
and by telling her a gag of Joe Cook’s,
which I had also been saving for her,
because it was a little in her own vein.
Cook, in his latest show, had exhibited
to the audience two shower baths and
explained they were his own invention:
the remarkable thing about them was
that you could have a complete shower
without taking off your clothes and
without getting them wet. He introduced
to the audience two men in full evening
dress, wearing silk hats. They stepped
into the showers and pulled the curtains
—the sound of water was heard. Joe
Cook then jerked open the curtains, and
the gentlemen emerged drenched. Cook
turned to the audience and said, “I
have never been more embarrassed in
my life!” But even as I was telling this
and Edna was laughing at it, I was
chilled by the awful seriousness of the
implications it was taking on.
The next summer I was visiting near
Austerlitz and called on the Boissevains
one afternoon. While we were talking,
it began to grow dark, and the living-
room was half in shadow. There were a
number of people there, and the con-
versation was general. I had a curious
and touching impression, as Edna sat
quiet in a big chair, that—torn and dis-
tracted by winds that had swept her
through many seas—she had been towed
into harbor and moored, that she was
floating at anchor there.
IT WAS DIFFICULT for the roman-
tics of the twenties to slow down and
slough off their youth; when everything
had seemed to be possible and they had
been able to treat their genius as an un-
limited checking account. One could al-
ways still resort to liquor to keep up the
old excitement, it was a kind of way of
getting back there; the old habit of reck- ”
lessness was hard to drop, the scorn for
safe living and expediency, the need to
heighten. the sensations of life. Edna
had now been led back to something
like the rural isolation of her girlhood,
and in her retreat she had no children to
‘her pisthood. ‘leegh 1 did aa
‘much of her through all these yeas
got the impression that she was ter
nating between vigorously creative f
riods when she produced the firm-based
strong-molded work that represented her
full artistic maturity—‘‘Fatal Interview”.
and “Epitaph for the Race of Man”—
and dreadful lapses into depression and
helplessness that sometimes lasted for
months. I did not encourage her to talk «|
about these; but I remember her telling ©
me on one occasion, not very long after
her marriage, when she had apparently
spent weeks in bed, that she had done’ —
nothing but weep all the time; and on —
another she startled me by saying, in the —
midst of showing me her poetry: “I’m .*
not a pathetic character!” This must +
have been in 1928, at the time when she |
was still a romantic figure and a fabu-
lously popular poet, imitated, adored,
and envied all over the United States,
who was able to make big fees by read- ’
ing her poems in public. Through all
this Eugen Boissevain must have been
inexhaustibly patient, considerate, and
comprehending. He had given his whole
life to Edna. He dropped his business
and seriously worked the farm. He ac-
companied her on the triumphs of her
reading tours and saw her through the
ordeals of her hospitals. He arranged
for her a social Jife—it is’reflected, I
suppose, to some extent, in ‘“Conversa-
tion at Midnight’—of a kind that she
could never have made for herself,
which afforded her more “human’”’ con-
tacts than were possible in the exhaust-
ing relationships that were natural to
her passionate spirit. Yet she continued,
from time to time, to follow her old pat-
tern of escape by breaking away from
her domestic arrangements. The se-
quence of sonnets called ‘Fatal Inter-
view’’—certainly one of her most suc-
cessful works and one of the great
poems of our day—was evidently the
product of such an episode. It is, I think,
unique among her poems in represent- _
ing the lover as wanting to end the af--
fair before the poet is willing to let _
him go.
I DID NOT SEE her for nineteen years
after my call of 1929. It was not till
1944 that I seem even to have written
her again. I had been astonished and
worried by the poetry she had been pub-
The NATION a |
en when Holland was seized by
, and I remembered Henry James's
iption, in his life of William Wet-
or Story, of Mrs. Browning’s “‘fever-
eeencsion” with the Italian Risorgi-
mento. “It is impossible,” says pee
a to feel, as we read, that to ‘care,’
| the common phrase, as she is caring
to entertain one’s convictions as a
alady and a doom. . . . We wonder
hy so much disinterested passion . . .
nould not leave us in a less disturbed
sree the benefit of the moral beauty.
end by asking ourselves if it be
because her admirable mind, other-
¢ splendidly exhibited, has inclined
} to look in her for that saving and
ed sense of proportion, of the free
d blessed general, that great poets,
the genius and the high range of genius,
Bive us the impression of even in emo-
tion and passion, even in pleading a
ause and calling on the gods.” I con-
cluded that when women of genius got
tatried away by a cause, this was the
ind of thing that deplorably sometimes
happened. But I thought that, since she
“had come to that pass, she probably
‘needed artistic encouragement; the re-
“Viewers were giving her plenty of scold-
ee.
_ So I wrote her a letter in which I
« efrained from mentioning her war
p verse at all but congratulated her on the
album of her recordings, which, al-
though it had been made some time be-
fore, in 1941, I had only recently
bought. One of the poems she had re-
‘orded was The Harp-Weaver, for which
| Thad not much cared when it first ap-
peared. I had told her that it was one of
her poems that belonged in a woman's
magazine, and was surprised when she
_ defended it strongly, as she did not al-
“ways do with her work when it verged
_ 0n the sentimental. I had known that it
| was about her own mother, and the vol-
ume was dedicated to Cora Millay. Dur-
ing the years when Edna had been
living in Europe, she had arranged to
ing her mother over—which, with her
Own meager resources at that time, could
Mot have been easy to manage; and I
knew how devoted she was to the debo-
nair, hard-bitten old lady who had
worked for her and educated her. But I
April 19, 1952
ke
fe
lol
|
|
i
.
|
ve poem—or, at least, ‘into her reading of
it, for it is better to hear than to read:
the loneliness, the poverty, the unvalued
Irish heritage, the Spartan New England
self-discipline, the gift of artistic crea-
tion and intellectual distinction—her
mother had taught Edna to write verse
at four and to play the piano at seven—
that the mother had been able to trans-
mit, She had made of it something dra-
matic and almost unbearably moving,
a record of the closest relationship that
Edna, up to then, I suppose—that is, up
to her marriage—had ever known. I
wrote her something of this, and I told
her that John Bishop had died that
spring. I heard nothing from her for
two years; then, in the summer of 1946,
I received from her this strange letter:
Steepletop,
August, 1946.
. It is two years now since I received
your letter. You had bad news to tell me:
the death of John Bishop. Even now, that
seems unlikely* . . How you must have
missed him that summer, and how you
still must miss him, is something that I
would rather not go into in my mind. For
it would make me ache, only to think of
it . . and I don’t like aching, any more
than anybody else. .
You told me also, in that letter, that
you liked my recorded readings from my
poems. That pleased me enormously. I
had felt pretty sure, myself, that they
were good, but your verdict was like an
Imprimatur to me..
Your letter reached me at a time when
I was very ill indeed, in the Doctors
Hospital in New York. I was enjoying
there a very handsome—and, as I after-
wards was told, an all but life-size—nerv-
ous breakdown. For five years I had been
writing almost nothing but propaganda.
And I can tell you from my own experi-
ence, that there is nothing on this earth
which can so much get on the nerves of a
good poet, as the writing of bad poetry ..
Anyway, finally I cracked up under it. I
was in the hospital a long time . .
This does not explain, of course, why,
when [ got out and came home, after I
got well and strong again, still I did not
write you . . But here, happily for me,
and for you, I can save ourselves the
cumbersome explaining, by reminding you
of a letter of Gerard Hopkins . . In this
letter he makes apology—I forget to
whom; possibly to Robert Bridges, al-
though, somehow, I think not—for having
been so slow in answering. And he states
—not in these words at all, but this is the
meaning of it—: that the driving of him-
*The double dots are her own punctuation;
they do not indicate omissions.
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“self by himself to make th
a letter, is almost more than his strength
can support. When once he has forced
himself to begin the letter, he says, the
going is not so bad . . Well, I, too, suffer
from that disease. For it is a disease. It is
as real, and its outlines are quite as clear,
as in a case of claustrophobia, or agora-
phobia . . I have named it, just in order
to comfort myself, and to dignify this
pitiful horror with a name, epistolapho-
bia . . I say, “I, too, suffer from that
disease.” But I think I have it very much
worse than he had. For after all, he did
write many letters .. And I don’t . . It-is
sheer desperation and pure panic—lest,
through my continued silence, I lose your
friendship, which I prize—that whips me
to the typewriter now. I. don't know
where you are. But I think, and I think it
often, “Wherever he is, there he still is,
and perhaps some day I shall see him
again, and we shall talk about poetry, as
we used to do.”
I have just finished learning by heart
Matthew Arnold's Scholar Gypsy,—such
a lovely poem. I had wanted for years
to know it by heart, but it had always
looked a bit long to me. . It is not at all
difficult, however, to Jearn by heart
stanza by stanza; it is so reasonable. I
have also learned by heart The Eve of St.
Agnes and Lamia. Lamia, let me tell you,
is a very long poem. And Keats, in both
these poems, makes it as tricky as possible
for you, by shifting all the time from
“thou” to “you,” and by whisking you
suddenly from the past tense into the
present tense . . To get these passages
into your memory, and exact, is really
quite a chore. I have learned by heart, of
Shelley, not only To the West Wind—
and surely the second stanza of that poem
is as fine a thing as ever was written in
English—but also the Hymn to Intellec-
tual Beauty—a devil to learn by heart.
Anyway, I have them all now. And what
evil thing can ever again even brush me
with its wings?
With love, as ever,
Edna
. .. I am sending you, here—enclosed,
three new poems of my own. I hope, of
course I hope very much, that you will
like them, But don’t—oh, for God’s sake,
don’t for one moment—feel that you must
write me something about them, or, in-
deed, in any way acknowledge this letter
at all. I would not put so great a burden
upon the shoulders and upon the brain of
the person that in all the world I hated
the most . . I do not need your answer. I
am happy enough as it is. For I have at
last, after two years of recurring spiritual
torment, been able to flog myself into
writing a very simple letter to a dear and
trusted friend. E.
I forgot to tell you, even though I was
speaking of Father Hopkins, that I have
also learned by heart at Jeast one-third of
his published poetry. Have you ever tried
‘oO le yn hip
nee a a ea ee
very exciting, dificul ; -
- = = Sees
r
IN THE AUGUST of 1948 I wa
tending the Berkshire Music Fest
and, discovering that Austerlitz was na
far away, I called up the Boissevains and
went over with my wife to see them, 1
had not seen them for nineteen years
and when I had inquired about them of F
such friends as I happened to meet, they
had not seemed to know much abouty:
them either. As we drove through they
long tunnel of greenery that led to the
Steepletop house, I felt, as I had not
done before, that Edna had been buried >
out there. Gene Boissevain came out if
his working clothes. He shuffled in his
leather moccasins; he had aged: he was*®
graying and stooped. I had a feeling ¥)
that his morale was low. “I'll go and ¥
get my child,” he said. I did not realize
at first that this meant Edna. I found in
the living-room most of the things that 7
had been there in 1929: the scaring ©
Ethiopian Sappho, the golden birds on
the “Tree of Life.’ But the birds were
paler, their background was gray; the —
couches looked badly worn. The whole ”
place seemed shabby and dim. I had the
‘feeling that it was so long ago that they _
had set up keeping house together that —
they had ceased to notice the room, that
they never did anything to freshen it up.
One saw, standing outside ‘the window,
three rusty old tin oil barrels, on which
Edna could put food for birds without
having it stolen by the squirrels. In one
corner, a litter of copybooks covered
table, couch, chair, and floor.
In a few minutes Edna came in, wear-
ing slacks and a white working shirt,
open at the neck. It was a moment be- ©
fore I recognized her. She had so
changed in the nineteen years that if I
had met her unexpectedly somewhere I
am sure I should not have known her.
She had become somewhat heavy and
dumpy, and her cheeks were a little
florid. Her eyes had a bird-lidded look
that I recognized as typically Irish, and
I noticed for the first time a certain re-
semblance to her mother. She was ter- .
ribly nervous; her hands shook; there
was a look of fright in her bright green
eyes. Eugen brought us martinis. Very
quietly he watched her and managed
her. At moments he would baby her in a
way that I had not seen him use before
but that had evidently become habitual,
The NATION —
ie me at her as if I had been a
‘new toy with which he hoped to divert
_ Edna said that she had been writing in
the last two months and was very much
ted about it, because, for two years
before that, she had not been able to
work. She talked about her war-time
poetry as an error that she frankly con-
‘fessed to. She knew that she had de-
served the reviews she got, but had
Been hurt by them, nevertheless. She
‘Said that she had been dismayed when
‘this handful of political verses—under
'the title “Make Bright the Arrows’—
aad been issued in the same format as
#/ fer other books, as if she meant it to
f) stand beside them, for she had intended
@ paper-bound pamphlet that could cir-
B culate quickly and be read and thrown
way. I was confirmed in my supposition
‘th these poems had been inspired by
loyalty to Eugen when he talked about
f family in Holland. One of his cous-
“ins had been tortured and killed; others
had had hairbreadth escapes. Edna now
“constantly sent them packages. She al-
me spoke of ‘‘our relatives,” and one
could see that she was very much at-
| tached to them. She had visited them in
. ' Holland and had even learned the lan-
| Buage. My wife knows Holland and
}) understands Dutch, and, for her benefit,
| Edna ptoduced’and réad a poem she had
}/ written in Dutch. She showed us a good
| - deal of her poetry, much of it in an un-
ppensted state. It was of an almost un-
elieved blackness. I could see that she
just emerging from some terrible
pe fipse of the spirit.
r I had difficulty in adjusting myself to
Edna in her present phase. There was
_ Something more distressing than the old
|. Beaxicty that she had shown before in
discussing her verse: a pressure that she
“now put upon you for assurance, ap-
prtoval, praise, and even in those mo-
“ments when she sounded like a good-
red healthily laughing elderly
woman, this, too, was a person I did not
| know, and these moments, as it were
. iE nterpolated, seemed to leave her more
| fervous still. But the nervousness wore
hoff with the drinks, as did my feeling of
Strangeness about her. This was, after
, the girl, the great poet, I knew,
April 19, 1952
6
~ night of the underworld. She had baclled
Catullus’s bitter poem, Si gua recordantt
benefacta priora voluptas...; and I
could see that the last lines,
Ipse valere, opto et taetrum nunc deponere
morbum.
O di, reddite mi hoc pro pietate meal
had for her a special and desperate
meaning. She was afraid that the transla-
tion she had sketched would not do the
poem justice; and she told us that, when
she had sat on the judges’ committee
for the Guggenheim fellowships, she
had not been able to bring herself to
vote for Horace Gregory, in spite of his
list of distinguished supporters, on ac-
count of the badness of his translations
of Catullus. But she had had some mis-
givings since—wasn’t it better, perhaps,
that the Latinless public should be able
to get Catullus, even in an imperfect
version. Eugen pulled her up: ““Remem-
ber,” he said, “that was the kind of
thing you thought about your war poetry
—that it was important to rouse the
country.”’ I thought this was very shrewd
of him. We talked about John Bishop's
poetry, of which I had sent her the col-
lected volume, brought out after his
death. She said that his poems had
“more overtones” than those of any
other contemporary poet: “It’s like a
row of poplars on a river, with another
row reflected in the river.” I told her
how impossible it had been for me,
though John had talked about his illness,
to realize that the gloom of his poetry
had a real and serious cause or to guess
that it announced the approach of death.
“Yes: he was despairing,” she said.
I was reminded of the little Estonian
folk-song that I had loved so when she
sang it in Truro, and I asked her about
the anthology in which it had appeared.
She didn’t know where to find it, but,
after reflecting a moment, she was able
to recover the song, with its sweet little
plaintive tune and her own bitter-sweet
words. I inquired about the original ver-
sion of the ‘Epitaph for the Race of
Man”’—I had been surprised by its com-
ing out in such a different form from
that of the version I had heard in 1920;
and she told me that she had lost her
first draft, of which she could now recall
only scraps. Wanting Elena to hear her
read, I asked her to recite The Poet and
His Book. As she did so, the room be-
came so charged with emotion that I
/
si
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Mr. Appleby does not make
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scandals, but he does take cog-
nizance of them and thinks
they indicate a public aware-
ness of conditions which had
existed but which had been
hidden.
His conclusion regardin
moral lapse amon federa
employees is that “standards
of the national government re-
mained in 1951 higher than
... outside it.”
He also discusses such issues
as the menace of communism
in our government as opposed
to the perhaps greater menace
of the communist-labelers rep-
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such over-emphasis on com-
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Published April 21
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and though Elena thought w ae
have stayed, I soon insisted on leaving.
I told myself that Edna was even
more fatiguing than she had been in her
younger days, and I reasserted my mid-
dle-aged indifference. It was too much
for me, at fifty-three, to go back to that
old state of mind, so demandingly, im-
ptisoningly personal. The whole thing
was like one of those dreams that I had
never quite ceased to have, in which I
found myself with Edna again—though
in these dreams she had sometimes
seemed faded and shrunken, never ruddy
and overblown as I saw her now. The
gap of the almost two decades was
something that, encountering the real
woman, I could not accept or take in. I
had found them there, Edna and Eugen,
just as I had left them in 1929, and this
latest visit connected itself with my
glimpses of that summer long past, not
with anything that had happened be-
tween. It became like the fears and de-
sires, the revived emotions, of sleep;
and the changes in her were like the old
images of dreams that come to us exag-
gerated, distorted, swollen with longing
or horror. So she was still, although now
in a different way, almost as disturbing
to me as she had ever been in the twen-
ties, to which she had so completely be-
longed—for she could not be a part of
my present, and to see her exerted on
me a painful pull, as if to drag me up
by the roots, to gouge me out of my
present personality and to annihilate all
that had made it. My own life was now
organized and grounded, I had children
to worry and divert me; and from my
present point of view, besides, it dis-
turbed me to find Edna and Eugen
haunting like deteriorated ghosts their
own comfortable old house in the coun-
try. I tried to imagine their lives.
They were evidently very hard up—a
certain income that Gene had from Java
had ceased at the time of the war, and
Edna could no longer give readings;
they never seemed to see anyone or go
anywhere. When we asked them to
come to Tanglewood—an hour’s drive
away—and go with us to one of the
concerts, I was astonished to find that
Edna, who loved music so, had no idea
at all of what the festival had become
and assumed that the concerts were still
held under canvas as they had not been
is ai ixe us te but “I
only thing in the cos en he co
and bottlewasher and maid’—so la
sumed that he attended to the house as
well as—with little help nowadays—the
farm, and cooked all the meals for Edna.
But I could not conceive what thei
daily existence, month after month, had
been like or what it would be like in the
future. It did not occur to me, as it had*®
not done in connection with John
Bishop, that they were both very soon to
die. What had desolated and frightened
me there was death, to which Bugen
was wearily resigned but against which
Edna, when I saw her, with the drafts of —
her unfinished Erebean poems, was mak- _
ing her last fierce struggle.
EUGEN BOISSEVAIN died in the au-
tumn of 1949. I had wondered already, —
at the time of our visit, what would hap-,
pen to Edna if he should die first. All I _
was able to learn about her was that she —
was still living out at Steepletop. The ||
night of October 20, 1950, I had a long
dream about Edna. It began with akind
of revival of the longing I had had for
her in the twenties, and she came to me
in her old dream-shape, which was so
much more familiar to me than that in
which I had seen her last; but then it
turned into a conversation that was tak-
ing place in the present. I was telling
her about John Bishop’s relations with
another contemporary poet, who had sat
at his feet and learned from him, then
later had become better known than John
and treated him, I had thought, rather
shabbily. The next evening I heard of
her death, which had taken place the day
before, apparently very early on the
morning of the nineteenth (Mr. Sheean
gives the erroneous impression-that she
died the morning of the twenty-first).
She had been living alone in the house
and had evidently sat up all night read-
ing the proofs of Rolfe Humphries’
translation of the “Aencid,’”’ which were .
found in the living-room. She must have
been going upstairs at dawn and have .
felt faint and sat down on a step. She
had set down on the step just above her
a glass of wine she was carrying. A man
who came in to do the chores found her
there the next afternoon, My dream was
probably prompted by Sartre’s book on
Baudelaire, which I had been reading
The Nation |
‘ve Dillon had made, which I
ently been rereading; and it was
ated partly, no doubt, by my want-
in my sleep, to have somebody to
to my literary gossip and some-
from old times to talk to, but
artly, I believe, also, by the impulse to
mnsole her in this vicarious way for the
eglect that she, too, had been suffering.
nd I may have had some sort of intui-
on about what had happened the morn-
natural, but the kind of sympa-
ic sense of the rhythms of another's
fife that may sometimes persist in ab-
ence, as I had had, in 1944, the feeling
hat she needed support, at the time of
ler nervous breakdown.
} [Mr. .Wilson’s Memoir of Miss Mil-
}ay will appear in a new book by him
led “The Shores of Light: A Literary
bronicle of the Twenties and Thirties,”
sich is to be published next fall by
VParrar, Straus and Young.|
|J.S.S.R.: The Early Years
HE BOLSHEVIK REVOLUTION,
_ 1917-1923. Volume Two of A His-
_ tory of Soviet Russia, By Edward Hal-
lett Carr, The Macmillan Company.
$6.
OWADAYS it has become banal
to declaré that history is always
Written from a distinctive intellectual
point of view. Like many banalities, this
Jone is not necessarily correct, and may
merely mark the exchange of one fash-
don in self-deception for another. After
all, events either happened in a certain
Way in the past or they did not, even if
ithe pattern may at times be beyond hu-
Man recovery or discovery. But the con-
“temporary intellectual vogue does have
the advantage of making both historians
3 ped: their reviewers explicitly aware of
he standpoints from which they write.
ahem who is familiar with Profes-
t Carr's outstanding writings on inter-
fational politics and Russian affairs will
Peay, 2
7m
iM
a
7
blindfold that has affected so much
American and English work on these
he os To place such a brilliant mind as
art’s in an intellectual pigeonhole is
of course impossible. Nevertheless, in
- April 19, 1952
i before. I do not mean anything-
freedom from the moralistic
oF olde" which nave thus | far
reused in Carr's history of the Soviet
Union, I feel that he has taken the posi-
tion of an intelligent Bolshevik—too in-
telligent and too independent to have
survived for long in the regime whose
early stages he analyzes here. The
greater portion of what he says would
be anathema to the present rulers of the
U. S. S. R., whose regard for historical
fact is somewhat less than scrupulous.
Yet the treatment is largely Marxist,
with overtones of sympathy for Lenin’s
original objectives. In this volume, as in
the first, this sympathy becomes quite ex-
plicit in occasional revealing phrases.
One of the more striking is the ob-
servation on page 14 that the Bolsheviks
avoided the “insidious danger which had
overtaken the German [Socialist] Party”
of becoming a gradualist group satisfied
with orderly change under capitalist
auspices. Yet to reject this book as «
mere apologia would be an act of
parochialism and a sign of inability to
make essential intellectual distinctions.
In the work as a whole Professor Carr
has chosen to stress trends and institu-
tions rather than single events and per-
sonalities, though the importance of the
latter is by no means overlooked. The
present volume recounts the major eco-
nomic developments of the period. The
central problem, facing both Russia of
the Tsars and that of the Commissars,
Carr sees as the consequence of begin-
ning industrialism and the spread of
Western ideas in an overwhelmingly
peasant society. Three aspects of the
problem’s protean forms after 1917
draw most of the author's attention, One
was the question of how to utilize the
forces of an elemental peasant upheaval,
when the Bolsheviks’ own plans for the
peasantry went counter to these im-
mediate demands. The second question
was similar. How would a party that rep-
resented itself as the spearhead of pro-
letarian discontent reimpose the disci-
pline necessary in any industrial society,
and bring together its mines and fac-
tories into a functioning whole? The
third aspect concerned the way in which
the peasants could be forced, or in-
duced, to part with enough food to feed
the townspeople, when the town could
not supply the village with manufac-
tured goods. The actual content of these
questions, the surrounding circumstances
under which they arose, and the manner
Be neat LYRIS here
HISTORY OF
AMERICAN PSYCHOLOGY
by A, A. Roback
Here is the first history of American
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The volume presents an over-all pic
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Author of more than twenty books
on human behavior (many translated
into foreign languages), and as one
who stood close to the chief archi-
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researchers, psychologists, and intel-
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THE MONK
By MATTHEW G. LEWIS
Introduction by John Berryman
452 Pages $4.75
NEVER BEFORE AVAILABLE
IN AMERICA IN ITS ORIGINAL
UNEXPURGATED EDITION
John Berryman calls the original text
of the novel “one of the authentic prod-
igies in English fiction; and yet it has
never quite become a standard novel.
Several reasons for this must be its in-
termittent unavailability, its reputa-
tion for eroticism, its not being rein-
forced by excellence in Lewis’ other
imaginative work, so that it has had to
stand alone.”
(eo C2 ory at Cs ee oe es ee on) ee ee
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DS
rene
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384
oe : re > on
= yi * ae a) Jey fon
a .' rs oie ay
Bi
in mah various | leading lsheviks ap: eee lu as se. Y: e
proached them, all varied tremendously
during the brief period covered by this
volume. To highlight them in this
fashion inevitably distorts the lucid
variety of Carr's narrative. But I hope
that it may draw attention to some of
the book's most significant points.
Much of the material will be familiar
to those who have read the accounts of
Dobb and Baykov, whose treatment is
somewhat more sympathetic and less_po-
litically discerning than Carr's. There is
also a variety of specialized studies, such
as those by Hubbard, Manya Gordon,
Naum Jasny, W. Koch, that have begin-
ning chapters covering much of the same
ground. From none of these books, how-
ever, can one get the same sense of
the interrelationship of the various de-
velopments that emerges from Carr's
pages. Since the others deal with longer
time periods, there is not the same
scholarly—yet most unpedantic—exploi-
tation of the sources. Carr is an expert
at finding just the right quotation to il-
lustrate or drive home a point. As one
who has spent considerable time bur-
rowing in the same sources, I can testify
that he has not chosen them to buttress
any narrowly conceived thesis. That does
not mean that there is no room for dis-
agreement, or that all the sources have
been mined out. I wish, for example,
that more attention had been given to
the often revealing trivia of memoranda,
notes, records of telephone calls, and the
like, whose preservation and publication
have been one useful aspect of the ven-
eration for Lenin. And at the level of
interpretation various points are open to
severe question. As Jasny’s work has
shown, the Marxist argument that only
socialism could solve the economic prob-
lem of the peasantry is, to say the least,
highly dubious. That no solution other
than the one ultimately adopted was
compatible with the Bolsheviks’ reten-
tion of power may be a tenable conclu-
sion. Here, however, one touches on
problems for which the present book
merely lays the groundwork.
The over-all significance of an intel-
lectual structure still in the process of
construction cannot be evaluated. Carr’s
study can throw but limited light on the
problems of the moment, since the struc-
ture of Soviet society and of interna-
tional relationships has fundamentally
changed since the date with which his
secking a comprehension st
cal forces that have produced th the ch
totalitarian power of our age, his we
will constitute a major landmark. In his
context it suggests comparison wit!
Hannah Arendt’s “The Origins o
Totalitarianism.” Aside from Carr's vast.
ly superior competence in handling Ri
sian developments, the difference ap-
pears to be largely one of temperament.
Both make considerable use of th
Marxist intellectual framework. But)
where Arendt is passionate, intuitive, ®
and often chaotic, Carr is restrained, bal-
anced, urbane, and slightly mocking.
Finally, even though the two books
complement each other, they cover only
a portion of the totalitarian growth
is a central feature of our century. To)
understand this development adequately
we shall have to draw on other intel:
lectual traditions, in whose eventual
synthesis such contributions will be
included. BARRINGTON MOORE, JR.
’
Ecce Roma!
ROME AND A VILLA. By Eleano
Clark. Doubleday and Company. $4.
RENCHED with sunlight alternat
ing with ominous shade, the scenes}
of novel after novel by non-Italians re-
volve about Italy: within two years wel
have had “The Roman Spring of Mrs.
Stone,” “Friends and Vague Lovers,”
and “SPQR.” Of these three, the firsti
came closest to the touchstone, but Wil
liams’s Rome, accurate and sensitive as
is the recording retina, was a small,
special Rome and did not pretend ta
reach beyond that limited scene. We
had to wait for a non-fiction title to con-
trast authenticity of atmesphere wi
what Bonner and Dunphy offer as
substitute. Almost any page of-Eleano.
Clark’s book is at the true center, more
communicative, more freely felt, more
informed than the fiction writers have
found time to be. “Rome and a Villa’
is, of course, not a novel, nor does it
aim to catch up the reader with trite ox
even true nostalgic touches (in this
sense, it defies classification as a ‘‘trave
book”). Instead, it is a distinguished
and enthralling collection of non-fiction
pieces in which Miss Clark does moré
than any writer in English in my mem
ory (except possibly Lawrence) to re
veal the essence of the Italian spirit. —
The NATION
he e rest of the collection is so specifically
not reportage I thought it a pity to have
th he tone altered, by its inclusion, even
so slightly from the heights reached in
“the early and last sections of the book.
me cavil at this piece and be done
it: too much is recreated from
wspaper accounts of a world with
which Miss Clark can thank her stars
3 has had little to do, the grub’s
| world of the peasant living in an ex-
be ted land. It takes a Garetto, a Vit-
‘orini or, on occasion, a Berto, to make
you taste the dry bread of the poor, to
make you understand the motivation of
banditry, always very near the surface in
‘Sicily. This recreation of the Robin
| ood myth, which Miss Clark duly
alifies but still rather falls for, is out
E place i in the Sicilian frame of refer-
|
Q
:
:
ae
‘But that’s enough back-of-the-hand.
The rest is all praise. How she impales
iy the succubus, the clerical horde:
_ The priests and monks and nuns are
les hocking: what is this vast population
feeding at the expense of the other? So
} are all their expensive new houses going
s| up on the Janiculum where they already
,| have dozens, while the poor are still in
} caves and huts in the dumps, having to
‘ throw their droppings together with their
"garbage out the door. All those men and
boys in their long skirts always seem to be
walking on revolving paddles like’ little
steam-boats. . . . Rome is their port...
|| they just paddle through it, being the
pensionnaires of the greatest real estate
firm in Europe.
Or she gets, through her awareness of
. why the Romans do things, to the core
of difference between a centuries-old
people and our own:
You walk close to your dreams. Some-
times it seems that these pulsing crowds,
with their daily and yearly rhythms estab-
ished so long ago none of it has to be de-
| cided any more, with their elbows and
i) knees and souls and buttocks touching
gf) @nd rubbing and everybody most pleased
|) and agreeable when it is like that, in a
for instance, will in another minute
¢ naked, or will have fish tails or horses’
nds like the characters of the foun-_
For the Anglo-Saxon mind, ruled
y conscience and the romantic, rigid in
ptivacies, everything here is shocking
endless revelation and immersion;
s the vocabulary of our sleep; and
pril 19, 1952
.
The passage on Hadrian's villa, the
Villa of the title, of course, is pure evoca-
tive mastery, pure understanding. It is as
much reconstruction of the genius of the
place, the brilliant, petulant, creative Em-
peror, as it is descriptive, atmospheric. A
very high point indeed and one that can’t
have quotes plucked out without impair-
ment. A few of Henry James’s letters on
Florence achieve this time-spanning un-
derstanding, but never could he have
spread it over to the less homogeneous
Roman world. (Stendhal did, though,
recreating 4is Roman world as he sat
with a friend in Paris miles away, with-
out notes, but with subtle comprehen-
sion of the city in his pulse beat.)
A final paragraph, to show one more
facet of Eleanor Clark’s eclectic, observ-
ing mind:
LeCorbusier [who had just been quoted
as saying “Rome has nothing to offer
me"} was speaking admirably too; all
that Rome offers was taken into his own
SETAC ERT RA ARTE CP RC ae Te
Pisa aneti his PRUERT ;
cs great creativity long ago. What is sdeeiay
ing is the number of our own fine arts or
architectural school graduates who are
either arrogant toward the past because
they are creative, or respect it because
they are not. The first category is bored
in Rome, the second makes even Rome
boring.
But Eleanor Clark does not. Remem-
bered corners, a flight of birds, the cats
of the Pantheon under the rain, the pace
of the piazza in the afternoon, these
things come alive in her book. “Ecce
Roma!” Yet as she herself says, Where?
which Rome? who is seeing it? and at
what time of day?
The lovely presentation of this book
is integral to its charm. Doubleday
has done a stunning but unpretentious
job. The pages are handsome, the Eugene
Berman drawings and jacket are evoca-
tive and right, even the end-papers, a
warm Pompeian red, are chosen with
taste. Physically, as well as in the head,
a thoroughly distinguished job.
FRANCES KEENE
‘4 wise and funny and sstirring’’* novel
of a well-meaning professor who had some
lessons still to learn about politics at the home-
town level.
by GRANVILLE HICKS
THERE
“A highly entertaining account of
the struggle for votes and one par-
ticularly apropos to this national
WAS
A MAN
IN OUR
year....
moving narrative, however, Mr.
Hicks is seriously concerned with
the fundamental problems of what
we call democracy.”
Beneath the deft, fast-
—Joun NeERBER,
N. Y. Times Book Review
“Nothing could be timelier than
the subject of Mr.
novel: politics. .
Hicks’s new
. Not only enter-
taining; it is also intelligent and
TOWN
useful.”
—CHARLES LEE,
Saturday Review
*Ricuarp H. ROvERE
At all booksellers
$3.00
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READ
the complete
ELLEN
KNAUFF
Told in her own words, this is the shock-
ing story of a war bride arbitrarily de-
tained for three years on Ellis Island...
of an American forced to choose be-
tween his country and his wife...of
totalitarian methods employed in the
name of security ... of gross injustice
which did happen here and can happen
again when fundamental liberties are
replaced by bureaucratic tyranny.
ELLEN KNAUFF
STORY
by Ellen Raphael Knauff
Introduction by Arthur Garfield Hays
$3.50 at all bookstores
W. W. NORTON & CO.
—— 101 5th Ave., New York 3, N. Y. ——
? WHY IS IT ?
Science has advanced and produced
electricity, radio, television, radar,
sonar, atomic fission, super-sonic air-
plane speed, marvelous chemicals
from coal and oil and countless other
benefits to mankind, yet 97% of the
people still cling to religious beliefs
of the stone and iron ages? Are those
beliefs infallible? Why do most re-
ligious leaders seek to suppress those
who disagree with their doctrines?
The answers are in the easily read,
192-page, card-covered little book
SUPERIOR MEN
By James Hervey Johnson
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THE READERS' SERVICE DIVISION
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THE SECRET DRAMA OF MY LIFE.
By André Gide. Translated by Keene
Wallis. Seven Sirens Press. $2.
HIS small volume is, so far as we can
know, the last of the Gidean out-
rages, the final scandal of a man de-
termined to face posterity squarely.
Published last year as “Et Nunc Manet
in Te,” it threw a few further shadows
on the serene death-mask, and provoked
still another controversy. Once again the
outrage lay less in the sins themselves
than in the act of public confession—
that a great man should choose to ex-
pose what anyone else would conceal.
Gide wrote this 10,000-word portrait
of his wife shortly after her death in
1938, and to it attached the passages of
his ‘Journal’ (relating to her) which
do not appear in the Pléiade edition. Its
public issue was posthumous. But Gide
always feared the censorship of well-
meaning friends. He insured himself
against it by a 1947 private edition of
thirteen copies.
The major revelation (that Gide had
no sexual relations with his wife) had
long been assumed. Yet even now it is
impossible to reconstruct the tragedy
fully. We learn that Gide consulted a
doctor before marrying, amd was reas-
sured that his homosexual impulses
would disappear. They broke out fero-
ciously on the honeymoon, however—
and now Michel’s demonic journey south-
ward in “The Immoralist” seems closer
than ever to Gide’s personal history. Be-
hind this (or related to it, at least) lay
a childhood surrounded by sainted, un-
fleshly women and an adolescence of
spiritual communion with the frightened
gitl he would marry. “I am amazed to-
day at that aberration which led me to
believe that the more my love was
ethereal the more it was worthy of her—
that naiveté of never asking myself
whether an entirely uncarnal love con-
tented her. . . . What I fear that she
could not understand is that precisely the
spiritual force of my love inhibited all
carnal desire.” What amazes the reader,
of course, is that he never asked Jer;
that the “zone of silence’’ was so vast
between two people who loved each
other so much, and who were married
for forty-three years. It covered more
than sexual matters. Gide (who would
ask a stranger anything) evidently could
she may have seen the lant page of 1
grain ne meurt”’ in the Nrf, since tha
last page faced the first page of a
Claudel piece whose pages she had cut.
Yet he insists again that he wrote
everything before “Les Faux-Monnay-
eurs” for her, in the hope of convert
ing her to a freer life.
The portrait of Madame Gide is
let there be no mistake—a loving |
portrait. But no woman could have been —
less suited to an adventurous and polyga- |
mous husband. The traumatic experience —
of discovering her mother’s infidelity —
looms even more importantly than in |
"Si le grain ne meurt .. .” and “Strait —
is the Gate.” The frighten child re-i
cedes into a conservative, masochistic, |
and prematurely aged woman of piety @
troubled by the debilitating influence of
infiltrating foreigners. Only in the in-
firmity of age does she permit herself ©
some relaxation of spirit. Yet how much ~
she did or did not suffer not even this
humble essay can say. To burn all of
Gide’s letters to her, in 1918 when he —
went to England with Marc Allégret, '
was one of the few “spoken” protests of
her life. But clearly she was helped to
her chronic self-destructiveness by the -
seeming rejection, by her husband's sex-
ual neglect. “And this deficiency of my
desires she doubtless attributed modestly
to her insufficient attractiveness.”
Now this is the major interest of the
present volume, for those of us who
reason glibly on the therapeutic value of
art. “The Gambler’ did not cure
Dostoevsky of compulsive gambling, nor
did “Adolphe” free Benjamin Constant ~
from compulsive attachments. Yet the
minuteness and clarity of Gide’s fictional
diagnoses ought to have been irresisti-
ble. “Strait is the Gate” (1909) dram-
atized exactly Madame Gide’s plight.
The clue to Alissa’s tragedy (as Gide
saw better than any of his critics) lay
in the ethereal unaggressiveness of her
lover Jerome. It was he who drove her _
to a final solitude and withdrawal,
rather than an illusory Ged, Gide’s _
novel, frankly based on his own
romance, could not have shown more
psychological understanding. Yet its
author then proceeded to live the part
of Jerome. It is only in this essay, thirty
years later, that he recovers the in- —
sight of his fiction. He takes upon him- —
The NATION” j
The San Francisco Argonaut.
_ “Tf—as the publishers clearly believe—this is a genuine Nietzsche work, it must
rank as one of the greatest literary discoveries of the twentieth century.”
The Saturday Review.
. “...a dark, tragic, terribly compel-
oo Suppressed for Half a Century
The Long Beach (California)
x Press-Telegram
4 “He goes back to his younger days
‘when lust and pride ran ae in
. He grovels again in the un
p Fhied orgies of his youth.”
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
An Autobiography \
and a Way of Life
| *
| iy
“...ia between these flights of mad-
| ness, his Prussian saber whirls and
strikes. No sacrilege is beyond him,
‘no insult beyond expression, no de-
berate affront too great for his pen.
| He struggles with terrible doubts and
wrestles with guilt complexes that
B
_ surge from his subconscious like ugly ¥ wt
ear from the deep... but the flick- FRIEDRICH NIETZSCHE :
| . . }
es os wee are never far ELISABETH FOERSTER-NIETZSCHE who Me
te removed from the clenched fists of his drove her great brother into the refuge of a mad- i
{ furies.” Richmond (Virginia) News house, made it impossible for him to have normal .
relations with other women and whose passion for f
“...am absorbing story of one of her brother probably caused her husband’s suicide.
the greatest tragedies of modern
times. Its style is sufficient evidence : ‘ ‘ , my
‘of its authenticity.” My Sister and I is an autobiography. It is also much more. As one |
reviewer describes it, it is really the supreme adventure of our civiliza- ,
tion focused on the lives of one man and two fascinating, reckless
Sage! beautiful women. The struggle of these two women to establish dom-
insight into the author’s private life. fas . ’ . ;
ination over this man—one of the greatest of the world's philosophers rT
The incestuous relationship with his ; i Z ; ; : att ie
‘sister Elisabeth is delineatd with —~Drings the whole maddening fabric of our world into glittering relief.
x
it
San Antonio Express
i
tT
ie,
he *..,it opens the way for startling
|.
'
|
candid accuracy.”
| $
Greensboro (N.C) News AS 45 being pointed out by all the reviewers, MY SISTER AND | is the
a most important book discovery of our time.
“He is most coherent in his descrip-
_ tions of sex...he devotes the great
| i majority of passages to sexual descrip-
CONTINENTAL BOOKS, Dept. N
110 Lafayette Street, New York 13, N. Y.
Gentlemen: I enclose $4 for a copy of the 1st edition
of Friedrich Nietzsche’s MY SISTER AND I. I under-
stand I may return it for full credit if it does not
prove to be one of the most wonderful books I have
ever read.
F at q
a Pa,
You can still get a
Wichita (Kansas) Eagle first edition, an heir-
‘ loom to pass on to-
“... Whole libraries have been writ- your posterity, by
ten about his work, his philosophy, clipping the coupon
s tragic medical history, and the sic Rh Goa erent and
merely sending us
voer
nigma of his personal relationships the publication price Naar Be
-.and now, fifty-one years after No. & St ‘ike
oy ©’s death, there falls inté ours FOUR DOLLARS an : ie:
hance . peepee ei Zone Stare é
- ae may pee to be the key We will pay O Send C. 0. D. I enclose $1 and will pay balance to
to the whole problem. the postage postman.
.
Nem a ee
~ The Saturday Review
ee
April LP, 1952 387,
Oe
; a
= =
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NO LUCK fostisnen:
We are established book publishers whose
basic policy is to encourage new or unknewn
writers. If you are looking for a publisher of
cs { had novel, short stories, play, scholarly work,
po ry, etc., perhaps we can help you. Write
oday to Natalie Miller for Free Booklet 103.
VANTAGE PRESS, 280 W. 41 St., New York 18
Are you an unknowing
VICTIM OF HYPNOTISM
Millions are! !
Read Chap. VII of the book
SUPERIOR MEN
by JAMES HERVEY JOHNSON
$1.00 postpaid
BOX 2882, SAN DIEGO 12, CALIFORNIA
388
x es b
"So gers Ohad ie isis tie ae Ee iis
self, unequivocally, ny blam is 10 5? iS SO FEE ‘ord rose matt
wife's progressive self-mutilation est which occur 0 a sensiti
Thus Gide’s astonishing id on the
whole successful experiment in living—
involving so many loves and so many
loved ones who got on surprisingly well
with each other—yet left its victim. For
not even this widest circle could be
drawn around a woman who detested
any departure from convention. Had he
married instead Elizabeth van Ryssel-
berge, or her mother, Gide could
perhaps have reconciled everyone—wife,
mistress, mature homosexual compan-
ions, casually encountered Arab boys—
not to mention the hundreds of respect-
able disciples and friends,
But then he would not have been the
Gide we know, so capable of both
childishness and grandeur. And he
would have been, as he puts it, a kite
without a string.
ALBERT J. GUERARD
Natural History, with Ideas
THE DESERT YEAR. By Joseph Wood
Krutch. William Sloane Associates.
$3.75.
INCE Thoreau there has been, at
Jeast in America, a long gap in the
recording of natural history from the
point of view that is primarily literary,
though still careful of its facts. In Eng-
land, the war-time series, Britain in Pic-
tures, laid stress upon the_ essential
literacy of its writers by mingling such
professional natural historians and ex-
cellent writers as Fraser Darling and
James Fisher with poets such as Geoffrey
Grigson and Geoffrey Taylor. Joseph
Wood Krutch is an American example
of the man who is aware of the differ-
ences between various kinds of beetles
or cacti, and of the vision of Words-
worth. Like all the best modern writers
on natural history, he has adopted, to a
greater or lesser degree, the ecological
outlook which strives to see his subject
as a whole, to relate each form of life to
each other form—not forgetting man.
This outlook, which makes “The Sea
Around Us,” Jacquetta Hawkes’s “A
Land,” and Joseph Mitchell’s brilliant
New Yorker study of the bottom of
New York Harbor so memorable, makes
“The Desert Year” a book to be kept
and reread.
What “The Desert Year”
to do, and is successful in accomplish-
attempts.
spending a year a rather a sabb
fifteen months) watching and recording
Mr. Krutch succeeds in capturing his —
reader's interest in the strange case of ~
the Sonoran spadefoot toad (Scapbiopus
couchii) which suddenly appeared sing-
ing after a heavy rain and then disap--
peared, leaving puddles full of tadpoles -
which dried to nothing before they had
time to mature. Where did the adult
toads disappear to with the passing of
the rain? How did they manage to per-
petuate their species? With Mr. Krutch’
we follow the investigation like devotees
of Ellery Queen, and like him we are
disappointed when none of the experts
can provide an answer to either question.
Maybe there is sometimes enough rain
to allow the tadpoles to become little
toads. Maybe the adults spend the rest
of the time buried underground, like
the toads (prime specimens of spon-
taneous generation) mentioned by John |
Clare and Christopher Smart, which
were (and still sometimes are) reported
to be found hermetically sealed in rock,
despite the experiments of Frank Buck-
land which proved that, suffering such ~
a fate, the toads all died. Readers can
only hope that, if and when Mr. Krutch
discovers more, he will send out a
postscript.
On the subject of birds, Mr. Krutch
is very good indeed, pointing out that —
the fascination which we feel for them @
is largely due to the fact that they are ~
brightly colored and move quickly and
that, in reality, they are not, “despite the
grand mystery of migration,” really very
interesting creatures: ‘They stimulate
our imaginations but there is not really
anything we can learn from them. And
for that reason a dead bird is simply _
not a bird any more. The bubble is
pricked; the illusion vanished. What
had interested us was not bones and ~
feathers but an idea.” Still, he becomes
involved, rather despite himself, in —
numbering one hundred and ay ee
birds which he has seen in his part of |
the Arizona desert. :
This desert, despite the associations —
which the word has come to bear, is”
not barren and infertile like the Sahara |
or the gypsum dunes of the White |
Sands of New Mexico, and while per- |
haps not as crammed with goodies as |
that absurd island in “Swiss Family ©
The NATION
) struggle with ilyeee “ton lee
ce; the struggle is only with the soil,
ch area supporting only what it can
lund trying for no more.
‘Mr. Krutch has certainly succeeded in
king the desert appear, to one who
mas never known it, a real and intensely
Interesting place. Someday, somehow,
he reader feels, I must see it for my-
RUTHVEN TODD
American Journey, 1868
‘HE AMERICANS AT HOME, By
David Macrae. E. P. Dutton and
“Company. $4.50.
IT NONSIDERING the American appe-
/ tite for travelers’ tales, it is strange
h at this book, issued in England as long
Bo as 1871, has only now found a local
publisher. Better late than never! Dut-
jon and Company are to be congratu-
ted on their discovery but also scolded
t failing to add a memoir of the au-
101 and an index,
David Macrae was a Scottish minister
vho later in life created something of a
rc rote in his native land by expressing
about eternal damnation. That
fipparently was too harsh a doctrine for
f. man who, as this book shows, was an
. xceedingly amiable soul. Certainly, he
Iwas far more sym athetic with and
av, yap an
Hitiendly to the United States than most
ntemporary British travelers. Unlike
ollope, for instance, who merely ad-
ed Americans, Macrae genuinely
ged them, which may explain why he
was far more successful than that emi-
tent Victorian in making contacts with
Whe man in the street.
‘Landing in Canada in 1868, the au-
of moved in leisurely fashion via New
and Washington south to New
pJtleans; thence by train and river-boat
9 Chicago—"the lightning city”—and
pack to New England where he thor-
an enjoyed hobnobbing with Long-
Wellow, Emerson, and other notables.
= reporter with a pleasant sense
}£ humor, his observations still make
teresting reading. But his most valu-
ble contribution is his account of the
then in the throes of reconstruc-
. He is forthright in expressing his
ot of slavery and in explaining its
ofalizing influence on both races
April 19, 1952
mk Z
OUD
Negr
selves for freedom wide by Northern
friends. But he also views sympatheti-
cally the plight of the defeated whites
and the problems of readjustment with
which they were grappling.
Friendly as he was, Mr. Macrae had
no hesitation in expressing disapproval
of American traits and institutions that
he considered obnoxious. He disliked
the election of judges and the patronage
system; over-indulgence in pie and spit-
ting and chewing; the prevalence of
divorce; and the bad state of city streets.
On the other hand, he was generous in
his praise of the experimental attitude
of Americans and he liked the oysters,
hotels, iced water, and Henry Ward
Beecher. He shared Trollope’s admira-
tion for American education but not his
distaste for the railroads.
Reading this book eighty years after
it was written, I found myself making
notes under two headings—plus ¢a
change and autres temps, autres moeurs.
As an example of the first, take Ben
Wade’s comment on the Presidential
campaign of 1868: “I foresee that the
Republican party will take Grant up
and run him in with a hurrah. The trou-
ble is, you don’t know where he stands.”
But times do change, as witness Macrae’s
observation that “American girls are
nervous about their thinness, for they
are constantly having themselves
weighed, and every ounce of increase is
hailed with delight, and talked about
with the most dreadful plainness of
speech.” KEITH HUTCHISON
Verse Chronicle
ROM Shakespeare on, and maybe
before, the Welsh have had the
reputation of embodying the more re-
pulsive aspects of humanity, but they
can, look you, they always could, write
poetry, even when, as fairly often, they
are feeling sorriest for themselves. Six
poems, four hundred or so lines, set in
rather large type so the book won’t look
too small, is an offering I doubt many
American poets could get away with as
Dylan Thomas does with his latest col-
lection, ‘In Country Sleep” (New Di-
rections, $2). And I doubt any Ameri-
can could bring to work in its contrived,
derived, or weary moments, which are to
=
D R. LENZ’S expe-
rience and view-
Doint will undoubtedly
shock you, but, as he
Y says, “I regard it as
wa my duty to communi-
cate my experience ag
& sexologist to fellow
human beings so that
they too may endeavor
to lay aside the dis-
¥ torting lens of super-
stition and to contem-
plate the world
through unblased eyes,
a world which, in spite of Platonic views is
in reality concerned solely with love.’
WIDELY PRAISED
“a distinguished sexologist, Dr. Lenz is §
amazingly unreticent .. . one the most eX
fascinating volumes this reviewer has ever
seen.”*
—Psychiatric Quarterly Supplement
“Describes the author’s observations on
Various sexual phenomena . . . one of the ‘
hooks you continue to read without inter-
ruption,”’
—Dr. Frank S. Caprio, Wash, D. C.
$3.95 él
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A twoefi sted
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THE WORLD PUBLISHING COMPANY
\Cleveland and New York
389
be found in Mr. Thomas's book, such a
gush of cesource, such lilt, such energy,
such imaginetion to “hear the bouncing
hills grow larked and greener at berry
brown/fall and the dew larks sing /taller
this thunderclap spring and how/more
spanned with angels/ride the mansouled
fiery islands!’ And how, indeed!
Another recent visitor to our shores is
an Englishwoman, Kathleen Raine,
whose “Selected Poems” have been is-
sued, bound in paper, by the Weekend
Press, New York, price not stated on
this reviewer's copy. Correct, cool, inter-
ested in dreams and angels, and all the
difference in the world between this
kind of English, and that kind of Welsh,
poetry. Miss Raine also contributes an
introduction to another collection edited
by the same firm, “Poems” by Humphrey
Jennings, 1907-1950. Mr. Jennings was
also a painter and member of Grierson’s
G, P. O. film unit. A considerable por-
tion of this collection looks more like
paragraphs in prose than tightly organ-
ized or ordered verse. Both these pam-
phlets, handset in Goudy Old Style type
and printed on Arches paper, are hand-
some in appearance and contain too
many errata. (P. S. $2.50, I’m told.)
The firm of A. A. Knopf has re-
issued in one volume, priced at $3.50,
“The Man with the Blue Guitar,” in-
cluding “Owl's Clover” and “Ideas of
Order,” by Wallace Stevens. It is a
Te een
ae, ye AAS ae i
or
little hard to keep up with all the
editions. And is it heretical ‘to felt
that when Mr. Stevens is letting himself
be full of high sentence he is somewhat
boring? He strikes me as much happier
when he is capering, or cutting up
touches, and no matter if the climate of
his exuberance has less sense of moisture
than that of Dylan Thomas. “Axes and
Songs” by Andrew Lazarus, was printed
in Finland, presumably at the author's
expense, and is said to be on sale at the
Gotham Book Mart. The price is not
stated; there are limits, I know, to the
human imagination, but I do wish some
of these citizens, or their publishers,
would occasionally be mundane enough
to confide in people who might want to
buy a book or two how much they are
supposed to pay. The technique of Mr.
Lazarus is either very awkward, or very
original, hard to say until it becomes
more sure of itself. What is more certain
is that this young American has some
respect for the sound of the language,
feeling, imagination, and some sense of
music in a line.
Two Rilke items have come in:
“Rainer Maria Rilke: His Last Friend-
ship,” edited by Marcel Ravel, with an
Introduction by Edmond Jaloux (Philo-
sophical Library, $2.75), and > ihe
Life of the Virgin Mary,” containing
the German text with an English trans-
lation and introduction by Stephen
The
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se Sper nder (same firn
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knows by now: one, pits Rilke's
could gush excessively when reminiscing
about him; and, two, that Rilke hims elf
could act pretty silly when it came to the
ladies. This one, Nimet Eloui Bey, judg-
ing from her picture on jacket and
frontispiece, must have been (pardon
the vulgarity) a real pipperoo, but oh
dear! The Spender translations show
Mr. Spender at his best—modest, re-
spectful without being mawkish, if con-
trol of his line, and with an imaginativé
and perceptive understanding of the
original. ROLFE HUMPHRIES
B. H.
Records | waccix
NE of the year’s outstanding events _
—and one of its surprises, for me— |
is the Schneider Quartet recordings of
Haydn quartets issued by the Haydn So-
ciety. At the group’s Y. M. H. A. con- |
certs last fall I heard a lot of violin ~
sound, little cello, and almost no viola; t
but the records produce the correctly
balanced sounds of all four instruments.
And while at the Y. the playing seemed
to me lively and sensitive, now that I
hear all four instruments and at close
range I am aware of the extraordinary —
freedom in tempo and inflection with
which the musicians give effect to the ff
freedom of Haydn’s lively and inventive #
mind in its excitingly unpredictable
course, and the extraordinary way they #
point up the wonderful details which
that mind contrives. And when I say @
“extraordinary” I mean it literally: no
other quartet has played Haydn with
such vitality—not even the old Budapest
Quartet, whose recorded performance of ff
Opus 54 No. 1 is superb in tone and
phrasing, but in the usual suave style.
The works which the Haydn Society
has issued so far, two on a record, are
the six quartets of Opus 17, the two of
Opus 77, Opus 42, and the uncom-
pleted Opus 103. Of these Opus 77 No.
2 is one of the works in which Haydn
catries to sheer incandescence the meth-
od that delights one in Opus 77 No. 1
and Opus 17 No. 6, achieves outstand-
ing individual movements even in the
others of Opus 17, and is never less
than interesting elsewhere. As for re-
The NATION:
yuire reduction of treble; Opus
n Opus 77 No. 1 are edged in
passages even with treble reduced
fo minimum; the first movement of
Opus 103 also requires reduction of
ee to minimum but then isn’t bright
.
Marvelously beautiful playing of
aydn in the usual suave style—mar-
velous, that is, in its refinement of
bic aded string tone, its ensemble preci-
ion and sensitiveness, its delicacy of
phe: ing—is heard in the Quartetto
Italiano’s performance of the fine Opus
4,No. 6. And on the reverse side of the
Ie ndon record this playing is heard in
occherini’s lovely Quartet Opus 6 No.
1. The performances are excellently re-
Bepeduced—though again not with the
armth and luster that one gets from
Victor recording of strings.
But also not with the ear-lacerating
)sharpness and the surface chatter of Co-
te mbia’s reproduction of Mozart's great
Ss ing Quintet K.614 played by the Bud-
|) apest Quartet and Milton Katims, which
| spoils a performance that is better than
|the one on the Westminster record. On
the reverse side is the superb perform-
fiance of the Quintet K.516 recorded
}/ years ago when Roisman was in good
} form and Alexander Schneider was sec-
ond violin—with a sound that is agree-
‘able to the ear but acquires a hash of
} distortion as it nears the end of the
|) side.
Excessively sharp too is Columbia's
‘feproduction of a performance of Mo-
’s lovely Clarinet Quintet by the
“American Art Quartet and Benny Good-
n yn—which is a pity, since the strings
‘play well, Goodman this time phrases
a =
+ ahs
a
rt ean
—_— eS ao ee
ys
-
fd
paced.
_ From Victor comes Beethoven’s en-
paging Sonata Opus 24 for violin and
Beano. with unaffected but surprisingly
| unimpressive and not always agreeable-
|sounding playing by Milstein, and
8 perlative playing by Balsam.
| And finally I have given myself an-
other chance with some of the late works
of Fauré that his devotees consider his
rt ‘Dest—the Quartet Opus -121, played by
the Guilet Quartet, and Sonata Opus
108 for violin and piano, played by
Ds niel Guilet and Gaby Casadesus, on
4 April il 19, 1952
¥ David ~
me cally by
ew Sis ot Leopold Mittman, which is on
another Polymusic record with the early
Quartet Opus 15 for piano and strings,
played by Mme. Casadesus and members
of the Guilet Quartet. The performances
are first-rate and beautifully reproduced;
but the music I again find uninteresting.
The Sonata Opus 108, played with
less refinement of tone and style by Ruth
Posselt with Joseph Rezits, is also on
a Festival record which offers in addi-
tion Haydn and Martinu duets for violin
and cello that I don’t care for, played
by Miss Posselt and Samuel Mayes.
S. LANE
FAISON, JR.
Art
HAT can one say about Paul
Cézanne that is new? The big ex-
hibition at the Metropolitan (through
May 18) dominates everything else on
the art calendar; but there are other con-
current shows by living artists which
must not be overlooked. Moreover, the
study of Cézanne leads inevitably to the
present.
The Cézanne show is in every way the
equal of the Van Gogh exhibition of
two years ago. Once again the Art Insti-
tute of Chicago is co-sponsor. There are
128 oils, watercolors, and drawings.
They cover the full range of Cézanne’s
career, including some lapses, and all
the important themes. In addition to
most of the best in the United States
(always excepting the Barnes Founda- ”
tion), other works of stature have been
imported from Paris, London, Oslo,
Sao Paolo, Johannesburg, and Zurich.
They are beautifully displayed. Chronol-
ogy is respected, but not slavishly. All
works, irrespective of medium, have
been catalogued in fairly strict temporal
sequence. Thus the numbers serve as a
guide to Cézanne’s development. (I do
not understand the displacement of
numbers 54 and 76.)
What a change fifty years, or even
twenty-five years, have brought! The an-
tagonisms Cézanne aroused in his own
lifetime can now be resurrected only by
an effost of the mind. The paintings
seem as little arguable as those of the
Impressionists. Even the vaunted sever-
ity of the “‘classic’” pictures of the
og eit sat mnedee i: Adlicstely’ atten
ated. Some of them (still-lifes numbers —
73 and 87) are gentle, even pretty, like
middle Renoirs and late Demuths. The
very early and the very late works both
seem more modern. Cézanne’s influence,
however, appears to have progressed
backward across his career. The Fauves,
particularly Matisse, were deeply in-
debted to his last works; for the Cubists,
the examples of his classic equilibrium
were more meaningful; and now his
violent early pictures seem the most in-
fluential, at least in terms of today’s and
yesterday’s expressionism.
But all of it has settled into the great
tradition, even though this was surely
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GERTRUDE LAWRENCE.
in A Now Musical Play
The Bing and I
with YUL BRYNNER
DOROTHY SARNOFF
ST. JAMES THEATRE, West 44th St
Evenings st 8:25: $7.20 to 1 80. Matineas
Wednesday & Saturdayat 2:25: $4.20 to 1.80,
Politzer Prize & Critics’ Award Musical Play
MARTHA WRIGHT
GEORGE BRITTON
South Pacific
with MYROA MoCORMICK
MAJESTIC. Ee es atin St
as: at
2:30: $2 Ptr Bat st Lawton.
MONDAY EVES. GMLY: CURTAIN AT 7 SHARP
391
eS
Ps,
ee hae HS)
Tes ;
eet
x
=
eg
pe
a eT
* we o
+ ule
the most revolutionary art since Caravag-
gio (if not since Masaccio). The time is
therefore ripe for a vast new public to
begin to understand, and the present
show provides the best possible oppor-
tunity. For understanding modern art
begins at the precise moment Cézanne’s
pears stop rolling off the table.
For this reason, I welcome the special
exhibit, however elementary it may seem
to the aesthetically arrogant, of charts
and diagrams organized by the Art In-
stitute of Chicago and displayed on the
wall opposite three major examples of
Cézanne’s* work. The analysis of his
palette may not be new, but how many
have noticed that Cézanne had a habit
of arranging the folds of a tablecloth in
the shape of the Mont Sainte Victoire?
I shall spare the reader the usual
apostrophe to permanence and stillness
(which is much overworked in the
Jabels accompanying the exhibit men-
tioned above), and conclude with a few
random comments. This exhibition
x 4 ‘J
makes it clear that Cézanne’s serenity
was hard won, and that it did not last
through to the end. Even the Orchard
(number 64, of the mid-’80’s) is tenu-
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392
ee
‘cay tery, ote oi
chairs. The late Quarry of Bibémus
(number 107), in my opinion the mas-
terpiece of the whole show, owes much
of its force to the holes at the base. So
does the dramatic early still-life, Black
and White (number 12). Notice how,
in the sequence of still-lifes, the center
of gravity moves upward until finally
the motive breaks through the top edge
of the frame. Notice also the importance
of dark blue and strong orange among
the early pictures, how these colors pale
in the middle period, and how they re-
turn at the end to darkness and nearly
full strength.
Gustave Courbet once complained
that ‘there are people who wake up at
night, with a start, shouting: ‘I want to
judge! I must judge!’"” The opinion I
would offer of the work of Robert
Motherwell (Kootz Gallery, through
April 19) is much more tentative than
that. He has, I think, a fime flair for
dramatizing a big surface, Architects
and ship designers please take notice.
Some of the drawings for the paintings,
especially for the Spanish series (one of
them is now at the Whitney), seem out-
rageously thin. But at large scale, all is
different. Black and white, or black and
ochre, are the dominant chords, some-
times bound or crossed by planes of
bright yellow, with and without comple-
mentary areas of a rich red violet.
Motherwell can excite the eye simply by
compressing ovoid shapes held in mid-
air by strong vertical bands. There are
too few levels of meaning—by Cé-
zanne’s standards—but those he accents
come off with power. Speaking of old
masters, I find Léger a closer parallel,
The visitor to the Kootz Gallery may
profit from comparing the big oil, Cata-
lonia, with the drawing reproduced in
the brochure: the slight differences are
instructive as to how Motherwell inten-
sified the push of forms against each
other. I am disconcerted, however, to
find that Granada (reproduced in Hess's
“Abstract Painting,” p. 136) is so. near-
ly the same composition. But Mother-
well deserves more opportunities than
he has had to bring to life a plane in a
modern building. Occasionally his bold
black and white drawings provoke the
same kind of excitement, as in Jewish
Candelabra (number 18).
/ a
OO ns italian 1 Cc '
ae ea
LD
oe
(Betty Parsons Gallery, through
19) and David Smith’s dual show (Wi
lard and Kleemann Galleries, ough
April 26) which I should have done
with enthusiasm. Congdon demonstrates
that nostalgia and romantic mystery
need not be effete, as they so frequently
are in Berman; Smith, that violence,
when it is disciplined, spells power.,
Smith is not always disciplined, but
doubters of his power should reserve
judgment until seeing his larger works
under uncrowded conditions, or better
still out of doors. I think his forms
do not gain much from being painted, j
except when the color key is held well;
down and there is an intrinsic demand
from the point of view of clarity, as in«
Flight. ‘
Despite a prejudice in favor of vio- ~
lence in modern art, I can and do res |
spect the reticence and tact of James ©
Fosburgh (Durlacher, through April
19). His smaller pictures seem to me!
much the best. He is in love with the: @
old-old masters, from Vermeer through, — |
I should think, Manet.
:
|
CORRECTION: In some copies of last §
weck’s issue Joseph Wood Krutch’s re-
view of ‘The Grass Harp” was wrongly
attributed to Margaret Marshall.
CONTRIBUTORS
EDMUND WILSON, distinguished lit-
erary critic, is the author of many books.
The latest is. ‘“Classics and Commercials,
A Literary Chronicle of the Forties.”
BARRINGTON MOORE, JR., a tre-
search associate at the Russian Research
Center of Harvard University, is the
author of ‘Soviet Politics: The Dilemma
of Power.”
FRANCES KEENE lived in Italy for
many years.
ALBERT J. GUERARD is the author
of ‘“‘André Gide” and other books.
RUTHVEN TODD is the author of
“Tracks in the Snow. Studies in English:
Science and Art’’ and other books.
KEITH HUTCHISON, financial editor
of The Nation, is the author of “The
Decline and Fall of British Capitalism.”
ROLFE HUMPHRIES, The Nation’s
poetry critic, has recently published a
verse translation of. Virgil’s “Aeneid.”
The NATION i
er
: mg
ie
ACROSS
land 17. This saw ah associated
with early man. (6, 4,
9 See 22 down.
0 ecompenints 7 (7)
-1 See 21 down
2 Jelousie might be one of them. (8)
\4 Admonition to obstructionists (or
those who strike first)? (3, 4
‘6 They’re sometimes loaded wit
_ game. (5)
i7 See 1 across.
Tiger, in a way, which might be re-
ce for the “burning bright.’
|
tl Time on your hands? It could prove
fruitful. (4, 4
See 3 down.
%. Behaves like a mad dog----and
they “ay in such a barbaric busi-
| ness.
6 A Spann iD indeed! (His mind’s
made ee
The smallest Re of grit to the
; ae might be a peep or a stint.
ir ’
| DOWN
: a) a good climb for opportunists.
ose “ep make fancy work with
l ra re
an ae it keep things from: be-
Wie fe a ‘the level in union contracts ?
4 dure, but not proverbially the
We head of 27. (4) - 7
requests fo Puzzle Dept.,
~
=
. ra
_ E ee ;
Ԥ
Readers are invited to send for a free copy of Mr. Lewis's ‘ground rules.” Address
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Cr rossword Bassi No. 461
BY ae W. LEWIS
ie |
— ri
A os
ae
td
if
5 Got a hole in your head? Perhaps
the ring-pin is responsible. (10)
6 All quiet in the attic. (5)
7 Is atonal music? (Blame it on the
negative atmosphere!) (7)
8 Puts in a questionable way * * *
extremely! (4)
13 Toss silica around, but not on the
right side. (10)
15 Sealing vessel, as far ag its use is
concerned! (6, 3)
16 Does a pant hang on each one? (9)
18 Mar, (7)
20 Implying the bell has sounded, but
there’s time out west for it. (7)
21 and 11. Spoke out when they came
< a (giving the punsters of the 20’s
Boyation on the lack of lubri-
cation), (4, 6
22 and 9. Don’t crush desserts—per-
formers are fond of them. (5, 7)
24 A study of the gulf, perhaps. (4)
a eee
SOLUTION TO PUZZLE No. 460
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PEACE, WAR, & YOU
BY JEROME DAVIS 4
With an Introduction by CLARENCE PICKETT
AMERICAN FRIENDS SERVICE COMMITTEE
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| PROFESSOR HALFORD LUCCOCK OF YALE,
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Free Speech Wins
Red Bank, N. ].
RIOR to last February 17, few of the
15,000 residents of this prosperous
Monmouth County business center had
ever heard of Dr. Theodore Brameld,
professor of philosophy at New York
University’s College of Education. But
by the time he got around to delivering
his talk on the “Moral and Spiritual
Values in Our Public Schools’ some six
weeks later, he had become Red Bank's
most controversial figure in many years.
Curiously enough, what provoked the
controversy was the desperate desire of
the Red Bank Board of Education to
avoid one. The story began late last win-
ter, when the board invited Dr. Brameld
to address a teachers’ “in-service” pro-
gram on February 21. But four days be-
fore the talk was scheduled to take
place, five members of the nine-man
board met in special session—it was a
Sunday morning—and decided to can-
cel it. Stanley Haviland, whose term as
president of the board was about to ex-
pire, explained to reporters that the
board was in receipt of information to
the effect that Dr. Brameld “had asso-
ciated himself voluntarily, or involun-
tarily, with persons, organizations, and
institutions regarded as anti-American.”
Mr. Haviland added: ‘““The appointment
with Dr. Brameld has aroused so much
controversy in town it is felt for the best
interest of the public that he not ap-
pear.”
It turned out that the chief witness
against the professor was Mrs. Henry
DeLand Strack, of the neighboring
borough of Little Silver, who presented
to the board at its special Sunday meet-
ing certain documentary evidence on Dr,
Brameld, most of it gleaned from the
1949 Tenney report to the California
legislature, The New York educator was
charged, among other things, with hav-
ing attended the “cultural conference”
at the Waldorf-Astoria in 1949 and
having been a member of the National
Council of the Arts, Sciences, and Pro-
fessions, the American League Against
War and Fascism, and the Board of
Directors of the Bureau for Intercultural
Education,
Dr. Brameld learned of the cancel-
AROUND THE
ee e ry
as
lation of his speech not from the board,
but from reporters. He immediately
called the Red Bank school authorities to
ask for a chance to state his case. He was
told the authorities had tried to reach
him the day before the special meeting
to ask him to appear, but could not lo-
cate him, Dr. Brameld vows he was
home all day.
Red Bankers learned of what had
occurred from their local morning news-
papers of February 18. It soon became
apparent that the board's hope of avoid-
ing “controversy” had proved abortive,
to say the least. When it met that eve-
ning to install Edmund J. Canzona as
president to succeed Mr. Haviland, more
than seventy-five persons—most of them
mad as hatters over what had happened
—crowded into the meeting room in the
Red Bank High School. Mr. Canzona,
gallantly taking over the torch of non-
freedom from his predecessor, tried to
appease the objectors by insisting that
“we haven't labeled anyone a Commu-
nist or a leftist; we didn’t feel it
proper to have a controversy.”
“Well, what have you got?” asked
someone in the audience,
In any case, the board refused to re-
consider its decision, but it hadn’t reck-
oned with an organization known as
the Red Bank Ministerium, which is
composed of fourteen clergymen and
Y. M. C. A. leaders of Red Bank and its
vicinity. The Ministerium issued a sharp
attack on the board members:
Their action was contrary to the best
interests of the church, which is surely
deemed one of the bulwarks against com-
munism. It seems an anomaly that the
meeting was convened on Sunday morn-
ing at eleven o’clock—the hour at which
the adherents of Christianity should be in
attendance at church. ...-
The clergymen commended the board
for “its zeal in its efforts to combat ~
communism,” but added: “The board
stands in just condemnation for the
tactics which they utilized in the can-
cellation of the speaker.”
With the support of many inde-
pendent-minded Red Bankers, the Min-
isterium worked on plans to hear Dr.
Brameld with or without the Board of
Education's approval, Katharine Elkus
White, Red Bank's first woman Mayor
,
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Paty ‘ nh * — ntti ks ot ae Wee
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and daughter of a former United States
Ambassador to Turkey, offered the”
clergymen the use of Borough Hall ~
for the Brameld talk. The offer was ac- ~
cepted on condition that efforts to have
the educator appear on a public-school
platform failed. At one stage it looked ©
as if the Ministerium would win total”
victory: it got the board to agree to-
permit the professor to talk at the
Mechanic Street School. But at the last
minute a newspaper in a neighboring ¥
town headlined a story, “Board on the
Spot,” which said that the board was }
about to submit to “pressure” and re- a
verse its decision. This made board mem- 7
bers so angry they reversed their planned ©
reversal and finally and irrevocably,”
closed all school doors to Dr. Brameld. ©
But the doors of Borough Hall re- ~
mained open, and on April 3 the New 4
York educator appeared before a
capacity crowd, while many who ©
couldn’t get into the small hall heard |
his speech broadcast from WJLK’s local 9
studio. In the course of his talk, Dr.
Brameld said: “I am against the Rus- —
sian system of education, The Russian §,
system is not education, but indoctrina-
tion.” Then, in answer to a question
posed from the floor by one of his an-
tagonists, Dr. Brameld said: “I don’t
know of anything of much importance
in a democracy that is not controversial.”
Many in the audience wondered whether [ft
members of the Board of Education were
listening. LEON ZUCKERMAN
[Leon Zuckerman works on the
Asbury Park (N. J.) Press.} _
Next Week's Nation
Lord Boyd Orr, former head |
of the United Nations Food
and Agriculture Organization -
(F. A. O), who played a lead-
ing role at the recent Interna-
tional Economic Conference
in Moscow, gives his impres- :
sions of the conference in an |/f,
article prepared exclusively |
for The Nation. |
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VoLumE 174
| be Shape of Things
2 THE THREAT OF SOME REPUBLICAN SENATORS
te pp onganine a “bipartisan” move to impeach the President
is not likely to get far. Its only effect, especially in this
€lection year, would be to solidify the broken ranks of
the Democrats and prevent any honest discussion of Mr.
y 'Troman’s seizure of the steel mills. The idea will prob-
ab y fizzle out, while the steel industry and its irate de-
ponders in Congress concentrate their heaviest fire on
ecretary Sawyers order raising steel workers’ wages.
t the constitutional issue itself is a real and serious one
which should not be lost in the fog of self-interested,
i elf-righteous propaganda now blanketing it. The Nation
| regards the President’s act as an unwise use of the execu-
tive power. Justification for it would have to be found
| in a national emergency so extreme as to override ordi-
|imary democratic procedures. But if such an emergency
|/existed—a claim we should certainly challenge—it
. E hould be recognized by Congress and special powers be
gtanted the President. This has not happened; it would
e hard to imagine it happening. Even the President's
Wat pe Powets which expired with the signing of the Japa-
. e peace treaty, were not broad enough to cover the
fis e of industrial plants. In the light of these facts it
‘Vseems to us that Mr. Truman made two serious mistakes:
lhe exaggerated the crisis and exaggerated even more
the! “inherent powers’ ’ with which the Constitution has
‘Vinvested him. This view was strengthened by the Presi-
z i ent’s suggestion that he might similarly seize news-
papers or radio stations if such an act was “‘for the best
if interests of the country.” Put plainly, we don’t like the
a bitrary exercise of executive authority even to force a
just‘ settlement of a labor dispute or to prevent a strike in
+
WHILE ELLIS R. ARNALL, DIRECTOR OF
Price Stabilization, has done an excellent job of refuting
‘|pthe steel companies’ claims and charges. In two energetic
statements Mr. Arnall repeated his assertion that the
pmpanies could absorb cost increases amounting to
. | atound a billion dollars or $13.60 a ton, more than twice
| Er amount of the recommended wage increase. Allow-
ving a $3 price increase under the Capehart amendment,
e avetage net profit per ton for the proposed contract
“oF am
it .
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: P FD
Pl Tao See ins
NEW YORK + SATURDAY «+ APRIL 26, 1952
— ™\ tion
AMERICA’S LEADING LIBERAL WEEKLY SINCE 1865
NUMBER 17
period of eighteen months, under the government’s wage
recommendation, would come to about $17—compared
to the average of $11 during ‘‘the very prosperous pre-
Korean base period.’” Mr. Arnall flatly rejected the in-
dustry’s claim that profits after taxes should be used as a
basis of calculation. This, he pointed out, would require
in “simple justice” that “personal taxes should be in-
cluded in measuring changes in living costs, and that.
workers would therefore be entitled to correspondingly
larger cost-of-living adjustments in their pay.” (Here is a
thought that may have escaped the steel bosses.) On any
basis of computation the favorable situation of the com-
panies is evident. The April Letter of the National City
Bank, for example, reporting on fifty-three iron and steel
companies, shows that while net profits after taxes
dropped by 12 per cent from 1950 to 1951, the com-
panies still made 12.3 per cent on their net assets last
year, a loss of only 3 per cent over 1950. Moreover, steel
did better in 1951 than industry as a whole; the profits
of 3,409 leading corporations of all kinds averaged 11.4
per cent, as compared with 13.4 per cent in 1950. These
figures should be borne in mind when listening to the
outraged protests of steel men and Senators over Mr.
Sawyet’s wage increase and Mr. Arnall’s recalcitrance on
the subject of prices. *
THE BASQUE DELEGATION IN NEW YORK IS
to be commended for having submitted the case of
the prisoners in Vitoria to the United Nations Commis-
sion on Human Rights. This is an effective counter to
the pro-Franco propaganda in this country which would
like to convince Americans that the only enemies of the
Spanish dictator are the “reds.” The arrested workers of
Vitoria, whose single offense was participation in the
hunger-inspired strike of last spring, are for the most part
Catholics, Their coming trial is already arousing strong
feeling in Catholic circles inside and outside Spain. But
other interesting developments have brought the Spanish
issue again into the foreground. The State Department
has felt itself obliged to suggest to the mayor of Madrid,
a known Falangist, that he would do well to give up his
official visit to New York, where various unions and
anti-Franco organizations were prepared to picket and
generally harass him. No doubt the department had been
informed of what happened to the Spanish Ballet, whose
appearance in Paris at the ThéAtre Chaillot was the object
Se es
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° IN THIS ISSUE ¢
EDITORIALS
The Shape of Things 393
Trouble for the Parties 395
Z
ARTICLES
A Priest Defends Civil Rights
by John J. McCullen 397
Dam the Missouri Floods!
by Richard G. Baumhoff 398
I'd Prefer Bill Douglas by Fred Rodell 400
Germany: Not Uniforms, But Unity by Carolus 402
Strife in the Textile Union by Ralph Lowenstein 404
BOOKS AND THE ARTS
Heat without Light by Jack Winocour 406
The Complete Actor by Joseph Wood Krutch 406
Masefield Looks Back by Ruthven Todd 408
Books in Brief 408
Films by Manny Farber 409
Music by B. H. Haggin 410
LETTERS TO THE EDITORS 412
CROSSWORD PUZZLE No. 462
by Frank W. Lewis opposite 412
EDITORIAL BOARD
Editor and Publisher: Freda Kirchwey
Editorial Director Director, Nation Associates
Carey McWilliams Lillie Shultz
Managing Editor: Victor H. Bernstein
Foreign Editor Literary Editor
J. Alvarez del Vayo Margaret Marshall
Financial Editor: Keith Hutchison
Drama: Joseph Wood Krutch ‘Music: B. H. Haggin
Copy Editor: Gladys Whiteside
Assistant Literary Editor: Caroline Whiting
Staff Contributors
Andrew Roth, Alexander Werth, Howard K. Smith, Carolus
Business Manager: Hugo Van Arx
Advertising Manager: Mary Simon
The Nation, published weekly and copyright, 1952, in th
by The Nation Associates, Inc,, 20 Vesey Street, New aren r z
Entered as second-class matter, December 13, 1879, at the Post Office
of New York, Now under the act of March 8, 1879, Advertising
_ and Circulation Representative for Continental Europe: Publicitas,
Subscription Pricea: Domestic—One year $7; Two years $12: Th
years $17, Additional postage per year: Foreign and Canadian $1.
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Information to Libraries: The Nation is indexed in Readers’ Guide
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Articles, Public Affairs Information Service, Dramatic Index,
es aos Sa : Ap iva ie Bs es ‘
rs ty 4 * 88 Ar Tt is ie fe fi =e ‘ ‘
fut Vea oa yr wAias a, - Been
of a hostile demonstration org: ized * Dy |
Republicans which many Frenchmen joined. In this co
nection we want to endorse the action of Jacob S. Potof-
sky, president of the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of —
America, who resigned as a director of the New York —
City Center because of the decision to send the New York —
City Ballet to Spain. In the cancellation of the visit of —
Madrid's mayor we have evidence of what organized —
democratic protest can accomplish. i
+
THE OTHER DAY ELIA KAZAN, NOTED STAGE ,
and movie director, confessed to the Un-American Activ- —
ities Committee that he had been a member of the Com- «
munist Party for a short time in the ’30’s, and then went
on to incriminate a number of his former associates, in-
cluding one who was dead and could not defend himself.
The next day Mr. Kazan, in a performance unique even ©
for our unique era, paraphrased part of his testimony in —
a newspaper advertisement which must have put him —
considerably out of pocket if not out of conscience. A ~
man must want to make moving pictures very much in-
deed to be willing so to degrade himself in public. Mr. —
Kazan cannot justify what he did on the grounds thathe 7
was saving his country from peril; all that he told hap- |
pened a long time ago, and none of those he incrimi-
nated—according to his own statement—were engaged,
so far as he knew, in espionage of any kind. Mr. Kazan
is himself a victim, of course, of a devilish conspiracy to
rob us of our integrity; we may shortly reach the point —
where the orgy of confessions and denunciations which 4
characterized the Soviet spy trials will no longer mystify
us, as they have done for two decades. But one would
have thought that Mr. Kazan, who in his time has made J
a good deal of money, not to speak of many good pic- —
tures, would have found the courage to withstand the ~
pressures on him, even if it meant being kicked out of
Hollywood. After all, ‘The Informer” has already been
filmed; even the redoubtable Mr. Kazan could hardly
improve upon it. 2
THE MISSOURI AND THE MISSISSIPPI ARE
once again making a contemptuous comment on our
failure to tame them—a task certainly not beyond the
capacity of the American people. The TVA has demon- —
strated how a great river can be brought under control
and its water employed to create wealth and life instead
of death and destruction. But as Richard G. Baumhoff —
shows in an article on page 398, appeals to false economy *
and the rivalries of vested interests, public and private,
have prevented the application of this lesson to the Mis-
souri Valley. Much money has been spent piecemeal
fashion and often with good results: the present flood
would have been still more serious if the great Fort —
Peck dam had not been built to hold back the swollen —
The NATION —
ES
integrate h takes into account flood
"navigation, power development, irrigation, and
e conservation will make the Missouri Valley safe and
ab eto reach its full economic potentialities. As the Presi-
_ dent said on returning from his inspection flight over the
flood area, it is time “to stop fooling around” and get
if. ion. In addition to needling Congress to provide
more funds for construction and to pass flood-insur-
‘ e legislation, Mr. Truman is reported as ready to
dopt the Hoover Commission’s proposal to take river
; Navigation and flood control away from the Army Engi-
_ neer Corps and concentrate it in the hands of the Rec-
nation Bureau of the Department of the Interior.
This move would eliminate much costly inter-agency
| rivalry, but if Reclamation is to justify the added respon-
[ sibilities it will have to improve on its record of recent
re In any case this reorganization will not solve the
] issouri Valley problem. The need there is still for an
e dependent authority, representative of both national
/ and regional interests. *
;
OTHING COULD BE MORE TIMELY THAN
ather McCullen’s statement on page 397 of this issue:
| “No one should be convicted of Communist sympathies
| on the word of a former Communist, unless proof is
| available to substantiate the charge.” Louis Budenz,
whose testimony as an informer has been given an
| aura of credibility by Catholic sponsorship, has pro-
| vided a glimpse of the golden harvests that can be reaped
_ these days by the voluble ex-Communists whose religious
ic onvictions do not include an overly sensitive appreciation
| of the Commandment about bearing false witness. In
| ‘the last seven years Mr. Budenz has, by his own account,
| picked up loose change totaling $71,000 for various writ-
. ij gs, lectures, and denunciations in many of which he has
I sought to incriminate other persons. Average annual
| earnings of $10,000 are not remarkable in a season of in-
| fation; but they are large enough, all the same, to suggest
) th at the ex-Communist who denounces his former col-
i leagues, and falsely denounces those who were never his
colleagues, often does so to his personal financial advan-
\ tage. We commend to Mr. Budenz the final sentences of
(Father McCullen’s sermon: “Every Catholic—especially
pthe Catholic writer—should be distinguished by a love of
j justice and freedom and by a spirit of charity in his writ-
ings. Only in this way can we give testimony to the great
truth which is ours to give to the world.”
*~
BOLIVIA MUST BE WATCHED~ ATTENTIVELY
| | © see whether the courageous masses that won their
bloody rebellion against the ruling military junta are to
be loyally served by the new regime or betrayed, as so
ften happens in Latin America. The revolt was remark-
pr il 26, 1952
i
1
wa me ee Wer Mh). pe ee i *
" oie precisely eeutise victory was achieved by civilians —
_ fighting in the streets after the military leaders who
launched the action had given up the struggle as lost. The
casualties have been estimated at more than 1,000 dead—
a terrible toll for an uprising in a small country. Uncer-
tainty about the aftermath stems from the personality
and political position of Victor Paz Estenssoro, whose
return to Bolivia from his Argentine exile was wel-
comed with disquieting shouts of “Long Live Paz Estens-
soro!”” and “Long Live Perdén!’’ The new president
shared power in a regime which was overthrown by an-
other popular uprising in 1946. His relations with Perén
are supposed to be friendly and his rule may well repre-
sent that mixture of dictatorship and demagogic ap-
peal to the masses that characterize the Argentine re-
gime, Paz Estenssoro’s first act was to be the appointment
of a commission to study the nationalization of tin,
Bolivia's main source of wealth. The people apparently
intend to see that their new president yields them the —
fruits of their revolution. Led by the tin miners, the
Bolivian workers have united to press for nationalization
not only of the mines, but of the railroads; their program
also includes agrarian reform. How will Paz Estenssoro,
who owes his position to these workers, treat their
demands? .
OUR GOOD WISHES GO TO JUDSON KING,
who has just celebrated his eightieth birthday. Few
Americans have had more to do with establishing and
vindicating the vital principles of our brand of democ-
racy than Mr. King. His is one of the great names in the
conservation movement; in the history of the fight to se-
cure the initiative, referendum, and recall; and in further-
ing the cause of public ownership, In these times it is a
pleasure to recall the fact that he was also one of the
leaders in the successful fight to curb the witch-hunting
propensities of Attorney-General A. Mitchell Palmer.
Would that more members of the younger generation of
American liberals had Mr. King’s courage and energy!
Trouble for the Parties
OVERNOR ADLAI E. STEVENSON’S decision
not to seek the Democratic nomination—a decision
to be regretted on all counts—gives added emphasis to
the possibility that this campaign may strike many Ameri-
can votets as meaningless. The people can decide issues
only when they are offered reasonably clear-cut choices.
As long as Roosevelt’s leadership dominated the Demo-
cratic Party, the people were offered a choice on vital |
foreign and domestic issues. In 1948 the candidacy of
Henry Wallace helped to maintain the Democratic Party
as a real alternative to the Republican-Dixiecrat coalition
by forcing Truman to resist the Dixiecrats. But the Presi-
395.
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dent has since so dissipated the Sodesrdl bettage that
the coalition now threatens outright capture of both
parties.
In the Democratic Party the pattern is clear. Today
neither labor nor the liberals nor the minorities (notably
Negroes) have a feasible alternative to the Democratic
Party. The dominant blocs in the Democratic convention
will be the two that have the greatest bargaining power:
the Southern Bourbons and the city bosses most strongly
influenced by Catholic power. Now that President Tru-
man has withdrawn, the differences between these ele-
ments can be reconciled without too much trouble.
Cardinal Spellman and James Byrnes are in basic agree-
ment on foreign policy and Chairman Frank McKjnney
has already projected a plan by which the explosive civil-
rights issue may be compromised before the convention.
Not only are both blocs subject to much the same eco-
nomic controls, but there is a natural affinity between the
leaders. It was Senator James Eastland of Mississippi
who started the clamor for concentration camps and
J. Howacd McGrath who authorized their construction.
The difficulties in the way of nominating a liberal
at Chicago were clearly foreshadowed in McKinney's
statement on April 7 in which he “warned” Governor
Stevenson that no one could get to the White House
unless he was “willing to work for it.” Other party lead-
ers joined the chorus of “warnings,” including Robert B.
Blaikie, insurgent Tammany leader, who told the
Governor that his testimony in the Hiss trial would be
used against him if he sought the nomination. In the
short interval between the President's withdrawal and
Governor Stevenson’s decision not to seek the nomina-
tion it had been made fairly clear that someone like Sena-
tor Paul Douglas would be a more acceptable nominee
to the Southern Bourbons—Senator Russell Long of
Louisiana had already proposed him—and to the cleric-
advised bosses of the Northern city machines. Any can-
didate acceptable to the leaders of these dominant blocs
would have to take a position on foreign and most
domestic issues that would be hard to distinguish from
the views, say, of General Eisenhower. Senator Douglas,
for example, had actually proposed General Eisenhower
as the Democratic nominee at a Jefferson Day dinner in
Los Angeles in January. Almost to the degree, therefore,
that these blocs are appeased, the Democrats will cease
to offer the people a real choice on issues and candidates.
The same pressures have begun to be felt, in a some-
what different way, in the Republican Party. No matter ©
whom the Republicans nominate, the party strategy will
be to break the Solid South; and to do this the door must
be kept open to the Dixiecrats. The Republicans might be
tempted to try to recapture the Negro vote were it not
for two considerations. Recent elections have shown that
where, for example, a proposed FEPC ordinance is on
the ballot for approval or rejection, the Democrats will
396
See
cans cannot afford to become the champions ol 0! fc
rights. Most Negroes belong to the working class a
have come increasingly to identify their interests wit
the interests of labor as a whole. Just as the Demo-
crats should expel the Dixiecrats but feel that they cannol
afford to, so the Republicans should recapture the Negr
vote but fear that the price would be too high. The Re-
publicans have also begun to feel the pressure of Catholic”
power. If the Democrats are haunted by McCarran, the
Republicans are worried by McCarthy. Somehow th
Republicans must cut into the second-generation Euro
pean-immigrant vote in the urban centers of the North,
which is largely a Catholic vote, just as they must break
the Solid South.
The fact that both major parties are in danger of
being captured by the same forces creates an oppor-
tunity for the Democrats if they will seize it. If th
Democrats want to win in November, they will try to
find a candidate like Justice William O. Douglas who-
would challenge any nominee the Republicans might se*
lect on both foreign and domestic issues. Unfortunately 7
Justice Douglas is not a candidate and now Governor
Stevenson has taken himself out of the running. But
the popular response to Senator Kefauver’s engagingly
direct and unconventional campaigning gives promise
that, if given a clear-cut platform, he would make a
strong nominee.
As though in anticipation of a Dixiecrat victory at
Chicago, the Stars and Bars flutters today, from army
tents in Korea and rooftops all over the South; the Dixie
Division marches in Confederate uniforms and school-
boys from coast to coast have succumbed to the “rebel- |
lion” by buying Confederate army caps. The Old South —
is on the march. The likelihood that the Bourbons can ”
dictate conditions at the Democratic convention can no 7
longer be dismissed as fantastic. Events have created a”
special opportunity for them, which they have been
quick to sense and are well prepared to exploit. On the
other hand, the liberal elements of the former Roose-
velt coalition seem to be living in a political dream-world;
many of them have yet to realize that the New Deal is J
dead and that the Fair Deal was still-born. A new politi-
cal world is emerging, with new issues, relationships, §
dimensions, and the voters are well ahead of the poli-
ticians of both parties in their awareness of this fact.
In an editorial in our issue of April 5 (Mr, Truman Steps
Aside), we pointed out that there were difficulties in the
way of nominating Governor Stevenson which his
backers did not sense. We have elaborated on these diffi-
culties in this statement in the hope that the liberal ele-
ments of the Roosevelt coalition will recognize the neces-
sity of securing unity now on a strategy and program for
the Democratic convention in July.
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The following sermon was delivered on March 30 by the
| Reverend John McCullen of St. Ann’s Roman Catholic
Church, Fremont, Ohio. A graduate of the University of
} Notre Dame, Father McCullen has been curate at St. Ann's
| for the last five years. The sermon was apparently inspired by
an attack on Justice William O. Douglas which appeared in a
Catholic publication.
The Nation has rarely published sermons but we publish
_ this one with genuine pleasure and also as a public service. It
is an excellent and timely statement on an issue of great im-
HE people of the United States have at last become
# alarmed about the menace of Communist infiltra-
| tion within our borders. This awareness, which is a very
q good thing in itself, creates another danger. There is a
| real danger today that in our zeal to ferret out and ex-
| _ pose the hidden Communist agent and spy we will adopt
| methods of our opponents and seem to act on the false
| principles of the Communists themselves. We may de-
| _ stroy the liberty we cherish if we try to defend it in the
i wrong way. We must uphold our traditional American
| civil rights which are the legal foundations of our liberty.
_ We must maintain the right of all citizens to be free from
unfounded and libelous attack, even those citizens with
_ whoin we disagree or whom we may suspect.
We Catholics should be foremost among all groups
_ in the United States in supporting civil rights for all.
| Unfortunately many Catholic voices have been silent in
i that cause, Our religious belief obligates us to advocate
' social justice for all, and civil rights—the rights of all to
] a fair trial and to enjoy the freedoms guaranteed by our
|. Constitution—are a fundamental part of social justice.
| Beyond this general reason there is the practical consid-
}\ eration that we are a minority group—in some parts of
_ the United States a very small minority. As a minority
| we have a personal stake in America remaining the land
' i. of the free; if the liberties of any group are to be cur-
| tailed, we may be next on the list.
| _ These reflections are caused by articles in Catholic
. Mewspapers and magazines and by talks given in vari-
_|. ous Catholic-sponsored forums. The tendency of these
articles and lectures is to brand anyone who disagrees
_ with the majority opinion as a Communist, or at least a
Communistic sympathizer. Many .of these talks and
| articles come directly or indirectly from ex-Communists.
This is a source which should be regarded with consider-
| able reserve. No one should be convicted of Communist
| sympathies on the word of a former Communist unless
i
ij
| proof is available to substantiate the charge.
Ap i] 26, 1952
2
Peete
Defends Givil Rights
BY JOHN J. McCCULLEN
Me ee Fy ee ak
ae
portance. But there is special significance in its insistence ow
the proposition that Catholics should be foremost among alt
groups in the United States in supporting civil rights for all.”
Father McCullen’s is doubiless a minority point of view
among American Catholics; but it is in line with the tradition
that includes such memorable statements as the address given
in 1947 by Cardinal Stritch at the Chicago dinner in observ-
ance of the one hundredth anniversary of the birth of John
Peter Altgeld—an occasion on which Cardinal Stritch shared
the program with Justice Douglas.
An example of unsupported charges of a serious
nature was the articles in many Catholic newspapers sug-
gesting that Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas
sympathizes with communism because he has several
times ruled in court in favor of Communists or alleged
Communists. A more charitable explanation of the Jus~
tice’s action would be that he believed everyone should |
have a right to a fair trial, and the right to hold the belief
that is his, even if that person be suspected of commu-
nism, All of the cases in which the Justice ruled in favor
of “‘radicals’’ were civil-rights cases—that is, these cases
concerned the right of the accused to have a fair trial or
to exercise some other civil right.
American history provides an interesting parallel to
the action of Justice Douglas. John Altgeld, who was.
Governor of Illinois around the turn of the century,
released several anarchists from prison because they had
not had a fair trial. For this action the Governor was
driven from public life. Today we realize that he was.
right, that he was a martyr to the principle that even the
most unpopular individual is deserving of all the rights
of a citizen.
In many civil-rights cases which came up before his
death, Justice Frank Murphy, the Jast Catholic to sit on
the supreme bench, sided with the view of Justice Doug-
las; both men have been outstanding advocates of civil
liberty. That is not to say that these men were always
right in their opinjons—that is why we have nine judges
on the Supreme Court rather than one. But we should —
not accuse these high officials of evil when there is a
more just and more logical explanation for their deci-
sions. We certainly need men with a passion for the
liberties and freedom of the individual in a world where
big business, big labor, and big government all tend to
deprive men of their rights.
The Eighth Commandment—Thou shalt not lie—for-
bids us to make statements damaging to the reputation of
others unless we can prove these statements. No Senator,
DOT
no lecturer, no writer is exempted Net that Samak’
ment. It is a cowardly and shameful thing to smear any
man—and especially any public official—with charges
which are unproved and unprovable. If the policy of an
official has been a mistake, it should be changed; but that
does not give us the right to say that the official was dis-
honest or disloyal. If a man in public life has been
praised by the Communists—as Justice Douglas has oc-
Dam the Missouri Floods!
aaa ny “er
’ we should \d check to s how ofte
sale aitacles have bitterly criticized him befo
conclude that he is the friend of our enemies. Eve
Catholic—especially the Catholic writer—should be dis-
tinguished by a love of justice and freedom and a :
spirit of charity in his writings. Only in this way can
we give testimony to the great truth which is ours to give
to the world,
‘i .
7
St. Louis, Missourt
TAGGERING Loss in Flood Reported’’—''500,000
Displaced, Great Flood Moves into the Missouri”
—'Project to Curb Missouri Basin Spurred by Latest
Disaster’’"—“Truman Inspects Flood from Air, Calls It
Nation’s Worst Disaster.”
These are not today’s headlines. They are taken from
the newspapers of the third week in July, 1951. As in-
exorably as spring thaws follow winter snows in the
Rockies where it rises, the Missouri bursts its banks and
_ spreads desolation. And always the floods “'spur’’ projects
which never seem to get completed, and Presidential
flights over the Big Muddy become almost as com-
monplace as his cruises on the Potomac.
Why is this situation permitted to continue year after
year? Lack of money, or unwillingness to spend it, is
only part of the answer. Involved also are questions of
prestige and control, of states’ rights vs. regional rights,
of regional rights vs. federal rights, of interdepart-
mental jealousies, and—inevitably—the issue of public
versus private electric power. The result has been that,
while several large dams have been built and several
more are planned, no over-all blueprint for the salva-
tion of this one-sixth part of the nation’s area has yet
been agreed upon. Of committees, councils, and commis-
sions, the Missouri Valley basin has more than enough;
what it needs are more dams, levees, run-off and irriga-
tion systems, and power plants. .
At the moment, the following major bodies are in-
volved in various types of Missouri-basin planning:
_ 1. A new Missouri Basin Survey Commission, created
by executive order of President Truman, is beginning
work on a report scheduled for completion at the
beginning of 1953. Meanwhile the powerful House
Apptopriations Committee, headed by Representative
Clarence Cannon of Missouri, has been refusing to pro-
MR. BAUMHOFF, a member of the staff of the St. Louis
Post-Dispatch since 1918, is author of “The Dammed Mis-
souri Valley,” published last year by Alfred A. Knopf.
398
BY RICHARD G. BAUMHOFF
vide money to start any new basin projects until the —
survey commission's report is ready. |
2. The moribund Regional Committee for a Missouri —
Valley Authority (to be modeled after the TVA), en- ©
couraged by the creation of the survey commission, is —
seeking money from liberal sources to renew its ac-
tivities. |
3. The Missouri River States Committee, comprising
the governors and technical aides from the ten states of —
the basin region, has authorized the Council of State —
Governments to draft a big-scale interstate compact in
the hope of providing a new type of basin management.
4. The President's old Water Resources Policy Com-
mission recently published the final section of its report —
calling for legislation creating a system of fifteen river- ~
basin commissions for the major regions of ‘the nation, —
including one for the Missouri.
5. The Federal Bureau of the Budget is moving pon-
derously to draw up legislation calling for its own ver- —
sions of basin flood-reclamation control.
6. The Missouri Basin Interagency Committee, an un- —
official coordinating body comprising the governors of |
the ten Missouri basin states, plus representatives of the
Departments of Agriculture and Commerce, the Reclama-
tion Bureau, the Army Engineer Corps and the Federal |
Security Agency, has shown surprising ability, up toa
point, to resolve controversies and achieve cooperation. ©
Under its aegis, more than a billion dollars has been |
spent on basin projects since World War II. But the J’
body has no official executive authority, and even some ~
of its own members are already worrying about who shall —
have the right to turn the water on and off at the dams_ [pit
once they are built. a
This amazingly complicated situation on what may be J"
termed the blueprint level is paralleled, to some degree,
on the operating level, where the agencies in the field—
the Army Engineets, the Department of Agriculture and —
the Interior Department’s Bureau of Reclamation—are 9"
fighting not only the river, but one another. Agriculture, §f*
interested primarily in soil conservation, retardation of |
=r ae
m omy ‘But it is meeting stiff opposition
Pid he ess ees who are also trying to high-
| jack some of the Kansas projects of the Bureau of Recla-
| mation on the ground that they are flood-control measures
| and thus properly within the province of the army.
_ Action on the vitally needed flood control for the
| lower valley—hardest hit by this
AOpen. In general, the commission is iierlede as
favoring MVA concepts for developing the basin.
Aside from the intrinsic difficulties of its job, the com-
mission faces the prospect of carrying on its work
during one of the most turbulent Presidential election
campaigns in history, when many of the officials with
whom it must deal will be preoccupied with fences rather
| year’s floods—has been stalled ica =
| in spite of the terrific object les- gis" eu: : aor
_ son of last year's catastrophe. sit US 9 = ‘ mick. MISSOURI RIVER BASIN
| New irrigation in the middle | ee ey
and upper valley, with only a NGS ema "4 Parra 8 a :
miew exceptions, has failed to Eo! Fismayt
| materialize; high costs and a J ; , . SORTHRDAKOT
BR eopalation lulled by a better- A | ae aod ad & wey a}. f
. than-average rainfall in the area aa? soigy! ~ : SOUTH g } ;
for the last decade have dis- Awydn MBS Sm Fin het
| €ouraged progress. At the same Frdam \7 MING " Oe ? oe Zh oN
: time, demand for power along Nt | gm ; Fr: i cl =
the fiver grows steadily; ex- é<) by rags \ aa So.
RONG Fe Sh 7,
| tensive steam plants will be \ ee Sl | N E B RAS K A *
| needed, in addition to hydro- fnehs So 2
| electric plants, to assure suffi- y mis Kis Amar c
3 cient current. But on this front, jf OLORADG! a MissOuR fat
_the power lobby is keeping a
| close watch on basin activities,
| and the whole struggle over
what shall be done about the
| Missouri valley is keyed, to
I a surprising degree, to the is-
: _ sue of public vs. private power.
e Many of these problems were foreseen by supporters of
| a Missouri Valley Authority which would put essential
| control over basin development into the hands of the fed-
eral government. Enthusiasm for this plan was at its
I height in the 1940's, To ward off its adoption, Congress
_ quietly enacted the so-called Pick-Sloan plan in 1944, a
amalgam of schemes worked out by the Army
; iisinects and the Bureau of Reclamation. The Pick-
| Sloan program, enlarged and altered, became the present
| interagency scheme, supporters of which denounced the
_MVA plan as “socialistic” and involving the creation of
* a “super-state.” MVA backers, on the other hand, would
}
oy 51
it
i
-
| cles overnight. Both viewpoints, of course, are nonsense;
: ‘the truth lies in between.
| _ kt is this truth, presumably, which the President's new
7 Missouri Basin Survey Commission, now beginning its
i york, will seck to find. The commission is empowered to
“hold public hearings, study present and proposed plans
| and, in effect, draw up a plan of its own. It consisis of
Ive laymen, three Senators and three Representatives;
_ kts chairman is James E. Lawrence, editor of the Lincoln
f _ ebraska) Star, and Senator Hennings of Missouri is
? 26, 1952
Drawn for The Nation from a map by
Conrey in “The Daimmed Missouri Valley. 5
; _have everyone believe that its creation would work mira-
than rivers. Moreover, it must make its report by next
January 3, on the eve of the departure from the White
House of the President who created it. And no one can
foretell what kind of Congress and what kind of Presi- |
dent will be in office to receive the report.
The commission’s progress will be watched with keen
interest by many groups, especially by the Missouri River
States Committee, which from the beginning has op-
posed the commission as a move to foist an “authority”
over the basin, and by the MVA Regional Committee,
which will try to capitalize on its work.
There is growing public realization of the need
for unified, regional management of the Missouri-basin.
program. The real issue is the authority to be granted to
such an agency. Will it be a real valley organization, sub-
ject, like the TVA, to Congress, but not to the whims of
Washington bureaucracy? The statement has been made
repeatedly that any new device to deal with the Missouri
basin must include adequate representation and official
voice for the ten states of the valley. No denial of this
assertion has been heard. It may be regarded as one of
the fundamentals to be incorporated into whatever plan
is adopted, and in this a precedent would be set for the
nation.
$99...
See SSS
et >
[PSHE RES eR Ti SET AEN REI
ened eee
4 F
a yh. * of Se ty
aL. + ir Py wel s
Id me refer Bi 1D
T IS one of the tragedies of our time that William
O. Douglas will not be the next President of the
United States. The next President of the United States
—or so every sign seems to point—will be Dwight D.
Eisenhower. And the tragedy is high-lighted by even
a quick comparison of the political characters of the
General and the Justice—of the man who will likely
be President and the man who ought to be.
The military man has long worn, like Joseph, a coat of
many colors. Four years ago a group of left-of-Truman
liberals wanted to draft him for the Democratic nomina-
tion; only a few months ago, a Democratic President
offered him the succession on a platter; today, his Re-
publicanism suddenly rampant, he is jubilantly backed
by assorted G, O. P. stalwarts, some of whom, on
domestic issues, are well to the right of Robert Taft.
Indeed the General has been so cautiously noncommittal,
even when he has been free to speak his political piece,
that a recent series of newspaper articles, purporting to
reveal his views, made headlines with such stuff as his
support of democracy, free enterprise, and sound fiscal
policy and his opposition to communism, corruption in
government—and, presumably, the man-eating shark. An
extremely able G. H. Q. administrator with a knack for
negotiation and an engaging grin, Eisenhower has ap-
proached the White House with a crablike coyness as the
hero whom nobody, not even Taft, hates and nobody
really knows.
By striking contrast, the civilian government servant
has long and courageously flaunted his political colors,
hate them who will. There is no doubt where Justice
Douglas stands on every important issue of our day.
In his Supreme Court opinions—dishearteningly often
in dissent—and increasingly in extracurricular writings
and speeches, he has etched out a clear and militantly
liberal political credo such as no other man high in
public life can match.
Conservative and convention-bound critics of Doug-
las’s forthright off-the-court expressions have accused
_ him of subtly campaigning for the Presidency from the
FRED RODELL is professor of Law at Yale University.
While sharing Mr. Rodell’s enthusiasm for Justice Douglas,
we should like to make it clear that the views expressed in
this article about Governor Stevenson and Senator Kefauver
are not those of the Editors of The Nation and also that
we do not accept his evaluation of Sidney Hillman or the
role that Hillman played in 1944 (see: The Battle of Chicago
by Freda Kirchwey, The Nation, July 29, 1944).
400
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BY ERED RODELL
bench. The charge is doubly absurd. Again unlike’
Eisenhower, Douglas not only has flatly refused to rum
for the office but has sharply discouraged all admirers,
politically potent and amateur alike, who have asked his —
tacit permission to stage a campaign in which he need~
take no part. More significantly still, and omce more.
in telling contrast to the amiable General, the views
which Douglas has been stating so strongly—in par-
ticular, his ringing defense of civil liberties at home
against the onslaughts of the proliferating witch-hunt
and his castigation of a military-minded foreign policy
that would try to stop communism with guns (and
dollars) alone—are precisely the views that no elective
office-seeker in his right mind would utter in the face —
of the conform-or-else anti-Communist atmosphere of —
the times. *]
Yet if American liberals had to choose today the two |
most crucial issues on which to stand and be counted, q
as a matter of fighting principle and to hell with polit- ’
ical expediency, it would be hard to get away from the /
exact pair Douglas has chosen: the decline of freedom ~
at home and the dependence on naked power abroad.
Moreover, Douglas is the only man of national stature _
who has spoken out boldly, officially, and ex-officio q
against either of these deepening dangers, much less 9.
both.
Thus, a recent darling of the down-the-line Tru-
manites, the clean and correct and slightly sterile Gov- |
ernor Stevenson, is so undeviating a devotee of the 9
Administration's foreign policy and is so much more #
concerned, on the domestic front, about inflation and —
Washington bureaucracy than about the Bill of Rights —
that he might also be called, in his orthodox internation-
alism-plus-efficient-conservatism, a Democratic Dewey.
The coon-capped Senator Kefauver, who hopes to sidle
into the White House on a record of being opposed to f°
corruption and crime, is soft on civil liberties as befits
a border-state candidate and has yet to peep in mildest
protest against our might-makes-right philosophy over-
seas. Senator Kerr, Senator Russell, Senator Douglas,
Senator X—all of them blindly follow the Truman-
Acheson foreign policy or worse; not one of them
has talked up for freedom of speech and thought against
what Justice Douglas calls ‘‘the black silence of fear”
that overhangs the nation. d
Next to these men with their mild, safe brands of §"!
party-line liberalism, the Justice looms up like a giant, 9°"
For thirteen years now, on the Supreme Court, he has #™
teamed with Justice Black to uphold the highest Holmes- ff 4
The Nation §'
|
a ¥ 7 A |
F
ag
few of | brethren, h not lost in the easy
ufity of the bench his strong sense of outrage at
He is frankly sympathetic to labor, to consumers, to
| farmers, to small business men, to small investors, and he
| would read and build the law, wherever possible, in their
| behalf; he is frankly suspicious of powerful individuals
_ and corporate colossi who would use the law to circum-
| vent regulation, to escape taxes, to further in myriad ways
| the advantage of the economically strong over the eco-
| nomically weak. Like Justice Brandeis, to whose seat he
succeeded—and who te-
— marked at the time, “I
aR \
8
oe
/P z=
©
°
6
6
¢
|
wanted you to be here in
my place’—Douglas has
been the court’s top finan-
- cial expert, unfooled by
even the fanciest attempts
7 at dollars-and-cents skul-
duggery. Impatient with
=) petty legalisms and fusty
ID generalities, his no-non-
t
; jugular.”
L Of late, Douglas’s judi-
Justice Douglas cial fire has been turned
f more and more frequently
| and forcefully against the narrowing, in the name of
| “national security,” of the First (and Fourteenth);
_Amendment’s freedoms. His scornful dissent in the
_ Dennis case last term—against the Smith-act conviction
q freedom-of-speech dissents of the past. His shocked pro-
7 test against the court’s recent benedictions of guilt-by-
| association, in upholding New York’s infamous Feinberg
| | Jaw, is as eloquent a defense of academic freedom as
‘| has ever been penned.
It is undoubtedly because his (and Justice Black’s)
} judicial battle to save our civil liberties is a losing Jegal
“cause today—thanks to the unconcern mixed with
i: cowardice of the Truman-Vinson court—that Douglas
| has carried his fight to a wider front. Through articles
and speeches he has made himself the nation’s foremost
spokesman against “‘loyalty” laws, “loyalty” oaths, ‘‘loy-
alty”’ checks, “loyalty” programs, and all the apparatus
"| which inevitably equates a frightened and stereotyped
‘| orthodoxy of thought with genuine loyalty. His faith in
| our fundamental freedoms is matched by his contempt
| for our native Communists, whose supposed threat to the
"|, gation he sates as absurd.
; But no man in public life understands so well as
2 an
/
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;
~
|
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ls
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sense opinions, in majority
| of the eleven, Communists whom he dubbed “miserable
or dissent, invariably re-
veal “an instinct for the
| merchants of unwanted ideas’—ranks with the great
}
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dates the rather sudden concern of our policy-makers
with that continent during the past decade. He was, for
instance, one of the original backers of James Yen's
mass-education movement for China, and he still hopes
to see it restored and spread throughout the whole of
Asia, and Africa as well. He has spent his past three
summers in rugged trips through the Near and Far East,
getting down to the grass-roots, talking to the people as
few foreigners have ever done, Out of these trips have
come two books (one as yet unpublished) and articles
with such titles as Why We Are Losing Asia.
Here again Douglas has become the nation’s fore-
most advocate of a dynamic instead of a static foreign
policy—of an approach that would actively steer the
world’s underprivileged masses toward democracy, rather
than resting content with attempted “containment” of
communism. Almost two years before President Truman
announced his Point Four plan, Douglas was publicly
urging the export, throughout the world, of American
technical skills and know-how, and American backing
for health and education and Jand-reform programs—
“to help other peoples to help themselves,” Today, hav-
ing seen on the spot how Point Four assistance, like
Marshall Plan money, is too regularly restricted to ruling
cliques and rarely trickles down to the people, Douglas
is strong for what he calls Point Five,
Point Five would be active United States encourage-
ment and support of revolution by the Eastern masses
against their ancient landlords. Point Five would line up
the United States, in the spirit of '76, in the camp of the
peoples who are ripe and ready to throw off the economic
subjugation of centuries, The seductive appeal of commu-
nism to such people, as Douglas knows first-hand, is its
promise, however false, of land to own and no rent to
pay and more food to eat. Such an appeal, says Douglas,
can never be effectively countered by the military might,
however necessary, and the dollar diplomacy, however
free-handed, and the talk of democracy, however elo-
quent, on which the Truman-Acheson foreign policy
stakes its all.
It is this sort of informed realism plus bold idealism
that sets Douglas far apart from the crowd-pleasing, me-
tooing Eisenhowers and Stevensons and Kefauvers, and
that has given Douglas, throughout his career, the mark
of greatness.
HEN he went to the Supreme Court in 1939 at
the age of forty—the youngest Justice in more
than a century—Douglas had quite a career behind him.
Born in Minnesota, the son of a poor, itinerant Presbyter-
ian preacher; reared in the state of Washington, where he
helped support his widowed mother while working his
401
Douglas the true threat of communism in other parts
of the world. (“Bullets,” he has said, “stop armies but
they do not kill ideas.”) His interest in Asia long pre-
~
SE aS EIT
Sy
ees
Se a
ite ia Pes tot eat ee Ti
way through school and college with ee
sion of jobs that ranged from newsboy to berry- nukes
to window-washer to sheep-herder; graduated from Co-
lumbia Law School (after riding East on a freight-car
to get there) number two in a class that included, much
farther down in the rankings, a certain Thomas E.
Dewey; rejecting the lure of a promising and lucrative
Wall Street law practice to enter teaching—Douglas,
aged thirty-two, his own LL.B. barely five years old,
was named Sterling Professor of Law at Yale,
But Yale and teaching could not hold for long,
despite Robert M. Hutchins’s description of him as “the
nation’s outstanding law teacher,” the intellectual dy-
namo that Douglas was—and is. He was soon dividing
his time between his classes and an exhaustive investi-
gation of corporate reorganizations for the new-born
SEC—two normally full-time jobs, The brilliance of his
eventual report to the SEC led President Roosevelt to ap-
point him a Commissioner; the tough-minded expertness
of his work as Commissioner brought him elevation to
the SEC chairmanship; the executive skill and courage he
displayed as chairman, as in bringing the New York
Stock Exchange to heel (he was rated by many as the
New Deal's finest administrator), was rewarded by ap-
pointment to the Supreme Court—all this within the
space of less than three years.
That Douglas's meteoric career could reach its zenith
on the Supreme Court—that he would remain a Justice
for twenty-five or thirty years and then retire—is some-
thing that nobody who knew the man believed, with the
possible exception of Douglas himself. Yet events ever
. since have pointed precisely that way. When F. D. R.
sounded him out for the vice-presidential nomination in
1940, Dougias made it clear he wanted to stay in his new
judicial job, and Henry Wallace got the nod by default.
Germany: Not Uniforms But Unity |
Bonn, Germany
N NOVEMBER 3, 1950, the Soviet Union sent its
war-time allies a diplomatic note calling for a Big
Four conference; on the agenda was a peace treaty with
Germany. Moscow laid down two cardinal conditions for
this treaty: permanent demilitarization of Germany, and
renunciation of the Atlantic defense pact. Failure to agree
on these two points brought the rupture of the subse-
quent Paris negotiations.
On March 10 the Western powers again were the re-
CAROLUS is the pseudonym of The Nation's correspondent
in West Germany.
402
_ Germany was to be prohibited from joining a mili- —
eh aa oles first as ‘unio
mate and presumable successor in ‘the fimo” note |
sent to the Chicago convention; but Hannegan and F
man and Flynn, three bosses who feared Douglas's i
corruptible independence, contrived—with the help of —
Douglas's own abstention from the arena—to put across :
F. D. R.'s second choice instead, The bosses were not —
afraid of Harry Truman.
In 1948 it was Truman himself, impressed by the
spontaneous show of strength for Douglas at Phila- |
delphia, who begged the Justice to accept the other spot |
on the Democratic ticket. Nor was Douglas's firm re- |
fusal based, as has been reported, on a why-bother feel- —
ing that Truman could not win; rather, it was founded —
on a conviction that he could serve both the country —
and the cause of liberalism better on the court than in the '
Throttlebottom job of presiding officer of the Senate.
Thus Justice Douglas, three times in a row, could ©
have made himself the Democratic heir apparent had he ~
so much as lifted an assenting finger in his own behalf.
That finger remains unlifted still, even though the avail-. ©
able prize this year is first, not second, place on the |
party ticket, 4
And if the Democratic nomination for President goes |
to somebody like Stevenson or Kefauver, or to some i
other comparatively inoffensive comparative second-rater,
the Presidency will probably go to the equally inof- —
fensive General Eisenhower. Meanwhile, the man who |
has never failed or hesitated to put principle above —
politics, who has spoken out in strong and splendid —
solitude on the bie issues of our time, whose insight —
and courage and indigenous American liberalism are un-
matched in public life today, will remain, for at least
another four years, Mr. Justice Douglas, |
BY CAROLUS-
cipients of a note from the East calling for a four-power
conference on the question of a peace treaty with Ger-
many. But this time the conditions were different: first, a
unified, free Germany was to be permitted a national
army for defense purposes; second, this armed and unified: 9p
tary alliance directed against any nation that fought Ger-"
many during World War II. The phrasing was different hij
but the Soviet aim remained unchanged: to prevent Ger- i
many’s participation in NATO. Ah
What was the West’s answer to Soviet Russia’s main yy
conditions? Like the U. S. S. R., the Western powers af- |
firm their desire to see a free and unified Germany cre-
The Nation |},
tuted German army ae herald the rebirth of
nan militarism and constitute a threat to the en-
oned European defense community, set up to deter
ageression and maintain peace. On the issue of NATO,
th 1¢ West says, in direct contradiction to Moscow, that a
unified Germany must have the right, before or after con-
clusion of a peace treaty, to join any grouping that ad-
heres to the principles of the United Nations.
How does the average German react to this question-
and-answer game between East and West?
_ Germany's man-in-the-street derides the obvious dis-
honesty, the blatant hypocrisy of both notes. Hard hit in
” war and post-war days, he shudders at the deadly game
se played by East and West with himself as the pawn and
‘world peace in the balance. He opposes a new militarism,
no matter how disguised. He doesn’t want to see new
barracks and war ministries no matter what they are
called or what flags flutter from their rooftops. He will
do anything rather than have Germany become another
Korea,
| The day before the Soviet note of March 10, the West
_ German Communists’ propaganda against Western de-
fense plans still had a chance. The day after the note,
the selfsame Communists were the laughingstock of all
| Germany. For Moscow's sudden concession to German
militarist pride came as a shocking reversal after its
| record of intense opposition to militarization. West Ger-
| many’s Communists are no longer a political factor. They
| have become a sacrificial offering of Moscow and few
"people doubt that the same fate awaits the Communist-
tun East German Socialist Unity Party should Moscow's
| tactics demartd a compromise with the West. A unified
_ Germany and a single German government can be ob-
tained only through free, all-German elections, and free
_ elections mean the end of the Socialist Unity Party.
> But apart from the effect of the Soviet policy reversal
“1 on both German and French Communists, it cannot be
ct denied that many Germans see in the Soviet note a
chance for peaceful unification. They regard it as a sig-
2] | nificant development that could point the way to Ger-
if [many s neutralization on the Swiss or Swedish model.
1 I In view of this attitude, the West’s negative answer
| caused widespread disappointment. West Germany's
}] most notable political journal, the Frankfurter Allge-
li meine Zeitung, mirrors public opinion in its March 29
«@) comment: “Germany must obligate itself not to enter into
sh ) mi military alliances; this indeed is a Russian bull’s-eye. .
Western diplomacy has failed in its answer by not deal
i ies adequately with this decisive proposal. Was it cor-
isp tect to close the door precisely here? The Western note
4 e eems to have been written by a military rather than a
4) diplomatic pen.”
April 26, 1952
be
=
5
pas
:
:
J
1
oN r
had this to say on the Western note: ‘The answer of
the West did not turn out as hoped and expected by the
majority of the German people and even perhaps of
the Cabinet in Bonn. This is obvious in the reactions of
the West German press. One gets the impression that
the Western note is tantamount to a rejection of the Rus-
sian proposals.”
T WAS not only the press and the people who were
disappointed at the West's answer. Federal Chancellor
Konrad Adenauer was hard put to heal rifts within his
government and the conservative ruling parties, He final-
ly managed to do so in a dramatic parliamentary debate
only because the bourgeois parties were held together by
their class interest against concerted attacks of the Social
Democratic opposition. The threat of a future all-German
government under Social Democratic leadership was
enough to overrule the better judgment of Adenauet's
rebellious adherents. The Socialist opposition this time
had a well-founded case; it asked for the resignation of
State Secretary Walter Hallstein, who in Washington had
labeled the Soviet note “uninteresting” and spoke of the
West's integration of Europe “all the way to the Urals.”
Although the Chancellor in open session reprimanded
his first lieutenant for “erroneous verbal thrusts,” he
backed his general position. And what else could he do?
After all, only a few days after Hallstein’s appearance in
Washington Adenauer himself said that Germany had
a mission to perform in the “renaissance of Eastern
Europe.”
The foreign-policy debate forced by the Social Demo-
crats was marked by eloquent appeals to Adenauer, the
government parties, and the Western powers. The Big
Four confereace proposed by Moscow probably offers the
last chance for German unity and world peace, opposition
deputies urged. Don’t slam the door in the face of the
Soviet Union by any move toward rearmament and in-
tegration with the West; these are moves designed to
kill Moscow's interest in further negotiations and con-
cessions. Don’t force the Soviet Union into a final No,
Germany's status, they said, can be determined only by
discussions between East and West.
But Adenauer wants to see remilitarization and West-
ern integration a fait accompli, for he believes that Ger-
man unity can be obtained only through Westera
strength. In his eyes, peace depends on the deployment
of NATO troops along the Elbe River.
When a second Soviet note was delivered a fortnight
ago, again opening the way to all-German elections under
four-power supervision, Adenauer’s reaction was, in ef-
fect: We must act even faster now. He was referring to
negotiations that are proceeding with the three Western
High Commissioners on a contractual agreement which
403
fay
aK
ice Pass Dit in n sharp Fees Paltetion as pro-Western in its estimates of the
German situation as the Swiss National Zeitung in Basel
i
ig
ak
ye
iN
.
}
ears
<== —-—— -
yaa ve Bay ¥ we
is to vctice to cata ag Re 3
new agreement are being rushed almost frantically. West-
ern Germany has to be “integrated” with the West and a
military alliance safely concluded before the current
East-West question-and-answer game is completed.
An authoritarian regime like that of Bonn is not con-
cerned with what the majority thinks. Bonn does not care
what the people are saying about rearmament; it is
not troubled by its lack of a parliamentary majority on
the integration issue. The Chancellor and his clique gov-
ern with the consent and backing of the High Commis-
sioners. Therein lies their future, therein the source of
_ their power. From the Petersberg—official residence of
the High Commissioners—flow their profits and privi-
leges. They are not likely to offend the Western guaran-
tors of their preeminence.
Even the conservative Catholic organ Siddeutsche
Zeitung wrote on April 4:
Strife in the Textile Union
Qhancellor Adenaues was 2 ver be ; sn r
diene: ‘op’ eh di sok | certa les of vicha y
ee ee oe integra-
tion for the federal republic. Because of this, his state-
ments on the desirability of German unification can =
dismissed as nothing more than tactical moves. . . . ‘
His main worry is not even the possible reaction of the
German public—he is concerned only with the result of
the coming elections for the Presidency of the United |
States. His dominant thought: Eisenhower.
The Swiss also are uneasy. The National Zeitung warns
The Western answer to the Soviet note shows clearly :
that the West rejects armed or unarmed neutrality for a .
unified Germany. The note insists that a reunited Ger-
many must have free choice to join groupings like the
European army and the Atlantic pact. The Western
powers are thus demanding an unconditional Soviet sur-
render on the question of Germany,
HEN delegates to the biennial convention of the
Textile Workers Union of America (C. I. O.)
meet in Cleveland on April 28, they will have an oppor-
tunity to vote an end to one of the longest, but least
clearly defined, struggles for power ever to plague an
American labor union. The T. W. U. A., still reeling
from the effects of the unsuccessful strikes in Southern
- factories last year, has been riven by the prolonged fight
between its own top administrators.
Just what are the issues that divide its president, Emil
Rieve, and its executive vice-president, George Baldanzi?
Both men are avowed @nti-Communists; both have held
their present positions since 1939; and both have been on
the C. I. O.’s Executive Board for the past thirteen
years.
Baldanzi, a former Pennsylvania coal miner and union
organizer, says he is trying to bring “democratization” to
a union that too long has been under the “dictatorial”
thumb of Rieve and his “hand-picked’’ twenty-man
Executive Council. Rieve partisans, however, charge that
Baldanzi is a “lone wolf” who has always made his own
decisions without consulting Rieve or the council. They
further contend that Baldanzi’s attacks, coming at a time ©
when thousands of Southern union members are work-
ing without contracts, sabotage unity in the T. W. U. A.
MR. LOWENSTEIN, a native of Virginia, is a free-lance
writer who is now studying at the Columbia Graduate School
of Journalism.
404
_ state or industry directors. Therefore, Rieve can relieve
BY RALPH LOWENSTEIN |
If “democracy” is Baldanzi’s main cause for attacking |
the union administration, he has some further explain-
ing to do. He did not urge democracy until after his ©
open split with Rieve had developed. Previously he had
favored a strongly centralized union.
Probably the issue of democracy is an effect rather than
a cause of Baldanzi’s clash with Rieve. ‘““Democratiza- —
tion,” for the executive vice-president, is another word —
for decentralization. In a union where the power is
stacked against him, decentralization is the most im-
portant issue that Baldanzi can raise. Not only is
“democracy” an effective fighting slogan, but decentrali-
zation would ensure the jobs of the officials who sup-
port Baldanzi. |
The T. W. U. A. is highly centralized. Unlike most —
of the C. I. O.’s international unions, its three top execu- }”
tives and twenty vice-presidents, who compose the Execu- }
tive Council, are elected by delegates to the biennial
conventions, not by popular vote of the rank and file.
The vice-presidents serve without pay, but most of them —
have been appointed by Rieve to union jobs as regional,”
any member of the Executive Council from his wage-' }""
earning post, although he cannot dismiss him from his }™
elected position on the council. This is the ground for }”
Baldanzi’s charge that the council is “hand-picked.”
Rieve claims that centralization is necessary to organize
efficiently the more than 500,000 unorganized textile }
workers in the South. If the T. W. U. A. could add these’
The NATION |
d Siechworkery i in size aii power.
Some explain the Rieve-Baldanzi split as a struggle
ween youth and age (Baldanzi is forty-five; Rieve is
ee) for leadership of the T. W. U. A., but many
high union officials say that a rift between men of their
temperaments was inevitable. Both Rieve and Baldanzi
"are strong personalities. Rieve is the in-fighter, the man
. pe, as union president, can pull the influential strings;
sway the crowd.
Since the union’s 1950 convention in Boston, where
heir smoldering conflict burst into flame, the two men
have been at loggerheads, At Boston, Rieve publicly
" supported Baldanzi’s rival for the position of executive
: vice-president. In the four-hour debate that preceded the
"secret balloting, Rieve and Baldanzi supporters hurled
accusations at one another. Rieve bluntly told the 2,000
delegates that he could no longer work with his execu-
"tive vice-president. William Pollock, secretary-treasurer,
and fourteen members of the Executive Council sided
with Rieve, Baldanzi told the delegates that if he were
reelected a new unity in the T. W. U. A.’s administra-
i tion would be achieved because it would be the wish of
the membership,
The delegates reelected Baldanzi by a ten-to-seven
_ fatio, Rieve by a unanimous vote.
_ After the election, the two leaders promised to try to
work together and “reestablish the team.” Their efforts
_were short-lived. Within a few months an irrevocable
split developed. Rieve, Pollock, and sixteen vice-presi-
_dents were lined up on one side; Baldanzi and the other
four council members were on the other. The conflict was
further high-lighted in March, 1951, when Rieve fired
| Samuel Baron, the T. W. U. A.’s Canadian director and
one of Baldanzi’s chief supporters.
|. Rieve charged the Canadian director with attacking the
| union administration in the press at a moment when
| cracial contract negotiations were under way. Baldanzi,
q papporting Baron, counter-charged that Rieve was “purg-
} ing” the union of Baldanzi supporters.
Last July, 400 Baldanzi followers held a two-day
convention in New York City and pledged more than
‘J $100,000 to finance their revolt against Rieve and to
'} make the T, W. U. A. more “democratic.” The caucus
set up a seventy-man committee, called the “Pre-Conven-
tion Committee for a Democratic T. W. U. A.,” and
established a five-man steering committee headed by
} Baldanzi. Fee
In line with Baldanzi’s call for democratization, the
caucus demanded that (1) the Executive Council be
| made the supreme governing body of the union in fact
¢ as well as theory, and (2) all representatives be elected
*) by the membership. Since July both sides have been con-
Fl
ij April 26, 1952
“ae
as
K
aldanzi is the emotional platform speaker who can.
ting their forces for an all-out fight at Cleveland,
The major piece of legislation to come before the con-
vention delegates is a constitutional amendment sub-
jecting state and area directors, who will continue to be
appointed by the president, to biennial votes of “dis-
approval” by the membership in their districts,
Although this is essentially the same amendment that
Baldanzi proposed at the 1950 convention, he now
opposes it on the ground that the “situation has
changed.” The Baldanzi group advocates, instead, the
election of logal, state, and regional directors by secret
ballot of the district membership—a proposal that the.
Executive Council previously rejected.
Even though both men draw support from all geo-
gtaphical sections of the textile industry, the fact that
Baldanzi has a powerful following in the South indi-
cates that their differences may go beyond personalities,
Baldanzi’s long experience as an organizational director
in the South explains some of his support there. Many
Southern union officials say that Rieve, accustomed
to dealing with situations among more experienced labor
in the North, has never understood the peculiar prob-
lems of organization and negotiation in the large South-
ern factories.
Despite the fact that Baldanzi approved of the union's
decision to strike the Southern mills, Southern officials
tend to blame Rieve for the reversals the T, W. U. A.
suffered. (The timing was poor, for the workers struck
when the mills had one of the largest inventories in their
history.) They say that Rieve, realizing his power was
waning in the South, took personal charge of the strike
and did not call for Baldanzi’s aid. Mill employers did
not know many of the union negotiators that Rieve
brought down and got along badly with them,
A THE delegates set out for Cleveland, the big ques-
tion mark is Baldanzi. Will he oppose Rieve for the
presidency of the T. W. U. A.? Although he has com-
mitted himself to a fight against the Rieve forces,
Baldanzi has never run for the top union position,
Since a man can be a candidate for only one position, he
would be taking an “all or nothing” gamble if he ran for
the post,
Rieve'’s supporters hope he takes the risk. They are
confident that the president, who has been elected
by unanimous votes at all six union conventions, could
defeat him.
If either antagonist wins a clear victory at the con-
vention, officials on both sides believe that heads will
roll in the ensuing union reorganization. If neither
wins a decisive victory, the frustrating situation whereby
chief administrators spend as much time in internecine
warfare as on union duties will continue, and-one of the
great unions of the country—and the labor movement
as. a whole—will suffer thereby.
405,
ee
taletieeteinetline atin net eke a a
.
F
i
;
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if
ed
tailings Sa SE Seen
3
-
Heat without Light
BLOOD, OIL, AND SAND. By Ray
Brock. The World Publishing Com-
pany. $3.50.
HE dramatic collapse of British he-
gemony in the Middle East and the
spread of the solvent of Arab national-
ism to the French-controlled territories
of the southern Mediterranean littoral
have posed problems for American pol-
icymakers every whit as cogent as those
of the Far East. The scope and com-
plexity of American political, economic,
and military involvement in the area
have increased to the point of requiring
an urgent but clear and cool-headed ap-
praisal of American interests, which
often parallel but sometimes conflict
with those of other external powers
longer established in the region.
New American bases projected or al-
ready in existence from Morocco to
Saudi Arabia, an American battle-fleet
in the Levant, American military aid to
Turkey, American support for the estab-
lishment of Israel, American Point Four
missions, American intervention in the
British-Iranian oil dispute, all con-
spicuously illustrate a piecemeal and er-
fatic entry forced by events into this
- crucial center of affairs. Many of these
measures, seemingly unplanned and in-
coherent, spring from the general policy
of containment of the Soviet Union by
strategic and economic means. A con-
flict between contradictory military and
civilian policies is in the making and is
likely to become acute. How far can
the United States go in support of Arab
nationalism, say in Tunis, without under-
mining French confidence? Which is
to have priority—the military build-up
or the creation of social and economic
conditions which will effectively bar the
road to Communist expansion?
The rapid growth of American com-
mitments in Western Europe and East-
ern Asia has led to a natural reluctance
to undertake initiatives in other quarters.
Winston Churchill's appeal for the dis-
patch of token American forces to Suez
had a chilly reception in Washington
Jast January. But in the absence of a
sustained and consistent American policy
406
/
> <"
in the MiddJe East the chances are that
further initiatives will be undertaken as
events dictate them.
At the present time a reasoned, dis-
passionate survey and critique of Ameri-
can interests in the Middle East would
be an invaluable contribution toward
the formulation of a national policy for
the region. Unhappily Mr. Brock, in
other respects an experienced foreign
correspondent who knows the Middle
East at first-hand, brings little clarity to
his subject. “Blood, Oil, and Sand”’ is a
heated and Jurid oversize pamphlet that
hastily scans the Middle East and the
Moslem wosld with a lengthy excursion
into the Balkans in general and Yugo-
slavia in particular.
Mr. Brock has for long been deeply
emotionally involved in the fate of
Mihaifovich, whom the Allies jettisoned
during the war in favor of Tito and his
partisans, It is highly questionable
whether this ample digression has any
bearing at all on the problems of the
Middle East which the author attempts
to appraise. For Mr. Brock Mihailovich
is Europe's Chiang Kai-shek, betrayed
and abandoned by his former allies. The
parallel will convey some idea of the
tone and temper of his book.
“Blood, Oil, and Sand” is a notable
example of the literature of Armaged-
don which in its current form often
makes the outside world wonder where
their nightmares are likely to lead some
American publicists. Its apocalyptic
theme is the inevitability of war with
Russia in the Middle East timed to break
out more likely than not during 1952.
“War with Russia,” Mr. Brock ob-
serves in one of his gloomiest passages,
“is the ineluctable fate of the West,
now that United States power and in-
fluence in the Middle East have been
so seriously undermined.”
“Harp Gelorum?” (“Is war com-
ing?) a group of trusting Turkish
laborers asked their pessimistic foreign
visitor during his stay in Ankara. Mr.
Brock nodded slowly, which is about
the only thing he does at that pace in the
course of his helter-skelter travels. At
times the speed of his journey and writ-
ing leads him into some strange bypaths.
He aspirates a former British proconsul
in Egypt as “Ghorst,” pre-dates the Is-
Jamic invasion of India to 200 B. C., only
800-odd years before-the rise of the
Prophet, and, most curious blunder of)
all, which seriously undermines the f 7
er’s faith in his claim to be regarded | :
an “expert” on his subject, refers te i
Mohammed Zahir Shah as ‘Pakistan’s
king.” The Afghans may have some: |
thing to say about that.
After illiteracies of this kind it ig
difficult to take Mr. Brock seriously. The
steps he envisages for a clarification of
American foreign policy as the result of |
review by a joint Congressional sub-
committee (“Subcommittee of what?” |
the reader sighs) are thoroughly and_
perhaps purposely confused. Mr. Bro “
asks for an examination of “the issue ¢
Palestine,” “American intrusion in and |
mishandling of the Iranian oil crisis,’
“the open scandal of continued arms
and financial disbursements to the Com- |
munist regime of Marshal Tito,” “a @
prompt investigation of the USIS”
(United States Information Services).
Mr. Brock does not indicate whether
any of these investigations could be ade-
quately concluded before the war, which
he appears to anticipate with Cassandra-
like relish, breaks out. i
Mr. Brock finds no shertage of wind-
mills at which to tilt. They include
“pressure groups, lobbies, and special fh)
interests, at home and - abroad’ like @»
“Zionist organizations, the Arab League, §
oil companies, Bulgarian and Croatian
irredentists” (!) and naturally the long-
suffering State Department. In the Mid-
dle East everyone is out of step except
Mr. Brock. JACK WINOCOUR
The Complete Actor
HENRY IRVING: THE ACT OR
AND HIS WORLD. By His Grand-
son Laurence Irving. The Monae P
Company. $10. '
in
N AN amiable mood Dr. Johnson i
once maintained that, all things con- fity,
sidered, David Garrick was a remarkably fy)
modest man. Most celebrities “have their fy,
applause at a distance; but Garrick had J},
it dashed in his face, sounded in his cars, |
ie Nanion
2 ca famous after his death-and
a t what he leaves behind him is, at
ely a legend. For all we can
y, Garrick might seem ridiculous to
; ie is hard to imagine that Salvini
‘ ald not have seemed absurd playing
Ithello with a mustache; and though
were are many who at least think that
y temember what Irving was like,
ven they, accustomed by now to differ-
mt methods, might get a shock if they
aw him. I would give a good deal to
ear Nell Gwyn delivering an epilogue
+ Dryden but I am not sure that I
yould think her especially good.
_ Here nevertheless is pretty much all
i remains of Henry Irving, collected
y his grandson into an extremely solid
sad able book of more than seven hun-
rec pages. Here are the facts; here are
the Opinions, favorable and unfavorable,
f his contemporaries; here are the pho-
Be eis show how he dressed
and stood. According to the author,
‘there also survives a single wax phono-
| graph cylinder from which the ghost of
i} a voice can still be coaxed, but it would
‘probably not tell much since even the
best modern discs give a very inadequate
idea of what an actor on the stage jis
like. From the book we can learn that.
| Irving acted and was famous; we can get
livery little idea why he was famous or
\'whether, by our standards, he ought to
\have been. This is not to say that the
ibook is not very interesting to read. It
. But inevitably it is an account of a
putation not of an achievement.
Unlike Garrick, Irving did not gain
§ heights at a single leap and stay
if | ¢itere unchallenged through a long
| Career. But like Garrick he seems to
g|have been born only to be an actor and
his ‘career followed a standard pattern.
{Born John Brodribb—no wonder he
|changed his name—he had the usual
‘|strict non-conformist parents, the usual
OM brief education, and the usual youthful
“\love for declamation. As an adolescent
ihe was put as clerk into the office of a
| fe m of East India merchants, found time
I dei
Jenough from his salary to patronize that
4g)0dd Victorian institution familiar to
jaifeaders of Dickens, the public theater
| where amateurs paid for the privilege of
,jacting roles—so much for Hamlet, a
ril 26, 1952
ito take lessons in elocution, and saved f
2 good deal less for Laeztes, etc. By the
time he reached eighteen he had a job
in a provincial company, in due time
made his London debut, in due time be-
came his own manager, in due time
found in Ellen Terry his perfect leading
lady, in due time became the official
interpreter of The Bard, and in due
time also reached that ultimate goal of
the English actor, a knighthood. These
seven ages of the player are as typical
as the seven ages of man and Irving
interpreted each role with classic
propriety.
Even in his heyday there were some
dissenters. A few thought his pronuncia-
tion affected, his postures too actory, A
few commented unfavorably on his ob-
vious delight in melodrama and his
great success in ‘The Bells” and ‘‘Eu-
gene Aram.” Mr. Ruskin embarrassingly
insisted upon protesting to the public
that his approval of Irving’s Shylock was
not as unqualified as it had been made
to appear. But these dissenting voices
were not important and it was only after
he had lived into a new age that his
claim to greatness was seriously ques-
tioned. The dreadful shadow of Ibsen
and Ibsenism fell upon him. Irving, his
methods, and the plays he acted in were
perfect targets for the impudence of
Shaw and all the proponents of the
New Drama and the New Theater. Un-
derstandably enough the eminent sur-
vivor from a past age wrote Shaw a let-
ter which said in effect, will you please
The Civil
Liberties Crisis
5¢ per copy
A searing report of $3 flagrant
violations and curtailments of the
Bill of Rights & other basic Amer-
ican freedoms.... A timely warn-
ing against thought-paralyzing re-
strictions which are making free ,
Americans afraid to express them-
selves on controversial issues. Are
we becoming a nation of fear-
bound conformists?
BASIC PAMPHLETS ON - CURRENT ISSUES
BY CORLISS LAMONT
To secure either pamphlet send price as shown plus 2 cents postage.
Or send 10 cents for both pamphlets postage prepaid to
BASIC PAMPHLETS, Dept. N, Box 42
Cathedral Station, New York 25, N. Y.
lay off me? And to add insult to injury,
Shaw was at the same time undermining
him with Ellen Terry. At this distance
we can perhaps say that what Shaw stood
for was not as wholly right or what
Irving stood for as wholly wrong as the
advanced thinkers thought. But their day
was coming and his was passing.
In a sense the present biography—
which is certainly one of the most
thorough and balanced ever written of
an actor—is also unpretentious since it
makes no attempt to be “brilliant,” but
its very thoroughness and competence
emphasize the fact that its subject seems
to have been completely undistinguished
and uninteresting except as an actor.
Like many eminent in his profession he
was not much concerned with anything
except that profession and was without
other intellectual interests. In his early
days he liked smoking and drinking and
eating with other professionals, He was
not very happily married and women
seem to have played little part in his
life. Once he had got above the lowest
rungs of his ladder his chief ambition
outside the theater seems to have been to
become an Eminent Victorian—to know
other famous men, to be elected to the
right clubs, to be accepted into that
Good Society to which in that day only
the greatest and most indubitably re
spectable actors could possibly aspire.
Ellen Terry had more than a touch of
the bohemian in her character; Irving
was careful to do nothing which could
The Humanist
Tradition
S¢ per copy
A delightfully clear exposition of
a philosophy that has always ap-
pealed to intelligent & socially
minded persons. . . . Humanism
offers an affirmative & spiritually
satisfying way of life that brings
integration & meaning to indi-
viduals today, Here is a rational
approach to unity among the na-
tions & races of man.
407
oe
a
| |
eee
ne
ey
taise an eyebrow. Two caricatures by
Max Beerbohm are titled, respectively,
“Henry Irving: Man of Distinction” and
“Bernard Shaw: Man of Destiny’ and
that no doubt hit the nail on the head.
If, as seems to be the case, this biogra-
phy really gives a complete portrait one
can only say that Irving hardly had a
personality, What he did have was a
career,
JOSEPH WOOD KRUTCH
BOOKS AND fren) the
PERIODICALS USSR
V. G. BELINSKY’S
Selected Philosophical Works |
In English — 552 pp. — 82.50
Latest Soviet Records, Handicrafts
1952 SUBSCRIPTIONS OPEN FOR ALL
SOVIET NEWSPAPERS AND PERIODICALS
Ask for Complete Catalogue P-52
FOUR CONTINENT BOOK CORP.
55 W. 66 Street, N. Y. 19 MUrray Hill 68-2660 |
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ALR ie
Masefield Looks Back =
SO LONG TO LEARN. By John Mase-
field. The Macmillan Company. $3.
T SHOULD be made clear at the out-
set that, in “So Long to Learn,” Mr.
Masefield has not concerned himself
much with the purely physical events of
his life, dealt with in other books, but
rather with the emotional effect of some
of these experiences as well as with the
impact of various personalities upon his
own poetic development. The English
Poet Laureate has ripened mellowly, like
a fine Worcestershire apple, and there
is enough of a bite left in the flavor of
the juice to make the taste a memorable
one. One could never accuse him of
resembling one of these glowing red
Washington State apples which turns
out to be stuffed with pink and cloy-
ing cotton-wadding. While he displays
rather a surprising tolerance of his
juniors, born perhaps of an inner con-
viction of his own essential rightness, he
does not kowtow as if seeking their
plaudits. Bluntly, he claims, “It is not
possible to persuade the living that the
Jate Victorian time was in all intel-
lectual ways immeasurably ahead of any
time that bas succeeded. Those who
knew that time, know the truth about
it, and are the first to admit its defects.
Those who did not know the time seem
incapable of perceiving anything else. .
. It would startle the young of today
to know what enormous appetite for
thought Victorian London shewed;
what dozens of papers fostered delight
in writing, what pages of comment
upon thought came daily, what fervour
this or that movement caused, what ex-
cellence was being achieved.” This
comes as a much needed reminder that
the period was not all one of greenery-
yallery young men walking down Pic-
cadilly with a poppy or a lily in their
medieval hands.
But “So Long to Learn” is much
more than a mere reminder that we
should be careful how we pigeonhole
ous literary history. Mr. Masefield casts
his memory back nearly to the day when,
almost seventy-four years ago, he was
born in Herefordshire, and tries to recall
the little things, as well as the large,
which have gone to the making of a
poet. :
Intermingled with the memories of
the world which must have appeared to
which are oe : th a ql
clarity, ere the stories, of F
and Cavaliers, of Robin Hood, &
St. Katherine Audley of Ledbery, re '
became a part of him and determin
him to be a storyteller. After the
ends passed by word of mouth there
came the penny-dreadfuls and the more
expensive, though not less blood
serials, which led the boy and youth t
Mallory and a copy of the Welsh :
“Mabinogion,” from which he took the
Triad which helped him as a kind’ ¢
motto: “The three foundations of judg-
ment:—Bold Design, Constant Practice
and Frequent Mistakes.” Then, in com
tact with his contemporaries and elders
we get a smattering of memories, not 0!
the personal or physical impact of such’
writer as W. B. Yeats but of his effect
upon an impressionable young man. Mf.
Masefield remains throughout stressful
of the fact that poetry makes its greatest)
impression when read, and the recen
success of such a poet as Dylan Thomas
in this country would seem to show that@
the great public bears him out.
Whatever one’s opinion of the poems
of John Masefield, it cannot be denied
that his book is an important document
of the process that goes to turn a small
boy, interested in stories’and the world
around him, into a poet and spinner of
stories. Nor can the book fail to deserve
its place on the shelf alongside the more
treasured autobiographies of our time,,
such as W. Graham Robertson’s “Those
Were the Days,” as a picture of a man
whom one would like to have known, to
have watched develop.
RUTHVEN TODD
e =, Wis
Books in Brief _
LAUGHING TO KEEP FROM cry.|
ING. By Langston Hughes. Holt. $2.75.]
When Mr. Hughes is good, he is very}
very good, and when he is bad he is) q
either insincere or superficial. Both ex-}
tremes are represented in his latest col. |
lection of stories and sketches about},
Negro life, ranging from Shanghai to},
Havana. At his best, Mr. Hughes man-
ages the nice feat of dragging out into
the open a number of unpleasant truths
about racial discrimination and | presenellh
ing them in a playful and extremely
engaging manner,
i
.
.
|
.
es
pia Fie is RRR er
second novel Susan Yorke succeeds
nd all expectations in dissipating
avorable impression created by her
“The Widow.” This one tells the
y of an incredible cad as he is seen
by three women, his sister and two of
his many mistresses. They are fas-
cinated by his life, particularly by his
futting in Argentinian high society, and
50 is the author, for reasons that are
never made clear—but it is hardly likely
ff that many readers will be.
THE TUNNEL. By Eric Williams.
~ Coward-McCann. $3. In “The Wooden
§ Horse” Eric Williams described the es-
cape of two English officers from a Ger-
_ Man prison camp. In ‘The Tunnel” he
J fecounts their preceding experiences as
prisoners of war. The author has a
knack for lively, vivid narrative but the
_ material of the new book is of a much
# lower order of interest, dealing, as it
_ does, with the everyday life of a prison
camp, wheteas its predecessor told the
_ success story of a single episode which
I had the unity and tension of a first-rate
thriller,
Films
’ : M’ LIST ef top pictures made in the
last five years (‘‘Red River,” “He
Walks by Night,” “Act of Violence”)
has now been expanded to include a
| .titleless documentary of street life in
| Spanish Harlem, shot entirely with a
| 16-millimeter sneak camera by Janice
|
j
:
1
t-
MANNY.
FARBER
—
Loeb, Helen Levitt, and James Agee.
| The technique of documenting life in
the raw with a concealed camera has
. often been tried out, in Hollywood and
in experimental films, but never with
much success until this small masterwork
turned up. One problem was finding a
camera either small enough to be hidden
“} or made in such a way that it could be
1 focused directly on the scene without
"| being held to the operator's eye. The
“— “Film Documents” group used an old
model Cine-Kodak which records the
‘} action at a right angle to the operator
“| ~who gazes into his scene-finder much as
“) was done with the old-fashioned
| “Brownie.” The people who wound up
April 26, 1952
es oe
=.»
STR TA 1ST TIGL tana a eee a
~*~ eS Anes ot
in this movie probably thought the
camera-wielder was a stray citizen hav-
ing trouble with the lock of a small
black case that could contain anything
from a piccolo to a tiny machine gun.
For dramatic action, the film deals with
one of the toughest slum areas extant:
an uptown neighborhood where the
adults look like badly repaired Humpty
Dumpties who have lived a thousand
years in some subway restroom, and
where the kids have a wild gypsy charm
and evidently spend mast of their day
savagely spoofing the dress and manners
of their elders. The movie, to be shown
around the 16-millimeter circuit, has been
beautifully edited (by Miss Levitt) into
a somber study of the American figure,
from childhood to old age, growing
stiffer, uglier, and lonelier with the pas-
sage of years.
Let me say that changing one’s iden-
tity and acting like a spy, or a private
eye, are more a part of the American
make-up than I'd ever imagined before
seeing this picture. This not only holds
for Levitt, Inc., who had to disguise
their role of film-makers to get the
naked truth, but also goes for the slum
people who are being photographed,
The film is mostly concerned with kids
who are trying to lose themselves in
fake adultness by wearing their parents’
clothes and aping grown-ups’ expres-
sions; even the comparatively few adults
(at a war-time bond rally) go in for
disguises—Legionnaire uniforms, etc.—
and seem afraid to be themselves. The
chief sensation is of people zestfully in-
volved in making themselves ugly and
surrealistic, as though everything Goya’s
lithographs indicated about the human
race had come true. This mood is estab-
lished right off in a wonderful shot of a
Negro tot mashing her tongue and face
out of shape against a windowpane.
This private bit of facemaking is fol-
lowed soon by a shot of a fat man leap-
ing up and down and chortling with
glee at the sight of a neighborhood kid
carrying another one on his shoulders,
solemnly impersonating a new two-
bodied grown-up. And this scene gives
way to a macabre game of gypsy kids
making like maniacs by clubbing each
other with flour-filled stockings swiped
from their mudders.
Every Hollywood Hitchcock-type di+
you will WANT to PCr
Rabbi Max Arzt
Jewish Theological Seminary
“ ..a fearless champion of truth.”
Rabbi Solomon Goldman
Chicago
“ ..an intelligent paper which...
criticizes(s), if warranted, national
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subscriptions or advertisements...
the only Anglo-Jewish paper which
presents objectively and reviews
critically the American Jewish
scene, Religion, irreligion, Zionism,
and anti-Zionism, Orthodoxy, Con-
servatism, Reform, the B’nai B’rith,
the American Jewish Committee,
the American Council for Judaism
—all of them are reported and sur-
veyed without prejudice,”
This Only independent Na-
tional Anglo-Jewish Weekly
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pulls no punches and is American
to the grass roots..
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“... your very splendid paper has
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Brooklyn
“The Jewish Post is the best Anglo-
Jewish weekly in the country. It is
best from the point of view of cov-
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and best in its desire to serve the
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THE NATIONAL JEWISH POST
110 West 40th Street
Special Offer: 26 “oxit® $2.00
New York 18, N. Y.
Clip this ad and mall with your remittance. We will
send you as a gift one of Tina Lehman's famous cook
books contalning over 500 strictly kosher recipes.
409,
se
wants to see really stealthy, queer-look-
ing, odd-acting, foreboding people.
Even the kids, whose antics make their
elders look like a lost tribe of frozen
zombies, act a bit like spies from the
underground. Enigmatic and distrustful,
a small boy watches the little colored
gitl (mentioned above) smear her fea-
tures on the window; an older smart-
alecky one slyly bats a flour stocking
against the back of a tcen-aged princess
—the Mary Pickford of the neighbor-
hood—carefully watching her every
move to see if she’s getting erotically
excited. It is this very watchfulness
which makes one part of the picture so
—2A thrilling opportu-
mnity to travel, work
ie and study.
including all
expenses, round
trip fare and stop,
aver in Europe. =
Applications accepted from
young men and women
between [8 and 35.
Write Immediately to Dept. N
ISRAEL SUMMER INSTITUTE
The Jewish Agency For Palestine
16 E. 66th St., New York 21, N. Y.
The NATION
The NATION
410
rector should study this picture if he
{_] with Harper’s Magazine ...
brilliant: these kids m Pie rhe e ult I: move whic s
ee you into every part of the town
(Agee) reveals himself, the space in features Goopet’s besutifal etlliag il
front of the camera fills up with every but which reveals hak aoensas co
kid in the neighborhood staring at the
now bared camera like one Huge Eye.
To see what these kids will be like
when they grow up, all we have to do is
look at the shots of their parents. The
watchfulness of youth has now become
a total preoccupation—an _ evil-faced
pimp, a Grant Wood spinster, a blowsy
Irish dame picking at her teeth, are all
forever staring at the world as though
it were a dangerous, puzzling place
filled with hidden traps. The great
American outdoors, once a wide-open
prairie for adventurers, is here, in one
shrunken pocket of New York City, a
place of possible terror to people who
spend their time looking at it with 100-
per-cent distrust.
“High Noon.” A deftly fouled-up
Western, starring Gary Cooper as a dis-
illusioned marshal enforcing law and
order in Hadleyville where everyone
else is happily barricaded within his
own avarice and cowardice. Carl Fore-
man’s attempt to do an original cowboy
script consists in starting the story at
10:40 a.m., ending it just after noon,
and limiting the dramatic action to one
situation: Gary Cooper walking silently
and alone down the deserted streets
looking for volunteer deputies. The con-
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6
a listed below.
a
a
a
@ sTREET.
HB cITY.
Ae eee
4/26/52
2 a cea RET RAEN USE RT BELEN
much time over the drawing board cor 3 .
ceiving dramatic camera shots to cover —
up the lack of story. Moral: the Kramer |
gang (“Champion,” “The Men”) ‘is
making too many films for its own /
good.
“The Marrying Kind.” The story bel 3
hind a sad little divorce suit fold by the’ |
cut-back method, with the directér @
(Cukor) using a sneak camera without
putting any heart or belief into it. Cukor
is a fine technician who has lately been
imagining himself as an American Ros-9
sellini. The actors make Anna Magnani!
seem soft-spoken and even-tempered. }
Every camera set-up indoors shows you
a person in a bathrobe, brassiere, or long” g
underwear, poking his or her behind —
into the camera lens ‘to prove that this is ~
a candid movie. And there is the uncom- |
fortable spectacle of Judy Holliday, a
cautious and intelligent highbrow, —
squeezing herself into the dumb role of ,
a Bronx yenta. q
“The Fighter.” Herbert Kline’s 1o-
mantic fight drama about an unpolished
Mexican bolo-puncher, who earns five ff
dollars a day as a sparring partner and —
works feverishly at night for the revolu-
tionary cause of Zapata and Villa. An
inexpert mixture of politics and hokum,
set in the Rio Grande towns of 1910,
which look as unreal as the backdrops
on the old Keith circuit. Conte, the silky
Italian star of bare-chest films, is a Mex-
ican fizzle.
HAGGIN
sss New York City Opera Company, J.
which has repeatedly undertaken
to produce works that one would have |
thought beyond its resources and powers |
and has carried them off with sufficient,” |’
even when not complete, success, has |
now achieved its most remarkable feat “ }
of that kind with Alban Berg’s “Woz-
zeck.”” After the performarice I could
agree with Virgil Thomson about the
inadequacy of the single set and the in-
consistency of the naturalistic staging
with the expressionistic music; but dur-
ing the performance I was not aware of |
B. H.
The NATION )
ig) he
- opera a a sae by now
at them as mere token frameworks
a which are hung the musical perform-
aces that are usually very good; and in
is instance too it was the performance
of the formidable score that was the
temarkable achievement. It was not a
performance of the caliber and force of
he New York Philharmonic’s a year
o, and it was not without flaws—such
Pe. excessive volume of sound that
osenstock produced with the orchestra,
‘which often made it impossible to hear
he singers; or Patricia Neway’s forced
und strident high notes. But Marko
i
without the beauty and varied expres-
ive coloring of Mack Harrell’s a year
ago; the other singers were good; the
Jiorchestra had the competence required
1 by its difficult task; and Rosenstock too
} proved able to produce a performance in
which the music had a compelling ex-
}/ pressive power undiminished for me by
}) what I saw on the stage.
_ The other new opera produced by the
} company was Menotti’s “Amahl and the
Wight Visitors.” The mail has just
‘brought me a sumptuous brochure from
1 N. B. C. about the television premiere
}of the work, in which I read quotations
not only of Toscanini telling Menotti “I
[think it is the best opera you have ever
done,” but of experts like Philip Ham-
tger writing ‘‘Musically, ‘Amahl’
})struck me as being Menotti’s finest
work,” and John Crosby pronouncing
‘Menotti * ‘a magnificent composer” and
wspeaking of the “rare melodic sweet-
ness” of the music—to say nothing of
some gaudier products of other profes-
ional word-slingers. After all this dare
HI say that I listened to “Amahl,” as I
have listened to Menotti’s other operas,
lwith incredulous amazement—finding it
difficult to believe I was really hearing
lthese sugary, trashy tunes, that they
}could even have occurred to anyone op-
| erating as a serious composer today, that
Whe could not have been too embarrassed
iby the mere thought of them to let any-
fone else hear them, and that other
Rothmiiller’s singing was effective, even
lr eople could have considered them™
' worth publishing to the world. At one
Ftime I would have felt the same in-
icredulous amazement as I read the criti-
cal estimates I have quoted; but now I
‘think I can account for them: once again
1 26, 1952
eecrecet ete arene
Rest beliro'y
ve Meno iy dread a eet. elise
development has so powerfully engaged
the interest and emotions of his audience
as to mislead even its professional mem-
bers into thinking their interest and
emotions were being powerfully en-
gaged by the music. Moreover, his dra-
matic gifts don’t stop with choice of
subject, but é€xtend to every detail of
staging—which is to say that the audi-
ence’s emotions have been engaged, and
its musical judgment confused, by young
Chet Allen. But one would expect the
professional’s ear to be proof again this
sleight-of-hand.
Two friends have expressed to me
their anger at the misrepresentation of
the Sadlet’s Wells Theater Ballet to the
American public; and one of them told
me of seeing people walk out after the
first piece and others besides himself and
his family leave after the second; but
my own depressing experience at the
three performances I attended was to see
everything, good and bad, indiscrimi-
nately applauded and cheered—from
which I conclude that most of the
American public didn’t even know it
had been fooled. The fact nevertheless
is that this company is not even compa-
rable in competence or achievement with
the one that was here before, and that
one wouldn't suspect from looking at it
that it had even been trained in the
same school. The leading dancers have
a lot of raw technique which they
haven't yet learned to use with the
elegance that was the outstanding char-
acteristic of the older company; some of
the lesser dancers and the corps haven't
even sufficient technique; and all this
makes for poor performance of classical
ballets. Elaine Fifield, for example, is a
vivacious, pert soubrette who can carry
off the lively episodes of “‘Coppelia”
successfully, but can do nothing in the
great adagios beyond executing the
movements; and her performance in
“Swan Lake,” together with the insipid
choreography and the lifeless dancing
of the corps, made this unquestionably
the worst in my experience,
What the company danced well -was
its modern ballets; and of those I saw I
liked best some early works of Frederick
Ashton—the simple “Capriol Suite’
(1930), the more richly textured “‘Ren-
dezvous’”’ (1933), and his comic master-
piece, “Facade” (1931). His divertisse-
ments to music of Act 2 of “The
Nutcracker’’—with the exception of the
amusing Chinese dance—I cared less for.
As for John Cranko, I liked best his
comedy “Pineapple Poll,” and least his
compulsion to daring explicitness. As
April.”
This is a convenient point at which
to speak briefly of the remaining two
new works presented by the New York
City Ballet. Ashton’s “Picnic at Tin-
tagel” I found uninteresting in inven-
tion except for a few details—the move-
ments of the caretaker (Robert Barnett), —
the exquisite first part of the pas de deux
of the lovers (Diana Adams and Jacques
d’Amboise), before Ashton yields to his
compulsion to daring explicitness. As
for Tudor's “La Gloire,” if even John
Martin found it “impossible to report
very happily upon it,” I can dispense
with comment altogether.
CONTRIBUTORS
RT |
JACK WINOCOUR has spent much
time in the Middle East as a correspond-
ent of various London newspapers and
magazines. He has also contributed arti-
cles toa number of American magazines,
JOSEPH WOOD KRUTCH, Brander
Matthews professor of dramatic litera-
ture at Columbia University, is the
drama critic of The Nation.
RUTHVEN TODD is the author of °
“Tracks in the Snow. Studies in English —
Science and Art’ and other books,
err
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412
Was It a Witch Hunt...
Dear Sirs: Since you devoted so much
space in the February 9 Nation to
Mary Mostert’s emotional account of
the Memphis “witch hunt’ against the
Distributive, Processing, and Office
Workers’ Union, will you devote a
little more to a few unadorned facts?
1. The D. P. O. was formed in Octo-
ber, 1950, through the fusion of the
Food, Tobacco, and Agricultural Work-
ers’ Union and the United Office and
Professional Workers’ Union, both ex-
pelled from the C, I. O. for following
the Communist Party line, with a num-
ber of New York department-store
locals which seceded from the C. I. O.'s
Retail, Wholesale, and Department
Store Union in 1948,
2. The head of the old F. T. A., now
active in the D. P. O., is Donald Hen-
derson, a long-time Communist who
publicly resigned from the party on
August 13, 1949, in order to comply
with the Taft-Hartley law.
3. The leaders of the old department-
store locals and now of the D. P. O. are
Arthur Osman, president, and David
Livingston, vice-president. On March 1,
1941, during the Hitler-Stalin pact, Os-
man wrote in the magazine New Voices
that “President Roosevelt . . . is now
sending your sons to war’; the follow-
ing July 29, after Russia had been in-
vaded, he did an about-face and ex-
horted the union’s members to be “ready
to lay down their lives so that Hitler
. . will be crushed.” Livingston, ac-
cording to the Daily Worker of October
18, 1943, was chairman of the meeting
at which the Young Communist League
reorganized as American Youth for De-
mocracy....
I think these facts suggest that the
Memphis hearings may not have been so
much of a “witch hunt” after all.
New York LAWRENCE SMITH
... Or Wasn’t It?
Dear Sirs: Y'm afraid Mr. Smith missed
the point of my letter, which was not to
prove that the D. P. O. was not Com-
munist-dominated but simply to draw
attention to the fact that the committee
was denying the D. P. O. a fair and
impartial hearing. Witnesses were de-
nied legal counsel, and Negro witnesses
were insulted. Senator Eastland made
the hearings into a sounding board for
his preconceived ideas about the D. P.O,
The fact that 1,400 members of the
D. P. O. were threatened with “‘indict-
ment’’ was an obvious attempt to intimie
date them. There was nothing to indict
them for. Not once was anyone accused
of breaking a Jaw. Senator Eastland, at |
the end of the hearings, promised
seck laws curbing “groups like the;
D. P. O.,” but even if he had carried”
out his threat, constitutional provision:
against ex-post-facto laws would prevent
prosecution of the D. P. O. for past?
activities.
Mr. Smith points out that the leaders
of the D. P. O. asked its members to!
“lay down their lives” to stop Hitler,
after Russia entered the war. But what
does this mean? Some people in this)
country changed their mind about Hit-
ler’s intentions after Poland was in-’
vaded, some after Czechoslovakia, some
after Russia. It seems a bit ridiailous to
condemn a man for a matter of timing. ¥
It appears to me that since the,
D. P. QO. won control of the two Mem-
phis plants by a democratic, N. L. R. B.-~
controlled election, and since they were
not accused of breaking any existing —
law, the heanings were, to say the least, ©
a little silly. We may question the judg-
ment of the 1,400 members of the ~
D. P. O., but under a democratic system
we have to accept it.
However, the important question is
not the political affiliations of one small, —
relatively unimportant union but the #
precedent the Eastland subcommittee and “J
others have been setting. In the hysteri-
cal times in which we live few of us
realize the extent of the dictatorial ©
power Congressional committees have
assumed and the dangerous example they
set. Once we allow Congress absolute
power to “make or break” without re-
gard for procedural safeguards, all our i)
rights may be destroyed. ;
Memphis, Tenn. MARY MOSTERT
r
i
Douglas Headquarters
Dear Sirs: A committee is being formed ~
in Massachusetts in connection with the
nationwide movement to nominate Jus- :
tice William ©. Douglas for President —
on the Democratic ticket.
Nation readers who reside in Massa- |
chusetts and are interested in this proj-
ect should communicate with the writer
at 97 Elm Hill Avenue, Roxbury 21, —
Massachusetts,
ALLAN SDD, Interim Coordinator
Roxbury
The Nation”
Besword Puzzle No. 462
BY FRANK W. LEWIS
Sse,
|\EBESa Re EE
ee tt | “2
fl
(aa eee &
aii aoe
(ih Ee a
| ee ee
BP eee
ACROSS 4 ae might be cones an 13; others
t eep the tongue under it. (6)
1 The way the Caliphs got in, it seems 5 Mrs. Gable, found at table. (e),
as though it’s checking swell. (14) 6 Found at the bottom of the list. (4)
42 One can’t say it isn’t done! (4,8) 7 Toast after meat is, whether you
10 Threateningly. (10) like it or not. (1, 6, 2, 5)
11 Split character et (A) 9 What to ex
pect in heaven, improper-
1183 Such a sort of trip is bad for the ly divided, but his day eaticee : 40
soul. (6) like it. (5, 7)
44 Necessary to make war, or can end 12 Without 13, perhaps (not necessarily
it. breathless). (10)
)16 With 22, a common name for cop- 15 One glass is enough for each of
er. (8) them! (8)
17 pia final with the sort of scene or
a stilaenidicsmipht make. (6) 18 Yon jalg tae this on turning to
)19 Are they on the track? Quite the 91 just light. (4)
_ Opposite, but there’s no winning
with them. (4)
20 Apt assignment for a prospective
}__— Plebe. (2, 3, 5)
22 Physical disability found
—_———-o
SOLUTION TO PUZZLE No. 461
ACROSS :—1 and 17 BETTHR LATER THAN
, ruins of Rome? (6, 6) NEVER; 10 ESCORTS; 12 SHUTTHRS; 14
3 Implying the letters match? (14) SIT DOWN; 15 BASES; 19 IGNITER: 21
I: DATE PALM; 25 SLAVERS; 26 DECIDED;
‘ DOWN 27 LAST SANDPIPER.
'1 What Casanova might carry on in DOWN:—1 BANDWAGON; 2 TATTERS; 3
ompous style? (7, 2, 5) and 23 ESCALATOR CLAUSE; 4 LAST: 5
2 ose who handled 1 down for Rome ‘TREPHINING; 6 TACIT; 7 AIRLESS: 8
| must arrive, it seems, out of sorts,« ASKS; 13 SOCIALISTS; 15 BOTTLE CAP;
om ©6(12) 16 SUSPENDER; 18 VITIATE; 20 ROUND-
8 Not fancy arguments in court, UP; 21 and 11 DISK WHEELS; 22 and 9
(10) PRESS NOTICES; 24 ADEN, |
in the
Readers are invited to send for a free copy of Mr. Lewis's “'ground rules." Address
requests to Puzzle Dept., The Nation, 20 Vesey Street, New York 7, New York.
RIL 26, 1952
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Printed in the U. 8, A. by StzInsuza Press, Imo., Morgan & Johnson Aves., Brooklyn 6, N, ¥. Gap 1a
Wuy I BELIEVE
all real liberals should be for TAF |
parative values how should we measure the stature
of Robert A. Taft?
As a reader of The Nation for more than twenty-five
ears, and having been part of many liberal movements
ong before they found acceptance, I believe we should
expand our perspective and reexamine the views of the
present day Taft.
Much of the objection to Taft is an inheritance of
former days for reasons which, by today’s values, are
etty and inapplicable. The opposition stems largely
rom unprincipled politicos, war mongers, and so-called
labor leaders. They see the chaos their policies have
created. In envy or in malice they have joined together
to down a better man. First they say that Taft can’t
win, His wonderful showing in New Hampshire fol-
lowed by his victories in other states show how weak
their claim is. The results prove that Taft’s vote is not
a negative one, but an unswerving vote by a worried
people. The results also deflate the Eisenhower myth of
vote getting indispensability. By the way, what does
Eisenhower stand for? Does anybody know? A man
who has been in the military thirty years keeping his
mouth shut and walking on eggs doesn’t figure to
change overnight into an able and courageous political
leader. Some say he will blossom out after victory and
will surprise us all. I truly hope that this will be the
case, but let’s be sensible. Why rely on a blind long shot
jin the Presidential derby when you can have a “man-of-
war” running for you for the same price? Many who
voted for Eisenhower in the primary are only carpet-
bagger Republicans on loan from and will return to the
Democratic fold in the fall, but the vote for Taft will
stay Republican when it counts.
To vote for an Eisenhower or MacArthur or any all-
out professional soldier flies in the face of American tra-
dition. Staff-officer generals just cannot think of civil-
fans in terms of equality, let alone superiority. Their in-
grained extravagance and ignorance of the civilian is
too much for a free people. Eisenhower himself decried
the desirability of a military man for President, includ-
ing himself. Although he is among the best of the lot,
yet he figures to tighten the military noose around the
neck of the American people. We often fail to see where
we are going until after arrival, and then, it is too late.
We are headed in the direction of making the military
top dogs never to be unseated. Crisis, inflation, sacrifice,
and war will become traditional to the American way of
life, like apple pie. This condition is already here, with
the fonaitle exception that maybe Taft can stop and
somewhat reverse the process. This to me is the main
issue. There are other substantial issues, too, which
Taft alone shows a willingness to tackle.
The Truth About the Taft-Hartley Law
The false hue and cry that Taft-Hartley is a slave-
Jabor law is one of the big lies of al] times. This act is
the greatest boon to freedom since Lineoln’s Emanci-
pation Proclamation. I have heard many discussions of
the act by liberals, politicians, and labor leaders. Not
one, including Senator Douglas and Mr. Goldberg,
Counsel for the C. I. O., analyzed the law in detail. The
reason is they don’t dare. The acts that result in slave
labor today are unions with their closed shops, their
eens strikes, their unreasonable secondary
boycotts, their lack of democratic process, their strong-
arm lifetime elections to office, their feather-bedding,
their limiting the number of workers, their misuse of
I: THE light of present events and changing com-
b.
+
%
union funds, and their exemption of judicial review
over many of their arbitrary acts. The heart of |
Taft-Hartley law is the union shop and against the
closed shop. All other parts are secondary. The unjon
shop guarantees to everybody the right to work without
fawning before or bribing a labor boss which unfortue
nately has been all too much the practice. There ig
something wrong with the law, and that is, it does ne
go far enough. It should also be extended to evel
bottleneck and restraint in business, the trades, and th
professions. I have never heard a politician or libers
who had the nerve to state that the American people
have no right to a job in any chosen field, and that thé
labor Jeaders had a right to say who works and where
Labor leaders want that right and would have it but for
the Taft-Hartley Law. I speak with some special experi-
ence on the subject. For years I was a special attorne
for the Chicago Federation of Labor and Labor’s Radic
Station WCFL when Ed Nockels was secretary arfd
John Fitzpatrick was president. During this time
handled court litigation of considerable importance. Ip
also represented labor before the Illinois Appellate
Court. I volunteered my services for free because labor
needed help. As it became rich, powerful, and arrogant,
some leaders showed an increasing contempt for the
worker and the American people. All labor leaders were
not like that, but many dared not talk. There is more
support among the rank and file of labor and in their
intelligent leaders for this law than the ruling labor’
bureaucracy has awakened to.
Inflation is Confiscation Without Compensation
On the problem of inflation it is impossible to find
language descriptive enough to fit the crime. Inflation
has dealt a more mortal and lasting blow than did Pearl]
Harbor. Inflation is nothing but outright robbery. It is
cannibalism in the economic field. It is a combination of
aggressive and speculative elements to devour the aged, §
young, frugal, white-collared, and unorganized groups.
If inflation to enrich and empower the speculater, the
military, and the bureaucracy is right, then so were
Hitler and Stalin who did the same. Those in this coun- }
try who so gleefully join in robbing one group through
inflation, will yet be the victims of being robbed in turn
by other groups which are a-coming.
Taft has a respect for constitutional law. To some
eace holds more terror than war, but not for Taft. He |
cots the itch for war especially the illegal kind we now |
have. He would not treat the constitutional limitations ]}
as another scrap of paper. Taft does not figure to follow
the primrose path of perpetual war for perpetual peace
and prosperity resulting in perpetuity in office. I press
his case on liberals because as a class they have no }
vested interest to foster. Historically, they were identi- }.
fied with the right and wrong by conviction. Liberals
_ earry a tremendous influence. Today all too many are }
prisoners of their own prejudices, prior vested thoughis; }
and some new-found fat.
Taft stands out as the one most indispensable man,
without a competitor on the American scene. These
views are not political puffs; they are not the results of |
huckster exaggerations. I sincerely believe I understate }
the man’s worth. Taft is not everything each one of us
wants, but let’s be rewarded, that in his honesty there
is hope, in his frankness there is confidence, in his
modesty there is comfort, in his native courage there
Jeadership and in peace there is life.
All comments from readers are of course welcomed. i
MEYER FIELD ¢ 188 W. RANDOLPH STREET ¢ CHICAGO 1, ILLINOIS ===>
(Advertisoment)
5 Time to Bugin—Fide. K a
May 3, 1952
BY LORD BOYD-ORR
cn” Trade Talks
An On-the-Spot Report
+
| ¥ Peron Through in ’52?
i
‘BY FERMIN GONZALEZ
Trouble in Textiles
BY KEITH HUTCHISON
| The Sea clidl Kefauver
BY CHARLES BARTLETT
ICENTS A COPY - BVERY WEEK SINCE 1865 - 7 DOLLARS A YEAR
i a
RRS :
AROUND THE t US
Cedars of Lebanon
Los Angeles
| in first in a series of full-page ad-
vertisements published January 23
in the Hollywood trade papers an-
nounced, with a dignity rarely matched
in the bombastic movieland press, the
beginning of the fund-raising campaign
for the Cedars of Lebanon Hospital.
Under the legend, ‘Keep This Door
Open,” the hospital was likened to “the
sheltering groves of cedars of ancient
Lebanon,” where a helping hand, peace,
and comfort awaited the sick and trou-
bled “‘no matter whence they came, over
what road they traveled.”
But the doors which, according to the
advertisement, were ‘open wide to the
sick, regardless of ability to pay and ir-
respective of race or creed,” have been
closed for political reasons to three staff
doctors since the beginning of the year.
The chairman of the board of trustees,
Ben R. Meyer, who is also president of
the Union Bank and Trust Company, is
credited with instigating the removal of
the three prominent doctors. At least no
one else is willing to claim the honor,
and the influence of “Uncle Ben’—as
he is called in banking circles—over the
hospital trustees is such that the institu-
tion is frequently referred to as “Mr.
Meyet’s hospital.”
_ All three of the banned physicians
were recently involved in publicity which
“Uncle Ben” would certainly regard as
unfavorable. Dr. Murray Abowitz, a
specialist in internal medicine and for-
mer head of the Cedars arthritis clinic,
was front-page news last fall when he
appeared as an “unfriendly witness” at
the House Un-American Activities sub-
committee hearings in Los Angeles; Dr.
Alexander Pennes, a radiologist, was
also mentioned in testimony at that time
and has been subpoenaed for a future
hearing in Los Angeles; and Dr. Richard
W. Lippman, founder of the kidney-
disease clinic and a Guggenheim Fellow,
briefly made the news columns when he
confirmed the diagnosis of a prison doc-
tor attending a defendant in the current
trial of fifteen Communist leaders. Since
his dismissal Dr. Lippman has been
honored by” the United States Public
Health Service, which awarded him a
$12,000 grant for two years’ research in
his special field, and by his colleagues,
who elected him chairman of the South-
ern California chapter of the Society for
Experimental Biology and Medicine.
The three men had participated in a
vigorous and successful fight against
the Burns-Tenney bills introduced in the
state legislature last year to extend loy-
alty oaths to dozens of professions li-
censed by the state. They had protested
also the issuance of subpoenas to doctors
and lawyers summoned by the House
committee and were on record against
other invasions of personal freedom.
At the end of last year—with the
House committee headed back to Los
Angeles and the Cedars building-fund
campaign in prospect—the three doctors
were simply not reappointed. Hospital
authorities insisted that the action was
“routine.” They said that staff members
were dropped every year for a variety of
reasons which, out of solicitude for the
doctors concerned, were never revealed
or made the subject of hearings. Any
grievance, they announced, could be
taken up with the County Medical Asso-
ciation. In February, after a joint lay-
medical committee recommended ap-
proval of the “routine” action of the
trustees, the hospital’s Medical Executive
Committee endorsed it as “legal.”
Patients, community leaders, organi-
zations of many kinds, and the gen-
erally conservative Anglo-Jewish press
have entered a vehement protest based,
in many instances, not on a defense of
the trio’s politics, but on the irrele-
vance of a doctor's political opinions tc
his right to practice his profession. But
the hospital has remained firm. Board
members refused to accept registered
mail from the dismissed physicians, ig-
nored all pleas for a hearing, and failed
te answer requests for factual informa-
tion.
While continuing to deny that politi-
cal motives exist, the hospital authori-
ties are showing just how political a
medical institution can become. At a
meeting called by two of the institu-
tion’s most eminent physicians, about
200 staff members heard the ousted
trio present their case, and agreed to
press the medical executive committee
for a staff hearing. The next day a doc-
, :
» ites De
ie Pe
es 2 Sean)
+ ‘ j * »
_ ‘~ a
rea
a
tor who had spoken on behalf of the
dismissed doctors was severely rebuked
by the chief of staff. Another sympa _
thetic doctor, refused a bed for a pa-
tient, was reminded that his first “loy-
alty’’ should be to the hospital. A’
recently promoted staff member ex-
plained he could not sign the doctors’
petition for reinstatement for fear of —
his appointment being canceled. Others
expressed fear of reprisals and intimi-
dation, either in denial of bed privi-
leges for their patients or dismissal *
from the staff. 7
The hospital's devotion to its mission
was underscored when Dr. Lippman, ©
summoned for consultations on two |
cases by attending physicians, was re-
fused admittance to the patients’ rooms.
It is impossible, of course, to know |
whether Dr. Lippman might have saved —
the patients; the fact is that they died. ”
The Los Angeles Jewish Community '
Council, representing more than sixty —
member agencies, some of which direct-—
ly support the Cedars of Lebanon clifi- ©
cal program, has attempted a reconcilia-
tion between the dismissed doctors and
the hospital. Since Februaty 21 a com-
mittee of eight leading citizens, charged
with investigating the facts of the evic-
tion, has diligently applied itself to its ©
serious task. It is the only group which —
has succeeded in meeting with the hos-
pital’s lay and medical executives, which
is no small accomplishment in itself.
Last week the Community Council
recommended that the trustees grant
the three doctors a hearing. In the face |
of the hospital’s previous insistence that f*
the County Medical Association of- fi
fered adequate grievance procedure, the ff)
recommendation has been hailed as a |
significant victory by soppy of the f
ousted trio. |
As the Cedars experiment in political
anesthesia may drag on through many |
more months of debate and possible’
court action, the Community Council
might meanwhile get from the trustees ©
an indication of the extent to which
political standards will guide future ad- 9
mittances to the hospital. Will the “sick 9),
and troubled’ be the next victims?
HANNAH BLOOM —
[Hannah Bloom is Los Ame
JOLUME 174 NEW YORK -
t
The Shape of Things
IREMIER DE GASPERI’S UNDISPUTED SKILL IN
political maneuver is being put to a severe test by the
Pproaching provincial and municipal elections in cen-
tral and southern Italy. His position is much more diffi-
‘cult than in last summer's vote in the north, which gave
he Christian Democrats the full benefit of an amended
electoral Jaw aimed, as in France, at cutting down the
epresentation of the Left. There the rival group on the
Right, the neo-fascist Italian Social Movement, was not
a real competitor and De Gasperi’s party could easily
fabsorb its votes and obtain the two-thirds majority of the
founcils insured under the new law. In the south and
center, on the contrary, he finds himself without allies on
: he Right and facing a strong Communist-Left-Socialist
coalition. De Gasperi could not ally himself with the
¢ extreme Right without provoking a storm in his own
party ranks. In any case, the neo-Fascists, whose strength
has increased in accordance with the general trend in
JE urope, want to demonstrate their power as a separate
iP
}party. So De Gasperi was forced to try to patch up the
| foo: lition of Christian Democrats, Republicans, Liberals,
jand right-wing Socialists, but the effort collapsed as the
result of Republican and Socialist opposition. Now the
|government party faces an electoral battle on two fronts,
} pwithout effective allies, against the obstacle of public
|disappointment over De Gasperi’s failure on Trieste and
7
_[his equally embarrassing failure to produce the $680,-
_}000,000 he was supposed to have brought back from
° Washington. *
|
/
JA PERCEPTIVE AND COURAGEOUS ADDRESS
jon the State of the Church was presented last week at
|e e opening session of, the quadrennial general confer-
yJence of the Methodist Church, meeting in San Fran-
yacisco. Most noteworthy is the manner in which the
lseventy bishops, who gave their unanimous approval
sito the document, relate foreign and domestic issues. ‘‘It
as not Russia,’ reads the statement, “that is our real
enemy but the evils in modern society which Russia
fe ely offers to eradicate.”” Emphatic in its renunciation
jof communism, the message boldly asserts that “our real
psiem turns out to be not communism but revolu-
tor on 5 Beeresyenese humanity is in revolt against poverty,
"ND rion
AMERICA’S LEADING LIBERAL WEEKLY SINCE 1865
SATURDAY + MAY 3, 1952
NuMBER 18
famine, and exploitation. And the right condusion is
unhesitatingly drawn: a policy of military containment is
“morally fallacious” and should be rejected. The mes-
sage then points out the domestic consequences of this
policy: “concerted and often vicious efforts to regiment
thought and curb freedom of speech”’ in politics, educa-
tion, and religion. Not at all intimidated by a recent
report of the House Committee on Un-American Ac-—
tivities, the message contains an unapologetic defense
of the Methodist Federation for Social Action and takes
to task those who seek to declare “out of bounds’ any
Methodist, layman or minister, who dares to think in-
dependently on issues concerning the current social and
economic order. Delivered by Bishop Paul B. Kern of
Nashville, the message should encourage all those who
resent current efforts to restrict traditional American
freedoms. %
BRITAIN’S ANNUAL ECONOMIC SURVEY WAS
originated by the Labor Government as an important
part of the machinery of planning. Its purpose was to
assess total national resources and to budget their dis-
tribution. In the beginning, perhaps, the blueprints
were too detailed and too rigid, making insufficient al-
lowance for changing conditions. Now the first Tory
contribution, the work of reluctant converts to planning,
goes to the other extreme, being designed to do no more
than explain the facts of the economic situation as a
“background” to consideration of government policies.
A final section does, however, set forth an attenuated
balance sheet showing that even if the “hope” of a
$700,000,000 increase in national output is realized, total
resources available for personal consumption and invest-
ment will decline by a similar figure owing to increased
government expenditure on defense, larger exports, and
diminished impotts. Since total personal consumption is.
expected to remain at the 1951 level, there must be a
cut of $700,000,000 in investment. The survey states
that this cut will be divided between fixed capital and in-
ventories but provides no detailed information about the
industries that will be affected. Again, while properly
putting great emphasis on Britain’s need for redressing
its trade balance, the survey is surprisingly vague about —
ways and means. As the London Daily Mirror of April
23 comments: ‘The survey admits that exports will be
Seon eee
ee ee
ee ee er I aa eae adtnee Dae Lane Cae
i
!
{
|
,
s
;
;
2° IN! THIS gene 2?
EDITORIALS
The Shape of Things 413
A Time to Bargain by Freda Kirchwey 416
ARTICLES
The Moscow Trade Conference
by John Boyd-Orr 418
Knight of the Crescent by J. Alvarez del Vayo 419
Perén Through in '52? by Fermin Gonzalez 421
Trouble in Textiles by Keith Hutchison 424
The Crusading Kefauver by Charles Bartlett 426
Miracles in Rome by Alexander Werth 429
BOOKS AND THE ARTS
Bevan States His Case by Paul Niven 431
The Mare A Poem by Vernon Watkins 432
The “Shtetl” by Marie Syrkin 432
Hindemith on Music by Robert E. Garts 434
The Real, Right Victorian by Robert Phelps 434
Books in Brief 436
Drama by Joseph Wood Krutch 437
Music by B, H. Haggin 437
LETTERS TO THE EDITORS 439
CROSSWORD PUZZLE No. 463
by Frank W. Lewis
RS A SS
EDITORIAL BOARD
Editor and Publisher: Freda Kirchwey
opposite 440
Editorial Director Director, Nation Assoctates
Carey McWilliams Lillie Shultz
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414
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very hard to increase but does not suggest that th
any real government plan to see that - ndustries- fos
ahead and get the exports, The government must d
more than sit and wait.” -
THE APPOINTMENT OF GAEL SULLIVAN
Kefauver's campaign manager lends added interest to the
Tennessean’s vigorous try for the Democratic Presiden-_
tial nomination. Mr. Sullivan brings to the undertaking
a sure knowledge of how political machines are run—)
indispensable to the chances of any would-be nominee’
—and much besides. It is an open secret that he broke”
with Mr. Truman and resigned as acting chairman of.
the Democratic National Committee because of hi
preference for Justice William O. Douglas as the 1948
candidate. Four years later Justice Douglas still repre-
sents Mr. Sullivan's ideal choice for the Presidency,
Imaginative, dynamic, a strong civil libertarian commit?
ted by temperament and conviction to the Roosevelt cony
cepts, Gael Sullivan has taken a leave of absence from
his post as Executive Director of Theater Owners of
America to back Kefauver in a fight for the return of the
country to democratic principles and practices. If, to-)
gether, they will work out a program that offers a real
challenge to the Republicans, they have a unique oppor-
tunity to rally behind them the independent vote. The
basic danger today is that, given little to choose between’
the platforms of the parties, people will decide not to
use their franchise at all.
+
SIR STAFFORD CRIPPS, WHO DIED LAS
week after a long and characteristically courageous
struggle against a combination of painful maladies,
brought to British politics one of the finest minds of the’
generation. Superficial observers, indeed, were some-
times so impressed by his mental capacity that they saw
him as a kind of mechanical brain, efficient but soulless.
Actually, the scope of his intellect and the darity of his
thought were matched by an unshakable integrity and:
a passionate concern for social justice. Cripps had, it is’
true, a full share of British reserve: he was not an easy
man to know. Yet beneath the rather frosty exterior
there was real warmth, a fact attested by his populari
in kis constituency—a Bristol working-class district
and the kind of devotion he won from the very able
group-of M.P.’s and civil servants he gathered about him
at the Treasury. If Cripps never commanded the easy
affection of the crowd, he did gain an unusual measure
of public respect. When he became Chancellor of thei,
Exchequer in 1947, the British recovery effort was falter-}
ing. He took vigorous steps to speed up production and
exports while warding off inflation by the austerity
measures which will always be associated with his name.
‘Such measures were bound to be unpopular. Neverthe:
The Nation) }
nie
| his lucid Seed
iC mi paiien catried conviction and he
an amazing degree of cooperation. Trade unionists
part ar responded to his appeals for restraint in
e demands because they realized that his policies
e F cenuinety designed to achieve equality of sacrifice
nd that his aim was to strengthen the economy so it
ald bear the weight of the welfare state. His strength
tiled before he could complete the task, but the founda-
ions he laid are likely to prove a durable monument
) his ideals, *
NGLEWOOD, NEW JERSEY, CONTINUES TO
“our town in turmoil” (see The Nation, June 16,
. 9 51). Mary McLeod Bethune, president emeritus of
|) Bethune-Cookman College, president of the National
MCouncil of Negro Women, vice-president of the
aN. A. A. C. P. and the Urban League, was scheduled
> speak in the local junior high school at a meeting
ponsored by the women’s auxiliary of the Henry Doug-
s Post of the American Legion. In response to protests
led by the Englewood Anti-Communist League, the
) Board of Education notified the sponsors that permis-
sion to hold the meeting would be revoked unless within
I forty-eight hours Mrs. Bethune refuted the charge that
| she had been a member of several “front’’ organizations.
| The sponsors “indefinitely postponed” the meeting, and
| Mrs. Bethune spoke in a local church instead. Of the
rent batch of free-speech incidents, this is perhaps,
| the most significant. Ever since 1947, the chief minority-
| defense organizations have insisted on differentiating
between “civil rights” and “civil liberties.” In an edi-
} torial on Rights and Liberties (July 22, 1950), we
| pointed to this distinction as unrealistic and dangerous.
Mrs. Bethune’s concern for “civil rights” has precipi-
Mi) tated still another ‘‘civil liberties’ issue. Will the im-
oo minority-defense organizations now join with
ithe American Civil Liberties Union in an effort to in-
duce Englewood’s Board of Education to rescind, as
B tety un-American, a policy of automatically banning
Be: ets whose names have been listed in the index of
the various state and federal committees investigating so-
fg called un-American activities? This is the crux of the
ye atter. *
THIS YEAR THE UNITED NATIONS WAS MADE
the major target of the Gist Continental Congress
bf the D. A, R. With virtually no debate, the 5,000
eribboned delegates demanded that Congress keep
right pursestrings on all specialized agencies of the
Jnited Nations; called for an investigation of the af-
front to the Stars and Stripes implicit in the hoisting at
ge Atlantic Fleet Headquarters of “an international flag”;
gm teiterated their opposition to any effort to bring about
n partial world government through the United
ay 3, 1952
fa
‘a
aa
OTT Se Oy Pea Pate
ba NG ere ae ire ? wn b4 “tn
6
a
the United Nations in Korea”; and denounced the use
of UNESCO booklets in the public schools. The dele-
gates cheered to the echo violent denunciations of the
United Nations by Senator William E. Jenner and Rep- —
resentative John T. Wood, to whom the U. N. Charter
is a “crime perpetrated against us by a coterie composed
of out-and-out minions of Soviet Russia, pro-British
Fabian Socialists, Rhodes Scholars, and just plain traitors
to America.” D. A. R. resolutions are traditionally rit-
ualistic; but this year’s batch is alarming evidence of the
growth of the campaign, launched a year or so ago in
the know-nothing press, to “get the U. S. out of the
U. N. and the U. N. out of the U. S.” A portion ef the
$20,000 appropriated to carry on its campaign against
subversive activities might well Ue used by the D. A. R.
to find out who is subverting its own policies and by
what means. Mrs. Roosevelt's comment is also to the
point: “I know that many fine people are members of
the D. A. R. .. . but I believe that we are living in an
era too dangerous for any group .., to pass resolutions
without careful study.” 1
GENERAL HOYT S. VANDENBERG, AIR FORCE
Chief of Staff, has dismissed the “sitdown strike” of re-
serve officers at Randolph and Mather Air Bases as “a
tempest in a teapot.’’ Nevertheless, there is reason to
suppose that the Pentagon is seriously disturbed by this
development which involves several hundred men, many
of them with distinguished combat records, who have
asked to be relieved from flying duties. The trouble seems
to have varied roots—nervous wives, reductions in “‘haz-
ard pay,” a high accident rate (eight B-29’s have
crashed at Randolph since August, 1950), But there
also appears to be tension between the regular officers
in charge of the Air Training Program and the reservists,
some of whom complain that they are shipped off to
Korea while “incompetent” regulars, many of whom
have never gone overseas, enjoy safe jobs at home. For
the air force to yield to the “strikers’’ would, as Van-
denberg has said, be unfair to those on duty in Korea.
Moreover, no military organization can tolerate flat re-
fusal to obey orders. On the other hand, an unwilling
pilot can hardly inspire confidence in the crew for whose
lives he is responsible. Immediately, the air force is
trying to stop the rot by severe measures. One officer
. Was sentenced to two years’ imprisonment after the prose-
cutor told the court martial: “If you don’t sentence this
man there will be a general exodus from the setvice.”
It is doubtful whether such steps will check an obvious
deterioration in morale and the air force will be well _
adyised to supplement them with a sympathetic inquiry
into grievances, Unless it does so, it may find its whole
expansion program threatened by lack of pilots.
415
orn bes &
"Nations; Pees that the a a the United ‘States
was: eadanpéred by “the futile policy of appeasement by
Pi
eas
, ty
ed
eh
> it
r
as
ye
“
*
Se eee
De ee ee
: or ee ron eed
THE BAN AGAINST THE BUILDING OF NEW
television stations that has been in force for the past
three and a half years (see The Nation, February 16,
1952) has finally been lifted by the Federal Communica-
tions Commission. The order provides for the opening
of 2,053 new stations in 1,291 communities and sets
aside 242 channels—an increase of 33 over the figure
tentatively established in 1951—for the exclusive use of
non-commercial, educational interests. Commissioner
Frieda B, Hennock, who played a key role in the fight
to reserve channels for educational television, filed a
partial dissent on the ground that the number of outlets
reserved for educational use is inadequate. No educa-
tional channels, she points out, have been reserved for
about one-fourth of the metropolitan communities, in-
cluding Youngstown, Ohio, with a population of
525,000. On the other hand, the Joint Committee on
Educational Television, representing seven national edu-
cational groups, is apparently satisfied with the order.
Actually, because 162 of the channels cannot be picked
up on Very High Frequency sets, which make up all but
a small fraction of the 17 million instruments now in
use, the number of channels allocated for educational
purposes will be reduced to a third until Ultra High
Frequency owners can afford a converter or a VHF set.
All things considered, however, the number of outlets
reserved for educational use is probably as large as could
be expected at this time. It is now up to the educators to
take advantage of the opportunity to acquire TV outlets.
If the 242 channels reserved for educational use are not
allocated within the year, the pressure to reclassify them
for commercial use will be very great indeed.
+
LAST YEAR UNIVERSITY OF CINCINNATI
students decided to hold a mock political convention—
without consulting Senator Taft. An emissary from the
Taft forces immediately notified the student committee,
and the administration, that the convention would be
“political dynamite” unless some assurance could be
given in advance that the Senator would receive a sizable
majority in the popularity poll. The students explained,
with patience and tact, that although Republican con-
ventions might be fixed in this way, mock student
conventions could not be so easily manipulated. The un-
identified politician thereupon declared that he would
speak to Ben Tate, treasurer of the Taft campaign, who
is a member of the board of directors of the university.
- Later the administration announced that the value of the
convention would not justify the amount of. time and
work it would require. For nearly a year the student
committee loyally acquiesced to the president’s request
that they should not explain why the convention had
been abandoned. But William Smart, retiring president
of the campus Y. M. C. A. group, recently decided to
416
Pi
ea
tg *
‘
Lege .
‘tell th pe rie sti beri:
“he said, “this question has bother muc
consideration I felt an open sistent oF meal be m nade, é
. This sort of thing should not have happened. Maybe
it can be prevented in the future. . . . It is up to the
students to prepare for this fight for democrat right
now.” Senator Taft, we feel sure, was not aware of:
what happened a year ago; but he should find some
way, even at this late date, of making his position clear
—as by requesting that the students be given a chance
to express their preferences in a campus poll.
ot a
IT IS NO LONGER NEWS THAT BOOKS BY: —
Protestants criticizing the Catholic Church for its more —
worldly activities are handled gingerly by editors, who
subscribe to a distressing degree to the Hollywood cult *
of NOA, or Not Offending Anybody—its negative |
sound is all too appropriate. One might expect that they _
would be braver about a book by a Catholic criticizing —
the church on the same grounds, namely Thomas Su-
gtue’s “A Catholic Speaks His Mind on America’s Reli- «
gious Conflict,” especially since it criticizes Protestants
as well, But No—or rather NOA. Both the Herald
Tribune Books and the New York Times Book Review
not only gave the book to Catholics for review—in itself
unexceptionable—but selected reviewers who seemed |
more concerned with Mr. Sugrue’s subjective state of |
mind than with the objective issues his book was ob- ~
viously designed to raise. Mr. Sugrue himself was refer-
ring to these two reviews, among others, when in a
rather bitter speech the other day he said, “They had a
eject me from the group in the eyes of that group.”
Certainly the reviews we have cited were designed to
ground his criticisms, not to confront them or further
their discussion.
A Time to Bargain
BY FREDA KIRCHWEY
NE can safely assume that the swift rise-of-mili- |
tary power in the West was responsible for Mos- ©
cow’s latest proposals for the unification of Germany. It
may have been responsible, too, for the sudden crisis in
the truce talks at Panmunjom. Moscow undoubtedly —
fears above everything else the creation of an integrated,”
‘armed, Atlantic coalition embracing Western Germany.
To prevent this ‘by every available means would appear’
to be the chief object of Soviet diplomacy, justifying in
their eyes even such extreme expedients as support for a _
German national army; justifying also, perhaps, the risk ff
of a revived and expanded war in Korea to divert Amer-
ican material, men, and attention from Europe to Asia. q .
Secretary Acheson’s description of the Soviet offers on |
tt apt. But when he and President
raman and other Western leaders go on to argue that
because the Kremlin is doing its best to delay and ob-
| struct Allied military plans its offers are ‘‘phony,” their
| logic goes haywire and their own intentions become sus-
| pect. Under what circumstances, we wonder, is an offer
more likely to be genuine than when made under pres-
‘sure of well-founded fear? And what is all this Western
integration and rearmament about if not to stimulate
proposals for the negotiated settlement of outstanding
issues?
The real Western objection to the Moscow offers is
not that they are phony but that they are almost cer-
tainly sincere—that Russia, in order to demolish the
_gtand strategy of the Atlantic alliance, is actually ready
to permit the reunion of Germany under a freely elected
central authority. And this is something that the West
will not tolerate for it would mean shifting the whole
emphasis of Atlantic policy from military containment
| to diplomatic negotiation. For such a change, the Amer-
| ican leaders of the Western coalition are not ready.
| But since they are none the less committed to the
a of German unity, they cannot be frank in their
comments on, or answers to, the Russian notes. They
must pretend to favor what they actually oppose and
i limit themselves to detailed objections which, under the
| circumstances, are without interest or validity. And this
| is most unfortunate, for if the Allied leaders were not
| trapped i in their own contradictions they could say some
| pertinent things about the proper means of securing free
: elections and also about Moscow’s dangerous plan to
| revive German military power. As it is, their words
) carry a false echo and their position has been seriously
| undermined, as Moscow obviously intended. The results
| are apparent both to Bonn and the Atlantic alliance
_ itself.
i In Germany the anti-Adenauer elements, increasing
‘in number and influence, have been given new proof
that integration in the NATO structure will end the
: -ptospect of German unity for the foreseeable future. In
Ke _ Western Europe as a whole, fear of armed Russian
| attack has largely disappeared; even top Allied military
|, leaders discount an early invasion. So the view that
| every Moscow overture must be automatically rebuffed
| never popular among our allies—and the further
i _ view that Germany’s inclusion in the defense system is
an overriding necessity have suffered severe deflation.
+) Europeans are more and more inclined to believe that
| Moscow is ready to pay a real price in return for real
| | concessions. Even assuming the Kremlin’s purposes to
it e unalterably hostile, if it has resigned itself to achiev-
} ing them through political and social struggle rather
. than atom war most Europeans would gladly gamble on
| f fa bs 1952
|
i
!
|
}
i
he chance of defeating them the same way. And
~
rown “among rahe meanwhile an easing of tension would permit economic
improvements and a consequently firmer political
fabric.
While Mr. Acheson signals full speed ahead in the
talks with Bonn, so that the Contractual Agreement can
be signed by May 15, complications multiply. The new
strength of the opposition, even in his own party, drove
Chancellor Adenauer to point out last week that the
agreement would be subject to change if unification were
to be achieved—a statement that revived every French
doubt about the security of a German alliance. The col-
lapse of Paris-Bonn negotiations on the Saar further
threatened the whole relationship, in spite of frantic
intervention by Britain and the United States. And in
the Pentagon, as this week began, anxious talks were
going on in an effort to prevent a showdown at Pan-
munjom which might mean the renewal of active fight-
ing—with consequences beyond calculation.
HERE is only one sane answer to this series of
events, and it must come from Washington. Amer-
ica should accept the logic of its power and its professed
philosophy. If the President and Secretary honestly re-
gard the defense program as an instrument to force
Moscow into making concessions rather than threats,
they should treat the German-unity proposals as a vic-
tory, a step along the road we say we want to go. They
should agree to negotiate—which is to say, bargain—on
Germany, knowing they have high cards and need not
be outmaneuvered. They should keep their fingers
crossed but shed their inferiority complex. They should
never find the moment inopportune for talk; what they
might lose in the momentum of war preparation they
would gain in the equally vital asset of human con-
fidence. To go on rejecting every new chance of contact
ot conciliation is to create an impression unjustly favor-
able to Moscow, spreading the Kremlin’s gospel that the
United States wants to overthrow Soviet power, rather
than merely to check it, and by military and economic
might to dominate the world.
An election year is a poor time to ask for common
sense. Any hint that the Administration intended to ex-
amine Russian offers soberly or to initiate peace moves
itself would certainly be seized by the jingo lunatics and
turned to their own destructive ends, But we continue to
believe that such people are few, though well heeled
and able to make much trouble in proportion to their
numbers. We believe the mood of the ordinary citizens
of this country—each with one vote—is better expressed
by the Methodist declaration quoted on page 413. If any
real break in the world deadlock could be brought about
between now and November, the power of the Mc-
Carthyite fringe would vanish overnight and the men —
responsible would be hailed as peacemakers, not ap-
peasers,
417
Rahs Ey ty ee a Cea ba
[Lord Boyd-Orr, former head of the United Nations
Food and Agriculture Organization and a Nobel Peace
Prize winner in 1949, played a leading role at the Interna-
tional Economic Conference in Moscow as a member of the
British delegation. His story, written exclusively for The
Nation, was dispatched from Moscow on the day after the
conference closed.}
Moscow, April 13
HERE are two different views on the origin of the
International Economic Conference which closed
here yesterday. According to one, it was promoted by a
Communist-dominated Peace Council as an instrument
of propaganda. In support of this view are the facts that
the council did propose such a conference and that Mos-
cow was chosen as its site. According to the other view,
the conference was promoted primarily by economists
with no political ax to grind. Supporting this is the fact
that the initiating committee, which met at Copenhagen,
refused to permit Peace Council representatives to par-
ticipate in organizing the conference and that the Rules
of Procedure, as finally adopted, forbade any reference
to the relative merits of different economic and political
systems (a prohibition which was rigidly enforced). As
for the choice of Moscow as the site, the initiating com-
mittee explains that Russia was the only country which
guaranteed visas to delegates from all countries,
_ The conference was attended by 470 delegates. The
British delegation of thirty-two consisted of about half
a dozen members of Parliament, another half-dozen
academic economists from Oxford, Cambridge, Birm-
ingham, and Glasgow universities, two or three repre-
sentatives of trade unions, about a dozen business men,
and three or four people accompanying delegates. So far
as I could make out, the delegations from other Western
countries comprised a similar mixture of economists and
business men. Politically they were also mixed, though
the British delegation had no Communists. The French,
for instance, included De Gaullists, Radicals, and Com-
munists, The delegates from the Communist countries
were either representatives of official trade organizations
of university professors of economics. The leader of the
Russian delegation is chairman of the Moscow Chamber
of Commerce.
The speeches at the plenary and in the various panels
were non-political, dealing mainly with economic condi-
tions in the country of the speaker—the extent of un-
employment and the reasons for it, shortages of raw
_ materials or the lack of orders for export, inflation and
418
BY JOHN BOYD-ORR
the rising cost of living, the goods which the country
could export and the goods which it wished to import. |
A good deal of business was done. The meetings had —
to be adjourned -for two days to leave the business men
free to make their deals. The British delegation made
agreements for the export of goods, mainly textiles and —
footwear, to the extent of £16,000,000 ($44,800,000) P
against the import of goods of approximately equal
value consisting mainly of food, livestock feed, glassware,
and other consumer goods. Other transactions of about —
an equal amount were discussed, but on the last day of —
the conference agreement had not been reached on prices —
or was delayed because samples were not available. The
biggest British transactions were with Russia and China, —
If the direct contact of business men and representa- —
tives of trade organizations had the same result with
other delegations as it had with the British, the con-
ference must have substantially increased international
trade. All transactions were negotiated within the exist-
ing framework of political and economic restrictions so
that nothing should prevent their successful completion.
The export of goods, especially textiles, from Britain
will help to reduce the rising unemployment which has
been causing alarm to manufacturing firms and trade
unions, and the imports will help to prevent the deterio-
i‘
A British Reaction
Many interpretations of the [Moscow trade] con-
ference are possible. It can be seen as an attempt
to drive a wedge between the United States and her
allies, or as a means of organizing fairly large busi-
ness deals that might otherwise have encountered tech-
nical difficulties. It is possible also to see in it a
gesture of conciliation. Within the U. S. S. R., as im
other countries, there are many different strands of
policy; and at the same time as the most violent
propaganda is launched against the United States and
her allies a more constructive effort may be made to
improve relations by expanding trade. The conference
could easily have been used to pass resolutions against
strategic trade restrictions, and such resolutions might
have found vociferous supporters in the west... . The
fact that no such resolution was put was some indica-
_ tion that the object of the conference was not to
score a point or to sow dissension but to keep open
the road to a better understanding —The ‘Times of
London,
i a a ae
ono fe.
obtained for the other participants, the conference will
have helped both business and the standard of living.
____ The political significance of the conference is difficult
| to assess. Though politics did not enter into the discus-
sions, the fact that delegates from more than forty
| countries met in Moscow is a political factor of some im-
portance. Further, the conversations not only between
_ delegates outside the conference but also with Russian
citizens in the subways, in the shops, and in the hotels,
| when one could find a Russian interpreter, offered some
| _ Opportunity to correct the wrong impression most of the
people seemed to have about conditions in Britain and
_ America. On the other hand, delegates from Western
countries got a better idea of life in Russia, Such direct
contact of people from countries with different cultures
and historical backgrounds should help to bring about
_ a better understanding. I suggested to the leader of the
Russian delegation that his government should adjust
the present absurd rate of exchange of four rubles to the
dollar to twenty, and offer visas to 100,000 British and
_ American visitors, and send an equal number of Rus-
sians to Western countries to see for themselves.
The conference resolved to set up a permanent com-
mittee to make arrangements for another meeting next
year to be held in a country willing to give visas to all
delegates. India was suggested by some, The expenses of
the committee are to be met by voluntary contributions,
the largest being expected from firms which have done
most business. It also resolved to ask the General Assem-
bly of the United Nations to convene a conference of
government-appointed business men and economists,
with the addition of private citizens, for a free discus-
pieces pace
— =
——
eee ae
con igh among hiénsewies. If similar benefits are
"sion of how to bring about a rapidly expanding universal
economy which could deal with the greatly increased
industrial potential of the world. [ According to France
Presse, the permanent committee includes Paul Bastid,
former French Minister of Commerce and for many
years editor of the ultra-conservative Paris daily,
L’Aurore; Felipe Florencia Freyre of Argentina; Jack
Perry, director of a British textile firm, and Oliver
Vickery, San Francisco industrialist. }
‘The general impression of the British delegates is that
the conference succeeded far beyond their expectations.
Some of the business done might eventually have passed
through normal channels but other transactions would
never have taken place without the direct meeting and
bargaining of representatives of business firms and or-
ganizations. The contacts established are being main-
tained and extended so that the trade done at the
conference itself may be only the first fruits of expanding
international trade, which is good for business and good
for the people of all countries.
President Truman is reported to have said some time.
ago that if we of the West could discuss with the Rus-
sians our mutual interest in agriculture it would be easier
to discuss some of the other questions which divide us.
But it is difficult for discussions on business to take place
at government level without politics entering in. The
success of this conference suggests that if in all countries
the politicians who deal with foreign affairs were given
a well-earned long holiday, and business men were given
more freedom to develop international trade on business
lines, the resulting increase in economic prosperity and
rise in the standard of living throughout the world
would help to lessen the present dangerous political
tension.
TF TRAGEDY had not cast its shadow over everything
] connected with the Spain of today, one could enjoy
the spectacle of Generalissimo Dictator Franco stepping
| onto the world stage costumed as the Knight of the
'’ Crescent. For this newly emerged friend of the Arabs
e spent most of his military career slaughtering Moors,
in training for his later occupation of slaughtering
Spaniards.
It was in 1921, when the military disaster of Melilla
had led the commanding general Fernandez Silvestre to
_ blow his brains; out, that the ‘“Tercio Extranjero” was
_ created—a kind of Spanish Foreign Legion which at-
| tracted to its ranks the toughest sort of adventurers from
every country. Major Franco was chosen to head the
May 3, 1952
=
:
|
|
a
p
- See
Knight of the Crescent
BY J. ALVAREZ DEL VAYO
Tercio. Throughout the following years of struggle
against Abd-el Krim, the fierce chieftain of the bellicose
tribe of the Beniurriagel who had proclaimed himself
Sultan, Franco became notorious for his barbaric cruelty.
Abd-el Krim himself was hardly a model military leader
and the freedom of such Spanish war prisoners as
escaped death had to be “bought” in a famous trans-
action carried out by the Basque banker Echevarrieta on
behalf of the Spanish government. But the Spariish
atrocities in Morocco, in large part the work cf Franco's
legion, were denounced by the Arabs in horrifying post-
cards showing the heads of Moors being carried on the
bayonets of the soldiers of “El Tercio.” They were de-
nounced with equal bitterness by courageous Spaniards,
419
both in Parliament and in memorable writings such as
the open letter to the King by the great Miguel de-
Unamuno. In fact the chief motive behind the coup
d'état which established General Primo de Rivera as
dictator in 1923 was to prevent the discussion by Par-
liament of General Picasso's sensational report exposing
—with severe damage to Alfonso’s reputation—the
shame of the Moroccan campaign. The fact that this re-
port was written by an active general shows that the
army as a whole did not identify itself with the be-
havior of officers like Franco,
As the result of the coup, the King won eight years’
respite only to fall, together with his dynasty, in 1931.
Franco, on the contrary, was spared by a soft Republican
regime, even though in October, 1934, he had brought
_ Moorish troops to Asturias to smash the miners’ revolt.
Now he emerges as the “friend of Islam’’ and is ac-
cepted as such by Arab politicians—although there must
be some Moslems who still recall the day Franco insulted
all Islam by riding his horse into the mosque of
Xauen,
EVERAL events during the last United Nations As-
S sembly confirmed the trend inaugurated by the 1949
visit to Spain of the late King Abdullah of Jordan.
There was the interview with the Secretary General of
the Arab League, Azzam Pasha, in the falangist paper
El Pueblo, which stressed the fact that “the Arab coun-
tries and Spain together hold the greater part of the
Mediterranean coast” and that consequently Spain was an
important factor in any project looking towatd a Medi-
terranean Pact. And it was in the course of a lavish re-
ception at the Franco Embassy in Paris for the Arab
delegates that French diplomats discovered, not without
concern, the seriousness with which Franco took his role
as mediator between the Moslem world and the West.
When it became evident at the NATO conference in
Lisbon that, in spite of secret promises of American sup-
port for a tighter integration of Spain into the Atlantic
- community the doors of NATO remained firmly closed
to the Spanish regime—mainly because of the oppo-
sition of France and the Scandinavian countries—Fran-
co's plans to cement and exploit Arab-Spanish friendship
were pushed ahead with all possible speed. The
diplomacy of Madrid, which had previously concen-
trated on gaining acceptance of Spain as a permanent
- Western ally and not simply an auxiliary aid in the anti-
Russian strategy, was now directed by a single thought
—to increase its bargaining power with Washington.
‘This became essential for several reasons. One of these
was Madrid’s preoccupation with the morale of the
army. No matter what tales are told to Americans by
their various services in Spain, the truth is that dis-
affection in the army is mounting. One of the most ef-
fective weapons of the opposition is the argument that -
420
Sed doe
for . of ties’ of elnie eeded to 1
dle a i hs ea ts
is t peal 5 0 sell
ye 0} sou try o the Unit
pair the damage done to Spain's economy by his regim
incompetence and corruption. The army has lately
proved very sensitive to that suggestion. Generals who
after thirteen years are tired of having Franco as abso- —
lute master, generals who have failed to enrich them-
selves like the big es/raperlistas in uniform, honorable
officers who put Spain first, not to mention the great ©
number of Republicans serving as simple conscripts —
—all these constitute a menace to the regime if the
army comes to regard the arrangements with America as __
a mercenary deal compromising the sovereignty of Spain
rather than as an alliance between equals.
It is true that Franco's prestige—and consequently his —
price—had been inflated by the attentions showered upon —
him by over-generous Americans, Those innumerable
pilgrimages of Senators, Representatives, generals, ad-
mirals, and newspaper editors to the Palacio del Pardo ~
had persuaded the Spanish dictator that the United —
States considered him its most valuable potential ally.
This belief was reinforced by all the talk in the Ameri- —
can press about Spanish divisions and bases, widely re-
produced in the falangist press, Today Franco doubtless
considers himself the most important European chieftain.
in the crusade against communism. But in order to main- —
tain that role, his claims had to be substantiated by
something more than pure bluff. For this purpose he
depended upon two cards—Portugal and the Arab
world.
At their joint meeting on the Spanish-Portuguese
border on April 14, the two dictators, Francisco Franco
and Oliveira Salazar, stated ‘‘their perfect agreement” as
to the proper concept of Western policy. Taking as their
point of departure “the strategic unity of the Iberian
Peninsula,” the lines were laid down for “a common
defensive action within the general framework of the
Western defense.” In plain words this meant: If you
want Portugal and the Azores, you must also take.
Franco. Madrid also requested and obtained Lisbon’s
support for a revision of the status of Tangier, aimed at
giving back to Spain the control of that strategic inter-
national city which Franco seized by force during World
War II to embarrass the Allies and please Hitler.
Franco's agents, according to French intelligence, had
been actively involved in the anti-French riots of March
30, which gave Madrid its pretext for raising the Tan-
gier issue in direct defiance of the agreement on the
policing and administration of the city made after
the war by the United States, Britain, France, and the
Soviet Union.
But a still higher card in Franco's hand is his plan
to become mediator in the Western effort to integrate
the Arab states into the Atlantic strategy through a
ee pact. Before his meeting with Salazar,
ms \.
e Sir’ ”
oan, ae fe Bie ee ;
Vi in Artajo, on a mission ae ‘the six countries,
Lebar on, Syria, Jordan, Iraq, Saudi-Arabia, and Egypt.
| Under the Iberian Pact Franco was in any case obligated
| to consult Portugal before making any new inter-
| national arrangements, but he gladly used the occasion
| of his meeting with Salazar to underline before the
| world his mission to bring Moslems and Christians into
(a holy brotherhood against the Russians.
| For that a consistent effort to attract the feudal Arab
| leaders and politicians had to be launched. Franco
| missed no opportunity of assuring the Arabs of his sup-
_ port when the day should come for wiping out the
| state of Israel; at the same time he identified himself
| with their anti-French moves in North Africa. He also
had the problem of his own Morocco. Thanks to the
collaboration of opportunist leaders like Abd-el Khalek
Torres and Benalua, a surprising calm reigns in Span-
ish Morocco at the very moment when French diplomacy
i is losing its head in Tunisia and the rest of North
| Africa. A wide variety of “political parties” have sud-
| denly been authorized in Spanish Morocco, while in
AS
Spain itself not a sag party except the Falange Is
tolerated: freedom for the colonies and slavery for the
master race! Of course the whole thing is a farce, The
walls that since the fifteenth century have surrounded
Melilla, separating the city with its military Spanish
aristocracy from the miserable lands on which the Arabs
vegetate, are as impenetrable as ever, They will fall only.
on the day an enlightened Spanish Republic recognizes
the march of time in Africa. But Franco’s pretense of
democracy in Morocco serves the dictator’s present pur-
poses.
When Martin Artajo returns from his Arabian trip,
which has been hailed as a triumph in the Cairo press,
Franco will turn to the Americans and say, “Now that
we have tightened our bonds with Portugal and made
Spain and the Arab world one, what have you to offer?
Only through me can your dreams of a Mediterranean
pact be realized; only through me can Islam be kept
out of the clutches of communism. Agreement can
be had on my terms—take them or leave them.” This
may turn out to be the most audacious blackmail opera-
tion since the war.
| Peron | brough in ?32?
Buenos Aires
HERE are no Gallup polls in Argentina but even
the most cursory survey of public opinion in Buenos
Aires today would reveal that many Argentines are con-
vinced that 4 military coup will overthrow Juan Peron
before the end of this year.
The credibility of this prediction must be judged in
the light of Argentina’s history and of the crisis, deep-
ening from day to day, which now has the country in
its grip.
‘Argentina enacted its democratic constitution in
1853 and for seventy-seven years was ruled by a suc-
cession of constitutional civilian regimes. But in 1930
the Conservative Party, which had been out of power
* since 1916, sought military help to overthrow the gov-
ernment of Hipdlito Yrigoyen, leader of the centrist
| Unién Civica Radical, whose program for nationalizing
| oil had the support of the people. The putsch was en-
_ gineered by General Uriburu with the support of the
_ Right and of several American oil companies. A group
| of students and writers said at the time: “The coup is
"tantamount to making the army the judge of elections
and governments.” Certainly the event marked the end
FERMIN GONZALEZ is the pseudonym of a distinguished
Argentine journalist and former political leader.
May 3, 1952
r
|
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cr - =
BY FERMIN GONZALEZ
of normal constitutional government. The army has since
been the decisive element in the role played by the
conservative political factions in Argentina.
A second military coup occurred in 1943. It was sup-
ported by avowed Fascist groups and by Hitler's agents
in Latin America who were determined to prevent
Argentina from lining up with the Allies. against the ~
Axis powers. One of the most active plotters was Col-
onel Juan Domingo Perén, who had spent several years
in Italy and had personally witnessed many of the Axis
blitzkrieg triumphs. Thus Perén’s rise to power was the
result of a combination of international Nazi-Fascist in-
trigue and the plotting of some of the same imperialist
and reactionary factions which had maneuvered the
Uriburu coup thirteen years earlier. The roots of Ar-
gentina’s troubles go much deeper than the present dic-
tatorship.
When Germany’s defeat deprived Perén of the con-
tinued international backing he had expected, he put
forward a domestic program, modeled on Fascist lines,
designed to’ win him the support of the industrial
bourgeoisie and the urban and rural proletariat. His
Five Year Plan, announced in 1946, had the following
over-all objectives: the mechanization of agriculture to
increase production; the establishment of the govern-
ment as the sole exporter of agricultural products, the
421
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profits from this foreign trade to be used to sate
domestic industry through the increase of fuel produc-
tion, the building of hydroelectric plants, the improve-
ment of transport, and the purchase from abroad of
raw materials and machinery,
Here was a program which, if honestly and efficiently
executed, could have meant a genuine progressive revo-
lution, Everything favored Perén: in
1946 Argentina was still a rich and
solvent country. It was one of the
world’s greatest exporters of meat and
grain, ranking first in corn, linseed
and chilled beef, second in mutton, and
third in wool. At war's end, Argen-
tina’s gold and foreign-exchange re-
serves amounted. to $1,700,000,000;
Perén himself boasted that there were
not enough safes in Buenos Aires to
hold all the government's gold. The
country’s light industry had developed
enormously since 1935; it was pro-
ducing foodstuffs, textiles, leather
goods, glassware, and hundreds of other consumer
items. Between 1935 and 1941 the number of industrial
concerns had risen from 40,000 to 58,000.
What has happened since the Five Year Plan was pro-
claimed?
ODAY not a cent remains of Argentina's $1,700,-
000,000 gold and foreign-exchange reserves. The
huge sum has been dissipated in buying arms, in the ex-
propriation of the British-owned railways under condi-
tions which netted the foreign sharcholders $600,000,-
000 for material not worth half that amount, and—
above all—in graft which has gone to line the pockets of
the ruling clique. Most of this graft was skimmed off
the prices paid the United States, Britain, and Canada
for surplus war material.
None of the plan's principal features have been
executed. Not a single hydroelectric plant has been
built; tndustrial machinery has not been renewed; the
railroads have not been modernized; fuel production
has not been increased. As for agriculture, the country
which less than six years ago was one of the world’s
great exporters of grain and beef is now going meatless
two days a week while white bread has disappeared alto-
gether. In 1908 Argentina’s cultivated area amounted
to 19,000,000 hectares (approximately 47,000,000
acres); today it totals barely 16,000,000 hectares
(about 40,000,000 acres). Perén has “‘encouraged’’
Argentine agriculture to the extent that this year and
next the export surplus of grain will be practically
nothing and that of meat very small. This can mean
the economic ruin of the country in a very short time.
The effects of Argentina's industrial stagnation are
422
Drawing by Seligson
Juan Peron
wealthiest bachelor in the world.” Actress friends of
cost of living is five to six times higher than it was in
1946. There are long lines before stores selling breac
meat, butter, wine, potatoes, and fuel, on which rie
lators are making enormous sums. Small business 1
being strangled by the imposition of |
government controls.
So far Perén has managed to ward —
‘off major trouble through inflation.
Paper money has been printed at a:
mad rate to cover government expenses 4
and maintain labor support through
nominal wage increases. Currency in
circulation, amounting to two billion
pesos in 1943, rose to fourteen billion 4
pesos in 1951—an increase of 66 per
cent in eight years.
The outlook for the immediate fu-
ture is indeed grim. The increase in ~
real wages has not been sufficient for
the workers to maintain their living standards and unem-
ployment continues to rise; these facts spell widespread
Jabor unrest. Argentina's foreign-exchange position is.
deteriorating steadily. Not only have its foreign reserves
disappeared, but the normally favorable trade balance
has turned into a deficit which last year amounted to
more than $33,000,000.
There can be only one explanation for the situation —
in which Argentina finds itself today: the incompetence
and corruption of the Peron regime. Agriculture was sac-
rificed for an uneconomical and chaotic industrialization
plan; foreign exchange and public funds were wasted on
military installations and obsolete armaments bought at
ptices which left wide margins for graft. The high-wage
inflationist policy drew farmers and agricultural workers
to the cities—a situation which the government is now
trying to remedy through measures that fail to strike
at the heart of the agricultural problem. Despite re-
peated promises, Perén has not touched the Jatifundia,
the immense properties of the wealthy landowners who
are the government’s staunchest.supporters. Instead he
is telling the people: ‘Eat less and produce more.”
Many Argentinians wonder whether this slogan ap-
plies also to some of the people most intimate with the —
Peréns. Juan Duarte, the dictator’s brother-in-law, gives
sumptuous parties at which he boasts that he is “the
Eva Perén have been granted monopolies on certain
foodstuffs and other scarce products: Tita Merello, an
actress, is Argentina’s only authorized importer of —
Chinese tea. Juana Larrauri, a radio singer, is a National
Senator for Entre Rios province who organizes armed ~
assaults on meetings of opposition political parties. Eva —
The Nation
Dus rployers and workers are forced to con-
tribute to it an estimated million pesos daily (more than
| $72,000); Mrs. Perén accounts to no one for what she
| spends.
5 The atmosphere of corruption and ignorance emanat-
ing from the government pervades almost all aspects
bof public life. At the universities, Peronista professors
. automatically pass all pro-Perén students; in primary
_ schools, teachers are obliged to praise Perdén in the classe
ftooms. The courts have been “purged” to the point
| where many judges seek daily instructions on the
_ handling of cases from the provincial government or the
- chief of police.
_ The opposition no longer enjoys civil rights,
_ Thousands of military men, politicians, students, and
_ workers are today in jail because they disagree with the
_tegime. The horrible tortures inflicted upon political
and military prisoners are common knowledge [see
Perén Turns to Torture in The Nation of April 19}.
_ Among these victims are two former editors of La Prensa
| who refused to continue writing for the paper after it
| was expropriated by the government, Two army officers,
| Colonel Suarez and Lieutenant Demichelli, have recently
| undergone torture, and people still talk about the case
| of Aguirre, a workman, who died in excruciating pain
in the hands of the sadistic police. Women have been
thrown into jail for protesting against high prices and
the long queues in front of food stores.
Police terror will undoubtedly grow as popular unrest
continues to mount. And as Perén feels his position
increasingly threatened, he is pinning his hopes on two
possibilities: American help in exchange for the align-
ment of Argentina with the anti-Communist front, and
_ the outbreak of a new war which would enable him to
—oOoo
Beyond Comment
Certainly our program in Europe seems to me far
‘ more likely to produce war with Russia than anything
we have done in the East. I am only asking for the
_ same policy in the Far East as in Europe-—From “A
Foreign Policy for Americans,” by Senator Robert Taft.
Relative to a recent letter in your column it has
been interesting to note that numerous times though
‘the weather has been stormy the day General Mac-
_ Arthur has addressed the public there seems to be a
parting of the clouds and a beam of light just before
and continuing until he has finished his speech... .
This has happened sé many times in various parts of
the country that it would almost™seem prophetic.—
From a reader's letter to the Los Angeles Examiner.
Pe eA
{The Nation will be glad to pay $2 for acceptable
contributions to Beyond Comment.}
' Me 3, 1952
zs.»
come internationally
‘even more ethical his demese ce
and at the same time ease his financial situation by
boosting export prices. Perén himself has-been men-
tioning these possibilities in articles for the newspaper
Democracia which he writes under the pseudonym
“Descartes.”
To many Argentine nationalists, Perén’s dallying with
the “Yanquis” comes as a great shock. All these years
he has been attacking “Yanqui imperialism” and de-
mouncing large American concerns. The record shows
that not even in this has he been sincere. In 1940 there
were only fifty-four American factories; today there
are more than 100. Morgan interests control almost all
the country’s power plants. Foreign oil companies which
in 1947 earned a little more than $1,000,00 in profits,
earned sixteen times as much in 1949. Standard Oil,
which lost three-quarters of a million dollars in 1945,
had profits of more than $2,500,000 in 1949.
UT Perén cannot count on America to save him
financially, nor can he count on a third world war.
The dark days of his dictatorship are numbered. The
vast majority of the army is determined to get rid of him
in order to salvage what remains of its prestige, and
soon one of the many plots being hatched against him
will succeed.
In the light of this prospect, the democratic and lib-
etal parties have a great responsibility. Many among
their leaders feel that it will be enough to get rid of the
Peréns; they look forward with equanimity to the return
of a conservative civilian government or even of a mild
military regime, But others realize that Argentina’s
profound crisis can be resolved only through organic
and progressive reforms which have popular support.
There are some democratic leaders who shate with
Perén the notion that only war and/or American help
can save the country, These conservatives will attempt
to shoulder aside all progressive groups such as the
so-called Radical Intransigente, which now controls
the old moderate party of Hipédlito Yrigoyen. This
gtoup, led by Balbin and Frondizi, polled more than
2,000,000 votes in the last national election; in effect, it
represented the opposition as a whole. Youthful and
vigorous, it stands for nationalistic and dernocratic meas-
ures designed to help the masses, Functioning along
similar lines are workers’ groups and political organiza-
tions which include many former Peronistas who have
become disillusioned with their hero.
A rightist military coup, carried out with the help of
conservative forces, would merely prolong the political
crisis. A young Argentine writer sums up the situation
this way: “Neither today with Perén, nor yesterday with
the conservatives, but tomorrow with the popular pro-
gressive forces.” The next few months may determine
which road Argentina will follow.
423
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ETWEEN February and March 300,000 hitherto
B idle workers found jobs, reducing the total number
of unemployed to 1,804,000—2.9 per cent of the civilian
labor force. A year earlier the total was 343,000, or half
a percentage point greater; yet then there was an ac-
knowledged boom while today we hear much uneasy talk
about recession. Clearly this talk is exaggerated but
nevertheless there are some exceedingly soft spots in the
economy, particularly in those sections that cater directly
~ to consumers, and the softest of these are the textile and
apparel industries.
The women’s-wear section, while not without troubles,
is still relatively prosperous, but in men’s wear and most
branches of the textile industry there is serious unem-
ployment. Moreover, as “spreading the work” is tradi-
tional in these trades, thousands of operatives are on
short-time, necessitating drastic cuts in their family
budgets. In January, according to the March issue of the
Federal Reserve Bulletin, employment in textile-mill
products and apparel and other finished textiles totaled
2,138,000 compared to an average of 2,608,000 in 1950.
‘Average weekly hours worked in textile-mill products
were 38.7 against 40.6 a year earlier, and 36.1 in apparel
and other finished textiles against 39.9.
However, these figures tell only part of the story, for
conditions in the industry are by no means uniform. Cer-
tain sections—those producing the newer synthetics and
manufacturing rayon cord for tires—are still busy. Geo-
gtaphically, too, the weight of the slump has fallen un-
evenly. The South, tious it is feeling the depression,
is considerably better off than New England and the
Middle Atlantic states, as is shown by the following
table, taken from an exhibit presented to the Surplus .
Manpower Committee by the Textile Workers Union of
America (C. I. O.).
TEXTILE MILL EMPLOYMENT
Percentage of Change
January, 1951, to January, 1952
Employment Av. weekly
manhoure
United States ......... — 8.9 —13.2
New England ........ —13.9 —19.2
Middle Atlantic ....... —16.4 —18.9
NOM crise ates oes si aso a eT
A little more than a year ago the always mercurial tex-
tile and allied industries were on top of the world. Order
books were full; mills and shops were working overtime;
prices and profits were rising steeply. ‘Today the industry
is plunged in gloom and everyone in it is asking, “What
424
BY KEITH HUTCHISON
hit us?” There is general agreement that textiles are suf-
fering from an acute case of indigestion, the aftermath of
a bout of speculative indulgence which followed the out-
break of the Korean war. But in their present sad and —
sober state, manufacturers, merchants, and union officials —
are wondering whether their pains spring partly from a_
more organic disease.
Before attempting to answer these questions we must —
review the events of the past twenty-two months. Imme- —
diately following the outbreak of the Korean war, the —
textile market was stimulated by the rush of consumers to
stock up on goods of all kinds from sugar to sheets. In
this buying splurge government —
“2 agencies were well to the fore
and in the case of wool at least —
they bear a major responsibility —
for the subsequent wild gyrations —
in prices. Instead of attempting to
cover their requirements quietly,
they announced grandiose stockpiling plans just before
the Australian wool auctions opened in September, 1950,
and again during the Christmas holidays, Naturally these
plans to corral and sterilize a major fraction of the
world’s wool supplies spurred buyers everywhere to an-
ticipate their own requirements and gave commodity
speculators a field day. Prices mounted steadily until just
before Easter, 1951, when Washington pulled the plug
by announcing suspension of both stockpile purchases
and current procurement. As a result auction prices re-
treated even more rapidly than they had advanced and by
the end of last September had fallen below their pre-
Korean level.
During the second half of 1950 quotations for fin- ©
ished textiles followed the inflationary trend of raw —
materials. The rise in prices was, in fact, steeper than —
during the period following the price-control bonfire of
1946. Between June and December the advance in cotton
goods averaged 32 per cent and that in woolens and
worsteds 33 per cent. However, when the Chinese inter-
vened in Korea, starting a new war scare, consumers ©
again overran the stores. a
' With both military and civilian demands soaring, the —
textile industry went into high gear. Output of broad- |
woven fabrics jumped from an annual rate of 12.4 bile
lion linear yards in the second quarter of 1950 to 13.7
billion in the fourth quarter and 14.6 billion inthe first —
quarter of 1951—an all-time record. Huge profits were —
reaped and leading textile concerns played a prominent
role in the bull market,
The Nation
It was too good ‘to last. Defense procurement authori-
. ies, finding their appropriations depleted by high prices,
| cut back orders. Fear of general war subsided and with
| the establishment of price ceilings shoppers lost some of
| their terror of inflation and began to notice that store
| shelves and racks were amply supplied. At the same time
} the mounting cost of food and shelter, together with
| higher tax bills, induced them to reexamine their budgets
i and postpone the satisfaction of less urgent desires. In
| the spring of 1951 retail sales of dothing and furnishing
| fabrics began to sag and before long inventory trouble
| was a universal complaint in the textile world.
Manufacturers, however, were loath to reduce profit
| margins so, instead of cutting prices in an effort to stim-
ulate demand, they curtailed operations. By September the
Federal Reserve index of textile production (1935-39=
100) had fallen to 165, a drop of thirty-two points from
} October, 1950, and nine points below the pre-Korcan
} level. Thus the first brunt of the depression fell on the
workers, 180,000 of whom, or 14 per cent, were released
between February and November, 1951. Hundreds of
_ thousands of others went on short-time. Stockholders did
better. According to the April Letter of the National City
| Bank of New York, eight woolen concerns actually in-
cteased their earnings in 1951 by 11 per cent while
thirty-seven cotton companies aggregated $92,812,000,
} only about $150,000 less than in 1950. Rayon and cloth-
} ing groups did not fare so well but were still able to
show a handsome return on their net assets.
In spite of cutbacks in production, reducing inven-
} tories proved a slow business and prices began to give
ground. By the beginning of this year, cotton and woolen
fabrics had lost more than half their post-Korean gains
while the price index for synthetics was actually lower
than in Aprfl, 1950. Further reductions have occurred
in the past three months and there have been reports that
both yarn and cloth were being “dumped” on the market
4 below cost. On April 7, the Wall Street Journal noted
'} “that in New York cotton fabrics were selling at from 15
ta 35 per cent below OPS ceilings and woolens and
worsteds at one-third or more lower. Some men’s suits
price-fixed last year at $75 are now ticketed at $60.
‘| It remains to be seen whether this new policy of lower
'}. ptices, which is being backed by strong retail promotion,
} will attract enough customers to put the industry back on
its feet.
- When adversity strikes the Northern textile manufac-
tarer he is apt to kid himself into believing that what
his business needs is sunshine and cheap labor, and his
thoughts turn southward. Every crisis has increased the
South’s share in the industry,.and.the present one is
likely to prove no exception. In a speech on January 17,
Francis W. White, president of the giant American
Woolen Company, declared that Southern cloth could
_be sold from 30 to 50 cents a yard below New England
if
| May 3, 1952
4
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prices and hinted that, unless Northern mill workers
worked harder and the union stopped “restricting” the
use of machinery, the company would join the Southern
tfek in a big way.
The idealization of the South by Northern mill own-
ers rests partly on fact and partly on myth, Wages are
somewhat lower and labor, as one textile man put it to
me, is “more complaisant.” But growing industrialization
is mopping up the South’s surplus labor and encouraging
unionization, so that differences in wage costs and labor
attitudes are unlikely to prove permanent. Even under
present conditions most comparisons between Northern
and Southern labor efficiency lack validity. The average
Northern operative, for instance, works in an obsolete,
multi-storied, industrial fortress where a smooth flow of
production is impossible and handling costs are ab-
sutdly high. In the South the typical plant is newer and
better designed and houses far more modern equipment.
However, quality grades of cloth, both wool and cotton,
ate still produced mainly in the North and the per-
capita “value added by labor’ there is higher than below
the Mason-Dixon Line.
One Southern advantage that the Northeast cannot
match at present is the lower average cost of power,
which is said to provide a differential in favor of South-
ern woolen and worsted mills of as much as two cents a
yard, For this the South can thank, in part, the TVA, a
RD
SEP
USTEN Yo
THAT YANKE®
= A
Courtesy Minneapolis Star
Carpetbagger from the South, Suh}
425
- ; ae as F
nt m =i Mt aki ae ae
*
fact that ought to stir the Northern states to agitate more
vigorously for development of the power potentialities
of the St. Lawrence and the Connecticut.
In the present tug-of-war between North and South,
the latter is being given an important assist by govern-
ment, national and local. A large percentage of service
contracts for both cloth and clothing has been awarded
to Southern plants—an important factor contributing to
Northern depression. Both the Textile Workers Union
and the Amalgamated Clothing Workers have protested
this situation and proposed that the present system of
open bidding be replaced by preferential negotiation of
contracts with plants in distressed areas. In addition, the
Clothing Workers are demanding stricter enforcement
of “quality clauses.” They charge that established con-
cerns are being by-passed in favor of fly-by-night firms
which bid at such low prices that they can only make
a profit by chiscling on quality or evading wage-and-
hour laws.
Naturally proposals to channel more contracts to
Northern mills have encountered strenuous Southern op-
position. “I am not going to preside here over the liqui-
dation of the textile industry in the South,” Senator
Maybank (S. C.), chairman of the Banking and Currency
Committee, declared recently. And he went on to accuse
mobilization officials of “trying to keep alive a dying
industry in one section when it cannot meet compe-
tition from another part.”
This denunciation of “sectional favoritism” has its
ironic aspects when we consider the success of Southern
The Crusading Kefauver
ely Me ? Pre ees en i. © ie 5
catia as raw cotton. And thett poe as o dts |
free competition shows not a little gall in view of thew
Southern state and local governments have been subsidiz:
ing industrial plants, mainly in the textile and lodhialy
fields.
Introducing legislation to check this practice, Reps
resentative George M. Rhodes (Pa.) pointed out to the
House on February 25 that eight Southern states allow
some kind of tax exemption. Not content with this form —
of bribery, Mississippi supplements it with a plan
enabling city and county authorities to sell tax-exempt —
bonds and use the proceeds to build plants which are then
leased cheaply to industrial concerns. Mr. Rhodes was
able to give particulars of no less than twenty-five such
bond issues, aggregating many millions of dollars, which —
have been approved since the beginning of 1951. Two —
of the largest of them will benefit Textron, a large textile —
combine which has recently closed down several of its
New England plants.
This “Southern socialism” gives the North a legitimate
grievance. It is a form of government intervention that -
is as insidiously divisive as would be the erection of tariff —
barriers by the several states. If long continued it seems”
bound to lead to retaliatory action by the North and the
development of sectional economic warfare with grave
consequences not only for textiles but for all industry. .
[Next week Keith Hutchison will discuss some of the long-
term problems of the textile industry at bome and abroad.
/
ENATOR ESTES KEFAUVER is a man who talks
S slowly but moves fast and his Presidential can-
didacy became virtually inevitable last November 6 when
Rudolph Halley, the intense young attorney of the Senate
Crime Investigating Committee, was elected president
of the New York City Council by : a surprising margin of
160,000 votes.
Halley's victory, sprung from the fragile catapult of
New York’s Liberal Party and unforeseen by the most
seasoned observers, was a striking manifestation of the
popular sentiment for the work of the crime commit-
tee. It brought Kefauver face to face with a chance at the
Presidency, a challenge which had goaded him for many
years,
Although Kefauver's friends concede that his present
CHARLES BARTLETT is the Washington correspondent
of the Chattanooga Times.
426
BY CHARLES BARTLETT
position as a prime contender for the Democratic nomi-
nation is due in large part to the crime investigation, they
maintain that the kleig lights and publicity merely served
to hasten a development that was inevitable. As far back
as the fall of 1949 his Tennessee supporters were talking
seriously of boosting him for the Presidency and in 1940,
when he was just a freshman Congressman, Senator —
McKellar said, “I believe the time will come when he
will be one of the great leaders in the state.”
To Kefauver himself -an ambition for the Presidency -
comes as one of the most natural things in the world. —
Leadership is in his blood and throughout his life he has —
been president, editor, or captain of almost every organi-
zation and group with which he has been associated, —
Asked recently why he aspired to the Presidency, the —
Tennessean replied, “I suppose it is just a natural desire d
on the part of every boy to want to be President.”
This unflagging ambition is the most striking thing
ting every p
ter recognition, His caer is the philosophy of
those inspirational poems which urge dedication, cout-
“age, and perseverance as the keys to great success. Most
_ American boys read this poetry but Kefauver seems to
_ have lived by its precepts. At no time in his life has he
_ been content to sit back and rest on his laurels.
The maystery of Estes Kefauver is the contrast between
_ the powerful drive of his ambition and the elusiveness of
_ his persenality. Although a man of good will, he has ap-
DS -parently never felt the need of the easy give and take
that for most of us makes up daily living.
Kefauver’s strongest point is his genius for assimila-
_ tion. He is a master at getting experts to advise him.
_ His own mental processes are devoid of emotionalism,
_ prejudice, and indirection. Those nearest to him say they
have never seen him either angry or excited. He is a
_ man who trusts his own instincts.
_ The effect that the Tennessee Senator has upon the peo-
eis, who meet him, see him on television, or hear him at
tallies is more reassuring than inspiring. His long, hon-
4 —_ face, enormous size, and country-boy manner be-
or good faith and sincerity. His words, attuned to the
same bulldog optimism which pervades his life, are full
of hope aad: a passion for reform. He has dignity, an
_ impressive presence, and the appearance of great gentle-
ness. The slight awkwardness of his stance strengthens
this concept of a homespun and rather noble human
| being. His impromptu talks are badly organized and give
| the impression of trying too hard to indorse everything
| __ that is good. More often than not they are boring. His
_ audiences are seldom enthusiastic, but the election records
"in Tennessee and in the various state primaries show that
_ they go home liking him.
_ If “Kefauver at long range” is one of the greatest
_ assets of his present campaign, “Kefauver at short range”
_ is one of his greatest handicaps. His lack of small talk
ie and his disposition to sink into a shell of contempla-
tion in the midst of lively conversation have cost him the
_ support of many important political leaders. One such
calls it “mysticism”; others term it “aloofness.”
Probably no one in the world can claim to be an in-
_ timate friend and confidant of Kefauver. He is a man
' ‘ who keeps himself to himself and although he will listen
i - to advice from every quarter, he insists that the final
_ decision be his own. These are unpopular characteristics
to patty bosses whose stock-in-trade must be an easy in-
timacy with the officials they help elect. And they do
not make him persuasive to his personality-conscious
colleagues in Congress or to Washington reporters.
Perhaps because of his coonskin hat there is a mistaken
_ belief that Kefauver was cradled in a log cabin by
_Indian-shooting parents. The unusual family name
3, 1952
cepti
~ that the Tectaavers
were French Hugue-
nots who settled in
Frederick, Maryland,
before the Revolu-
tion; that both of the
Senator's grandfathers
were graduates of the
University of Virginia
and eminent profes-
sional men, and that
Kefauver’s father and
he himself were born
on one of the finest
estates in east Tennes-
see. His father, Rob-
ert Cooke Kefauver,
has been for many
years a leader in
the political and eco-
nomic life of Mad-
isonville, Tennessee, a smalf but venerable town in the
foothills of the Smoky Mountains, and his mother came
from a distinguished Southern family.
Estes Kefauver, born forty-nine years ago, was an
exceptionally strong and extremely active youngster of
average intelligence. He had an inherent capacity for lead-
ership and although he was described on his arrival at
the University of Tennessee as the “countriest-looking”
boy who ever came there, as a sophomore he was voted
the outstanding member of his class. By his senior year he
Estes Kefauver
~ was in charge of almost every extra-curricular activity on
the campus. His marks, perhaps reflecting these preoccu-
pations, were only fair.
After graduation, his father offered to pay his ex-
penses to the Yale Law School. But the boy preferred to
be on his own and succeeded in getting a scholarship.
He came home in 1927 and practiced law in a cousin's
firm in Chattanooga. In 1935 he married Nancy Pigott,
a Scottish redhead who had the imagination and vivid’
personality that he lacked. She is a portrait painter who
has never been able to get her husband to sit still long
enough for painting. The Kefauvers have four children,
It is ironic that the most flashy and least thorough _
of the many reform movements that Kefauver has headed —
should have brought him his greatest reward. His entire
success in politics has been achieved through his ad-
vocacy of reforms.
As a young lawyer in Chattanooga in the thirties, he
worked for reform of the city and county government . —
and for county planning. On the basis of these efforts
and of an anti-poll-tax platform he ran in 1938 for the
state Senate. In the only loss of his political career he
427.
See,
We .
ne :
i. tn gh s
was beaten by sixty votes by a veteran politician. Un-
daunted, he demanded reform in the state government
and was invited into the Governor's Cabinet in 1939 to
reorganize the finance and taxation department.
He took leave of his law office, then netting him close
to $30,000 a year, to accept this post but had been in
Nashville for only four months when the Congressman
from Chattanooga died and he was offered a chance to run
for his seat. He went to Congress in the fall of 1939 and
by 1947 had collaborated on a scholarly and detailed
master plan for a sweeping reformation of that august
body. Practically none of his proposed changes has been
adopted, but the volume, entitled “Twentieth Century
Congress,” is used as a textbook at a number of educa-
tional institutions.
When he was elected to the Senate in 1949 Kefauver
embarked on a program of reform that included equal
rights for women, home rule for the District of Colum-
bia, establishment of a world calendar, revision of the
military-justice code, and extension of the Atlantic Pact.
He was forced to abandon his crusade for the distaff
side when his colleagues amended his bill into a form
that he felt would penalize women rather than help
them. He pressed home rule for the District of Columbia
through the Senate twice, both times over the bitter op-
position of Southern Senators who saw in the proposal
an end to segregation in the District. The revision of the
military-justice code occupied two years of detailed work
and Kefauver piloted it into law. The Atlantic Union
proposal, a basic plank in his 1948 race for the Senate,
involved the convocation of an exploratory convention
of the Atlantic Pact countries to examine the possibilities
of a closer federation. Although Kefauver and such
sponsors of the plan as former Justice Owen Roberts and
Clarence Streit have been able to align some twenty-eight
Senators and one hundred and ten Representatives on
their side, the project has never been seriously considered
by the State Department.
T WAS against this background of activity that Ke-
fauver was approached late in 1949 by some reformers
_ who wanted him to launch a probe into the crime syndi-
cates. He shied away at first because it was not the type of
technical, non-vindictive reform in which he was experi-
enced. Thoroughly naive about the ways of the under-
world, he took some time to decide that such a probe
would really be a matter of public interest. The picture
of a mild-mannered man poking reservedly and with
dignity into sométhing that he abhorred but did not quite
comprehend won him the cheers of the nation, but the
crime investigation was certainly not his most deserv-
ing reform effort.
Another irony of the present situation is the fact that
Kefauver, who has several times risked his political posi-
tion in Tennessee to stand with the leadership of the
428
a; ‘ * - . a. 7 - -
ead ae : ae ee
(oo ; ee ee ee
ele . . .
ee. at the convention in 1944 to urge inca
of Franklin D. Roosevelt before the party's civil-tights
platform had been written, and he was the only member
of that delegation in the vice-presidential balloting to
urge that Tennessee's twenty-four votes be cast for Harty -
S. Truman.
He has been considerably less of a battler of party
bosses than his current reputation would indicate. He was
elected to Congress with the amiable support of the
bosses in Chattanooga and Polk County. When he started
running for the Senate, he resolutely declined to make
Boss Crump a campaign issue until the Memphis leader
lambasted him in newspaper advertisements throughout
the state. It was in answer to Crump’s charge that he
was a ’coon fiddling with communism that he denned
his coonskin hat and declared,
but I ain’t Mr. Crump’s pet ‘coon.’
His Congressional voting record has been highly regu-
Jar and on several occasions in the Senate he has stood
for the views of the Administration against the oppo-
sition of the majority leader. The most daring of these
votes was the one he cast in opposition to the McCarran
internal-security bill in 1950. Saying he could not
“stomach” the measure, he declined to join the liberals
who had accepted the Lucas compromise as an excuse for
supporting the bill. He was the only Southerner among
the seven Senators who stood against it except Frank
Graham of North Carolina, whose political career had
already been terminated in a spring primary. Presi-
dent Truman vetoed the bill, but it was passed ever the ©
veto. Kefauver also opposed the Kerr natural-gas bill in
1950 (which was also vetoed by the President). He has
fought hard for anti-monopoly measures. On F.E.P.C.,
he said recently that he would support any civil-rights
program adopted by the Democratic Party.
During his nine years in the House he voted with the
Democratic leadership 403 times out of 471 roll-call
votes. In the Senate he has voted with the Democratic
majority approximately 91 per cent of the time.
The most serious charge leveled by those who new dub
him an “irregular” is that he declined to protect the e
Democratic Party in the fall of 1950 when it was clear
that his crime committee could exert an explosive
influence on the elections. Kefauver was asked to keep
the committee out of Chicago until after the election; ~
he refused on the ground that any gesture that smacked
of partisan politics would destroy the committee's work.
The fact that there has never been a claim of partisan-
ship from any respectable source is high tribute to the
impartiality with which he conducted the probe.
Kefauver and President Truman have had a friendly
but not close relationship for a number of years. They
have remained outwardly amicable despite numerous
The NATION
“T may bee ‘coon
i
;
a
t
t
Ppalcedy abstained, even in the heat of the
New peers primary, from attacks on the President
i. nd his hope is clearly that Mr. Truman, who has declared
that the Democratic Party should have the strong-
Pe ai possible contender in the coming campaign, will re-
- frain from opposing his candidacy.
a. There is little in the record or in Kefauver’s campaign
talks thus far to show that if he were elected President
his program would differ much from that of the present
| Administration, He has been a constant liberal, an inter-
i. nationalist, and something of a crusader. He is com-
| mitted to the concept that the federal government should
: endeavor to correct the ills that beset the populace while
r at the same time exerting as little control as possible
| _ over their personal lives. Although there is nothing in his
| voting record to establish him as an advocate of govern-
Va
' ;
.
| Miracles in Rome
ie - Rome
| OMPARED with France, Italy seems a happier
Oe, France cannot make up its mind whether
| it lost or won the war; Italy has no doubt about having
_ lost it. Nor has Italy any illusions about being a Great
Power; it has cheerfully renounced all colonial ambi-
tions and feels no envy of the French in Tunisia and
Indo-China. After a useless and ruinous war which few
Italians wanted, Italy today is poorer and wiser; and if
some middle-aged housewives think back on fascism
merely as “the time when things were normal—and
didn’t cost so much,” only a handful of Italians would
like to try the Fascist experiment all over again.
To me, the most striking thing about Italy, compared
_ with France, is the better humor and calmer mood, and
___the greater spirit of mutual tolerance, The extreme Left
has accepted as inevitable that there should be, for many
_ “years to come, a large clerical Right and Center in Italy;
similarly the Demo-Christians (though not the extreme
‘Right) find it natural that there should be a very large
extreme Left. So below the surface of the genuine class
_ struggle there is a kind of modus vivendi between the
main political forces. The feeling that “we are all Ital-
considered one of the virtues of the De Gasperi regime
to have encouraged this attitude. Personal relations be-
tween De Gasperi and Nenni are excellent, and the
_ Nenni Socialists, acting as buffer between the Com-
_ munists and the government parties, receive great credit
May 3, 1952
ians’—Communists included—is deep-seated, and it is ~
economy, his recent cainpatern spent heattily ‘
nd iL a balanced budget. Since he has been either a
lawyer or in Congress all of his adult life, there is no
true gauge of his capabilities as an administrator, but in
the affairs of his own office he has shown himself to favor
the delegation of power that is now an essential function
of the Presidency. Labor leaders contributed heavily to .
his campaign in 1948 but there is no evidence that Ke- ©
fauver has ever been dominated by them or any other
group.
One of Kefauver’s copybook maxims is that oppor-
tunity is “not a gift but the reward of preparation and
tireless research.” His Tennessee friends have long re-
garded him as one of the luckiest men alive, as a person
who seems always to get the right break at the right
time. Whether luck is actually fate or “preparation and
tireless research,” it is certainly an indispensable qualifica-
tion for a President in these trying times,
BY ALEXANDER WERTH
even from business men and industrialists for the rela-
tive social peace that exists here today, There is much less
hysteria in Italy about either Russia or America than in
most European countries, and that also helps.
I had a long talk with Signor Saragat, one of-the
leaders of the Italian Social Democrats (right-wing So-
cialists), who can count on barely two million votes
compared with the Demo-Christians’ twelve million and |
the four and one-half million each that the Communists
and Nenni Socialists received in 1948. I asked Saragat
why social democracy was so weak in Italy and whether
he considered the Nenni Socialists very different from
the Communists. He said: ‘
The social and economic structure of Italy makes it
historically inevitable that socialism should be extrem-
ist. There is no use talking social democracy in the
British sense to millions of unemployed and millions of
landless peasants and slum-dwellers who think of
change not in terms of social reform but of revolution.
This does not mean that Nenni is in the pocket of the
Communists even though he considers it tactically cor-
rect to do nothing to weaken the extreme Left, half of
which is represented by the Communists, who have
great drive, a demagogic appeal for the poor, and an
infernal amount of money. As for social democracy, it~
has little chance in explosive central Italy or in southern
Italy; only in northern Italy, with its relatively high ©
living standards, its industrialization, and its greater
political culture, has it any chance at all.
429
+= a , aa ye c tT vet 2
ae ee . i er
oP * eee i . peat 1
To expect more than this pax leh seed democracy
Saragat added with an air of discouragement, is to be
politically illiterate. “You’re not in England, damn it,”
he said. “You are in one of the poorest countries in
Europe!”
&
NE need not go outside Rome to see Italy’s pov-
erty. In the matter of housing, this city is some-
what better off than Naples, but much worse off than
many other Italian cities. Its relative immunity from
bombing brought in hundreds of thousands of refugees
during the war, and the glamour of the capital has since
attracted many others. From a pre-war population of
1,200,000, Rome has grown to 1,600,000. Counting
museums, palaces, government offices, and everything
else, there is one room here for every two persons, which
means that in most homes more than two people live in
one room, Many luxury flats have been built, but there
is little new low-cost housing. So some people live in
caves and others in the bor gate—those suburban Hoover-
villes familiar to anyone who has seen the film “Miracle
in Milan.” About one-tenth of Rome’s population lives
in these borgate, and to me the real miracle is how
people can live in such conditions and yet keep their
dignity and humor. Some of the women are even house-
proud!
One Sunday night I visited three borgate, one of them
on municipal land that abutted the untouchable vege-
table gardens of some prince. The houses were mostly
shacks built during the war for bombed-out people; but
this was a relatively prosperous place, with electric lights
in the tiny stone hovels and five water pumps. The sani-
tation was extremely primitive, and the place stank in
summer, but in cooler weather it wasn’t so bad, Some
families had improved their hovels to the point where
they were willing to sell them for a half-million lire
(about $1,000).
The next borgata, set up “by private initiative” along-
side the ruins of an old aqueduct, was a different story.
The people here were “squatters”’—unemployed from
the south and Romans who couldn’t afford city rents.
_ The shacks were of brick, tile, and tin (much of it
stolen); there was a single pump for the entire com-
munity and only candles and oil lamps for lighting. Yet
ee these pitiful huts were clean. A Roman worker with
five children invited me to his home for a glass of wine;
4 _ there were flowers on the table. He could be happy here,
he said, except for the fact the building society which
owned the land had started an eviction process against
the whole community, intending to build apartments
renting at 40,000 lire a month. The borgata people had
countered with an offer to pay 3,000 lire monthly as
ground rent, but the offer had not been accepted. My
host told me that he and his neighbors would not yield
even if the law suit went against them; the police would
430
ae Fe ie
a
ve te i gt hey Wot : d
as in‘ “Miracle i in “Milan.” But they ere u ) illus
sion that they could save their homes, | *
But the real nightmare was the borgata Cordiana, built
by Mussolini to “clear the paupers out of Rome.” Here
were mostly unemployed with large families (six or
seven children were not unusual), living om a dole
sufficient only to provide the very minimum subsist-
ence—if that. I entered a hovel one evening. It was
clean and there was no smell of cooking: there was .
nothing to cook and nothing to cook with. The family.
of eight lived’on bread and a few vegetables; four of
the children were asleep in a big bed, Then a strange
figure appeared—a tall woman with an aquiline nose,
tidy white hair, and an incongruously smart jacket. She
had lost three of her eight children in the war; she was
hard and bitter, and cursed De Gasperi. She took me :
to her own home, where three of her grandchildren were . |
asleep in the communal bed. A picture of the Madonna *
hung on one wall; on the other, a portrait of Lenin. She .
roughly awoke one of the children, a boy of six, by
tugging at his bare feet, screaming: “How can he go to
school if he has no shoes? . .. And do you knew about*
tuberculosis in the borgate? The government says only
3 per cent of us have it—I tell you, there’s 40 per cent
at least!”
She led me to another ill-lit hovel, with lasge pic-
tures of Marx and Nenni and small pictures of Lenin
and Stalin on the walls. Here some of the villagers
gathered and talked of the hospital four miles away,
and of the single doctor available to the 13,000 people
of the community, who came for nothing if you were
employed and insured but charged 600 lira if you were
unemployed and therefore not insured. It was simpler
for the unemployed to die! And the priest got plenty of
things from America but he wouldn't give a child a
pair of shoes if the parents weren't churchgoers or if he
thought they were Communists or Socialists.
The villagers pointed out that their youngsters had —
no opportunity to train for jobs—if they couldn't earn
anything, they stole; and some of the girls and women,
with the consent of their menfolk, went to Reme to
make money as prostitutes. One could hardly blame
them. The villagers said that the Socialist ““‘head-
quarters’—that was the room in which we were now
sitting—was the social center for the community, and
that the Socialists and Communists were “the only
friends of the poor.” It was only during election time,
‘they said, that the grand ladies came in cars to dis-_
tribute food parcels and olive oil and clothes, ...
But it would be unfair to dwell exclusively on this
aspect of Italy.
[This is the first of two articles on Italy by Alexander —
Werth, a Nation staff contributor.] ¥
The NATION ©
Sevan States His Case
IN PLACE OF FEAR. By Aneurin
Bevan. Simon and Schuster. $3.
N DECEMBER, 1950, the London
Economist welcomed the disappear-
ance at last of “a certain tendency . .
to take Mr. Aneurin Bevan seriously.”
_ “He is not the statesman,” it said, “but
_ the sorcerer’s apprentice.” In its slim
_ issue of March 22, 1952, the Economist
_ devoted no less than four separate arti-
cles to Bevan and his views. And its
editor had recently returned from a lec-
ture trip to the United States, where he
_ mouthed the same criticisms of Britain's
_ rearmament program that Bevan had ex-
_ pressed a year ago. Also on March 22,
Britain’s most popular picture maga-
_ zine cartied a long essay on “Bevan the
_ Man.” A host of other publications de-
i voted column after column of rationed
_ space to a politician whose party is not
é governing Britain and who would not
himself hold office if it were. Across the
Atlantic, Bevan had lately stalked
through the pages of the Saturday Eve-
ning Post, billed as “The One Man
Churchill Fears” and winning far more
praise than that journal usually accords
to left-wingers of any nationality.
; The tendency which the Economist
found so deplorable has clearly reap-
peared. With the publication of his
_ “political testament,” Aneurin Bevan is
_ bidding to be taken more seriously than
| ever. His less responsible critics, both
~~ British and American, will be confound-
ed. Seldom in either country has an
active politician produced a more re-
_ strained or impersonal testament. It is
_ free not only of the “personal bitter-
_ ness’” so often ascribed to Bevan, but
also of any reference whatever to the
_ conflict going on in the Labor Party,
| Clement Attlee, for instance, is never
"mentioned; even his successor is only
briefly chided for “a marked illiteracy
about all things economic’’—an elemen-
_ tary observation from which Mr. Church-
ill would be among the last to dissertt.
No, Mr, Bevan is honestly trying to
__ sell his ideas rather than his personality,
i 7: of them will prove immensely at-
tam
Socialist followers and even outside
Britain. Others will be rejected out of
hand. And some—some of the cardinal
points in Bevan’s program—are left
hanging, so vague and obscure that no
final judgment will be possible.
His best-known contention, which
prompted his resignation from Attlee’s
Cabinet last year, is that present West-
ern rearmament expenditure is need-
lessly and dangerously large. It is need-
lessly large, he believes, because Russia
has no intention of direct aggression.
Bevan dwells on the comparative fig-
ures for Western and Soviet steel pro-
duction, implying that the result of a
new war is as obvious to the men in the
Kremlin as it is to himself. And if they
contemplated aggression, he asks, why
did they wait until North Atlantic re-
armament became a formidable reality ?
Both the inspiration and the timing
of the Western program are cogently
questioned. The decision, he says, was
made in near panic after the early losses
in Korea eighteen months ago. As for
the contention that 1953 will be the
critical year in the East-West power
balance:
In no discussion have I heard the slight-
est justification for that date, It appears
to bear the same relationship to scientific
prediction as astrology ... to astronomy.
As for the size of the respective
national-defense budgets:
Military experts have no easier task
than to advise their government on the
level of defense expenditure. All they
have to do is to advise a larger sum than
they know their government is prepared
to concede and they are quite safe. .
The real burden of anxiety falls on the
civilian Ministers who have to set the
general needs of the national economy
against the clamor of the military experts.
In normal times this passage would
commend itself to American Congress-
men as well as to European Socialists.
But it does confer upon Bevan a re-
sponsibility which he shirks. Just how
much should America and Britain spend
on rearmament, and how does he arrive
at his figures? These questions are not
answered, nor have they been in 1 any of
Bevan's speeches.
The book does advance one positive
recommendation:
Suppose we fix a date—towards*which
we should at once begin to work—when
a definite percentage of what we are
now spending on arms shall be set aside
for the peaceful development of backs
ward parts of the world.
Such a declaration, he believes, would
electrify Asian opinion as did Britain's
naming of a date for its withdrawal
from India and Pakistan. The West's
task is to accommodate Eastern revolve
tions in a general pattern of world co-.
operation, its goal “the defeat of hunger
in the most literal sense.”
Most of the book, however, is de-
voted to Bevan’s rationale as a British
Socialist. If many of his arguments are
old and tired, they have seldom been
better stated in the past twenty years.
To his generation of young miners in
the coal valleys of South Wales, ‘“‘so-
ciety presented itself . . . as an arena
of conflicting social forces and not as a
plexus of individual striving.” It follows
rather naturally that “in so far as I can
be said to have had a political training
at all, it has been in Marxism.” Yet, for
all its acceptance of Marxist analysis,
Bevan's collectivist philosophy is moti-
vated by an almost passionate concern
for the individual. It recalls the Chris-
tian Socialism of his friend Sir Stafford
Cripps, and conforms to that generally
empirical philosophy of the British
Labor movement which so vexes its
Continental friends. Capitalism, he says,
failed in the one function by which any
social system must be judged. It failed to
produce a tolerable home and a reputable
order of values for the individual man
and woman... . Efficiency was its final
arbiter—as though loving, laughing, eat-
ing, the deep serenity of a happy home,
the warmth of friends, the astringent rev-
elation of new beauty, and the earth tug
of local roots will ever yield to such a
test.
His socialism is not necessarily for
export to North America:
It is possible that in the United States
of America the argument still holds good
that private economic adventure offers the
best means for the development of indus<
trial techniques.
431
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But those who ‘have g ais Ral ae of Eastern Eu: before their f
remedies are less impressive than his beyond his fascinating, turbulent exte-
rior will, in many cases, find disap-
pointments. This is not “Socialism up-
to-date’; perhaps it is not intended to
be. The central challenge to British
Labor in the present decade, far more
important than differences of degree
over rearmament, is the question,
“Where are you going, and why?” Here
diagnosis. Government savings bonds,
and many social-welfare benefits, would
be tied to the cost-of-living index and
rise accordingly. Recognizing an upper
limit to direct taxation, he would raise a
large part of the national revenue from
the profits of nationalized industries.
The number of such industries would be
greatly increased, though Bevan does
not list his candidates for state owner-
ship. Neither does he analyze with any
clarity the disappointments experienced
by Labor in its past enterprises. He re-
marks that nationalization is only a step
toward socialization, but does not illu-
mine the path ahead. “Industrial democ-
racy” is defined about as precisely here
as it has been in high-toned Conserva-
tive Party pamphlets.
There is a chapter on the neglected
problem of raw materials, and an ex-
cellent one on the British National
Health Service. Here Mr. Bevan is in
serene and familiar territory, able to
claim that the Service “has now become
a part of the texture of our national life.
No political party would survive that
tried to destroy it.” And no better an-
swer to critics of the British plan has
ever appeared.
“In Place of Fear” is entirely free
_ from the small-minded anti-American-
ism to which some Laborites are sus-
ceptible, and from the general intemper-
ance of expression which ruins some of
______ Bevan’s speeches. To those Britons and
Americans who think of him as a dema-
gogic careerist, it will come as a revela-
tion. In a period characterized by the
intellectual poverty of its political lead-
ership, Bevan stands immense.
and there, in the pages of Mr. Bevan’s
book, is part of an answer. But the ques-
tion is not wholly answered, or even
wholly posed. PAUL NIVEN
The “Shtetl”
LIFE IS WITH PEOPLE. By Mark
Zborowski and Elizabeth Herzog. In-
ternational Universities Press. $5.
r THIS is anthropology, let's have
more of it. Such, at any rate, is the
unqualified enthusiasm of one reviewer
upon reading this superb study of the
shtetl, the Jewish East European “Little-
Town" now destroyed as an entity. This
reconstruction of a vanished way of life
manages to evoke its mood as well as
describe its mores. The book is a tri-
umph of art and a substantial scientific
work, though perhaps the scientist
would resent the distinction, Only in fic-
tion of a high order does the atmosphere
of the shtet] become as poignantly vivid
as in “Life Is With People.” This has
been achieved without sacrificing clarity
of structure or accuracy of detail.
In her foreword, Margaret Mead
states that the book is an attempt to
bring anthropological disciplines to the
task of recording “something of the
form and content, the texture and
beauty’ of Jewish life in the small towns
THE MARE
The mare lies down in the grass where the nest of the skylark is hidden.
_Her eyes drink the delicate horizon moving behind the song.
Deep sink the skies, a well of voices. Her sleep is the vessel of summer
That climbing music requires the hidden music at rest.
Her body is utterly given to the light, surrendered in perfect abandon
To the heaven above her shadow, still as her first-born day.
Softly the wind runs over her. Circling the meadow, her hooves
Rest in a race of daisies, halted where butterflies stand.
Do not pass her too close. It is easy to break the circle
And lose that indolent fullness rounded under the ray
Falling on light-eared grasses your footstep must not yet wake.
It is easy to darken the sun of her unborn foal at play. ©
VERNON WATKINS
annihilation ri ‘Hitler, The
that a rich contemporary culture on the
verge of dissolution was being disre-
garded by anthropologists came to Ruth
Benedict and Margaret Mead in the
course of World War II. Originally, -
they had discounted the existence of a—
specific Jewish culture: a Polish Jew was
a Pole who was Jewish by religion. In
the course of their work, they began to
speculate on the possibility of making a
systematic study of the. “Jewish cultural *
element which distinguished the per-
ception of a Hungarian or Polish Jew ~
from a Hungarian or a Pole whose ante-
cedents were Christian.” The project
was undertaken as part of the Colum-
bia University Research in Centempo-
rary Cultures. Using the techniques of
anthropology, the scientists reached the,
for them, revolutionary conclusion that
they were dealing “with a living whole,
that the Eastern European Jews had in
fact a living culture, which was essen-
tially all of a piece... . We realized this
with growing excitement, for while all
anthropologists have the experience of
working out the essential form of the
cultures which they study, we seldom
have the experience of discovering the
existence of a whole at which we had
not guessed.”
Since some Jews still vociferously de-
nounce the concept of a “Jewish cul-
ture” as the evil invention of chavvin-
istic Zionists, the conclusion reached by
a group of scientists with no ideologi-
cal ax to grind is potential dynamite. I
don’t know in what measure those as-
sociated with the Columbia project an-
ticipate the detonations which their
academic delight in their discovery will
probably set off in such circles as the
Council for Judaism, whose recent_con-
ference was energetically devoted to is-
suing formidable blasts against the very
theses the anthropologists innocently
propound. Most Jewish readers, how-
ever, are not likely to be starthed by the
news that the Jews of Eastern Europe
had a specific culture marked by the _
characteristics of a culture: “a language, ©
a religion, a set of values, a specific
constellation of social mechanisms and
institutions, and the feeling of its mem-
bers that they belong to one group.” —
Nor need one limit the finding to the
Jews of Eastern Europe. The histary of
all Jewish communities since the dis- —
The NATION — 1k
V fuch ah is told of the ek a term
denoting the life of the inhabitants
rather than the town, might be true of
orthodox Jews anywhere. The authors
know this. The virtue of their account
consists in its concentration on an artis-
tically coherent unit. This enables them
to transform the book from an infor-
mative study to a creative depiction of
an informing spirit. Much more, of
course, than religious customs is €x-
amined. The sociology of the shteti,
the role of women, the values of the
shtetl, such as its devotion to learning
or its attitude to philanthropy, are stud-
ied both as expressions of Jewish tra-
dition and as reactions to a particular
environment. The result, consequently,
is more than an analysis of Judaism; it
‘becomes rather a synthesis of the con-
stituents of “‘Jewishness,” its outward
jmanifestations and inner implications.
_ The authors have not been guilty of
‘artificially isolating the shtet]. They de-
‘scribe an “‘island culture” within an
“ocean culture,” a minority constantly
affected by the majority and often sub-
ject to it: the relationship, for in-
istance, of the shtet] Jew to the village
peasant, the “Goy” who mysteriously
turns into a murderous “pogromchik’”’
overnight and just as suddenly reverts to
the role of friendly neighbor. The re-
‘current terror at the heart of the shtetl
is as much a part of its climate as its
| piety or ingenuity.
“Life Is With People” is not only a
memorial to something which in its com-
pleteness and purity is gone. It provides
an understanding of what remains. Dis-
tillations of the culture whose essence
)was in the shfetl are to be found wher-
Never Jewish communities continue to
vexist. The differences are superficial; the
\likenesses often profound, The raw
dread of the cowering child in a pogrom
land the muffled sensitiveness of an
| American Jew before the blow of dis-
timination are part of a related ex-
| perience. In the Bronx, in Israel, or in
‘Mexico City, no matter how great the
local variations, fundamental resem-
|blances in attitudes and values appear.
‘Yet the authors note that the only
jarea in which concerted action among
Jews may be expected is that of relief.
|The reaction to the Hitler catastrophe
certainly demonstrated this. But the very
—
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A CRITICAL STUDY OF HIGHER EDUCATION .
> “A profound diagnosis of the evils of our unstable
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THEIR POLICIES PAST AND PRESENT
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mature of the response indicates an
awareness of a common fate not only
in the past but in the present and fu-
ture. The knowledge that ‘“‘what hap-
pens to Israel happens to Mr. Israel’
springs not only from an alert and well-
functioning defense mechanism but from
a responsiveness to visions and hopes
held in common as well as fears. All
this “Life Is With People” helps one
to perceive—magnificently. If I may be
permitted one sour note, why should a
book composed with such felicity and
grace be afflicted with a cute title and
equally cute chapter headings?
MARIE SYRKIN
Hindemith on Music
4 COMPOSER'S WORLD. By Paul
Hindemith. Harvard University Press.
$3.75.
IS book tells us what one of our
great composers thinks about, what
his mind is like. And meeting Paul
Hindemith’s spirited and learned mind
is a real pleasure, not only for the intel-
lectual stimulation it offers, but even
more for the infectious enjoyment it
takes in its own operation, in finding
rational explanations, in “philosophiz-
ing.” Less pleasant though is a recur-
rent fondness for forcing these medita-
tions together into systems. Again and
again, though you are enjoying the brisk
intellectual work-out, you wish that
Hindemith wouldn't take himself so
hard. The sheer range of his thinking,
from metaphysics to economics, asks for
a lighter touch. Hindemith would be
more tactful to try for a tone of easy
suggestiveness when he writes as a lay-
man.
In the fields where he has the au-
thority of an expert, as it happens, he
shows a becoming modesty. In music
history his learning is relaxed and im-
aginative without loss of precision. His
educational theories work with what is,
for the most. part, a sensibly practical
ideal of musical culture, and we are will-
ingly convinced. But in psychology,
ethics, aesthetics, he is no more an ex-
pert than we should expect a practicing
composer to be, and here the systema-
tizing gets to be frankly disturbing. The
first four chapters of this book are so
many constricted thinking boxes, strong
in rigor and self-assurance, weak in in-
sight and authority. What we learn
434
a a
br Ga
’
2
about * ipextiviag ae “intellectually”
is what we already know, in spite of the
illusion of new precision in words like
“coconstruction.” The third chapter ad-
vances lively (though, to this reviewer,
dubious) speculations about the way
music touches the emotions, but Hin-
demith’s truculent, “let’s-have-no-non-
sense-here”’ attitude toward the emotions
reminds one unhappily of the village
atheist on the subject of God. And this
provincial realism jars with the highly
unrealistic over-estimation of music that
goes along with it. A serious claim is
made that music can touch an infinitely
larger range of emotions than the other
arts, that its “tempo of consecutive emo-
tions is unbelievably fast.” (To cite
Shakespeare seems adequate refutation. )
There are distinctions between the arts,
to be sure, but these don’t seem helpful
ones; they seem, in fact, defensively
boastful. Nor does Hindemith’s brusque
contempt for less philosophical col-
leagues seem entirely modest when his
own philosophizing yields so dim an
illumination.
Again, in the first chapter where
Hindemith speaks of converting the
musical experience into moral power,
you would like some concrete, perhaps
personal suggestions about how this
might happen. But out come all the
tired old metaphors about the power of
music. You hear about a “fermenting”’
quality that turns “our souls to every-
thing noble, superhuman, and ideal’;
about music the “catalytic agent”
(chemistry’s great gift to the tongue-
tied humanities). Lacking more ener-
getic guesswork about this mysterious
process of conversion, Hindemith’s lofti-
ness sounds sanctimonious.
The great virtue of the book, and of
Hindemith’s whole intellectual position,
lies in his conception of the ideal musi-
cal culture. The health of the body
musical, for him, depends on there
being a large group, not of passive lis-
teners, but of active amateurs, with pro-
fessional musicians moving among them
as friendly and immediately useful
guides and teachers. Hindemith simply
wants more people who listen to music
to play and sing it too, and with an
everyday unpretentiousness—not a new
idea, but uncommonly well argued here.
The aim is, by linking music once more
to modest and intimate social events, to
reestablish it aS one of the natural bents
a a ES EE TI
(
te
ire
i. y'>
+ ao tae
ap
= the mind, as one of eae
human icing doo os «alt of
ture. Hindemith’s picture of this sort of —
culture in the Renaissance is attractive,
and his projection of it into the realiz-
able present is inviting and seems prac-
tical. What the listener is promised is a
more active pleasure in the musical ex-
perience, and a pleasure that comes —
easily and every day.
The plan is a good one, but what,
seems its very best feature is something’
Hindemith is too much of a systematizer
to be interested in: the possibility that
if music comes to be an active part of
our everyday life, we will be able to
distinguish more subtly between differ-_
ent kinds of musical experiences, to re-!
spond more variously to them, and final-,
ly to come to masterpieces with a greater
excitement. Hindemith, however, in his‘
eagerness to sell us family part-singing,
seems frankly hostile to the more in- |
tense musical experiences, even to mas-
terpieces, particularly to anything that
smacks of glamour or of the special oc-
casion. All these he has systematized into
the present sad degeneration of our’
musical life, along with Muzak, Holly-
wood, Bach transcriptions for the
Lewisohn Stadium, and the virtuoso’s’
egotism—al! must go. But to the realist
the loss of Toscanini, Flagstad, and
Mathis der Mabler is too’great a price
to pay even for more madrigals.
ROBERT, E, GARIS
The Real, Right Victorian
WILKIE COLLINS. By Kenneth Rob-
inson. The Macmillan Company. -§
$4.50.
HE farther away we get from him,
the more clearly we can see that
the poor Victorian, whose mere_inani-
ties and pomposities we have been so
zealous to expose, was a deeply split
man whom we need to understand more
than we need to indict. The most
desperately self-made efigy on record,
he represents the final attempt to hold
onto the image ef man which began
with the Renaissance and crystallized by
1700: the image in which the conscious,
rational faculties are not only dominant,
but self-sufficient and potentially ex-
clusive. The full flower of this point
of view, as far as its manifestation in
English literature is concerned, was Sam- J
uel Johnson. The first reaction to it was
The NATIO} NM | |
oe
7
ritten ie ihing fe ais prize Sean:
But by the nineteenth century every real
) poet, from Coleridge to Beddoes, and
| Swinburne to Lear, knew the truth:
| that man does not live by Awareness
alone, that at best he is a biped, and ad-
| vances stepwise, by consciousness and
| unconsciousness, by living and being-
| lived.
I At the same time that he believed in
) the Crystal Palace and endorsed Tenny-
| Son’ s singsong ideal of ‘household hap-
1 piness, gracious ehildren, debtless com-
| Petence, golden mean,” the Victorian
‘man on the street knew this too. He
‘wouldn't acknowledge it, of course, but
! he was haunted by the most harrowing
sense of the demoniac that Western man
had known for five hundred years.
‘What else could have impelled him to
| surround himself with such impiacably
| material extremes as he did? Look at his
P furniture. Look at his tombstones. Look
| at his wife’s clothes. Look at his reading
| matter. Plenty of pap, yes; his anxiety
‘needed as much furbelowed assurance as
| possible. But beyond this, look at his
compulsive fascination for the terrible,
the unfathomable, the ghoulish, the
mysterious. As Chesterton pointed out,
the two most popular story tellers of
their day, Dickens and Wilkie Collins,
combined “‘a modern and Cockney and
even commonplace opinion about things
| with a huge elemental sympathy with
) Strange oracles and spirits and old
night. .. . There. were no two men in
| mid- Victorian England more typical of
‘its. rationality and ‘dull reform; and there
I ‘wére no two men who could touch
| them at a ghost story.” Of the two,
Dickens, with the more ramifying, per-
| sonal genius, makes the less pure case.
But after reading Kenneth Robinson's
| new biography, we can safely call Col-
| ling the true, the model Victorian.
| . To begin with, he was neurotically in-
| dustrious. He never missed a deadline
in his life, and when he was dying and
| handed over his current serial to Walter
| Besant to be finished, his notes had
worked the plot out to its minutest de~
tails. He left almost thirty long novels,
| and dozens of plays and shorter stories,
the best of which, apart from their sheer
capacity to hold the readet’s interest, are
~ careless sprawl of the mid-century “nuv-
vie” as practiced by Dickens. More than
anyone else, it was Collins who insti-
gated the well-made serial to which
James later adapted his own industry,
refinement, and vision. In a Collins
novel, not only were the plot details
meticulously synchronized, but much of
the effectiveness of the story derived
from the ingenious use of shifting nar-
rators. Now this explicit, rigorous, and
quite gratuitous concern with an orderly
shape and progress is no less significant
in Collins’s case than it is in Poe’s, or
Baudelaire’s, or Tennyson’s. Auden
once suggested, in connection with
Tennyson, that “the more a writer is
conscious of an inner disorder and
dread, the more value he will place on
tidiness ia his work as a defence.” I
don’t think it’s infractous to find a novel
like ‘Armadale,’ which is Collins’s
most ambitious, a case in point. For here
we have not only a bravura job of plot
complication, but in the story itself a
sustained image of a man’s helplessness
before his sense of the uncontrollably
fated in human experience and of the
ineflicacy of mere consciousness. It was
Collins, too, who practiced for the first
time in England that acutely sympto-
matic genre, the detective story, which
is not only as “closed” a form as the
novel admits, but in which, a priori,
everything that happens must do so for
the sake of unraveling neatly and se-
curely in the end and in which the hero
is a rational all-father who sees that it
does.
In his private life, Collins was no less
Victorian. By way of skeletons in his
closet, he used opium; made periodic
forays into the unmentionable nightlife
of Paris; and though he was a nominal
bachelor all his life, kept, simultaneous-
ly, both a mistress and what he called a
“morganatic wife,” by whom his will
acknowledged three children. The son
of a prominent Royal Academy painter
who did sea-scapes for George IV, Col-
lins grew up in the well-heeled (and
well brought-to-heel) Bohemian society
which James’s stories of artists rather
improbably portray. He discovered his
vocation before he was twenty-one, be-
ginning with an official biography of
his father and moving on to a Bulwer-
Lytton romance. In a few years, he had
Ripe cate ena Det mee Tie
-
ens’ Household Words, and after the
publication in 1860 of “The Woman in >
White,” he was almost as famous as his
editor. He made a fortune; grew a beard;
indulged himself with sailboats and
French cooking; suffered agonies from
the gout; and died in 1889, promulgat-
ing a furore over whether or not he
should be buried in Westminster Abbey
(he wasn’t).
Since then a number of illustrious
writers—Swinburne, Walter de la Mare,
Dorothy Sayers, Eliot—have praised his
novels (each of them, by the way, being
significant for his own flair for the
demoniac). But Kenneth Robinson has
been the first to offer a full biography.
Working with scant materials—for there
is actually very little known of Col-
lins's personal life—he has given us as
thorough and serviceable a portrait as we
need. (Though he might, I think, have
made some mention of Edgar Poe,
whose stories Collins surely knew, if
only through Dickens, who had been in
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Life
is with
people
The Jewish
Little-Town of Eastern Europe
by Mark Zborowski and Elizabeth Herzog
Foreword by Margaret Mead
456 pp. $5.00
- an extraordinarily humane study of
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—Book-of-the-Month Club News
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Serpent tere Rg ae
- te
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pe
i
correspondence with Poe as early as
1842, over a review of “Barnaby
Rudge” which Poe had criticized pre-
cisely in point of its loose construction. )
What we could use now, if there is a
publisher in the house, is a cheap, un-
scholarly reprint of ‘Armadale,’ and
maybe a selection of the shorter tales.
For though in themselves Collins's stor-
ies are not of even secondary value, they
remain not only magnetically readable,
but their total image is a far more re-
vealing index to the nineteenth-century
consciousness than the works of many a
more touted writer; say Trollope, or
Thackeray, or even Meredith.
ROBERT PHELPS
CONTRIBUTORS
PAUL NIVEN is a staff correspondent
in London of the Columbia Broadcast-
ing System.
VERNON WATKINS is a Welsh
poet. His latest book is ‘North Sea,”
a translation from Heine.
MARIE SYRKIN is the author of
“Blessed Is the Match. The Story of
Jewish Resistance.”
ROBERT E. GARIS, music critic, is in
the Department of English at Wellesley
College.
ROBERT PHELPS contributes to vari-
ous magazines, including the New. Re-
public and the Progressive.
Books #emad
THE ELLEN KNAUFF STORY. By
Ellen Raphael Knauff. Norton. $3.50.
A first-person story by the German war
bride who was barred from this coun-
try in the erroneous belief that she had
acted as a spy while employed by the
American Army of Occupation, and
who won admission only after a three-
year battle with the Immigration Depart-
ment. The crux of the case was the fact
that the alien has no rights but only
privileges and that his admission is in
the hands of Immigration officials who
often act on the basis of hearsay or con-
fidential information that the accused
has little or no chance to controvert.
Under the circumstances and in view
of the apparent strength of the case
made against Mrs. Knauff by informers
who were either prejudiced or mistaken,
it is amazing and, on the whole, encour-
aging that Mrs. Knauff was able to
fight her case through to victory even
with the aid of a devoted husband, an
excellent lawyer, and the support of in-
fluential newspapers.
GLORY ROAD. By Bruce Catton.
Doubleday. $4.50. This history of the
Army of the Potomac from Fredericks-
burg to Gettysburg can be recom-
mended without qualification. Mr. Cat-
The
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ton’s ames ana ee Ss n’s
Army,” ny ated eae eee “sa
splendid example of popular interpre- —
tative history. His eo book is se honll ‘*
as interesting in its material and equally, —
graphic in its presentation. Based on —
letters, diaries, regimental histories,
reminiscences, and reports, it has the
great merit of immediacy; of forcing —
the reader, as it were, to participate in | ;
the stupidities and heroisms of these —
campaigns and the experiences of the
men who did the fighting.
4
THE GREAT GOD PAN. By Robert
Payne. Hermitage House. $3.75. A
lyrical analysis and appreciation of
Chaplin as the modern reincarnation of ;
Pan and inheritor of the art of Pierrot, ,
Punch, Harlequin, and the great mimes '
and clowns of history. After thus trac- ,
ing his artistic ancestry, the author de- .
scribes his development, film by film,
from ‘Kid Auto Races at Venice,” the.
first farce in which he appeared “‘wear-
ing his strange, subtle and faintly ter-
rifying mask,” down through “Mon- |
sieur Verdoux.” One of the best of the ,
forty-five books of which this assiduous
young man is the author.
THE EXTRAORDINARY MR. MOR- ©
RIS. By Howard Swiggett. Doubleday.
$5. The publication some years ago of
the Gouverneur Morris Didries revealed
this aristocrat of the Revolution to have
been a brisk, exuberant lover and a
complex and fascinating man. As a
writer Mr. Swiggett is no great shakes,
but by leaning heavily on the diaries
and on letters he has produced a biog- —
raphy filled with lively incidents and ©
illuminating characterizations and ob-
servations, particularly of the Reign
of Terror which Morris witnessed at
first hand as Minister to France. _
POEMS OF MR. JOHN MILTON.
The 1645 Edition. Edited, with Essays
in Analysis, by Cleanth Brooks and
John Edward Hardy. Harcourt, Brace.
$5. The student of Milton—it would’
have to be a student—who applies him-
self to this volume will be confronted‘
with serious business, both in the matter
and the manner. Feeling that previous
Miltonian scholarship has been too little
concerned with the poems as poems, the
editors here direct the student by close
reading to arrive at evaluation; they
offer in the end not final judgment but
The NATION |
i. The he himself loses tiie to al oy
m ght well be completely satisfied with
what he has been told; the maps are so
detailed, the lines so firmly drawn, that
‘it would take a resilient and hardy
spirit to insist on further exploration.
THE CHATTANOOGA COUNTRY,
1840-1951, By Gilbert E. Govan and
James W. Livingood. Dutton. $5. An
excellent addition to the growing list of
a regional histories. As frontier
territory, as the scene of one of the
“bloodiest campaigns of the Civil War,
8s an eatly industrial center of the
South, and as TVA country, the Chat-
| tanooga region has had an exception-
) ally picturesque history which the au-
) thors describe in a book of somewhat
= than local interest.
1 JOSEPH
| Drama\ 2°
KRUTCH
IHHE CHASE” (Playhouse Theater)
is the latest offering to be directed
by the currently indefatigable José Fer-
rer, By now the earmarks of his product
are beginning to be recognizable and
_“The Chase,” like ‘The Shrike,” might
| be described as topical melodrama. My
| colleague of the Herald Tribune called
| it “a Western with ethical commercials,”
| which is more picturesque as well as
| more unkind and also raises the grave
| question whether or not the best inter-
| ests of either melodrama or ethics are
| segved by the combination. Certainly
the total effect of the present work is
| no better than so-so.
| The scene is a small Texas town
which happens to have elected a very
"uptight and somewhat introverted sher-
| iff. A local bad boy who had graduated
| from youthful delinquent to full-fledged
| Killer has just escaped from the peni-
pees and is momentarily expected
| back to kill the sheriff who caught him
last time. The town is up in arms. It
|
| again, and it has begun to organize a
_ lynching mob. But the sheriff hates vio-
| lence; he has some vague feeling that
that the community may just possibly be
y responsible for the criminal; and
the victim down. Next morning he is
back in his office convinced that he has
somehow failed in his duty and ready
to make a fresh start. He will have a
talk with a twelve-year-old whose
mother has phoned in that she can no
longer control him.
The principal difficulty seems to be
not so much that ethical considerations
interfere with melodrama as that no
one is much disposed to thought while
murderers are peeping through win-
dows and revolvers are being flourished
in all directions. In ant as in life it
tends to be true that passion and vio-
lence get the attention when they have
an opportunity to bid for it and that
only when they are recollected in tran-
quillity can they themselves be thought
about. Melodrama accepts this fact
frankly and generally simplifies a given
situation very much as passion and vio-
lence simplify it. The villain is a villain,
the hero is a hero, and when the right
man gets killed we have no doubt that
he should have been.
“The Chase,” on the other hand, is
content with nothing so simple. It asks
us to think clearly in the midst of ex-
citement and in asking that it asks the
impossible. In fact it seems to have
asked the impossible of the author him-
self since it can hardly be argued that
he makes any important contribution to
the solution of the questions he raises.
Melodrama wins if anything does and
the principal effect of the “ethical com-
mercials’”’ is, first, to slow the action
down, second, to deprive the audience
of an important part of melodrama’s
simple satisfactions by preventing that
perfect identification with the hero
upon which those satisfactions depend.
Perhaps in this particular case there are
commercial justifications. Perhaps an
audience a little ashamed of melodrama
will assure itself that what it is seeing
is a sort of problem play. But commer-
cial justifications are not necessarily ar-
tistic ones and “The Chase’ is not
thoughtful enough to be a play of so-
| wants the killer killed, not captured cial significance, not simple enough to
be a first-class melodrama.
John Hodiak gives. an effective,
straightforward performance as the
sheriff and Kim Hunter a pleasant one
as his troubled wife.
B.A.
HAGGIN
Music
OMING barely a week after the
shrewdly contrived trash of Menot-
ti's ‘““Amahl,” the ANTA revival of
Gertrude Stein’s and Virgil Thomson’s
“Four Saints in Three Acts’’ provided a
refreshing experience of real and dis-
tinguished theater art. The album of the,
Victor recording of ‘Four Saints’’ quotes
a statement by Thomson about “the
poet’s liberties with logic and the com-
poser’s constant use of the simplest ele-
ments in our musical vernacular’ to
evoke “something . . . of the childlike
gaiety and mystical strength of lives de-
voted in common to a non-materialistic
end. ...” And it is true that one hears
only ‘the simplest elements in our musi-
cal vernacular’; but it is also true that
one hears a “constant use of them’”—
that is, a mind constantly at work with
them for its purposes; and this activity
produces something complex and origi-
BOOKS BY
J. RAY SHUTE
Written by a swift-moving liberal pen,
these studies in democracy and liberal
religion have a significance for our
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five hundred copies:
HIS HONOR THE HUERETIO
THE GOLDEN DAWN
THE SEER,
HiS PARABLES AND TALTS
THE CHAPEL OF THE SEER
THE QUEST
A SONG IN THE NIGHT
None of these books is available
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—postpaid—from:
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mal which achieves brilliantly the
“childlike gaiety and mystical strength”
of its objective.
Concerning the method of the activity
and its results I can say nothing more
than what I said ten years ago: “By
separating and differentiating the repeti-
tions of a Gertrude Stein verbal se-
quence Thomson’s music articulates
them, gives them point and even sense;
the music also imparts to them its own
structure and climax; and its effect is
often the most delightful humor. Some
of the humor consists in skilful musical
pointing up—by the high-lighting of a
group of words, the placing of it in rela-
tion to its context—of Miss Stein’s sur-
prises and irrelevances of juxtaposition;
and to these Thomson adds occasional
incongruities of his contriving between
words and music—words of little or no
sense or weight, musical style and struc-
ture of great emotional import and
weight, But when such music is given to
words like the ‘led, said, wed, dead’
sequence the result is very moving.”
As for the production, it has the su-
petb singing of Inez Matthews, Martha
Flowers, Rawn Spearman, Edward Mat-
thews, and some of the other principals
and the chorus (prepared by William
Jonson) of the Negro cast; and their
charming acting and stylized movement
in which they were directed by William
30% Less than List on LP Records
Send 15¢ for LP catalog to:
DISCOUNT RECORD CLUB
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Box 175, Radio City Station, New York 19, N. Y.
Add 15¢ per record postage and handling charges
(50¢ minimum) 48 HOUR SHIPMENT
GERTRUDE LAWRENCE
The King and T
with YUL BRYNNER
DOROTHY SARNOFF
ST. JAMES THEATRE, West 44th St.
Evenings st 8:25: $7.20 to 1 80. Matinees
Wednesday & Seturday at2:25: $4.20 to 1.80.
Pulitzer Prize & Critics’ Award Musical Play
MARTHA WRIGHT
GEORGE BRITTON
South Pacific
with MYROW McCORMICK
MAJESTIC THEATRE, West 44th St.
Eves: at 3:30: $6.00 lo 1.80, Wed, Mat. af
2:30: $3.60 to 1.20. Set. Mat. $4.2010 2.20,
MONDAY EVES. ONLY: CURTAIN AT 7 SHARP
438
YO“! Ole
Dollar. I ave a re
duction handsomer than the new ones by
Paul Morrison “after the original mod-
els by Florine Stettheimer,” according
to the program (Stark Young's 1934
review attributes the original costumes
to Kate Lawson). My recollection is of
a backdrop of a delicate tint, instead of
the almost garish blue of the new one;
of costumes for the dancers that were
in harmony with the rest, instead of
their obtrusive—and, in the tango num-
ber, ugly—present costumes. And my
recollection is of movements devised for
the dancers by Frederick Ashton which
also were in harmony with the others,
instead of the present dance movements
devised by Mr. Dollar whose style and
tone are a recurrent unpleasant false
note in the occasion of childlike gaiety
and innocence,
But even with its defects the new pro-
duction gives us something outstanding
and distinguished in our theater,
Rubinstein’s newly recorded perform-
ances of Chopin’s Polonaises on a 12-
inch and a 10-inch RCA Victor LP are
more grandiosely proclamatory than the
ones on the old 78’s—which means that
they distend and even distort the music
that is treated with quieter sensitiveness
and elegance on the old records. And in
addition there is the difference between
the clangy sound of his American Stein-
way piano and the sound of the Ham-
burg Steinway (the most beautiful in
the world) in the old performances. The
best of the works are all on the 12-inch
record.
There is some interest in following
the operation of Haydn’s mind in the
Piano Sonatas Nos. 23 and 32 on a
Haydn Society record; and perhaps the
operation would be more impressive and
exciting if Robert Wallenborn pointed
up the detail that is so uneventful in his
fluent performances. As he plays the
‘works only the slow movement of No.
23 is outstanding.
Debussy’s ‘En blane et noir” for two
pianos, played this time by Vronsky and
Babin, I again find uninteresting. The
performance seems good; and the Co-
lumbia record also offers a two-piano
atrangement of music from Stravinsky's
“\Petrouchka.”’
Rachmaninov’s superb performance
of Schumann’s: “Carnaval” has been
- duces it excellently.
dubbed onto a 5
a
Je 5,
perform-
— = he
Nem
Less valuable are most of the
ances on Victor’s LP record Great Pian- —
ists of the Past Play Chopin. De Pach-
mann’s and Rosenthal’s playing is as
mannered as most of the singing of their
time; Paderewski is more straightfor-
ward—but only for a time; Levitzki is”
Er
ay
4
fluent but without any force; Cortot
plays the Berceuse with constant changes
of pace, whereas the character of the '
piece requires a single tempo to be main-
tained throughout; Rachmaninov in-
dulges in distortions; and only Lhévinne
plays with simplicity and continuity of
phrase outline in what I consider an
effective performance of the Polonaise
in A flat.
Columbia has dubbed onto LP all the
old Weingartner recordings of Beetho-
ven’s symphonies; and I have heard the
“Eroica,”’ the Eighth, and the Ninth. I
feel a need for more intensity in the.
“Eroica’; but in its unemphatic way
the performance is good, except for
some changes of pace in the first two
movements; the recorded sound suf-
fers from excessive reverberation, exces-
sive bass, stridency of the violins, and
ca
¥
i q
distortion near the ends of sides. The |
first two movements of the Eighth are
well done; the third is a little deliberate
but acceptable; the slow tempo deprives
the finale of its mercurial quality, and
the pauses before the fortissimo bumps
spoil their effect; the recorded sound gets
muffled at the end. The placid first
movement of the Ninth is something
strictly for the Weingartnerites; the
second moyement is well done, as isthe .
third (the violin figuration in variation
2 is inaudible) up to the coda, where I -
find the slower pace unconvineing (the
sound is distorted here); the perform-
ance of the finale is good except for the
fast tempos which destroy the effect of —
the wonderful Andante maestaso and
Adagio divoto sections; the vocal soloists
are unusually good, though the soprano —
breaks her last formidable ascent to high -
B both before and after the A sharp;
the recorded sound is muffled at the end, -
CORRECTION: In my comment last —
week on the Sadler's Wells Theater
Ballet a sentence was misprinted. It
should have read: As for John Cranko,
I liked best his comedy “Pineapple —
Poll,” and least his philosophical piece J
“Harlequin in April.” “
the Issue Congress .. .
Dear Sirs: 1 do not think that Willard
Shelton should be allowed to get away
with his weird and irresponsible review
of Blair Bolles’s book ‘““How to Get
Rich in Washington” [The Nation,
by a clear disregard of the facts, violent
| prejudice, and, apparently, deliberate
_ distortion. *
For example, Mr. Shelton says: ‘‘Nor
| does he [Bolles} seem to realize that
some of the RFCs most harshly criti-
_cized loans were at least vaguely. justi-
fied under a Congressional injunction
_ that ‘small business’ should be helped.”
It is too bad that Mr. Shelton did not
tead the book as far as pp. 131-32
| where this section of the 1948 RFC
act is quoted and discussed in detail.
Mr. Shelton states that ‘even half-
way smart financiers’’ avoid upper-
| bracket tax rates by manipulating the
' capital-gains provision. This is no
_ doubt true to some extent, but it in no
way contradicts the plain facts Bolles
quotes on pp. 24-25 to substantiate the
occurrence of a “tax revolution’ since
1944, Whatever Mr. Shelton may imag-
ine smart financiers are doing, the
fact remains that in 1929 internal-rey-
enue collections took 2.8 per cent of the
value of all the goods the country pro-
| duced and in 1949 took 15.6 per cent.
_ The review scoffs at the statement
| that regulatory agencies “tend to be-
come prisoners of the interests they are
supposed to regulate’? which one would
have supposed had become accepted
by everyone as a truism. Mr. Shelton
«points to the pallid renascence of the
Federal Trade Commission as proof of
his thesis although this can scarcely off-
] set the devastating material the author
_ assembles to prove his case against the
| FPC, the CAB, and the old Mari-
|. time Commission.
Mr. Shelton naively suggests that
Senator Kerr's friendship with President
| Tfuman had nothing to do with the
| FPC’s culing in favor of the natural-
gas interests. Mr. Shelton blames Con-
gress, which had given ‘warning signs
that any timid commissioner could
read.” The fact, of course, is that the
y key vote in the three-to-two decision
| was cast by Mon Wallgren, who had
_ already announced his decision to re-
| ¢ire and who did so some two months
later. What terrors could Congress hold
April 12}. The review is characterized —
for him if he was going out anyway?
A doctrinaire prejudice against Con-
gress runs through this review. No one
is going to praise the recent Congresses
very much, but how can their sins ex-
onerate Mr. Truman for appointing
Boyle, Caudle, Nunan, Tom Clark, et
al. in the first place?
Indeed, the whole thesis of Mr.
Bolles’s book is that the present cor-
ruption is a broad, complex, political
question and not one of simple moral
black-and-whites or of Congress vs.
the Executive.
But then any reviewer who could
compare this urbane and careful study
to the nonsense of Lait and Mortimer is
suspect in any case.
Washington WILLIAM V. SHANNON
... Versus the President?
Dear Sirs: “Getting away” with a re-
view expressing doubt of the virtues
of Mr. Bolles’s book is not so much of
a trick as Mr, Shannon thinks. Other-
wise he might have been able to stick to
specifics instead of slipping into a pero-
ration impugning my motives and in-
tegrity.
My disagreement with Mr. Bolles
involves the question of cures rather
than of the diseases he describes. Even
in handling the diseases, in my opinion,
his diagnosis errs. “Washington itself
has become J. P. Morgan,” This is no
better than a half-truth. Is speculative
investment dead in our country? Do oil-
men get nich primarily from RFC loans
or from tax favors from Congress—as
well as, no doubt, some drive, ambition,
and skill on theic own part? I don’t
think that one paragraph on pp. 131-
132 of what Mr. Shannon calls ‘‘dis-
cussion in detail,” in which Mr. Bolles
quotes part of the 1948 RFC statute,
substitutes for adequate consideration
of the social values of the RFC.
I naively shrink from imputations un-
supported by evidence in what purports
to be a documented political study. [
said I doubted—and I still doubt—the
insinuation that the Phillips Petroleum
case—in which Senator Kerr was inter-
ested—was decided as it was because
Truman told Mon Wallgren (or be-
cause Truman’s desires somehow seeped
to Wallgren) to vote for Kerr, as a
specific result of Kerr’s support of
Truman in the MacArthur fight. The
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ee FE = SNe Oe eee
ae oor ee
insinuation is dee ae and unmis-
takable—on pp. 19-20. Has Mr. Bolles
any evidence other than his juxtaposi-
tion of separate facts? Has Mr.
Shannon?
The Phillips case was not decided
three to two by the FPC, as Mr. Shan-
non thinks, but four to one, with Com-
missioner Draper concurring in the
decision but dissenting in part from Wall-
gren’s majority opinion. So three com-
missioners who were mot on their way
out, who had #of announced their forth-
coming resignations, voted with Wall-
gren. How did Truman give them their
orders and tell them to pay off politi-
cally to good old Bob Kerr? Neither
Mr. Bolles nor Mr. Shannon vouch-
safes. To me it seems possible that
their decision was dictated by their
honest judgment, and that Kerr's and
the Senate's belief about what was likely
to be their honest judgment was respon-
sible for their confirmation. To me it
also seems possible that they also ob-
served the Senate witch-burning of Le-
Jand Olds when Olds was up for an-
other term after fighting for regulation
of the Phillips company.
A ‘“doctrinaire prejudice against
Congress” indeed! I suppose I should
now call Mr. Shannon guilty of a “‘doc-
trinaire prejudice against the Presi-
dency” because he—as I have done
many times—criticizes some Truman
appointments. I see no /ése majesté
against the legislature in suggesting that
the performance of the administrative
agencies would be improved by a better
Congress, one less scandalously gerry-
mandered in favor of rural districts and
against urban interests, one more ac-
curately representative of our people,
one more responsive to what I consider
the general welfare (non-doctrinaire
variety). I cling to my weird notion
that a shift in the political pressures in
Congress would do more to improve
the tone of the administrative agencies
than any change Mr. Bolles suggests.
If Mr. Shannon wants to add a better
President, all right. But I assume he
knows that the long deterioration of the
New Deal began when the conserva-
tive coalition captured Congress in
1938.
I consider many of Mr. Bolles’s
proposed remedies for evils disclosed by
Congressional committees ill considered
or scarcely considered at all. I do not
think he has placed his scene accu-
rately in the context of American his-
tory and political institutions.
For example, he writes on p. 218
that “independence” of the administra-
ia f Eee
“tiv, aot el ee ane gan
pene vil ‘so long
as the President appohais their nem-
bers, and suggests that “some a” 4
be worked out so that the President and
Congress “can collaborate” in choosing —
key men. What gibberish is this? Does
he comprehend the function of the
Presidency and the “collaboration” al-
ready existing in the form of Senate
confirmation? I am wary of vague pre-
scriptions for “some system’’ the nature |
of which in our constitutional order is ,
left undefined. Also, wisecracking sub- ‘
titles such as the one that conveys the —
spirit of Bolles’s book: “Rich Man’s
Division of the Welfare State.”
Washington WILLARD SHELTON
Fair-Trade Legislation
t-
Dear Sirs: Your March 22 editorial on }
Fair Trade relies on something less than |
thorough reporting to reach its conclu- ~
sion, with which I agree. .
The House Judiciary subcommittee —
on monopoly power considered not only ~
HR 4365, which would repeal the Mil-
ler-Tydings amendment to the Sherman
act, but also HR 4592, HR 4662, and |
“HR 6367. The last-named (known as ;
the Keogh bill) would amend the Sher-
man act to get around not only the
Schwegmann decision, voiding the non-
signer clause, but also the Wenthing de-
cision, which weakened fair-trade laws
as they apply to mail-order sales across
state lines. The other two Would amend
the Miller-Tydings amendment simply
to validate the non-signer clause.
Following open hearings, the full
Judiciary Committee accepted the sub-
committee recommendation of HR 6925,
a rewritten Keogh bill, reporting it to
the House on March 13, which you.do .
not mention. Mr. Celler, chairman of
both sub- and full committee, deserves
commendation for his dissent, in which
“Mr. Jonas and Mr. Bakewell concurred.
It was not the I. C. C., as you stated,
but the House Interstate and Foreign
Commerce Committee, to which the Mc-
Guire bill (HR 5767) was referred.
This aimed at the same end as the
Keogh bill, but by amending the Federal
Trade Commission act. It also provided -
criminal penalties, but after hearings
(February 4-20) an ad hoc subcommit- .
tee, under Mr. Priest, dropped them be-
fore endorsing the bill. The full com-
mittee (with one opposed and: two
voting ‘‘present,” but with no dissenting
report) reported the bill favorably
on February 27, which seems soon
enough for mention on March 22... 4
Washington JOHN P. MANWELL
The NATION },
ery. || Me) hae
et tit
~Puz
% * Fe a pols
zle No. 463
ee ae
ti | le
Pee jm tt |] | | Ca
ACROSS
1 Its possessors might love a product
from Vermont, Louisiana, etc., and
from the west, too. (5, 5)
6 How A Midsummer-Night’s Dream
begins. (4)
0,24 across, 9edown. A complete span
from rock to stone, perhaps.
(4, 3, 6, 2, 8, 5)
ii Josef Strauss’ music belonged to
them. (7)
12 You could hardly be in the driver’s
seat in one of them. (8)
13 Steps taken by Hitler’s minions. (5)
1d. 7 the breast of Burns’ fieldmouse.
(5)
117 They have their points at Land’
1. End. (9) 5 =
}19 Hinders, in making a cherished
variation. (9)
21 Tree an exceptional violinist springs
. from. (9)
23 In arriving at understanding, you'll
find water. (5)
24 See 10.
'27 Responsible for inflation, at times,
» (7)
28 and 29. The 17 type aren’t what a
fellow gets for breaking an engage-
ment. (11)
30 Give the girls the air---they’ll
take their turn! (10)
DOWN oie
; Strain weeetere a fist. (4) -
: ou might find noise or it iva-
lent wearing. (7) a eat i
Readers are invited to send for a free copy of Mr. Lewis's “ground rules.” Address
requests to Puzzle Dept., The Nation, 20 Vesey Street, New York 7, New York.
Aggregate. (5)
and 9. A ruler in the serious condi-
tion of moribundity. (3, 4, 2, 3, 5)
“In thy higher sphere
Thy spirit bends itself to loving—”
_ (Lowell) (5)
7 Inventor of Romanic origin. (7)
8 What’s the object of reading the
riot act? (10)
: a 10 and 4.
ow to get Elia out of i ‘era-
i tion? Tak ncarcera
,0, represented by the
of sic 48) y extremes
18 How to catch a criminal with a
heart flush? (9)
20 You might think it scary ---in fact
only half-human. (7)
22 Ran most of the way to get the
24 lew fe h
sle where the goat doesn’ y
2 oe sable. (5) ee
nimal one might see comi
shaded walk. (5) eS
26 Gets 3 like a dentist. (4)
o-————._.
SOLUTION TO PUZZLE No. 462
ACROSS :—1 ANTIPHLOGISTIC: ,
ACCOMPLI; 10 IMMINENT: lt PARTS
SPIRIT; 14 ORDNANCE; 18 FLATFOOT.
17 ENDSCO; 19 ‘TIES; 20'TO THE POINT:
22 FALLEN ARCHES; 23 CORRESPOND.
DOWN:—1 AFFAIRS OF STATE; 2 TRI.
UMVIRATES; 3 PLAINTIFFS; 4 LACING:
5 GAMBLERS; 6 SILT; 7 A MATTER OF
TASTE; 9 SAINT SWITHIN; 12 UNIN-
SPIRED; 15 MONOCLES; 18 SHINTO; 21
me Co
on
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end
—<—<——
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Sas
ft Sy
_ Strikes one
ot
ke
ri
back
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ST SES TS ES ERE ET PE OE TT 2 a a EL A Sia SE I SSS RET a RE |
SS a SS ES SR SER ERS SEER ALY OSS ETE SRS RESET ne y
May 10, 1952
Presidential Poll Results
_ Analysis of The Nation’s Ballot
Labor Views the Campaigns
BY HUGO ERNST
Italy, the Vatican,
-~ and American Catholics
i. BY ALEXANDER WERTH
ra
\roupthink on Groupthink by Dawn Powell \
‘}CENTS A COPY - EVERY WEEK SINCE 1865 - 7 DOLLARS A YEAR |
AROUND THE U. S ey
Operation Albacore
San Francisco
AST September, while the Japanese
peace treaty was being signed in
San Francisco, hundreds of albacore
(tuna) fishing boats, bedecked in gala
bunting and with loud-speakers blaring,
paraded in the bay publicizing what they
charged was the first result of Secretary
Acheson's “‘soft peace’’—ruin of the
American tuna industry. The fishermen
demanded a tariff on the frozen fish
from Japan—and Peru—that was flood-
ing the home market at $225 a ton.
Actually $225 would not cover the bare
cost of operation of American boats.
Tuna fishermen have engaged in a
perennial running battle with the big
canners over price, though as late as
1949 they were able to get $750 a ton
for their fish. The price had dropped to
less than half that by the beginning of
the 1951 season, and then the duty-free
imported tuna knocked the bottom out.
The Fishermen's Union, since 1949
an affilit® of Harry Bridges’s Interna-
tional Longshoremen’s and Warehouse-
men’s Union (I. L. W. U.), had for
years tried through organization to
equalize the bargaining relationship be-
tween the small boat-owners and the
packers. Its efforts were blocked several
years ago when the federal government
pressed a damaging restraint-of-trade
case against the union, which it accused
of fixing the selling price to cannets.
At the start of the 1951 season John
Pastorino, secretary of Fishermen's Local
- 8-34 (I. L. W. U.) of San Francisco,
got the idea of going out on the run
himself that summer. All tuna boats are
equipped with two-way radio tele-
_ phones. As Pastorino followed the warm
stream up the coast from Mexico with
the rest of the fleet, he engaged in long
dialogues with other fishermen about
their common grievances, plugging the
union whenever he could. It was an
unusual kind of organizing campaign.
Early in October the boats hit a solid
run of tuna around Morro Bay, but be-
fore they completed their catch a squall
drove them into port. The dealers on
shore would not touch the fish at the
price asked, The men held a council of
war and agreed they would let the fish
rot rather than sell at the ruinous price
offered. “I tell you what we ought to
do,” one fisherman pitched in. “We
ought to try and sell that fish directly
to the public.”
Albacore fishermen had made other
attempts to sell their fish directly, but
they had always run into official red
tape. However, with the I. L. W. U.
backing them, they figured maybe they
could succeed this time. A couple of crab
stands were rented on the famous Fish-
erman’s Wharf. In two days the alba-
core catch was being sold to the public
at 25 cents a pound by the whole fish,
less than half the current price.
The idea caught fire swiftly. After a
day or two markets were opened in Oak-
land and other towns across the bay, in
Sacramento and Stockton, in Santa Clara
and Salinas, and finally in Los Angeles,
where sales soon totaled as much as at
all the other outlets combined.
Some advertising was done by the
union at first, but it soon became unnec-
essary as newspapers and radios gave
the novel idea spectacular treatment.
Since most people had never tasted tuna
before it was confined in its “tin prison,”
the union hired television time and put
on demonstration-cooking programs.
Mimeogrtaphed recipes were given out
with every purchase; variety was stressed,
since tuna comes big, averaging twelve
to fifteen pounds, enough meat for a
family for several meals. Buyers came
from all walks of life. “Where has this
fish been all our lives?” the Stockton
Record demanded.
But it was the middle-income consum-
er who was most appreciative. Protein-
conscious housewives found this the best
buy on the market. Neighbors teamed
up and bought a fish between them.
Meanwhile, most people seemed to be
getting the point the union kept making
indefatigably: that by supporting its
selling campaign the consumer was help-
ing to beat the monopolies as well as
making it possible for the fishermen to
earn a decent living. Everybody benefits,
was the common feeling. One buyer de-
manded: “Why don’t you go out and
organize the cowboys, so we can get the
same deal on beef?”
Nearly two million pounds of fish
were disposed of in this manner, involv-
ing some 150,000 individual sales. The ®
fishermen received $300 a ton for their
catch—enough to guarantee a modest
profit. Encouraged by this experience, ©
the union opened a crab market on the
wharf and sold the shellfish for 25
cents a pound live, 30 cents cooked, the
lowest prices in years.
Does this indicate a new course fok
the ailing West Coast fishing industry?
The I. L. W. U. itself is doubtful about
the project, which it does not consider a _
legitimate long-term trade-union activ- ~
ity. Nor does it believe that the tariff,
which it has supported in solidarity with
other fishermen, strikes at the root of
the trouble. Japanese tuna, I. L. W. U.’
leaders maintain, can be sold here so
cheaply because the earnings of Japa-
nese fishermen are so low. A decent
wage for these workers would eliminate =
the pressure to sell abroad, whereas a J
tariff might have the effect of driving
down still farther the miserable Japa-
nese pay.
Yet it is difficult to rule out the tariff
solution, Other proposals appear far- ]
fetched in comparison. The Northwest's
salmon industry is in as bad a state as
tuna fishing as the result of a cut of
from 25 to 15 per cent in the duty on
Canadian-caught fish. The campaign for
higher duties on both salmon and tuna |
will undoubtedly increase. The House
adopted a $60-a-ton duty on imported}
tuna shortly before adjourning last De-}
cember. Pressure is now being put on |
the Senate to follow suit. :
But use of the “new market” dia] )
covered by the I. L. W. U. seems too
tempting to resist. The Fishermen's} ;
Union (A. F. of L.) in San Diego, “the
tuna capital of the world,” has asked} 2
the big packers to share the expense of}, :
a great promotion campaign to develop} ”
this market and get the tuna industry”
out of its deep depression.
Is there a lesson in all of this for} ef
other industries which may soon be con-f ¥i
fronted with similar competition from ta
our economic wards, the Japanese? _—f ¢
HENRY KRAUS _ 0p
{Henry Kraus is the author of “The :
Many and the Few,’ a history of tha,
labor movement, and of “In the Cit}
Was a Garden,” a novel.} j i Ug
AMERICA’S LEADING LIBERAL WEEKLY SINCE 1865
NEW YORK +» SATURDAY « MAY 10, 1952
NUMBER 19
VOLUME 174
Ihe Shape of Tbings
The Meaning of Israel
The fourth birthday of the state of Israel calls for
more than the outpouring of admiration, wonder, and
congratulations with which it was greeted in last week's
celebration. The event was an affirmation, much needed
today, that, given faith in its principles and purposes, a
democratic cause can overcome great odds and survive.
Israel provides dramatic proof of the vitality of that
_ faith. Born out of a struggle against invading forces,
_ faced with the staggering problem of creating a govern-
ment in the midst of war, Israel might have been ex-
cused if it had suspended some of its democratic prin-
ciples in deference to the “emergency.” But it did not:
and as a result it has achieved an amazing degree of in-
tegration and security—in spite of the immense finan-
cial difficulties that burden it—without forfeiting one
atom of its integrity. The existence of Israel in the op-
ptessed and backward region of the Middie East will
prove of immense significance to that area in the years
to come. It has almost as much meaning for the Wést—
if the West knows how to read the lesson of this tiny
country’s survival.
| “Released Time”
| The Supreme Court’s decision, written by Justice
§} Douglas, upholding the New York released-time pro-
| gram (see The Nation, February 9), represents a clear
a} « reversal of its position on the McCollum case in Ilinois.
"| Except that in the earlier case the religious instruction
+) was to be given inside the public schools, rather than
eee the oes classroom hours of the com-
sory public-school system.” The only way to avoid this
It is impossible to escape the force of the conclusions
reached by Justice Jackson—who also dissented—that
the New York released-time program utilizes the public
schools “as a temporary jail for students who will not go
to church.” In other words, the coercive power of the
state is used to assist religious sects in violation of the
First Amendent. The consequences of this initial breach
in the wall separating church and state were dramatically
foreshadowed in Jackson's dissent: ‘‘. . . The day that
this country ceases to be free for irreligion it will cease
to be free for religion—except for the sect that can win
political power... . We start down a rough road when
we begin to mix compulsory public education with com- ~
pulsory godliness... .”
Bad Days in Buenos Aires
May 1 was a bad day for the Perén regime, On that
day the Argentine dictator, addressing Parliament, ad-
mitted that his country was facing a desperate economic
crisis for which he could offer no sure cure, And on the
same day a group of noted Argentine exiles protested to
the United Nations that Perén had tortured hundreds
of political prisoners in a “reign of pure tertor” over
their unhappy land. |
Neither development came as a surprise to regular
Nation readers. In our issue of April 19, Alvarez del
Vayo exclusively predicted the protest to the United.
Nations and detailed some of the torture charges. And
our last, week’s issue, which went to press several days
before Perén’s speech, carried a remarkable and timely
analysis of the Argentine economic crisis under the
headline Perén Through in °52?
As an additional service to our readers, we hope soon
to be able to repeat the headline—this time without the
question mark.
Bosom Rivals
There will be a certain piquancy to this yeat’s ses-
sions of the American Assembly to be held May 18-22 at
Arden House in the beautiful Ramapo Mountains. Or-
ganized in 1950 by General Eisenhower as president
of Columbia University, the assembly brings together
annually representative leaders of American business,
EDITORIALS
The Shape of Things
Steel Seizure—Threat Against Labor
Our Readers Prefer Douglas
ARTICLES
Labor Views the Campaigns by Hugo Ernst
Trouble in Textiles: II by Keith Hutchison
Italy, the Vatican, and United States Catholics
by Alexander Werth
Prince of Pamphleteers by William J. Fielding
BOOKS AND THE ARTS
A Negro in America by Irving Howe
Groupthink on Groupthink by Dawn Powell
A Peculiar Genius by Hayden Carruth
Books in Brief
Drama Note dy C. H.
Art by S. Lane Faison, Jr.
Records by B, H. Haggin
:
Oe el ae
aoe A. oe
I ee
LETTERS TO THE EDITORS
CROSSWORD PUZZLE No. 464
by Frank W. Lewis
SS a ee
EDITORIAL BOARD
Editor and Publisher: Freda Kitchwey
Editorial Director
Soe Petey eee pen eS. Ge
Carey McWilliams Lillie Shultz
Managing Editor: Victor H. Bernstein
Foreign Editor Literary Editor
J. Alvarez de! Vayo Margaret Marshall
Financial Editor : Keith Hutchison
Drama: Joseph Wood Krutch
Copy Editor: Gladys Whiteside
Assistant Literary Editor: Caroline Whiting
Staff Contributors
Business Manager: Hugo Van Arx
Advertising Manager: Mary Simon
Entered as second-class matter, December 13, 1879, at the P.
of New York, N. Y., under the act of March 8, 1879, hee
the new,
© IN THIS 33508 *
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by The Nation Associates, Inc., 20 Vesey Street, Nie Woke: x
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443
444
446
448
450
452
454
455
456
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457
457
459
460
opposite 460
Director, Nation Assoctates '
Music: B. H. Haggin
Andrew Roth, Alexander Werth, Howard K. Smith, Carolus
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~ ot ne
a pet project of the General’s, who thought it “the most
important step’ he had taken as Columbia's president; —
he said it would give the nation’s leaders a needed
“pause to think.” ;
Now the joker: Arden House, site of the Assembly, a
handsome estate at Harriman, New York, was presented
as a gift to the pet project of General Eisenhower, can-
didate for the Republican nomination for President, by
W. Averell Harriman, candidate for the Democratic
nomination, The American Assembly is thus a happy
reminder of the friendship and similarity of interests
and outlook which exist between these rivals for the
highest post in the land.
This year's sessions will be devoted to a discussion of
“Inflation: Causes, Consequences, and Cures.” If Gen-
eral Eisenhower and Mr. Harriman could both attend,
if the proceedings were open to press, radio, and tele-
vision, the American people would also be given a pause
to think—and not only about inflation.
Tunisian Dynamite
Tunisia again forced itself on the unwilling attention
of the United Nations when twelve Arab-Asian and
seventeen Latin American delegations met last week to
hear Professor Ahmed Bokhari of Pakistan reiterate his
conviction that the Security Council had committed a
grave error in refusing to deal with the issue. The ma-_
jority of the Latin American delegates, in accordance
with the position taken in the Security Council by Chile
and Brazil, registered themselves in favor of calling a
special session of the General Assembly to deal with
Tunisia’s complaint, and have submitted the matter to
their governments,
Meanwhile news coming direct from Tunisia show:
that the situation there is no less precarious than two
months ago when, under French orders, the Bey was”
obliged to replace the Chenik Cabinet with a hand-
picked collection of civil servants who are ministers in
name only. The “Premier,” M. Baccouche, represents no-
body but the French Resident General, M. de Haute-
clocque. Continuing friction between the Bey and his
new Cabinet has brought the routine adminstrative
work of the government almost to a standstill. The ap- |.
pointment of the Mixed Commission to study the pro- fy.
gram of gradual reform suggested by the French has ff)
been postponed until May 20; it had been announced
for April 24, Discontent increases and the Tunisian
trade unions are now preparing for another big fight.
Terroristic acts met by harsh repression give daily proof ti
Bub : : lon,
that it is no longer possible to handle this smoldering
nationalist rebellion by halfhearted palliatives too long Si
delayed. cin
The NaTION]),
ee
4) 0 )
I
Noy
HE issues involved in the President's attempt to
seize the steel plants are in danger of being ob-
scured by the government’s ineptness, the arbitrary action
of Judge David A. Pine, and the merits of the labor
dispute itself.
On the merits, the steel workers have a powerful case
(see The Nation, March 29, 1952), but this fact should
not divert attention from the basic constitutional issues.
Similarly, the Administration’s inexcusably clumsy han-
dling of the dispute, including its legal aspects, should
_ not divert attention from the role that Congress has
played in forcing the Administration to act as it has
acted. In the same way, Judge Pine’s attempt to dispose
of a fundamental constitutional issue on a mere motion
for a temporary injunction and his unsupported finding
of “irreparable damage” do not alter the fact that his
decision was basically a sound one.
Nothing in the Constitution, directly or by implica-
tion, authorizes the President to take the step he did,
| nor was the seizure authorized by act of Congress. In
seeking to justify it in terms of the President’s “inherent
powers,” Assistant Attorney General Holmes Baldridge
was jockeyed into the untenable position that while the
Constitution limits the powers of the courts and Con-
gress, it does not limit the powers of the President.
But the legal issue also hinges on a basic factual issue.
Neither the President nor Congress has power to order
| the seizure of a plant or an industry except in some
grave national emergency affecting the security of the
| country. In speaking of the “awful result” of a steel
| strike, Judge, Pine apparently assumed the existence of
such an emergency. But if it does exist, then the Admin-
| istration has been highly inconsistent in its actions and
policies. On March 25, it authorized major increases in
the production of passenger cats, washing machines, and
| other consumer goods after July 1; and on April 8, in a
| speech at Detroit, Secretary of Commerce Charles Saw-
") yer predicted that the government would lift steel con-
"| trols “before many months go by—perhaps in early
| 1953.” Some months back the defense mobilizers ex-
\terided the military program for a year longer than origi-
| nally planned; it will not be completed now until 1955.
Similarly, delivery of military items has been deliberately
i) delayed to allow more time to work out better designs
| If these decisions were proper, then the government is
we)now crying “wolf, wolf” to justify an unconstitutional
j action. Although precise figures are not available, it has
states that he had himself recommended against seizure.
The issue, we suspect, does not turn so much on the |
question of whether a cessation in steel production will
endanger national security as it does on how and by
what means labor is to be “controlled.” If this is the
case, then government seizure has dangerous long-range
implications for the labor movement. Under Section 3
of the seizure order, the Secretary of Commerce was
directed to recognize the right of workers to bargain
collectively, “provided that such activities do not inter-
fere with the operation of such plants, facilities, and
other properties.” Three times since the war President
Truman has “seized” the railroads to prevent strikes; in
fact the railroads have been under nominal army opera-
tion since August, 1950. ‘The only concrete effect of
this seizure,” Senator James E. Murray reported to his
colleagues on March 28, “has been to stall all attempts
at a settlement between the carriers and the operating
railroad unions which are parties to the two-year-old
dispute. The effect of the seizure has been further to re-
solve the dispute in favor of the carriers simply because
the unions are deprived of the sanctions they could
exercise if the roads were nominally in private hands.”
Actually “seizure” is a phony procedure; nothing
much happens except that strikes become “strikes against
the government” and the government remains liable for
losses. This is why Judge Pine’s finding of “irreparable
damage” to the companies is absurd. On the other hand,
partisans of the President should note that in the
argument before the Circuit Court of Appeals, Mr.
Baldridge—once again speaking out of turn—said quite
frankly that the government would enjoin the strikers if
the seizure were reinstated. It is worth noting, moreover,
that the conservative press is demanding that the Presi-
dent invoke the provisions of the Taft-Hartley act.
Should an injunction be obtained, a curious situation
would arise in which the government had been ruled
powerless to coerce the companies but could force the
workers to continue at their jobs for an additional eighty
days for the benefit of private profit-making enterprises.
One law for the companies, another for the workers.
In the present situation Congress is as much at fault
as the President. After shouting “dictator” and hurling
the threat of impeachment at the President, Congress
simply walked out on the steel dispute by adjourning for
the Easter recess. And it has continued to duck its re-
sponsibilities: about the only suggestion that has come
from it has been a proposal for still another Congres-
sional investigation. If the President’s action in ordering
seizure was dictatorial, the default of Congress was in
part responsible. Government-by-decree is always justi-
443
ae SaAcepencies"” becomes even mote puma when-ore
~ reads that Nathan P. Feinsinger, chairman of the WSB,
u thinks that the union and the industry were “very, very
close” to an agreement before the President acted and
eee
SE
De ec
eae
fied in terms of some “emergency,” a or agli
but the basic explanation is usually to be found in a
political crisis which has resulted in a deadlock between
the executive and legislative branches of government.
It is at least arguable that if such a deadlock had not
existed, the President would have asked Congress to im-
pose controls at the outbreak of the Korean war instead
Our Readers Prefer Dou elas
HE results of The Nation's preferential poll for
President are detailed in the tables on the opposite
page. The ballot was printed in the April 5 issue; indi-
vidual readers who requested them were mailed extra
ballots provided they wrote before April 19 (634 such
extra ballots were distributed). Participants were asked
to indicate the state in which they live and their party
affiliation. Minor-party candidates were not included in
the ballot, but space for write-ins was provided. All
ballots postmarked not later than April 25 were counted.
A total of appoximately 3,600 ballots was cast, in-
cluding write-ins. The tables on page 445 show the
breakdown of first and second choices according to party
affiliation, and the total first-choice vote by states. Votes
were received from every state in the Union,
In all, 419 write-in votes were received, of which
158 were first choices divided among 33 candidates. The
leading first choices were: Vincent Hallinan (Progressive
Party candidate), 45; Senator Paul Douglas, 28; Normaa
Thomas, 13; Averell Harriman, 10; Herbert Holdridge,
8; and Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt, 5, Harriman, Senator
Douglas, and Hallinan led the second-choices in that
order. Scattered write-ins were received for Justice Hugo
Black, Stringfellow Barr, Senator Herbert Lehman,
President Truman, Senator McMahon, Frank P. Gra-
ham, Robert Hutchins, and others.
In our view, the most interesting results shown
by the poll are these: the clear first-choice preferences
indicated for Justice William O. Douglas by Democrats,
Republicans, and independents (including members of
minor parties); the tendency of our readers to favor
Senator Kefauver and Governor Stevenson as their sec-
ond choice; the second-choice popularity of Governor
Earl Warren among Democrats, Republicans, and inde-
pendents; and the relative lack of interest shown in the
candidacy of General Eisenhower. The fact that so many -
readers voted for Justice Douglas and Governor Steven-
son, even though they were aware that neither is a
candidate, indicates not only the kind of candidate they
prefer but also the kind of platform they want. We think
there is a straw in the wind here for the Democrats, who
must retain their independent and liberal support to win.
In August, 1939, Elmo Roper prepared a study of a
444
the steel dapat A decision by the ‘Sune eme | ¢ Court 7
1924 1928
MEE aie xis kas sms 18,0 Smith 20. &csede eee 38.8
EEN So, 5 os oss 11.2 Hoover isi. es eee 18.9 —
panes, .:......... 415 Thomagt.o::e2e eee 26.7 |
URE ee os a cs 2.0 Foster... saute ae 1.8 4
8 2.0 Other scx saa ss cone As
Beem yote’.......... 25.3 Didn't vote Jc, 2 cue 13.4
1932 1936
REIMER canis sce ws oe 64.7 EB. "DSRS Sic en ec 81.0 ;
MO WIIT OR fic vels.s ice os «3 8.6 Landogtiiendcicnee eee 53
[atin CO a 19.4 Thomas 232.0 eee 9:3 3
ROME a. . ss wig 1.1. Browder’ .\o..).s. eee 1.8
ROLHOEM eS. se os. wc 2. Other” 377 te eee 29
Pe O WOE se ee 6.0. ‘Dida’t> vote: 1224 2.4 |
settle the legal issue, but only a resolution of the politi-
cal crisis which has brought about the deadlock between —
Congress and the White House can check the threat of —
“government-by-decree.” 5
selected sample of 978 Nation readers. Among the’
questions asked was this: “Whom did you vote for in
1924, 1928, 1932, and 1936?” The results, given in |
percentages, provide an interesting tie-in with our cur-
rent poll:
The percentage of first-choice ballots which Justice |
William O. Douglas received (67.2) is slightly higher |
than Roosevelt's percentage in 1932. It should be |
mentioned, also, that many readers explained that their
“real” choice was William O. Douglas but that since |
they assumed he was not available, they were marking |
preferences for others.
Many interesting miscellaneous comments were re-
ceived. One reader noted: “If, in my bitterness, I have
spoiled my ballot by indicating—in an amazingly re-
strained fashion!—what I think of Kerr, Russell, Mac-
Arthur, and Taft, please send me another ballot.” An-
other, who voted for Justice Douglas, commented:
“But it would be a shame to permit Harry another Su-
preme Court appointment before he retires.” Associate |
Justice R. B. Bottomly of the Montana Supreme Court J
has been doing a little private polling among his friends,
“Most of those I have talked to,” he wrote, “have ex-
pressed the thought that it is just too bad that the
ordinary person has no way of expressing his choice for
the important position of President of the United States
It appears there is not much hope for the expression)
of this choice until we have a nationary primary for
office which would mean real democracy in action.”
The Nation y
Fain; eee Soot aT eee
s]z)
—
THE NATION'S PRESIDENTIAL POLL
"DEMOCRAT REPUBLICAN
Migs TOTALS
see “Ist Choice | 2nd Choice
_ BARKLEY (D)__ 0 A
_ W.O. DOUGLAS (D) 95 2,320 450
EISENHOWER (R) 86 229
KEFAUVER (D) fee OO | ere ST 218 249
KERR (D)
MacARTHUR (R)
RUSSELL (D)
STASSEN (R)”
STEVENSON (D)
—________—_ ff — —— | | |
—_———— .. | | | |
of ff | ff fe *"
———$_ | — — — — | | | | fe
——_— | | [| | .**"
ef Sf jt LS "
— | Sf Ef | Lf | | jp |
Alabama 1 1 1 0 0 0 2 0 0
Arizona 0 0 2 0 0 0 3 0 0
Arkansas 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0
California 1 28 47 6 0 0 69 12 9
Colorado 0 3 4 0 0 0 2 2 1
Connecticut 0 9 i 0 0 0 17 0 0
Delaware 0 ] 0 0 0 0 0 0
Dist. of Columbia 0 0 2 0 0 0 4 1
Florida 0 1 12 0 0 0 3 0
Georgia 0 1}? 0 0 2 0 4 1
Idaho 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 1
Illinois 0 8 5 0 0 0} 0 83 4
Indiana 0 6 3 0 1 0 0 15 2
Towa 0 1 4 0 0 0 0 7 0
Kansas 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 4 1
Kentucky 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 1 0
Louisiana ee are cee. 2 0 0 0 0 3 0
Maine Siw ee: 6 am! 0 0 0 0 0 0
Maryland 0 2 5 0 1 0 0 9 2
Massachusetts 0 7 0 1 0 0 20 1
| Michigan 0 10 0 0 0 0 0
Minnesota 0 9 0 0 0 0 2 ,
Mississippi Pa ers cage... 6 0 0 0 1 0 0
Missouri 0 3 0 0 0 0 t
Montana 0 ] 0 0 0 0 1
Nebraska 0 2 0 0 0 0 2
Nevada 0 t 0 0 0 ee 0
Dan ora a4 4, # #}|&| .caae. ol, @t of © 20. Race
New Jersey [aint a), 4+ Sew. ~ 6b... th . 23h.) CGnun
i) een || || aor ol. gt. ol... @ Ct ees
New York Dee 4g 23 Memooeeg). gt Of ...00| °c
North Carolina 0 5 0 0 0 0 5 0
SNES SS Se ar Oe a a aes es
|. Ohio IE 2 EEE Ee Oe ee eee ee 4
een sere enemies SS) eR OO Ya
| Oregon 0 6 0 0 0 2 1
Pennsylvania 0 14 0 2 0 25 4
* Rhode Island 0 1 0 0 0 0 0
South Carolina 0 0 0 0 0 1 0
South Dakota 0 1 0 1 0 1 1
Tennessee 0 a 0 0 0 2 1
Texas 0 : 10 0 1 0 6 S
.} Utah 0 1 0 0 0 1 1
| Mermont 0 0 0 0 0 1 0
Virginia 0 7 0 0 0 5 1
Washington 0 8 0 0 0 14 0
West Virginia 0 0 0 0 0 1 I
Wisconsin 0 11 0 1 0 7 5
Wyoming 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 1 0
TOTALS 4 ; 1 4 9 2 528 59 46
inet tee
nee
ee ene
_ Labor Viens the Campaigns
a
ea
T SEEMS to me that the key to this election year lies
in a thoughtful reading of the signs which reveal a
vast uneasiness at work among the American people.
Walter Lippmann and others, reporting “ear-to-the-
ground” tours of the country, have found this restless-
ness, this secking after answers, in
every corner of the land. Some pass it
off as nothing more than a mood for
changing the “ins” for the “outs.”
Others read into it a current of defeat-
ism. I think these are dangerous and
superficial readings.
The signs are all about us. They
reach all the way from the President's
decision to “take a walk” to the worried
frowns of housewives as they pass
through the check-out station at the
supermarket.
They include slipping farm prices,
the lines of unemployed in the textile
and auto towns, the new boldness of
employer attacks upon trade unions.
They include dislocations of world
trade, the Treasury's monthly report
that more defense bonds are cashed
than sold, the big advertisements for
clearance sales of TV sets, refrigera-
tors, and other high-cost merchandise.
They include recurring reports of
acts of downright fascist violence against Negroes, Jews,
Spanish-Americans, and other minority groups; the
snooping into schoolbooks which has befouled commu-
Mities as far apart as Pasadena, California, and Port
Washington, New York; the news that detention camps
are being prepared for “subversives” in this land of the
free,
They include items like the army’s request for more
funds to use in tracking down soldiers who have gone
“over the hill’; the air-force lieutenants who do not
wish to fly; and Argosy magazine’s opinion poll show-
ing that the headline which eight out of ten Americans
would most like to see, reads: WAR ENDED FOREVER.
Twenty years ago Franklin D. Roosevelt, sensing a
similar uneasiness in the land, illuminated the dark
HUGO ERNST is General President of the Hotel and
Restaurant Employees and Bartenders International Union
(A. F. of L.). He has been a prominent figure in the
A, F, of L. for many years.
446
Hugo Ernst
BY HUGO ERNST
night of the depression with a flashing phrase that
showed his remarkable insight into the popular mood.
“The only thing we have to fear,” he said, “is fear it-
self.” Then he went on to offer a New Deal so bold, so
concrete, so accurate in its grasp of the nation’s sense of
insecurity, as to rally the people to his
standard for four years of historic elec-
tion victories—to say nothing of a fifth
Democratic victory in 1948.
The “new” part of F. D. R.’s pre-
scription was simply that he put peo-
ple’s security first: the security of their
homes, their jobs, their farms, their
small enterprises, their unions. The se-
curity of their civil rights, their health,
their education, their natural resources.
These were given priority over the nar-
rower interests of those he dubbed
“‘malefactors of great wealth.”
It was this program which made the
Democratic Party the choice of workers,
farmers, and the small business men
and professional people who serve
them. It was this New Deal which
brought to birth the political arms of
the A. F. of L., the C. I. O., the rail-
road unions, and the miners, all bent on
supporting those in either party who
would push the program. And it was
this New Deal the Republicans and Dixiecrats in Con-
gress set out to smash the moment F. D. R. was dead.
Seizing the initiative from President Truman, the coali-
tion has put in motion since 1946 a mighty flood of re-
action from the Hill which is washing away F. D. R.’s
program as surely as the life-giving topsoil of the Mis-
souri Basin is being washed away as I write. We can ex-
pect the erosion to continue if the Dixiecrats dictate at
Chicago the nomination of a man who suits their own
purposes rather than the needs of the plain people
who have looked upon the Democratic Party as their
instrument of social progress.
The Democrats can’t win without a tremendous turn-—
out in November. They can’t get such a turnout unless _
they offer a national program that satisfies the people’s-
need for security. And they must offer real security at
home and real security in relations with other nations.
At the very minimum, if there is to be a real outpour-
ing of voters this year, the Democrats must not retreat
an inch from the platform of 1948 when they meet in
The NATION
4 “ae . eS seat eas with his 300 votes, then
the campaign this fall will not be waged on the real
issues at all, but on mink coats, reds-in-government,
and wasteful welfare spending disguised as issues by
candidates unwilling to face the causes of the people’s
restlessness. Disgusted voters will stay home.
Republicans have worked hand in glove with the
Dixiecrats as wreckers of the New Deal. Together they
forced the defense production program into forms
which tightened monopoly’s grip while weakening the
people’s defense against falling living standards. Carry-
ing these policies beyond our shores, the “Dixiegop”
alliance has starved the Point Four program for dealing
permanently with what the President has called “stom- -
ach communism” by containing it within a wall of rising
living standards. There is no likelihood that the election
of Taft or Eisenhower, either of whom must carry
into office reactionary Senators and Representatives,
would in any way alter the nature of the present drift.
As for the Democrats, the great danger is that the
Dixiecrats, using as their slogan, “You can't win with-
out us,” will blackmail the convention into choosing
their man. The fact is, however, and it should be widely
- advertised, that neither Roosevelt nor Truman needed
electoral votes from the Southern states; both would
have been elected handily without them.
No, the Democrats don’t need the Dixiecrats. What
they do need is the votes of those—North, South, East,
and West—who feel most sharply the insecurity of the
times. And who are they? They are the voters who kept
the Democrats in power from 1932 through 1948. They
are the wage earners—steclworkers, hotel maids, white-
collar employees—of the industrial cities. They are the
family farmers of the Great Plains, the sharecroppers of
the South. They are the Negro millions and the millions
of new Americans from many lands even unto the sec-
end and third generations. Standing alone, they are
called “minority groups’; together, they hold the popu-
lar power the Democrats must put into motion if they
would win next fall. To enlist them, the Democrats
must restore faith in the party as the defender of the
people’s rights. They must offer a platform explicit in
its proposals for quieting the people’ s fears.
_ As I see it, these are the facts which the Democrats
} must face squarely if they want to win again in 1952:
@ While most American families are caught in a net of
| frozen wages and rising prices, corporations continue to
} swell, like the frog in the fairy tale, with each new
| quarterly report.
| The existence of a tax structure which adds a heavy
| burden of indirect taxes to the already heavy direct taxes
efor the big fellows.
@ The shelving of the.Fair Deal by the same Congress —
which eatiiaes to ladle out giant subsidies to industry,
thus turning the nation’s wealth over to monopoly.
@ Mounting expressions of alarm from thoughtful
people who see present policies as leading either to war
or depression, and who don’t want war as a “solution”
for depression.
The anti-labor climate fostered by the Taft-Hartley
act, epitomized in the steel crisis.
@ The present moratorium on social progress—public
housing, security for the aged, health insurance, federal
aid to education, public power, flood control.
@ The series of murderous assaults on Negroes. These
grow bolder, as though the FBI's failure to catch the
Kluxers who bombed Harry Moore’s home in Florida at
Christmas time were almost an invitation to violence.
HERE is also the issue of free speech. The fear
Bh speaking out is the most ominous fact of life in
America today. The virus of McCarthyism chills the
heart and stills the tongue of the teacher, the preacher,
the public servant, the editor, the union member. Ulti-
mately this terrible disease destroys its victims’ resist-
_ ance to a malignant growth within the body politic—the
cancer of fascism. A serious threat is that this same
political “polio” may lay hold of the Democratic con-
vention. Indeed, it would be a bitter irony should the
McCarthy virus infect the party whose only hope of vic-
tory lies in offering the voters a cure for all the ills for
which McCarthy and the Dixiecrats stand.
I do not believe working people or their unions will
ever surrender to the Dixiecrats. They simply will not
accept, just as the Negro people will not accept, any
Democratic candidate who compromises on civil rights
to gain the nomination. Nor do I believe that working
people and their natural allies will turn to the Republi-
cans unless some miracle at Chicago reminds the
G. O. P. of Lincoln, and they fécover his concern for
the rights of working people, white and black.
Should both parties turn their backs on the rights of
labor, on civil rights, on the social needs of all of us, on
the deep hunger for peace in the hearts of men, then I
fear millions of voters will simply “sit this one out”
and the victory will go to the Republicans by default.
The 1952 elections, it seems to me, are America’s big
chance, and perhaps the Democratic Party’s last chance,
to return to the path of F. D. R. Here is our opportunity
to send to Washington a new President and a new
Congress with a genuine mandate from the voters to re-
appraise our foreign and domestic affairs. Such a govern-
ment could help enormously in easing the tensions which
now foster fear throughout the world.
447
titi
a ee Lok
* “yi rie ar
+e e ie
+ ea
*4, 7 J
HE trouble in textiles, of which I wrote last week,
is not peculiar to the United States: it is a world-
wide phenomenon which is causing the spinners and
weavers of Osaka, Ghent, Manchester, and Bombay
even more grief than those of Fall River. Universally
the feast of orders that the textile industry was enjoying
a little more than a year ago has turned to famine.
Everywhere, as manufacturers and merchants struggle
to reduce inventories in the face of strong consumer
resistance, mills are closing, leaving hundreds of thou-
sands of workers idle.
In the major producing countries anti-inflationary
measures, such as increased taxes and higher interest
_ rates, serve to lessen home demand. But exports afford
no relief; on the contrary, i Australia,
for example—are being cut off by import restrictions de-
signed to correct adverse trade balances. And in Asia,
Africa, and Latin America consumption is being cur-
tailed by a fall in purchasing power caused by price
reverses in such commodities as rubber, jute, copra, tin,
and pepper.
It is not surprising, therefore, that the textile indus-
tries of Britain and Belgium, which export one-third
and one-half of their output respectively, should have
been excited when the possibility of substantial orders
from Russia, China, and other “‘iron curtain” lands was
dangled before them at the recent Moscow Economic
Conference. In Japan, too, where the cotton industry
has just cut back production severely even though its
capacity is still far below pre-war levels, there is keen
interest in the prospect of reentry into the Chinese
market, We have yet to see, however, how firm the
_ proffered orders are and what strings are attached to
them. British observers, while hoping for the best,
appear to be rather skeptical. They note that in negotiat-
ing trade pacts with Russia Britain hitherto has never
been able to persuade the Soviet government to use part
of its substantial sterling balances for the purchase of
_ textiles or other consumer goods. Nor have the British
_ placed any obstacles in the way of textile exports to
China; if these have dwindled to a trickle, it is because of
_ difficulties created by Peking.
Should Lancashire succeed in obtaining appreciable
business from the Eastern bloc, the American reaction is
likely to be a mixture of criticism and envy. However,
exports have never played a major role in America’s
textile trade—tlast year less than 10 per cent of the
output of cotton fabrics was sold abroad—and recovery
from the present slump depends primarily on a quick-
448
(=
$
are Peak barat neem
ay
3 ar
« oe peewee
e.
rte cee tha? Tee rn
oN cart qos
7 ? 5
Tt oe “<
17 rouble es Baie’
been shrinking. Thus the Wool Bureau in a recent J
BY KEITH HUTCHISON
ening of the home market. How is this to be achieved? —
It can hardly be argued that the reduced rate of tex-
tile consumption in this country comes from lack of pur-. —
chasing power. Generally speaking, the economy is
operating at a very high level. Employment is at a new: /
peak and disposable income in the first quarter of this, ©
year was only fractionally below the all-time high reached
in the fourth quarter of 1951. It is not poverty, therefore,
that is causing consumer resistance; it is rather that the
average American is relatively wealthy in terms of goods.
Few of our garages lack a car; our kitchens are lined with
gadgets; our wardrobes are comfortably stocked. Since the 4
war ended we have been buying fast and furiously, but ,
now that we have learned that we can have our guns and _
butter too, the urge to spend is weakening and we are |
beginning to exercise what Keynes called a “liquidity -
preference.” As a result department-store sales have been
sagging while savings-bank deposits have spurted.
This is just what the economic doctors ordered and a "
sign that the inflationary fever has left us. But there is '
No reason to suppose, as some observers are suggesting,
that we are about to fall into a deflationary coma. As long
as defense expenditures remain high and the government
operates at a deficit, it seems unlikely that total demand —
will fall so far below potential supply as to create a critical
situation. In present circumstances, collective thrift is a
virtue; it is only if the habit persists after rearmament
stops priming the pump that it could become a vice.
Our economy, with its immense capacity for producing
consumer goods, is geared to free spending, and if we §
all become penny-pinchers we shall soon have far fewer
pennies to pinch, For in a shrinking market, business men *
would refuse to invest our savings in new plant and un-
employment would rapidly spread from the consumer-
goods to the capital-goods field.
HIS is the nightmare that haunts those who find
their particular industries depressed in the midst
of a general boom. For textile men it is all the more
painful because their share of the consumer’s dollar has
pamphlet pointed out that whereas disposable personal
income increased by 214 per cent between 1939 and thé
middle of 1951, consumer clothing expenditure rose by
only 183 per cent. In fact, in 1950, clothing accounted
for only 8.02 per cent of the consumer budget compared
to 9.53 per cent in 1929 and 8.56 per cent in 1939,
The brunt of this change in expenditure patterns has
been borne by the men’s-clothing industry. One imme-|
The NATION f
but since the wear and tear in the army is prob-
bly greater than in civilian life this should not cause
_ any net decrease in textile consumption. More important
is the trend toward greater informality often ascribed
to the increase in suburban living. Evening clothes are
going out and men tend to buy fewer business suits and
_ dress shirts and more slacks, jackets, and sport shirts.
That is why some textile men, who believe that there is
nothing wrong with their industry that a little old-
fashioned American salesmanship won't cure, are plan-
ning a campaign to smarten up the male animal and make
him more style-conscious. ‘
The whole-hearted cooperation of the industry in
achieving this objective may be hindered by conflict be-
tween those who believe that there is nothing like wool
and the promoters of the new synthetics—nylon, dacron,
otlon, vicara, and so forth. Certainly, the latter are mak-
ing headway. According to Facts for Industry, a publica-
tion of the Census Bureau, between 1950 and 1951,
the output of summer-weight suits containing 50 per cent
or more wool declined by 33 per cent: other types, mainly
rayon and nylon, increased by 21 per cent. Almost two-
thirds of the summer-weight suits manufactured in 1951
were made primarily of synthetics, as were more than half
of all trousers and slacks sold separately.
Obviously, the growing preference for synthetics has
serious implications for certain old-established sections of
the textile industry, particularly worsted weaving. In the
long run, however, it is the producers of natural fibers—
cotton, wool, linen, silk—and not the processors that are
threatened, since existing spinning, weaving, and finish-
| ing establishments can in most cases be adapted to
| handle synthgtic raw materials. All the same, the North-
| ern woolen and worsted industry will have to hustle if it
is to keep any part of the synthetic processing business
from grasping Southern hands.
|. Moreover, according to the Research Department of
| the Textile Workers Union, American mills now have an
| annual capacity of fourteen billion yards of cloth of all
_ kinds—ninety yards for every man, woman, and child in
the country. Since this is in excess of any probable de-
mand for some time to come, the outlook for the older
. and less efficient plants, most of which are in the North,
is unpromising especially in the face of the kind of sub-
|| sidized Southern competition mentioned in my previous
. article. Even when business picks up, it seems probable
|| that many mills closed in recent months will remain
t dark,
Fortunately, current expansion in other industries does
} ptovide new opportunities for displaced textile workers.
During a recent visit to North Adams in western Massa-
| chusetts, I found that the depressed state of the textile
_ industry there had been partially compensated for by the
| May 10, 1952
rds of three million
mn their wardrobes by Uncle —
7 ia Te
apid growth of an electronics plant. Other New Eng-
land towns with a supply of skilled, intelligent labor —
ne
‘seem to be enjoying a similar experience. But if full —
advantage is to be taken of this situation, there will have
to be many more community schemes like that adopted
in the hard-hit textile city of Utica, New York, for
retraining textile workers for the light-metals industries.
HATEVER the problems of New England,
those of old England are infinitely more serious.
For decades Lancashire has been losing business, not
to other parts of the country, but to other parts of the
world where labor costs are lower. Before 1914 it al-
most monopolized exports of cotton goods, supplying
70 per cent of the world total. Today, Japan and India
are competing for first place and Britain’s share is barely
15 per cent.
It is, moreover, a smaller share of a smaller total, for
while world production has risen some 50 per cent since
1914, world export trade has declined by 40 per cent. |
More and more countries now supply their own needs
and this trend is unlikely to be reversed as nations aspir-
ing to industrialization begin by manufacturing textiles—
a relatively simple factory operation—usually behind
high tariff walls. Thus, for the world as a whole, tex-
tile capacity tends to outstrip consumption.
In most countries the effective demand for textiles is
extremely low. America’s exceptional position is illus-
trated by the fact that with less than 7 per cent of the
world’s population we use about one-third of the world’s
cotton output and one-quarter of the wool. Our per-
capita consumption has been rising steadily while that
of other countries, including most of Asia, is stationary
or even declining. Thus while our textile troubles reflect
a high standard of living that permits consumers to post-
pone purchases of clothing without suffering from cold,
Beyond Comment
Combating rabies, widely prevalent in nearby sec-
tions of the state just now, the Rabies Control Unit
of the Fulton County Health Department is offering
low-cost anti-rabies inoculations for dogs during the
next month. .. . Clinics at the Hope, English Drive,
and Ware Schools are for colored people's dogs, the
others for whites’—From the Atlanta, Georgia, Jour-
nal-Constitution.
Mendelssohn's Wedding March is “signally pro-
fane” and may not be played in future at Roman
Catholic Church weddings in this city, church officials
ruled today—United Press dispatch from Medellin,
Colombia, to the New York Times.
[The Nation wil] pay $2 for acceptable contribu-
tions to Beyond Comment.}
< & a ¥ %
EE A Re he aoa ae
ys
or even shabbiness, those of the rest of the world are BY
fundamentally the result of poverty, In Asia and Africa
hundreds of millions of families exist at a subsistence
level that at best allows only a tiny sum for clothing.
Were their needs more nearly matched by their means,
_ they would provide an enormous new market. Indeed, if
Asiatic productivity and living standards could be raised
by as little as 10 per cent, there would be few idle
spindles or looms anywhere.
Italy, the Vatican, and U. § Catholics 4
Rome
ERHAPS the chief strength of the De Gasperi
government lies in the fact that, while not deeply
loved, it is not deeply hated by anybody except the Fas-
cists and certain circles in the Vatican. Its record is
creditable in many respects. Although its deflationary
policy has boosted interest rates, curtailed public works,
and to some extent decreased employment, the govern-
ment has succeeded in preventing the sharp rise in living
costs that France has suffered in the last two years.
Supported by a comfortable Demo-Christian majority
in the Chamber of Deputies, De Gasperi has been under
no compulsion so far to compromise with either the
extreme Right or (more important) the extreme Left,
yet he has been careful to antagonize neither beyond
endurance. The Premier is a staunch supporter of the
Atlantic Pact, the European army, and the Schuman
Plan; nevertheless, he has resisted American demands for
an “abnormal” rearmament effort. He enjoys the reputa-
tion of being “a neutralist at heart” who is keenly aware
of Italy's widespread anti-war feeling.
The government claims great credit for its so-called
land reform—the division of badly run estates among
landless peasants. In this the principle is more important
than the practice; the distribution so far has been of
minuscular proportions and the whole program is now
-threatened by court litigation. In any case, the reform
satisfies neither Right nor Left,
If De Gasperi has avoided a sharp rise in living costs
he has also kept wage rates low. The national average
wage is 26,000 lire (the official exchange rate is 620
lire to the dollar); some “heavy” workers get up to
40,000 lire, but mill-girls earn only 16,000 to 17,000.
But Italy’s great problem remains unemployment. About
2,000,000 are registered as unemployed and another
2,000,000 are seasonal or part-time workers. Of the un-
employed, only a small proportion get state relief, which
amounts to a daily dole of 250 lire for twenty-six weeks
only,
450
sidiance. This, in turn, cannot be provided 0 on anyt ning ;
like an adequate scale while the major industrial nations,
East and West, use their economic surpluses to build
armaments. Consequently, weavers and spinners, if they
want to eat, must forget their old skills and retrain
minds and fingers to fit themselves for the manipulation
of arms-making machinery.
BY ALEXANDER WERTH
The unemployment problem is of course aggravated by |
the fact that Italy's population is growing at the rate of |
500,000 a year. The traditional solution of this prob-
lem is emigration, but to the Italian Left the answer °
lies in further industrialization, the modernization of ©
agriculture, and the development of Eastern markets. .
The experience of the Italian
ee miners in England has not been
encouraging, and as for sending |
people to Australia (15,000 went : |
last year) or to South America,
the Left points out that it costs
almost as much to send a family —
to either place as it would to create jobs for them in
in Italy.
Italian trade unionism is fairly strong. The C. G. I. L.
(General Federation of Labor), with about five million |
members, represents the bulk of organized labor. Though
closely linked to the Communists and Nenni’s Left
Socialists, the C. G. I. L. claims to be non-political. It is
usually sufficiently powerful to win the support of rival
unions in any major wage dispute.
The federation’s most important rival is the Catholic
C. I. S. L., whose 1,500,000 members are concentrated @
in the civil service and in industries employing large J
numbers of women, particularly textiles. The Commu- “@#
nists, Nenni Socialists, and Social Democrats have fed-
erations of their own and a neo-Fascist union is now be-
ing organized.
While unemployment is a tragic business, the fact
remains that more than 90 per cent of the employables -
are working productively and—thanks to the rigid —
financial policy—are not much worse off than they were =
three years ago. From the short-term point of view this
may be considered a remarkable achievement in today’s
Europe. But as a long-term policy it gets Italy nowhere,
and the De Gasperi government faces a stiff political
struggle for power, with the challenge coming from the
Right rather than from the Left.
‘ abe tein
.
Ss*.-2 ~
IANS G? «
The Nation ft
{ND WHY U. S. BUS
FUMBLES WHEN IT TALKS
_ WITH HUMAN BEINGS. By Wil-
Tiam H. Whyte, Jr., and the Editors
_ of Fortune. Drawings by Robert Os-
born. Simon and Schuster. $3.
S ANYBODY talking to himself?
Mr. Whyte and Fortune’s research
rockettes in a masterly Groupthink op-
eration have collected a formidable vol-
ume of evidence against the Groupthink
methods of Big Business. As in most
‘group studies, there is ostentatious deep
digging, an impressive show of won-
‘drous instruments about to be used,
a mesmertic riffling of reference cards,
topped by some surprisingly queasy har-
rumphing-out-loud.
On their far-flung trek into the secret
citadels of Big Business, tirelessly
unushing through the file-armored cor-
‘fidors of 9 Rockefeller Plaza, fanned
by ever-dancing memo-mammas, the ex-
plorers find that Business has been so
busy studying communication media
‘that it can no longer communicate, and
‘this fact too must be communicated.
(The word “communicate” is used in
ithe new television sense of I-talk-and-
yyou-buy; you-talk-and-I-can’t-hear.) The
communication experts are called in,
e Group Attitudes Development
ompany, the prose engineers, the
roup Dynamics mediators, the Reada-
ibility electronicists all fly to find the
g and get B. B. off the gobblede-
gookhook. Big Business is resolved to
sell Free Enterprise to the Free Enter-
>. priser ae HS some mysterious
ED
Wnust be sold to Americans as if it was
ething that had to be unloadedon
e ‘suckers before it molded in the
varehouses. The directors: have met and
he minutes record that the resolution
vas passed for Big Business to Turn
m the Charm with a capital gain.
Mr. Whyte & Co. produce many
ical samples of B. B.’s idea of “‘com-
aunicating” Americanism to Americans,
rom the stately institutional ad with
$ recapitulation of capitalistic capsules
> the crackerbarrel interchange be-
ween barefoot lad and Old Galway
Aay 10, 1952
uggers. ‘But if the comm
would scare the average citizen to the
other ends of the earth. The picture of
You, Mr. Average American, as Big
Business wants you to be, is an insult
that wipes away the pleasant glow of
the boss’s Good Morning. What the
prose engineers are knocking them-
selves gaga in all innocence to tell you,
is that to be an American means to be
an honest fellow, too unspoiled by your
college education to understand big
words, too decent to put your family
and private ambition before that of the
company’s, too noble to notice other
employees’ defections without report-
ing them, too American an American
to use your own brain resisting the
Planned Mediocrity program set up by
the kindly social engineers for the
“cultural orchestration of the attitudes
and motivations of an entire nation.”
This American doll-man created
by the Free Enterprise propagandists
has a doll-wife, too, preferably not
too smart, who can shut her eyes and
shut her mouth, because if she doesn’t
the community ‘clinician’ will “screen”
her by means of “projective” tech-
niques and depth interviewing. “Not a
genuine American doll” will be the
verdict, and husband, for purposes of
optimum security, will lose his chance
at one of the top slots in the corpora-
tion. This slightly subnormal doll-wife,
as Mr. Whyte shrewdly points out, has
been glorified consistently in the big
women’s magazines lately, the general
plot being that the lean, crooked-smil-
ing young public-relations hero would
rather look after her himself than have
her committed, and besides it’s hard for
a guy to find a wife dumber than he is.
I wonder if the polling of wives’ opin-
ions on husbands’ jobs didn’t include
too many of these new fiction wives.
The live crop of young business men’s
wives on view around the country right
now are definitely not nitwits, In the
fictional America of Big Business those
wives who show too much initiative at
office parties or don’t fit into the cookie-
cutter are pegged “retrograde wives.”
~Sometimes the situation is deftly
handled by sending the husband on
extended trips where he may find a
more acceptable replacement. Sometimes
the integrative leaders, endowed with
in ation ids
_ were really working the persuasion used
BACK
Door
To
Roosevelt .
Foreign Policy’
1933-1941
704 Pages, Index, $6.50
by Charles Callan Tansill
Before the truth about Roosevelt |
foreign policy could be known, the
State Department's confidential files
had to be opened to a historian who
was not an Administration apologist.
Such a historian is Charles Callan
Tansill. He was given access to the
secret diplomatic archives for the
years preceding Pearl Harbor, and
BACK DOOR TO WAR is based
largely on this data. It contains more
unpublished materials than any book
yet printed on this subject.
Tansill’s book on our involvement
in World War I, America Goes to
\ War (1938), was greeted by Henry
Steele Commager as “...the most
valuable contribution to the history
of the pre-war years in our litera-
ture.” Of his new book, the author
himself has written: “I was given
access to the confidential correspon-
dence that revealed the President's
policy of proclaiming pacifism while
working for war...1 have not been
under any compulsion to write a
‘whitewash’ of the Roosevelt regime
and have told the story as it
developed from the examination of
countless pages of diplomatic cor-
respondence.”
Charles Callan Tansill is Professor
of American Diplomatic History at
Georgetown University, Washington,
D. C. As technical adviser to the
Senate Foreign Relations Committee
from 1918 to 1928, and a respected
scholar in the field of diplomatic
history, he is uniquely qualified to
give an adequately documented ac-
count of the steps which led to our
entrance into the second world war.
Ask for it at your nearest bookstore.
HENRY REGNERY COMPANY
20 W. Jackson Blvyd., Chicago 4
5 LETT BRET I
453
Special Limited Offer
THE POLDEN BOUGH
By Gir James G. Frazer
An exciting new printing and importation of the com-
plete text, with all valuable and Ss —
and Notes. 18 handsomely bound
gold-stamped, @ total on — i pages iets priced 4 at se,
Notion readers are fami our price-siant to
eeholars and students—
$35.95 delivered, U. S. A. only,
through May while svallable.
DOWNTOWN BOOK BAZA
212 Broadway, New York 38, N.Y.
BOOKS AND from the
PERIODICALS USSR
Just Received Vv. SAPONOV
LAND IN BLOOM
The Story of Genetics from Darwin to Lysenko
Reads like a fascinating novel
Awarded Highest Literary Prize—1949
542 pages—i!lustrated—$1.50
|
}
|
}
}
}
j
|
|
A, 8. MAKARENKO
THE ROAD TO LIFE
{An Eple of Ed@ueation)
Translated ay Yvy and Tatlene Litvinov
in 3 Volumes
1182 pages—tilustrated—Set $3.00
Latest Soviet Records and Handicrafts
1952 SUBSCRIPTIONS OPEN FOR ALL
ayer SPE AE ERO AND PERIODICALS
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cow ConTiveNT BOOK CORPORATION
W. 66 St., NW. Y. 19 MUrray Hill &-2660
IMPORTANT PAMPHLETS ON THE
VITAL SCHOOL ISSUE .
THE BATTLE FOR FREE SCHOOLS
Edited by Theodore Brameld, Includes eight
chapters as follows: Fever Spota in Ameri-
can Education by Morris Mitchell; Fear of
the “Thing’’ by Goodwin Wateon ; Big Busi-
ness and the Schools by J. Austin Burkhart;
The Feot in the Door by Jerome Nathanson ;
Jim Crow im Education by Horace Bond:
Education ls Not Expendable by Frederick
C. McLaughlin; Directions for Educational
Progress by Kenneth D. Benne; Four-Point
Agenda for Education by Theodore Brameld.
Single copies 50¢
oy DEMOCRACY’ S TRUE RELIGION
e M. Kallen. A distinguished writer
ucational philosophy and democratic
values defines the religion of science and
_ democrecy as “the religion of religions.” 25¢
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” teleathans’ Cea y, € the
can be cured of resenting her ears
business trips and late work by a gen-
erous grooming at the company's spe-
cial “finishing” school. Shades of
Susan B. Anthony!
Mr. Whyte blames “businessese,” the
meaningless jargon of Big Business, for
its failure to communicate with human
beings. The tangy phrases are used to
fill in dead air until there is no mean-
ing left, but isn’t this a good thing?
The constant hum of the language of
diplomacy, Tin Pan Alley, and Business
is the foam-rubber mat to save the un-
wary, the comforting support for the
insecure. If a silence ever came there
is the danger that someone might say
something.
Mr. Whyte, himself hamstrung by
Groupthink, presents the picture of Big
Business in a spirit of brotherly kid-
ding, and the criticism occasionally per-
mutted has an affectionate ring. Chuck-
ling fondly, corporation heads will
reproduce sections for house organs and
Christmas calendars and even discover
new angles in paternalistic patterns.
One thing is certain, this glossy record
by American Bisiness about America
will be more gheefully received by
American-Way-haters abroad than any
novel about depravity in our lower
depths. DAWN POWELL
MONEY-SAVING MAGAZINE
COMBINATIONS
[}] 3 Years $17
_ years.
ZONE________ STAT:
EMILY DICKINSON.
Chase. William Sloane
$4,
IS newest volume in the Amer
can Men of Letters Series is with-|
out a doubt one of the best. Mr. Chase
is a critic who is not carried away; in
fact he makes a distinct point of not
being carried away. The result is a cniti-
cal biography that is reasonable and
readable, an untransported study of. a
poet who, in the history of American
literature, has transported more people
than you can shake a stick at.
Any intelligent reader who takes the
trouble to thumb through the fifteen
hundred er more published poems of
Emily Dickinson will agree with Mr
Chase that the critic’s starting point
must be a statement of her extraordinary
badness. No other great poet has man-
aged to equal Emily Dickinson’s pro-
duction of banal, stupid, disorganized,
downright insufferable verse; poem after
poem thumps on the page, a sain of
stricken sparrows, with scarcely a live
meter or moving image among them; |
Yet in spite of this one agrees too with
Mr. Chase’s final estimate: “A dozen
or two of Emily Dickinson’s poems are |
unrivaled; perhaps fifty can claim a kin-
ship with the best of English lyric
verse.”” (The first half of this state-
ment, one knows from the context,
refers only to American literature.)
Emily Dickinson was a genius, then,
of a very peculiar sort—a genius who
was largely incapable of exploiting her:
own abilities, who was unable te make
anything ccherent or workable out of
her cultural heritage or her own ex-
perience, whose personal life was bro-
ken, or at least bent, by the minutest
imaginable hardships. In large areas ©:
art and thoughé she was ignorant and
even insensitive. Though she was
distinotly private poet, and though it is
often instructive to compare her wi
Blake, her personal vision failed in bo
range and intensity to support anything
like the Blakean cosmos.
To explain the qualities of Emily
Dickinson’s genius many writers havelj
resorted to the invention of tumultuous}
love affairs or traumatic family experi<
ences. Mr. Chase shows that such in
ventions, which dangerously exceed th
The Natio
9
ts
;
th-century ete for pre-
tir cm Ee incoherence,
thical and social destitution, and intel-
| laziness or quackery in every
spl ere. He speculates, without going be-
nd the evidence of letters, diaries,
be ¢, on how and through whom the
‘ a of this culture impinged on
he poet’s mind. Finally, he analyzes the
"poems to determine how, among the
successes, the poet managed a fusion of
her experience with whatever rigor she
derived from her dual Calvinist and
transcendentalist inheritance, and how
also, among the many failures, the
aesthetic and intellectual indiscipline
_ of her time prevented such a fusion.
* This is not a whole biography. One
must still turn to George Whicher’s
| “This Was a Poet’ for a dependable
account of Emily Dickinson’s life. Mr.
Chase has given us instead an account of
the New England predicament in the
last century, a study of the struggle—
largely unrealized, and for that reason
' singularly desperate, in the case of
Pe Emily Dickinson—against incoherence,
_ incommunicability, and madness. Mr.
i Chase has pethaps discovered no new
' element in this struggle, but he has
| given us an exceedingly clear and in-
| cisive account of it, and he has shown
g how Emily Dickinson, in her own way,
was as sharply engaged in the contest
as her contemporaries, Hawthorne, Mel-
ville, and James. In addition, his read-
ing of the poet's works is the closest
and best that we have so far.
7 HAYDEN CARRUTH
_ Books in Brief
| SPARTA, By H. Michell. Cambridge
University Press. $7. Hedging nearly
_ every statement with a meticulous scho-
~ lastic caution which becomes almost com-
ical in the long run, Professor Michell
nevertheless manages to convey not only
all that is known about the Spartans but
also much of the conflicting surmise.
The Spartans, it appears, had some ad-
-mirable institutions but were on the
whole a rather dull lot, leaving behind
them one magnificent epitaph, and a
legend—the one about the boy and the
May 10, 1952
‘the usual apparatus of, fodliictes oe
ous), bibliography, and index; a good
map or two would have been a help.
CAESAR. By Gérard Walter. Trans-
lated from the French by Emma Crau-
furd. Edited by Thérése Pol. Scribner's.
$5. Subtitled “The Story of a Momen-
tous Life, a Mighty Personality,” this is
a heavy, long, dull book. Mighty the
subject’s personality may be, but obvi-
ously one which the author dislikes ex-
tremely. An exhaustive bibliography
which lists some twenty operas written
about Julius Caesar overlooks Bernard
Shaw's play. Neither the illustrations
nor the maps are immediately signifi-
cant; the most valuable feature of the
book would seem to be its thoroughness
in listing other works of reference.
Drama Note
The Loft Players’ imaginative and
sensitive revival of Tennessee Williams’
“Summer and Smoke” at 5 Sheridan
Square eclipses a good deal of what is
being offered uptown these days. The
direction, handled by José Quintero, is
crisp and tidy and gives the characteri-
zation a sharpness and beauty it lacked
in the Broadway production. Geraldine
Page, who plays the heroine, is one of
the most talented newcomers to appear
in New York in a long while. c. H,
S. LANE
FAISON, JR.
Art
dl Miao most interesting of the current
shows is Fifteen Americans, at the
Museum of Modern Art (through July
6). Enough of the work of each of fif-
teen artists is displayed to give a fair
sample of recent accomplishment. This
is in no sense a group show. The variety
is, in fact, a little bewildering; but the
present assortment should be added to
several other such exhibitions which the
Museum has put on over the years. The
policy of showing a few artists at a time
and showing them well has great ad-
vantages—if artists not yet represented
will agree to be patient. The alterna-
tive seems to be the Whitney type of
affair, which makes~sense only if you
ro rest |
who walk
in darkness
A Novel by
CHANDLER BROSSARD
“A remarkably fresh and fluent
talent describes a new aspect of
the contemporary scene.’’! Intel-
lectuals consorting with junkies
and hipsters; new American
existentialists, halfway between
neurosis and violence. ‘Brossard
writes about them with a dry,
convincing authority."2 $2.75
1. William Poster, Critic.
2. W. G, Rogers, Associated Press
intimacy
JEAN-PAUL SARTRE
Stories which are a devastating
commentary on decadence in
modern life. $2.50
in country sleep
DYLAN THOMAS
A new collection. ‘Every poem
glows with passion and compas-
sion."’ N. Y. Times. $2.00
ubu roi ALFRED JARRY
A satiric drama by an early Sur-
realist enfant terrible. Riotous
illustrations. $6.50
new directions 13
The unusual in modern writing.
Divergent trends in poetry and
prose. $5.00
the man outside
WOLFGANG BORCHERT
Poetic stories and plays of a
crumbling Nazi world. Stephen
Spender introduction. $3.50
new directions books
bring a good deal of knowledge with
you. Fifteen Americans is precisely the |
sort of show which helps provide such
knowledge. The two systems comple-
ment each other very well.
Skirting democratic diplomacy, I shall
select from the Fifteen those whose
work seems to me to be impressive. But
not before taking a crack at some of the
statements made for the catalogue by
the artists or by their apologists. Herbert
Ferber is admirably lucid on the space-
piercing propensities of sculpture he ad-
mires; Herbert Katzman, Herman Rose,
and William Baziotes are all refresh-
ingly modest; Irving Kriesberg is en-
gagingly clever; and Edward Corbett’s
statement is a model of conciseness (‘I
intend my work as poetry’). The other
statements, or most of them, are im-
penetrable, obfuscating, solemn, arro-
gant, and badly written. Once you ask
for a statement, I suppose you are stuck
with it. This collection ought to con-
vince Dorothy Miller, who organized
the show, that she should have written
the text to the catalogue instead of
limiting herself to a purely general and
unarguable preface. She could surely
have improved on Clyfford Still, who
despises tradition and considers that
“demands for communication are both
presumptuous and irrelevant.” And on
Joseph Glasco, who says he would like
to live in a world where “the instincts
are allowed to flow as freely as with any
other animal.” What arty nonsense!
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Tomlin seem to me to be the stars of
this show. In each, an individual style is-
powerfully marked and the effect is least
derivative from other artists. Kirchner,
de Segonzac, Maurice Prendergast, Wil-
liam Chase, and the Whistler of the
Nocturnes are all stalking these corri-
dors of the Museum of Modern Art.
But Pollock and Tomlin are imme-
diately identifiable on their own, more
so than some of the others who have
torn loose from representation, but
whose style is soft, or at least passive.
Pollock's centrifugal rhythms are laced
together on the top layer of his can-
vases by repeats of a sort of treble-
clef motive which forces the eye along
in big, easy sequences. The best com-
parison, if it has not already been made,
would be to medieval Irish manuscripts
(Book of Kells) and to the carved
wooden ornament of Norwegian
churches. Tomlin is more serene, but
his work is less photogenic (he suf-
fers in reproduction) because its
resonance depends on color harmonies
at close value ranges. The array of
greens in Number 18 (1950) rivals
that in a late Klee (Green on Green).
In these two painters I note a con-
trasting development: Pollock is mov-
ing away from a horror vacui which
used to be, in works earlier than those
shown, much too constricting; while
Tomlin is apparently moving toward it.
The former has discovered that his
OF
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dovetails his forms more cohesir
with, I think, a loss of the boldness «
the larger works of 1949 ‘and 1950.
Some of his best work is marred by the
drip, or drool, of too liquid pigment. |
These accidents are cleverly exploited
by Pollock, as they were by Hokusai,
but in the same Number 18 by Tomlin
they blur the squared-off character of
the design. If, as I believe, he is Braque
to Pollock’s Picasso, he should purify’
his affinity to the great architectonic
Frenchman. in
Baziotes and Corbett depend heavily
on atmospheric effects, in a sort of
psychological impressionism. Baziotes’
bold shapes save his work from going
amorphous. He is eloquent in glowing,
green-and-violet tonalities, but the
bright apple-green cat on a middle-gray
ground is unusually gay. Rothko leaves
such unbroken expanses of pure color
to wander in that I find it nearly impos-.
sible to avoid daydreaming. I am
enough of a fuddy-duddy to insist on —
communication, Clyfford Still to the
contrary notwithstanding. And Still's!
work, which reminds me unexpectedly;
of Augustus Vincent Tack, has an out-
rageous lack of conciseness. He puts the
whole symphony orchestra on the stage
for a single tutti.
In recent sculpture I don’t remember
anything more monumental and at the
same time more poignant than Herbert
Ferber’s metal construction for the Mill-
burn Synagogue (". .. and the bush |
was not consumed”), Richard Lippold,
who works in metal rods and wites,
speaks of the spider’s web in his state-
ment, and it is an apt simile for his -
beautiful Full Moon. (Was there an
eclipse at the Harvard Graduate Cen-
ter?)
Herbert Katzman is still young, and
his European and New York Jandscapes
heave with life. It is a good sign, but
I hope that in his Paris sojourn he dis-
covered Poussin as Cézanne did. We
could use a Poussin today.
Among the one-man shows that will
remain open through May 10, I recom-:
mend Maud Morgan’s at the Betty Par-
sons Gallery. One picture, Counter-
points, impressed me more than the rest
by its force of design. Marie Laurencin’s
dusted pallor is a danger she does not
always escape, but Emergence (of yel-
The NATION ;
but the re r sound is onto a Victor LP so skilfully that I can 4
s S
938), which also closes May
is remarkable how the paintings
1907 stand out above the rest.
Be Et,
HAGGIN
TT LAST year’s RCA Victor record-
i ing of Berlioz’s Symphonie Fantas-
tique played by Monteux with the San
Francisco Symphony (a new LP record-
ing, not, as I thought, a dubbing of the
78) Columbia now adds one of a per-
formance by Ormandy with the Phila-
deiphia Orchestra, and London one of a
pel formance by Van Beinum with the
‘Amsterdam Concertgebouw. The Victor
re cord offers a decidedly less-than-first-
rate orchestra conducted by a less-than-
first-rate musician; and though the re-
eet sound has the characteristic Vic-
- warmth and luster it is made coarse
and noisy in climaxes by excessive rever-
_ beration. The Columbia offers a great
orchestra in a performance which in-
dulges in vehement, lurid intensification
of Berlioz’s every nuance; and these ex-
‘cesses are made worse by the close-range
production. The London offers another
‘gteat orchestra playing with beautiful
sensitiveness in a performance whose
‘only defect if the ignoring of some of
Berlioz’s nuances of tempo; but the re-
corded sound, though spacious, is dry
and a little dim (the drums at the end
of the fourth movement are not clear).
a dice is difficult; but I would choose
e London.
. in another London record Van Bei-
‘hum conducts the Concertgebouw in a
fine performance of Mozart’s charming
eS pmphony K.319, and a performance of
E pal s “Surprise” Symphony i in which
¢ first movement is too slow. Violins
ate dry and bass must be reduced; other-
Wise the sound is excellent.
_ Another charming Mozart work, the
Serenade K. 320 ("‘Posthorn’), is
played on a London record by Maag
with L’Orchestre de la Suisse romande.
One hears refinements of orchestral and
musical execution which Sternberg
duced. Pisce aball is dificult; ‘but I
would choose the Maag performance.
The wonderful Ricercare in six parts
from Bach’s “The Musical Offering,”
arranged for strings by Edwin Fischer,
is excellently performed by Miinchinger
with the Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra.
Also on the London record are similar
arrangements of the Fugue of the great
G minor Fantasia and Fugue and a
Fugue in A minor (why not rather the
G minor Fantasia?), and Beethoven’s
Great Fugue Opus 133, which is played
too slowly. Violins are dry and bass
must be reduced; otherwise the sound is
excellent.
Beecham’s slowed-up performance of
Chabrier’s “Espafia” with the Royal
Philharmonic on a Columbia record is
something to skip. Better played is the
pleasantly inconsequential Overture to
Rossini’s ‘‘La Cambiale di Matrimonio.”
The Suite from Rimsky-Korsakov’s
“Le Coq d'or” and the equally engaging
Capriccio Espagnol are well performed
on a Capitol record by Desormiére with
the French National Symphony. The
sound of the first piece is less brilliant
than that of the second, and has a few
bass notes missing in the Prelude.
Toscanini’s performance with the
N. B. C. Symphony of Gershwin’s ‘An
American in Paris” has been issued by
Victor on 45 rpm; and listened to by it-
self it is very exciting; but listening
afterwards to Leonard Bernstein's per-
formance one hears how much the piece
gains by his slower pacing of it. Not
only is the opening the leisurely saunter
it should be, but there is time for details
to make an effect they don’t have in
Toscanini's performance. Played through
the Victor 45 rpm reproducer I had to
step up the treble of my amplifier enor-
mously.
The superb Dinu Lipatti performance
of Schumann's Piano Concerto that Co-
lumbia issued on a 10-inch LP has been
reissued on one side of a 12-inch, with
Grieg’s- Piano Concerto on the other
side; and the new transference has great-
ly improved the sound—though the last
movement acquires a hash of distortion.
Toscanini’s pre-war performance of
Beethoven's “‘Leonore’’ No. 1 Overture
with the B. B. C. Symphony—one of the
finest he ever put on records, and one of
the best- tecorde d—has been dubbed
detect no difference between the copy
and the oniginal (except that the dub-
bing has a hum). With it are two other
performances of the same period with
the N. B.C. Symphony—of Beethoven's
Fifth Symphony and the two movements
of the Quartet Opus 135. The Fifth pro-
vides a fine example of Toscanini’s re-
laxed, slower-paced, and Spacious per-
formances of that period, as against the
swifter, tauter performance of the work,
superbly effective in its own way, that he
broadcast recently; and the dubbing
achieves the remarkable feat of eliminat-
ing most of the unpleasant noisy coarse-
ness and harshness of the original sound
and losing only a little bass in the first
movement. And finally another out-
standing performance, the one of the
“Prometheus” Overture recorded in
1944, whose dubbed sound is excellent.
On another LP is a dubbing of
the beautiful performance of Beetho-
ven’s ‘‘Pastoral’’ Symphony that Tos-
canini recorded with the B. B. C. Sym-
phony. The original sound was itself
not clean on top; and the dubbed sound
is better with treble reduced a bit, Bass
also must be reduced.
CONTRIBUTORS
IRVING HOWE is the author of ‘‘Sher-
wood Anderson” and co-author of ‘The
U. A. W. and Walter Reuther.”
DAWN POWELL, author of “A Time
to Be Born,” has a new book appearing
in June, ‘Sunday, Monday and Always.”
HAYDEN CARRUTH is associate edi-
tor of the University of Chicago Press,
GERTRUDE LAWRENCE
fa A New Musical Ploy
The King and I
with YUL BRYNNER
DOROTHY SARNOFF
ST. JAMES THEATRE, West 44th St.
Evenings at 8:25: $7.20 to 1 80. Matineos
Wednesday & Saturday at 2:25; $4.20 to 1.80.
Pulitzer Prize & Critics’ Award Musical Play
MARTHA WRIGHT
GEORGE BRITTON
Soutle Pacific
with HYROM WMeCGRMICK
MAJESTIC THEATRE. we ai a
Eves: at 8:30: $
2:30: Sniee. ope an oimian
MONDAY EVES. ONLY: CURTAINAT7 SHARP
459
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Relax and enjoy the ultimate in gracious living in
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SPECIAL RATES FOR DECORATION DAY
For booklet or reservations write or phone
HATHAWAY LODGE, Haines Falls, New York
Phone: Tannersville 299
CAMP
SMILING PINES CAMP
For Boys & Girls * 4 to 12 years
Happy days from July let to August 26th
Careful supervision Small group.
Non-sectarian. Write for Booklet.
James & Nellie Dick
MODERN SCHOOL, (15 Carey 8t., Lakewood, WM. J.
Phone: 6-1007
"SUMMER RENTALS
WALLKILL, NEW YORK. Cottages for
rent in small congenial colony. All improve-
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NEW 2!4-room apartment in old colonial
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Labor Day. Reasonable. Write, phone or
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COUNTRY general store in prosperous
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FOR SALE
Due to illness an all-year-round house on
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460
Joe McCarthy Performs
at Smith
Dear Sirs: Your readers might be inter-
ested in learning how Smith College
students reacted to a visit from Senator
Joe McCarthy, who spoke at Northamp-
ton on April 10. In a packed audito-
rium, waving handfuls of “raw, harsh
facts’ and “cold, documented truth,”
the Senator from Wisconsin attacked
Secretary Acheson, Philip Jessup, and
other “‘subversives” with a brand of
logic which made some of the members
of the audience wince. Senator Mc-
Carthy’s denunciation of Lawrence K.
Rosinger, whom many of the Senator's
audience had heard speak at Smith in a
series of talks on Asia, was greeted with
hisses. The feeling of the Smith stu-
dents was pretty well summarized by an
editorial, A Circus Comes to Town,
which appeared the following day in
Scan, the Smith College newspaper. It
read in part:
Did Mr. McCarthy forget he was
speaking to an educated audience and
not barking at a circus? To a college
steeped in objectivism his dogmatic pres-
entation of “infallible” material extracted
from diverse investigations seemed remi-
miscent of the Inquisition. . . . His cate-
gorizing of government officials in Wash-
ington into the stereotypes of villain and
hero typified methods which shou!d have
died with the medieval morality play... .
We realize that there may be commu-
nism in our government and, if so, that
everyone should be aware of it and in-
formed about it, but we are afraid Mc-
Carthy is making more enemies than con-
verts to his cause. The muckrakers of the
nineteenth century served the purpose of
calling the attention of public opinion to
the need of reform. If McCarthy is: ful-
filling the same purpose he may gain our
support, but as long as he resorts to
methods suited to the circus we reserve
the right to act as a circus audience, a re-
sponse which was much in evidence last
evening.
Having used the methods he has in
destroying the reputations and careers
of not a few honest men, it struck many
in the audience that it was rather in-
congruous for McCarthy to end his
speech by making a plea for a world
in which the rights of all people would
be respected.
JOAN P. HOGAN
| Northampton, Mass.
Letters to ae Editors
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. The NATION ]
d
i.
“
a
* 10 How
ACROSS
1 The sort of ere a attaches
to high command. (5,
9 Lock back in a sort : Christmas
song—the middle leaves. (7)
ou can tell the middle of 1
down hurried back to charge. (7)
© 11 Its rt isn’t quick enough to
|
|
|
|
SRT TEAS
read it. (9)
12 Implies I was in the van with an
empty head, but probably shiny. (5)
13 They might create a scene as part
of a Confederacy. (7
°15 It might fit under a blazer. (7)
16 Rags one patches up to make instru-
ments of war. (7)
18 It’s the gentleman of the family
who’s nowy! (7)
20 Still around like ferment. (5)
21 Cover the road back, to make a
speech dry. (9)
23 Well-suited, perhaps, or in a good
beginning for 25. (7)
24 As an extra clue for 16, they’re also
these. (7)
25 Is what they do habit-forming?
(5, 9)
DOWN
1 Would the author of “Twice Told
Tales” be such a criminal? (6, 5, 3)
2 Continental Can has a sort of fair
beginning. (7)
Readers are Invited to send for a free copy of Mr. Lewis's
requests to Puzzle Dept., The Nation, 20 Vesey Street, New York 7, New York.
3 16 cares of well meaning people.
6, 9)
4 There’s something about Sheraton
oo reminiscent of the classics.
)
5 aa likely to bag things with it.
6 The job of a song arranger? (3, 12)
7 Perhaps suitable quarters for a
bloodhound! (7)
8 Do women usually appear well-
ore with them? (7, 7)
14 Unless a murderer’s sentence is, he
might be. (9)
17 Apt to be found in sort of a red
converter. (7)
19 ik up the low-born—it’s hard!
7)
22 The way to get a good collection,
it’s said in some churches. (5)
SS
SOLUTION TO PUZZLE No. 463
ACROSS :—1 SWEET TOOTH; 6 AMID; 10,
24,9 down FROM THE CRADLE TO THE
GRAVE; 11 SPHERES; 12 PILLIONS; 13
GOOSE: 15 PANIC; 17 TBERRAP INS; 19
INSHRINED; 21 ELMAN; 23 GATUN; 27
AIRPUMP; 28 and 29 DIAMONDBACK;
30 WINDLASSES.
DOWN :—1 SIFT; 2 EROSION; 3 TOTAL;
4 and 9 ONE FOOT IN THE GRAVE; 5
TASKS; 6 MARCONI: 8 DISPERSING;’ 14
SPRING LAMB; 16 CORUNDUM; 18 RED-
HANDED; 20 SATYRIC; 22 MATRONS; 24
CAPRI; 25 LLAMA; 26 ADDS.
“ground rules.”" Address
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1722 Fortune Telling
from Dreams
881 INTERIOR DECORA-
TION FOR SMALL
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685 Practical Hints on
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1073 How to Paint & Finish
Woodwork
1041 How to Cane & Up-
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1466 Home Removal of
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1170 FUNNY GHOST
STORIES
739 Tales of Terror and
Wonder
1155 Great Mystery Tales
1161 Mysterious and
Weird Tales
1435 Censtipation:
Its Correction
1479 Correction of
Under—Overweight
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489 Your Intelligence;
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1471 How to Become :
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1847 MEANING OF ALL
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629 Handbook of Legal ,
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1356 Wills: How to Make &
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1003 How to Think
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920 QUEER NIGHT IN
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1042 Crime At the Red Inn
4i7 Nature of Dreams
1743 What You Should
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651 How to Psycho-
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dnl” Liga May 17, 1952
a
alif, SB Yi -
Drawing by Berger
) _ “Seeds of Tyranny”
i olitical gangsters are attempting to pervert the [loyalty] program into
| an instrument of intimidation and blackmail. ... They have not hesitated
tolie...and to repeat the lies again and again... . These tactics contain the
seeds of tyranny. ... People who employ such tactics . . . are undermining
the foundation stones of our Constitution. I believe such men betray our
il! country. eee z WS
=
; | —From President Harry S. Truman's speech to the National Civil Service League, Washington, May 2. | ne
Fine, Mr ° Pr esident, BUT » « « See Page 461
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|CENTS A COPY - EVERY WEEK SINCE 1865 - 7 DOLLARS A YEAR ‘
Te
Fr
What has The Nation done to be
thus honored by a great university?
The answer can be put very simply. In our articles we have tried unremittingly to
search for the truth; and in our editorials, to measure all social and political develop-
ments against the yardstick of the Bill of Rights. "
We are certain that those who have honored us
with a certificate of award want no more than this
from any publication—and will accept no less. The
fight for the Negro is part of the fight for human
freedom everywhere.
We are now in our eighty-seventh year. From our first issue, we have held to the prin-
ciple that no man is free so long as another is enslaved by reason of his color, religion,
or political creed. We can think of no better way of thanking the Lincoln University
School of Journalism for the honor it has paid us than by renewing our pledge to remain
steadfast to this principle.
: VOLUME 174
“I say, with all the emphasis at my command, that there
is no more corrosive, no more subversive attack upon the
great task of our government today than that which secks
to undermine confidence in government by irresponsible
charges against the loyalty and integrity of government
employees. . . . There is no room in government service
for anyone who is not true to this public trust. . . . I will
not tolerate the smearing and slandering of government
employees as a group. We have every right to protest and
to raise the roof against the deliberate creation for private
political purposes of these unjust charges; of an atmos-
phere of suspicion and distrust against public employees.
I'm just not going to stand for it and I’m starting now
and I’m giving warning to the people who've been slan-
dering the government employees that they're going to
have trouble with me from now until November.
“We have a right to protest against the creation of an
atmosphere in which a charge is a conviction in the public
mind despite the lack of evidence. . . . The loyalty pro-
gram was designed to protect innocent employees as well
as the government. When I set it up, I intended it to ex-
ee ee 7 ee ee eed
AMERICA 4S LEADING LIBERAL WEEKLY SINCE 18635*
NEW YORK - SATURDAY + MAY 17, 1952
“THE SEEDS OF TYRANNY”
pose the guilty and at the same time to safeguard the
rights and reputations of those who were innocent. But I ~
have become increasingly concerned in recent months by
attempts to use the loyalty program as a club with which
to beat government employees over the head. Political
gangsters are attempting to pervert the program into an
instrument of intimidation and blackmail, to coerce or de-
stroy any who dare oppose them. These men and those
who abet them have besmirched the reputations of decent,
loyal public servants. They have not hesitated to lie, under
cover of Congressional immunity, of course, and repeat
the lies again and again. . . . These tactics contain the
seeds of tyranny. Can we be sure that people who employ
such tactics are really loyal to our form of government,
with its Bill of Rights, its tradition of individual liberty?
The fact is that they are breaking these things down. They
are undermining the foundation stones of our Constitu-
tion. I believe such men betray our country and all it
stands for. I believe they are as grave a menace as the
Communists; in fact, I think they're worse than Commu-
nists and | think they’re partners with them.”
—From President Harry S. Truman's speech to the National Civil Service League, Washington, May 2.
A Fighting Speech—But Where's the Fight?
HEN President Truman spoke out sharply and
vigorously against the evils of McCarthyism in
_ his Detroit speech of July 28th last year, we were quick
| to applaud his statement and to suggest how it might be
implemented, In a Memo to the President, published on
ugust 11, we pointed out that his loyalty program had
not only failed to achieve one of the stated objectives—
| protection for government employees against unfounded
accusations—but had contributed enormously to the ef-
fectiveness of McCarthy's smear tactics,
Now again the President speaks out sharply against
those who would “betray the country” (see excerpts
from his speech above). Truman is an effective orator
when he is angry; he has a gift for the simple and direct
||, utterance of the man in the street. He sounds sincere,
and that, too, is a great gift. But there is something
mui a more important about his National Civil Service
League speech than its effectiveness as oratory. In it he
dmits, for the first time, that the loyalty program is
being used as a club with which to “beat government
employees over the head.” This is what we foresaw in
our Memo to the President last year. No single phase of
the program has been more harmful in this respect than
the portion of the Loyalty Order of March 21, 1947, in
which the President instructed the Attorney General to
list organizations as “subversive” on the basis of doc-
trine alone.
In all, somewhat more than 150 organizations have
been so listed by the Attorney General, while the House
Committee on Un-American Activities has named 694
organizations which it regards as subversive. The Attor-
ney General’s list was prepared, of course, without giv-
ing the listed organizations notice or an opportunity to
be heard, a procedure which the Supreme Court in effect
held to be improper in the case of the Joint Anti-Fascist
Refugee Committee decided April 30, 1951. Of the
ofganizations listed, an overwhelming majority are not
alleged ever to have advocated the overthrow of the gov-
NuMBER 20.
e IN THIS ISSUE
EDITORIALS
A Fighting Speech—But Where's the Fight?
The Shape of Things
Now the Foundations
ARTICLES
Speaking Out on Foreign Policy
by J. Alvarez del Vayo
2,400 Miles to Prosperity by Rod Van Every
Bevanism Wins in America by Fritz Sternberg
The Retrogression of Senator Taft
by Willard Shelton
No Mandate for a Bolt by William Carleton
Central Africa in Black and White
by Keith Hutchison
BOOKS AND THE ARTS
The Uses of Religion by Joseph Wood Krutth
The Chinese-Soviet Axis by J. K. Fairbank
Gothic Novel by Ernest Jones
“Nothing But a Painter’ by S. Lane Faison, Jr.
After Reconstruction by David Donald
Films by Manny Farber
Drama Note by M. M.
Records by B. H. Haggin
LETTERS TO THE EDITORS
CROSSWORD PUZZLE No. 465
by Frank W, Lewis opposite 488
EDITORIAL BOARD
Editor and Publisher: Freda Kirchwey
Editorial Director Director, Nation Assoctates
Carey McWilliams Lillie Shultz
Managing Editor: Victor H. Bernstein
Poreign Editor Literary Editor
J. Alvarez del Vayo Margaret Marshall
Financial Editor : Keith Hutchison
Drama: Joseph Wood Krutch Masic: B. H. Haggin
Copy Editor: Gladys Whiteside
Assistant Literary Editor: Caroline Whiting
Staff Contributors
Andrew Roth, Alexander Werth, Howard K. Smith, Carolus
Business Manager: Hugo Van Arx
Advertising Manager: Mary Simon
The Nation, published weekly and copyright, 1952, In th
by The Nation Associates, Inc., 20 Vesey Street, New ware = -
Entered as second-class matter, December 18, 1879, at the Post Office
of New York, N. Y., under the act of March 3, 1879, Advertising
and Circulation Representative for Continental Europe: Publicitas,
Subscription Prices: Domestic—One year $7; Two years $12; Three
years $17, Additional postage per year: Foreign and Canadian $1.
Change of Address: Three weeks’ notice is required for change of
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e new.
Information to Libraries: The Nation is indexed in Readers’ Guide
to Periodical Literature, Book Review Digest, Index to Labor
Articles, Public Affairs Information Service, Dramatic Index,
wt
5
iS
ana
formed for specific at
and many have not been in existence for ten o fifteen
years. When the list was first prepared, it was forwarded _
by the Attorney General to the loyalty boards with the |
caution that ‘“‘no conclusions whatsoever are to be drawn —
from membership in any such organizations.” Despite
this warning, membership has in practice come to be ac- |
cepted as evidence of disloyalty. In addition, the roster
forms the basis of the blacklisting activities now being .
conducted by the various private profit-making gestapos
that have come into being since 1947,
It is not merely federal employees against whom the
loyalty program is being used as a club: state, county,
and municipal workers are also being blackmailed and
intimidated; and many thousands of private citizens—
teachers, librarians, social workers, doctors, lawyers,!
artists, lecturers, and persons connected with the stage,,
motion pictures, radio, and television—have been simi-
larly threatened, As a matter of fact, federal employees
who have been smeared have less reason to complain.
than the others since they at least are entitled to a hear;
ing. But hearing or no hearing, there can be little doubt
today that the loyalty program has undermined five
rights long considered as inalienable: (1) the presump-)
tion of innocence until guilt is proved; (2) the doctrine:
that guilt is personal and cannot be computed in terms
of relationship or association; (3) the right of the ac-
cused to be informed of the charges made against him in
order that he may prepare his defense; (4) the right of
the accused to confront and cross-examine his accusets;
and (5) immunity against being tried a second time for
a charge on which acquittal has been won.
We repeat, therefore, what we said in our open letter
‘to the President last year, namely, that he should correct
those phases of the loyalty program which have made it
possible “to pervert the program into an instrument of
intimidation and blackmail.” Specifically, the President.
should direct the Attorney General to stop the practice
of branding organizations “subversive” and set aside the
existing list. In modifying the loyalty program in this
and other respects, Mr. Truman can with justification
point to the fact that he tried to obtain an impartial re-
view of the entire process but that Congress check-
mated the attempt. In January, 1951, the President
appointed the Commission on Internal Security and In-
dividual Rights, headed by Admiral Chester Nimitz, to
examine the whole question, but the commission was
disbanded last October after Senator McCarran had suce
cessfully blocked legislation which would have enabled jj
it to proceed with its work. Since Congress has made it (j
impossible for the loyalty program to be impartially re- jj
viewed and itself failed to correct the program’s abuses, |
the President has every reason to act, After all, the loy- |)
alty program is Aés instrument, not Congress's. Since it
The NATION:
the form of “a politcal response to the political
attacks made upon it.” Since he is “not running for any-
thing” this year, Mr. Truman is in an excellent position
o make a political issue of McCarthyism. If he acts
mow, he can commit the Democratic Party to a defense
of the principles so eloquently stated in his speech to the
National Civil Service League.
But the President can make a political issue of Mc-
Carthyism only if he is first prepared to clarify his own
position. Unfortunately his condemnation of “political
gangsters” who seck to subvert the Bill of Rights is
robbed of much of its moral force by reason of the fact
that the loyalty program which he initiated has con-
tributed directly to the state of affairs he now deplores.
t is intolerable that Mr. Truman's advisers—including
former Attorney General Tom Clark—should have put
; im in the position of having to condemn in his political
Dpponents practices for which he, as President, provided
pfficial sanction. If “political gangsters” are in fact
wanderrining the foundation stones of our Constitu-
tion,” then the federal government should not be a party
fo their subversive plottings. The President is entirely
justified in saying that he is “just not going to stand for”
their gangster tactics and we see no reason why he
should. On the contrary, he should clear the decks for a
genuine political offensive against McCarthyism, seizing
d holding the initiative for the Democrats on this
issue from now through the November elections. The
way for him to start is to correct those aspects of the
loyalty program which have led to its debasement and
degradation. °
The Shape of Ibings
ia Korean Deadlock
wg
oe
|
In an exclusive interview with The Nation last Feb-
tuary Padilla Nervo, president of the United Nations
Seneral Assembly, listed as one of the positive results
of.the last session in Paris the decision that the Assembly
Might meet in special session in New York “if an un-
a pected pant threatened an extension of the
Sorean conflict.” Such a development may be close at
and . Not since the Panmunjom talks started have things
0 a so black. The Korean air is full of mutual re-
ations, warlike threats (an admiral speaks of
loc ading China), and bursting bombs (last week the
Inited Nations air forces unleashed the biggest raid
f the war on the town of Susan). American press com-
at—some of it doubtless inspired, if not exactly in-
1onal—is already plotting still longer and bigger
y 17, 1952
enh
|
|
|
|
|
aN ee ae
h Pp
ES er oe
dénouement toward which events seem to be moving.
It is in Nervo’s power to call a special session of the
General Assembly whenever the situation demands it.
The responsibility for the ultimate decision in Korea
should rest in the hands not merely of the world powers,
but of the world, every last corner of which has a vital
stake in the question of war and peace.
Easy Credit for Consumers
Suspension of restrictions on consumer installment
credit is the latest of several Administration moves to
relax controls instituted to check inflation. Some weeks
ago testrictions on state and municipal financing were
lifted and more recently the voluntary credit-restraint
program, used to limit non-defense business borrowing,
was put in cold storage. In addition controls en new
construction have been eased, together with allocation
regulations for a number of once scarce commodities
which are now in good supply.
These moves follow a distinct lessening of inflationary
pressure since the beginning of the year. For some
months there has been a steady decline in wholesale
prices—a decline that should soon be reflected in the
cost-of-living index, In the case of a number of con-
sumer-goods industries, including textiles, furniture,
household appliances, and automobiles, an excess of sup-
ply over demand is leading to some softening of prices.
This does not necessarily mean depression, or even
recession, although it may feel like it to business men who
last year were basking in the sun of a seller's market.
Employment stays high and retail business is good ex-
cept in comparison with the post-Korean period of panic
buying. But thanks to record production, the lag in the
defense program, and the successful operation of con-
trols, the economy has become sufficiently stabilized to
justify the relaxation of restraints.
The queer thing is that the very people who attacked
the Defense Production Act from the beginning are now
disposed to criticize the Administration for dropping
controls. It can only be motivated, they suggest, by a
desire to insure an atmosphere of prosperity for the elec-
tion. Not for the first time President Truman is finding’
he is damned if he does and damned if he doesn’t.
“Fascistic Hooey”
After a decade of easy pickings, the American labor
movement is slowly awakening to the unhappy realiza- _
tion that the hard-won gains of the 1930's are now
seriously endangered. Speaking in Cincinnati at a meet-
ing celebrating the centenary of the International Typo-
graphical Union, Woodruff Randolph, its president,
463
ds info Manchuria. The question of aie is right Benes
eho on the war prisoners’ problem, we think
_the United Nations is right—is dwarfed by the terrible
= wk Ree ae bik
a
hooey.” In his view, the government is restricting the
areas in which unions may organize, forbidding workers
the right to strike, and arbitrarily fixing wages and prices.
“We have reached the point,” he said, “where the
government sanctions maximum prices instead of com-
petitive prices,” and, by indirect subsidies to large
corporations, guarantees profits at the expense of the
taxpayer. Turning to internal union affairs, Mr. Ran-
dolph warned that “there is an ever-present threat of
labor power becoming too centralized, dinosaur-fashion,
with the body growing too big for the brain... . We
are right on the verge of Italian fascism under the
guise of free enterprise.”
It has been quite a while since an American labor
leader of Mr. Randolph's prominence and influence has
spoken in this vein. Even though he is obviously simplify-
ing the picture, there is enough disturbing truth in his
statement to underscore the significance of Hugo Ernst’s
Labor Views the Campaigns in last week's issue.
Unexpected Markets
There seems to be an assumption in Washington that
Japan and Germany have been converted from enemies
into docile allies, But now that the first has recovered
its sovereignty and the second is about to follow suit, it
will not be surprising to find them pursuing courses
conflicting with American policies.
Thus we learn from the Wall Street Journal of
April 26 that, whatever decision is reached about a Ger-
man army, neither the industrialists nor the workers of
the Ruhr are anxious to turn to arms production. They
do not relish the idea of again becoming a high-priority
bombing target. Moreover, they see in the defense pre-
occupations of their chief foreign competitors a wonder-
ful opportunity to recapture foreign markets.
Japanese business men also seem more interested in
building up foreign trade than in turning out guns and
tanks. They have ambitious plans for modernizing their
plants and the government has earmarked a fund of
$100,000,000 to purchase American equipment for ex-
port industries. With efficient machinery operated by
cheap labor, Japan expects to recover lost markets and
gain new ones.
There is, however, one area of the world largely
barred to Japan and Germany, not by foreign competi-
tors, but by American policy-makers—the whole Soviet
sphere. Eastern Europe is traditionally a major outlet for
German manufactures as China is for Japanese products,
and both countries are finding current restrictions on
trade with these markets increasingly irksome. Recently
the Bundestag adopted a resolution calling on the Bonn
government to seek normal economic relations with the
Soviets and to secure more freedom to conduct such
464
: ee Sty
denounced the government’ s labor policy as “fascistic
ne fn t tu 9 ‘occupa tio
Japanese government will surely di
nal if China makes a firm offer of badly need
iron ore, and soybeans in exchange for Japanese
and machinery,
McCarran’s “Liberal” Bill
There is nothing good about the McCarran immigras |
tion bill which was to come up for debate in the Senaté)
this week, Its provisions are bad, its sponsorship is bail
and the manner in which it is being rushed to a vote
makes a shambles of democratic procedure. 4
McCarran argues that his bill “liberalizes” immigra- |
tion. We wouldn't believe it even if the bill said so,
which it doesn’t. The man who not so long ago sought |
to turn a Displaced Persons bill into a racial sieve cand
not now be trusted to write a “‘liberal’’ a
measure.
It is true that the measure might tend to increase im:
migation in a few special categories. Its overall effect,
however, is the reverse. And even those people who come |
in under the bill will first have to sell their souls to”
McCarran. For the heart of the Nevada Senator's pro-:
posal lies in its policing aspects: the unhappy alien be-|
comes the victim of a special thought-and-speech-controk
apparatus in the worst McCarthy tradition, The immigra- |
tion inspector becomes judge and jury of the alien’s
expressed thoughts. The alien himself becomes a second-
class resident, denied normal constitutional rights.
Senator Lehman, in association with a group of lib-
eral Senators, has seen these dangers, and is trying to
avert them through introduction of another, and truly
liberalizing, bill. It is the measure of McCarran’s real
attitude toward the problem that he has pulled every
parliamentary trick to prevent the Lehman bill i?
getting a hearing.
Scarsdale’s Victory
For more than three years the Board of Education of
Scarsdale, New York, has been busy fighting off the
attacks of a local committee which has raised the famil- |
iar cry of Communist infiltration. Hearing of Scarsdale’si
“pattle of the books,” professional anti-Communistsiiy
moved in to direct the attack and tell the Board of Edu-
cation how to run the schools. At last week’s annua
election 1,500 Scarsdale residents—a record attendancel™
—gave the board a rising vote of confidence and ap:
pointed a. committee to defend it against similar attacks
in the future. The opposition failed to enter a slate off’
candidates but three of its leaders, nominated from the
floor, received a total of eleven votes, whereas more
than 1,300 ballots were cast for each of the ae
incumbents, 4
The NATION N
“Be . iad he. fields of tac reform and icichalicas
e siege against the |
emonstrates that even the zeal of demagogues
x for an aroused public. What happened to
yism in Scarsdale can be made to happen clse-
“Freedom’s Stake”
‘Throughout the vast and acutely strategic area of
forth Africa and the Middle East the ferment of na-
‘tionalism is breaking through the crust of old customs
and colonial control. Both in the formerly independent
Middle Eastern states and in the European dependencies
-alor g the Mediterranean coast of Africa the peoples are
waking up, with consequences already becoming visible
n the struggle for power between Russia and the West.
| Sharply aware of the critical nature of this process,
I -*
The Nation Associates has called a conference for
lay 25 at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York on
Freedom's Stake in the Middle East and North Africa.
Details of the sessions appear on the back cover of this
issue, Out of the discussions will come, we hope, a posi-
five program for dealing with the issues involved in
‘terms which will contribute’ to security and peace—by
ecognizing the just political demands of the people and
he need for fundamental social and economic change.
We warmly invite all Nation readers within reach to
ttend the conference and the dinner forum.
Now the Foundations
T) Y A vote of 193 to 158, the House has adopted a
BD resolution offered by Representative Eugene Cox
Creating a seven-member select committee to investigate
educational afid philanthropic foundations “and other
comparable organizations” to determine if they are using
(their resources for “un-American and subversive activi-
Hes or for purposes not in the interest or tradition of the
|| United States.”
in the debate, the resolution was attacked as an en-
| croachment on the preserves of the House Committee on
|| Un-American Activities and the Ways and Means Com-
mittee, which have been studying problems of tax
sxemption for some time. By insisting that his colleagues
fiaccept his word that no encroachment would result, Mr.
| ox implied that the question of jurisdiction had been
leared with the standing committees. Indeed if one
eads between the lines it is apparent that the new com-
hittee will have a special function. It will not be so much
i) Co: Bemed with tax exemption or the financing of “sub-
Pvetsive” or “un-American” projects a8 with the problem
)Of “coordinating” the policies of the foundations.
The resolution has an interesting history. When it was
tst introduced, on August 1, 1951, Cox said that he
as concerned only with those foundations which “oper-
relations.” In a later speech, he hinted at the origin of
_the resolution by referring to
“certain public-spirited
people . . . themselves trustees of the various larger
foundations” who had demanded that such an investiga-
tion be made. Also of interest is a reference in Merle
Miller's book, “The Judges and the Judged,” to the
effect that Counter-Attack had been commissioned by an
unnamed sponsor “to determine the extent of financial
aid that foundations had given to Communist causes or
Communist organizations.”
Two types of pressure will be brought to bear upon
the foundations. On the one hand, a showing will be
made that rescarch fellowships have been granted to per-
sons whose names appear on the various “subversive”
lists. A series of carefully spaced disclosures of this type
will be used to “soften up” the foundation executives.
At the same time, an effort will doubtless be made to
show that the foundations have at one time or another
harbored executives or employees who are or once were
members of “subversive” organizations. At this point, a
number of disgruntled former employees and unsuccess-
ful applicants for grants can be relied upon to come for-
ward to recite morbid tales of conspiracies and air
twenty-year-old personal grievances. All the while, the
threat of removing tax exemption can be used as a
weapon to force various concessions and genuflexions
from foundation executives. Even if they resist this pres-
sufe, the campaign can hardly fail to influence founda-
tion policies. Some form of “screening” applicants for
grants will probably be suggested, and the mere fact that
a Congressional investigation is pending will prejudice
certain types of projects and give top priority to others.
An incidental effect, of course, will be to discourage con-
tributions and endowments for educational foundations.
Of the various provisions of the Cox resolution none
is more objectionable than the phrase which authorizes
the committee to investigate “other comparable” organi-
zations. Under this provision, as Representative Adam
Powell pointed out, the committee could investigate such
organizations as the B'nai B'rith, the National Associa-
tion for the Advancement of Colored People, the Urban
League, the National Catholic Welfare Council, or the
World Council of Churches. And why stop with tax-
exempt institutions? Why not also probe the activities
of private profit-making corporations? The new com-
mittee, it should be noted, will have no legislative juris-
diction; it can do nothing more than inquire, report, and
recommend. The point has been made many times—and
it was raised in the debate on the Cox resolution—that
the number of such committees already in existence and
the lengths to which they have gone in conducting in-
vestigations which can serve no legislative purpose have
come to constitute a grave abuse.
One of the stated purposes of this latest foray into the
465
field of thought control is to determine whether the
social purposes being furthered by the foundations are in
any way in conflict with the “interest or tradition” of
this country. Unfortunately, conceptions of national in-
terest and tradition vary considerably from Camilla,
Georgia, where Mr. Cox resides, to the constituencies
served, for example, by Representatives Javits, Mc-
Carthy, and Powell, all of whom spoke against the reso-
lution. “It is frightening,” as Representative McCarthy
pointed out, “to consider the realities of a political
authority setting the pattern and the limit of intellectual
and moral development of its peoples. Yet this is pre-
cisely what the totalitarian state attempts, and indirectly
could well be the effect of this resolution. In effect what
it does is to subordinate another phase of American life
to political authority. If we are to continue this course, it
Speaking Out on Foreign Policy a
NCE again the West finds itself in a difficult
period. Interrelated problems such as Korea and
Germany, means of implementing the decisions reached
at the NATO conference in Lisbon in the face of the
obstacles created by the extreme nationalism of certain
Atlantic powers, Congressional opposition to granting
the sums asked by President Truman for Western de-
fense and the corresponding slowdown in Europe's
rearmament, now months behind schedule—all together,
these items have created a situation close to crisis. Some
Western observers are asking themselves whether the
entire strategy of the Atlantic coalition, in the main an
American concept, does not need prompt and energetic
revision.
Inside and outside the United Nations pessimism is
again mounting in view of the turn taken by the truce
negotiations in Korea. The situation in Bonn offers
no gteater promise. The efforts of Chancellor Adenauer
to hasten the integration of Western Germany in the
Atlantic coalition are checked by each new German
election (the latest setback occurred May 4 in Hesse).
At the same time demands are multiplying in every
NATO country—and in Germany too—that the United
States abandon its opposition to the conference on
German unification proposed by Stalin. Diplornatic pres-~
sure, about which so little has appeared in the press,
was so insistent during the last fortnight that Washing-
ton finally gave ground, declaring itself as at least not
opposed in principle to such a conference. To the degree
that the original Lisbon accord has been punctured by
the subsequent disagreements of the major Atlantic
powers, mutual reproaches and accusations are poisoning
466
Pag EA IE 5 ac
ial thd will esmaloroe nat that is norm
natural or private that cannot be ‘taken’ fron. man
made political. . .. This resolution . . . indicates a lad k ¢
confidence in the free institutions of this country, and
fundamentally and finally a lack of confidence in he
people of the United States.” i
Fortunately Representative Cox has promised to ste
aside, once the committee has been organized, and he as
suggested the name of Representative Brooks Hays s
chairman in his stead. But a substitution of chairmen: :
even one as desirable as this—will not guard against the |
dangers implicit in this latest investigation. Even thi
members of the Eighty-second Congress seemed to real-
ize that the Cox resolution was carrying the investigatio 1
mania a bit too far: it provoked the strongest opposition |
yet voiced in Congress against a witch-hunting measure.
i
“4
Wy
a
H |
Kid
BY J. ALVAREZ DEL VAYO
the diplomatic air of the West. In their private come
ments in the United Nations the Americans blame the)
Germans for asking too much and the French for con®
ceding too little; but especially they blame the British,
insisting that if Churchill as Prime Minister had main-
tained the position on the unification of Europe that
he took when he was leader of the Opposition, all the)
time lost in ironing out differences among the con-
tinental pares could have been saved and the Western|
European ‘‘community,” with West Germany inside,
would long since have been a reality. The British for!
their part have reacted with indignation to Washing-
ton’s renewed effort to put an American in command
of NATO’s Mediterranean forces. Said the London
Daily Mail: “We sometimes wonder what the United
States thinks we are. After all, the British Empire is
not some Central American republic!” while the Mirror
asks: “What would Nelson say?” No, harmony does not
reign these days within either the Atlantic -or the
Adenauer coalition.
Viewed as a whole, the situation hardly justifies tha )
tone of self-confidence adopted by Secretary Acheson
only two weeks ago before the American Society off
Newspaper Editors. It must confuse the average Ameriq™
can to be assured at one moment that everything is goingll
well and then be told a few weeks later that everythiiga
is at a perilous standstill. To explain this situation hi
can do one of two things: put all the responsibility ong
a single demon called the Soviet Union or try to discovem”
if at least part of the evil does not stem from :
absence of a foreign policy based on facts and hones
analysis.
The a
oo ar oe
eae ?
oo
ed not only by the Right but by the “half-
eft” including liberals’ and labor leaders blinded by
their hatred of everything remotely related to Moscow
or anything that could be twisted into the appearance
of such a connection, has prevented the free discussion
| of foreign affairs which might have helped Washing-
ton elaborate a policy both more realistic in terms of
world events and more reassuring to the American
bi I people and their allies abroad.
In its issue of May 3, the Saturday Review, in an
_ €ditorial commenting on a conversation that took place
in Peoria, Illinois, quoted this sentence, spoken by
_ 2 Bradley University professor: “If you're a professor
"dealing with some aspect of contemporary history—let’s
say Europe or the Far East or even the United Nations
aS an organization—you honestly don’t know whether
you should give the facts as you understand them or
_ whether the thing to do is to say to yourself, the hell with
_ the facts, and try to figure out what the big investigations
_ will be about two years from now and then teach
things today that will look good later.”
But facts and the correct interpretation of facts are the
_ basis of every successful foreign policy. Without this
_ ¢ven the most powerful nation can be condemned to final
' failure, stumbling into a situation in which it is unable
_ to make peace or to make war. Held in a strait-jacket by
_ the slogans of its own propaganda, a foreign policy loses
the agility that is indispensable for effective action.
IHROUGH the same process of intimidation that
paralyzed the Bradley professor, we have been de-
| prived of our best commentators on foreign affairs in
| the press, the radio, in public discussions. A vicious and
stupid canrpaign, pursued for years, has pretty well
| succeeded in branding as Communists or fellow-travelers
| anyone who dared to criticize the policy of containment,
" to advocate Big Four negotiations, or to dissent in any
= other way from the orthodox point of view. Some of
| these men have, it is true, managed to retain their jobs,
but at the cost of spontaneity and frankness. Thus they
_ have been rendered useless in their most essential func-
| tion of orienting and informing a public opinion which
in turn might be able to help avoid or correct the mis-
| takes of the official makers of foreign policy. The few
} _ exceptions, such men as Walter Lippmann in the press
! and Howard K. Smith on C. B. S. from London, deserve
| the greatest credit for their frankness and courage as well
as for their insight into world affairs.
7 Occasionally commentators are able to take advantage
} _ Of the classic device of quoting a person so conserva-
tive or so eminent as to be above suspicion. Former
_ President Herbert Hoover became available for such use
when he said in one of his recent addresses: ‘There is
i in Europe today no such public alarm over the im-
Ma: y 17, 1952
fe
i ~ ¥
7 >
qi
¥ ak. ae
sible Seah Ase) | os ooh et See ,
nsible —campaio n of black mat and intimi- 7
Plus ga change...
I know no country in which there is so little true
independence of mind and freedom of discussion as
in America. . . . In America, the majority raises very
formidable barriers to the liberty of opinion; within
these barriers an author may write whatever he pleases,
but he will repent it if he ever. steps beyond them,
Not that he is exposed to the terrors of an auto-da-fe,
buf he is tormented by the slights and persecutions of
daily obloquy. His political career is closed forever.
. Every sort of compensation, even that of celebrity,
is refused to him...
{Under tyranny in democratic republics] the body is
left free, and the soul is enslaved. The sovereign can
no longer say, “You think as I do on pain of death,”
but he says, “you are free to think differently from me
. but if such be your determination, you are hence-
forth an alien among your people. . . . You will re-
main among men, but you will be deprived of the
rights of mankind. Your fellow creatures will shun
you like an impure being, and those who are most per-
suaded of your innocence will abandon you, too, lest
they should be shunned in their turn.’—From
“Democracy in America’ by Alexis de Tocqueville
(published 1835).
minence of Communist invasion as has been fanned up in
the United States. Russian ground armies could have
overrun Western Europe in a two-months campaign any
time in the past five years and can no doubt do it during
several years to come. That they have not done so seems
proof that the Kremlin can see no final military victory.”
Mr. Arnaldo Cortesi was similarly obliging last Sunday
in the New York Times when, discussing the principal
reasons for the difficult positions of De Gasperi in
the coming Italian municipal elections, he listed as
the first: “Fear of communism—which was unusually
acute in 1948 and caused many right-wingers to vote for
the Christian Democrats as the strongest and most active
of the anti-Communist parties—has now diminished.”
Such comments throw a useful light upon the reasons
for the difficulties American foreign policy is now en-
countering, for if Moscow is unlikely to strike or if
Europeans are losing their fear of communism, it is
going to be rather hard to make Europe accept higher
taxes and other sacrifices, not only material but political.
President Auriol is reported by intimates as having said:
“They [the Americans] are asking me to put all my
energy into fighting ap imaginary danger, a Russian in-
vasion of France, while abandoning opposition to a real
and well-known danger—the rearmament of Germany.”
But it is not only the columnist, the radio com-
mentator, the university professor who suffers the ef-
fects of the campaign of intimidation, American policy-
467
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Acheson has been forced on severai issues to adopt
Republican policies not necessarily to his liking; Philip
Jessup, an able negotiator, was politically crippled by
the vote of no-confidence passed by the Senate on the
eve of his departure for Paris to represent the United
States in the U. N. Assembly, an action that was acidly
OME 2,400 miles west of the Atlantic Ocean, an icy
creek ripples over black rock and foams into an in-
land sea. The creek is one of the headwaters of the
mighty St. Lawrence River, pride of the Northeast. It
feeds one of the greatest inland waterways of the world,
the Great Lakes. It is the western end of the hated,
maligned, praised St, Lawrence Seaway, a favorite sub-
ject for high-school debaters since the 1920's.
Actually, the St. Lawrence Seaway has been in opera-
tion for 150 years or so. Nature provided most of the
route; Canada and the United States had to put their
engineers to work in only a few spots, The present con-
troversy, hotly disputed for twenty-five years, concerns
only the deepening of an already existing waterway.
The toughest, most dogged fighters for an improved
seaway are, understandably, from the Middle West and
states bordering the Great Lakes, They are interested in
the navigational aspects. They care little about the tre-
mendous electric-power potential of the St. Lawrence, of
ptime importance to the Northeast. But they are sure
that deeper channels, locks, and canals will mean all
these things to the Midwest:
@ A tremendous increase in traffic, often at lower rates,
between lake ports and with Eastern ports and Europe.
Fairer industrial competition with the Eastern Sea-
board and Europe.
@ An alternate route, in peace or war, for vital iron ore;
increased steel production instead of the threatened
migtation of the steel industry.
Retention of control by a powerful nation of a
strategic waterway.
@ Stabilized lake levels and an expanded Great Lakes
shipyard industry.
@ Such a general increase in the prosperity of a vast,
important region of America that the entire nation
would be benefited.
ROD VAN EVERY, on the staff of the Milwaukee Journal,
bas been specializing in the St. Lawrence Seaway story.
A68
2400 Miles to Prosperity
-west of Toledo would be “high and dry”
diplomats, = ee ea ie eee T
Never has a great nation been more in need ed of aj appl
ing its best talents to the framing of an intelidgent and
workable foreign policy. Without it all the material and
political strength America can muster will prove useless
at this crucial turning point in history.
BY ROD VAN EVERY _
Opponents of the seaway—chiefly Eastern railroad,
banking, coal, electric utility, shipping, and port inter-
ests—contend that none of these things will result; that 1
deeper channels would mean only dislocation, perhaps |
permanent damage to their interests.
The arguments, pro and con, are an old story, but the ©!
seaway, with its improved power development, is going —
to be built. Canada is determined to go it alone if the
United States will not cooperate. She has waited many
years, watching with exasperation the way private-
power politics and sectional interests have stalled Con-
gressional action. Few, even among seaway opponents, |
believe that Canada is bluffing. Her parliament has
given authorization. Her treasury is in good shape. An
all-Canadian seaway route has been laid out. Her leaders
have committed themselves to the undertaking. Canada
needs the power output of the St. Lawrence; she needs
the deeper channels. j
Three questions remain. One is before Congress now:
Shall the United States make it a joint project with joint
control over tolls and operation?
‘The second: Can Canada legally go it alone? The con-
sensus in Washington is that she can. She must work
through some United States agency, probably the Fed-
eral Power Commission, and through the International
Joint Commission set up in 1909 to iron out boundary
disputes. Exploratory discussions are now going on.
The third question is whether to deepen channels —
west of Lake Erie if Canada builds the bigger seaway —
alone. The all-Canadian route would end with the
Welland Canal. The twenty-one-foot upbound channels
of the Detroit and St, Clair Rivers would keep big ships 4
out of Lakes Huron, Michigan, and Superior, All ports -
so far as
twenty-seven-foot-draft ships are concerned. It is incon- +
ceivable to such ports as Detroit, Superior-Duluth, Mil-
waukee, and Chicago that the United States Government —
would not extend the deepened route all the way. 4
The chief seaway bottleneck is the string of fourteen- —
foot canals and locks in the St. Lawrence River between —
The NATION ©
J
locks of the Welland Canal and in the twenty-one-
foot upbound and twenty-six-foot downbound (deeper
for heavy ore cargoes) channels of the St. Clair River
and the Detroit River near Detroit, and the St. Marys
River near Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan. Engineering plans
call for cutting all these to twenty-seven feet, deep
‘enough for most of the world’s shipping.
On the basis of 1950 construction costs, the Army
Engineers, famous for their too low estimates, put the
full cost of the seaway at $818,000,000. America’s share
would be $566,000,000; Canada pays less because of the
“credit” given her for work she already has done—re-
building the Welland Canal and deepening the Thou-
sand Islands section of the St. Lawrence.
Seaway proponents insist the construction cost is of
little moment because it would be spread over five to
seven years and would be liquidated by cargo tolls. But
the sum is a major obstacle to a Congress acutely aware
of the public demand for economy. A recent amendment
to seaway legislation would provide the money by em-
“powering a government corporation to sell seaway con-
struction bonds to private investors.
Congressional opposition to the seaway on the ground
_ of economy is the more bewildering to lake states be-
_ cause of the huge appropriations for power, flood-con-
trol, and irrigation projects in other sections of the
country, seaway building in Texas, channeling for the
Delaware River, even seaway and power projects in
France financed by detouring American dollars. The
: - P men =
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Duluth
*doughton
ins Marquettee
i “27 Se
.* : * Bay Citye
Port Huron@
PS “ST. CLAIR RIVER }
LAKE ST CLAIR
DETROIT RIVER |_%
Dredging required
. iF 4 e -_o-—- — ICH.
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IND.
nia) OG ip Ae cp Ay eke. Ge eee |
ss € are s so shale bs growing dissatisfaction of the ‘Miwalaas demonstra im
t ships ¢ can use them,
this spring when an official state body of Wisconsin pub-
licly asked its Congressional delegation to practice log-
rolling with reverse English—You block the seaway
any longer and we'll block your pet project.” -
No matter what the cost of the deepened seaway, Mid-
west leaders feel, it is an economic necessity. Now, a
Midwest manufacturer or steel fabricator must include
in his bid on Eastern or European contracts the cost of
rail transportation. If he could ship by water, the rate
would be far lower and he would be ia a stronger com-
petitive position.
Some ocean-shipping rates from Great Lakes ports to
foreign lands are the same as from East Coast ports.
Further savings could be made on exports straight from
Midwest port to European dock—elimination ef East
Coast transshipping, lower insurance rates, reduced ware-
housing and dockage, less breakage, perhaps less crating.
One Midwest manufacturer recently won a Norwegian
contract for paper-mill machinery because he ceuld ship
in a small Norwegian vessel and save $18 a ton, Others,
however, have lost contracts because their products were
too big and heavy for the holds of ships limited in size _
by the fourteen-foot St. Lawrence canals.
In spite of the present canal limitations, foreign
trade with the Great Lakes ports has been steadily in-
creasing. In 1949, the import-export total was 160,000
tons, valued at $51,000,000. Seven major foreign lines —
sail profitably into the Great Lakes, and some have even
designed new ships especially for the shallow canals.
Forty-one foreign-flag ships are in regular service this
season and about ten others are in charter service.
Cees A. D A
ST. MARYS RIVER
One new lock and
* Sault Ste. oN ‘ o dredging required
LACHINE CANAL
Requires new }
canal and locks
INTERNATIONAL RAPIDS
Power development
and locks required
H IWELLAND CANAL Ls
Dredging required
“Cleveland
Neve York fig
100 MILES”
Courtesy New York Compass
Principal Features of St. Lawrence Seaway (U. S. Army Corps of Engineers Proposal)
469
" Imports from the Midwest, now conGined Warssty’ to.
manufactured products, will take on added significance
when the St. Lawrence canals are deepened. Then it will
be possible to bring in raw materials—iron ore, lime-
stone, coal and oil—in great quantities. This is the
low-value “bulk” trade, economically possible only in
big ships and a great saver of manufacturing costs.
Iron ore from newly found fields in Labrador and
Quebec is sure to outstrip all other imports in tonnage
and importance. For many years steel furnaces from Buf-
falo and Pittsburgh on the east, through Ohio and Indi-
ana to Chicago on the west, have gulped iron from the
Mesabi Range in northern Minnesota, About 90 per cent
of all the ore they use comes from the Mesabi, shipped
in deep-draft lake boats, But the days of the high-grade,
open-pit ore of the Mesabi are numbered. When the ore
runs out, in fifteen to thirty years, there will remain low-
grade taconite and other high-grade but underground
ores. It is cheap to dig open-pit ore. To increase pro-
duction—for instance, in war-time—you just use more
power shovels, It is neither cheap nor easy to increase the
output of underground mines or the recovery from
taconite. The steel industry cannot use taconite as
it is found in nature because there is too little iron in it.
Concentrating plants are slow and costly to build, and
they use a lot of manpower.
In time of emergency, the alternative for quick ex-
pansion in the steel industry is discovery of new sup-
plies of high-grade, easily mined, easily transported iron
ore. That combination was found in the Labrador-
Quebec fields. The Labrador ore is of higher iron assay
than Mesabi ore. It lies on the surface of the ground,
like Mesabi. It can be easily and cheaply transported in
Great Lakes ore boats from the port of Seven Islands on
the land-protected Gulf of St. Lawrence—/f the St.
Lawrence canals are deepened.
If the seaway is not improved Midwest economists
see this chain of events: Labrador ore destined for most
of America’s steel furnaces will be subject to long, ex-
pensive rail hauls. This will increase costs so much that a
Beyond Comment
What others repeat as a platitude, Eisenhower has
been asserting with the freshness of a discovery.—
From Eisenhower and the GOP by Henry Cabot
. Lodge, Jr., in Harpet’s magazine,
Mrs. Eva Perén, wife of Argentina's President, cele-
- brates her thirtieth birthday tomorrow. Argentine
workers have planned special ceremonies and no news-
papers will be published.—Associated Press dispatch
from Buenos Aires.
[The Nation wil] pay $2 for acceptable contributions
to Beyond Comment. }
td) REA ee
, o: ate Ae ¢. ta
tonnage that can be carried cheaper, faster. The average |
ing other major industries such as antosiobl bile manufac
ture, will disrupt the economy of the Midwest, sieka he
of all America.
During World War II most of America was scceigll ,
aware of the importance of the Soo locks between Lakes
Superior and Huron. Why have armed guards there?’ —
Anti-aircraft gun emplacements? Fighter-interceptor |
squadrons? The Midwest and its steel industry (shortly. 7
the Chicago-Gary district will surpass the Pittsburgh §
district in steel production) knew the answers and wor-- if
ried over the iron-curtained Soo. a
If the Soo locks had been bombed, the flow of Mesabi
iron ore would have been dammed in Lake Superior,
with no outlet except the overworked, under-equipped
railroads. America might very well have lost so much
steel production as a result of bombing that it would
have lost the war. Then there was no nearby, alternative
ore source, Now there is—Labrador.
mene
NEW impetus to improve the seaway has come —
from parts of the Midwest within the last few * |
months. It is not concerned with iron ore, navigation,
or power, but with the weather and lake levels.
Unusually heavy snows and rains in recent years,
coupled with fast run-offs because of deeply frozen ot
saturated ground, have caused most of the Great Lakes
to rise steadily toward a new high. The fastest rise came
in the past winter and early spring. Lake-shore dweliers,
particularly on Michigan and Huron, watched their
beaches disappear and saw storms do millions of dollars’
worth of damage to their properties. Roads, trees, and
utility poles were washed out; cliffs and summer-home
foundations undermined; fishing shanties smashed; base-
ments flooded; sewer outlets clogged; even the opening
of cantilever bridges slowed,
And what has all this to do with the St, Lawrence
Seaway? f
True, deepened canals in the St, Lawrence, 600 feet
below the level of Lake Superior, would have no effect
on levels of any lake above Niagara Falls. But control
works at the Welland Canal and in the St. Clair and —
Detroit Rivers, suggested as part of the long-range
seaway plans, would stabilize the levels of Lakes Erie,
Huron and Michigan.
- High water has its good points, too. To shipping in-_
terests it means millions of extra dollars in increased
Great Lakes bulk carrier can load ninety tons more into
her barnlike hold for every inch the lakes rise. The
additional tonnage costs little more to load and carry. fj
To ports, high water means less dredging of canals, chan-
nels, and at docks, and less dry rot in pilings. q
In high water or low, nobody expects the Queen 4
The NATION |
,000 tons, ee canals ‘and oe locks Gould open
the > way to ships of 20,000 or more tons.
_ This means that a major part of the United States
big ‘navy could be built, outfitted, or repaired in the inland
safety of the Great Lakes. In World War II such work
‘was limited to submarines, destroyer escorts, small patrol
ctaft, and seagoing tugs. Getting them into salt water
‘was expensive. Many lake shipyards closed at war's end.
Now, some Great Lakes ports expect a revived ship-
building industry, military and commercial, with exten-
sion of the seaway.
N THE spring of 1951, Aneurin Bevan resigned his
Cabinet post in the British Labor government be-
cause, doubting the imminence of war with Russia, he
considered the government's three-year rearmament pro-
gram to be unnecessarily prejudicial to the British
worker's standard of living. He argued, in vain, that the
‘ptogram should be spread over four years.
Mr, Bevan wes bitterly attacked for months afterwards
both in Britain and in the United States. American
" ctitics charged him with being ready to sell the “free
world” down the Elbe to preserve free eyeglasses and
false teeth for Britons.
It is now a matter of history that Churchill, returning
to power in the elections held a few months after
Bevan’s resignation, suddenly decided that the Welsh-
man was right. The Tory government has spread the
British rearmament program, not over four years, but
over an even longer period. What is also history, though
less well known; is that even while American critics
‘were attacking “Bevanism,” our government was ac-
cepting the idea for its own rearmament program.
_ On February 5, the New York Times, reporting on
the testimony of Secretary of Defense Robert R.
Lovett before a Senate Appropriations Subcommittee,
‘said in part:
i
Last September, he [Lovett} continued, the theory
_ behind the military budget was revised. It was then
_ decided that, instead of attempting a great and costly
_ fearmameént effort designed to achieve minimum de-
sited strength almost at once, the program would be
slowed down and leveled off with the middle of
FRITZ STERNBERG is the author of the widely discussed
book “Capitalism and Socialism on Trial.”
Bevanism Wins in America
‘Bevan was right not
Pi eae Mie he adel sate wont dalibently turn Cy
_its back on a share in the control of one of man’s greatest —
waterways. History points in the other direction. Nations
have waged wars over control of strategic water routes. ae
The Midwest seaway leaders have fought long and been
frustrated often. They have had the backing of every
American President since Woodrow Wilson, every in-
vestigating body, the best in military and economic opin-
ion. Yet the medieval canals of the St. Lawrence
remain,
The year is nineteen hundred and fifty-twe. The time
is short. If America won't, Canada will. And that is all
tight with the Midwest.
BY FRITZ STERNBERG
1954 as the approximate target date for completion....
The rapid rearmament planned until last September
would have thrown a probably impossible burden on
the economy.
So far as I know, not a single Washington corte-
spondent pointed out that we were adopting “Bevanism”
even as we were at-
tacking Bevan, To-
day, when all the vital
data are available in
the Economic Re-
port of the President
of January, 1952, it is
dear that Aneurin
only for Britain but
for the United States
as well.
Three factors are
responsible for the
slowdown in the
tempo of American
rearmament. Most im-
portant is the inter-
ternational situation; the conviction has gained ground
that the Kremlin intends neither to start nor to pto-
voke a war within the near future. This being the case,
there is obviously no compelling reason to accelerate
military production to a degree that would cause severe —
economic dislocation.
The second reason for the slowdown is the sub-
stantial priming period necessary to produce the com-
Berger
Aneurin Bevan
_ plex equipment needed for modern warfare. If this
priming period were to be sharply curtailed, the whole —
ei
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.
=
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economy would be en: affected. As the President's
1952 report says:
Major difficulties have been encountered . . . in get-
‘ting our military production under way. These diflicul-
ties involve chiefly the machine-tool and other boitle-
necks, and design, engineering, and production problems
associated with the decision to produce exceedingly
complex equipment of the most advanced design,
rather than to concentrate on large-scale production
of types already in use.
The third reason for the slowdown is the fact that
American standards of living, and the existing wage and
profit levels, can be more easily maintained if the de-
fense program is carried out at the present slower pace.
The present rate of military expansion approximates
the increase in -over-all American production. This is
a most important point, since it affects the living stand-
ards of our allies as well as our own.
Our total output in 1947 amounted to 270 billion
dollars (in terms of 1951 prices)—about one-third
higher than before the outbreak of World War II. This
is in striking contrast to the experience of our Euro-
pean allies, who by 1947 were either still lagging behind
their pre-war living standard or had barely restored it.
By mid-summer of 1950, our annual output had in-
creased by approximately thirty billions; given impetus
by the outbreak of the Korean war, it jumped an addi-
tional thirty billions by January, 1952. Since 1947,
therefore, our annual output has increased by sixty
billions—from 270 billions to 330 billions. “The sixty-
billion-dollar increase,” remarks the President’s 1952 re-
port, “was greater than the totai cost of the security
program in 1951.” Thus even at the present level of
production we can carry the military budget while main-
taining our 1947 standard of living, which was one-third
_ higher than in 1939 and only a little lower than in the
spring of 1950, before the Korean war started.
But even this relatively small civilian sacrifice turns
out to be unnecessary. Since the defense program has
been spread over four years instead of three, the in-
crease in arms production is by and large not greater
than the increase in total production since the Korean
wat began. Arms expenditures at the end of 1951, for
instance, amounted to about 14 per cent of national
_ production compared to 8 per cent in 1950. But in
the same period gross national production (calculated in
1951 prices) rose from 300 to 330 billion dollars, an
increase of 10 per cent and more than enough to cushion
the effect of the rise in military expenditures. The
President’s 1952 report indicates that our standard of
living actually rose somewhat in 1951.
The situation will not be much different for us in
1952. This year military expenditures will increase by
another twenty billion dollars (they are expected to
reach a total of sixty-five billions by the end of the
472
=t oe Pate ty ,
2 ae lt be | 4 1
Pe ey we
cared ’ re)
tot esident's - by a. t
- the total military budget of Great Britain, and more |
fifteen to twenty billion dollars—in our overall pr -
duction. Thus our growing arms expenditures will 2 not
require any major drop in the total output of consume Ci
goods, although there will be some curtailment in
durable goods such as automobiles and housing. More-
over, there is no doubt that the huge conversion pro-
gram will cause considerable trouble in certain areas.
Any sudden increase in international tension could, of |
course, destroy the existing balance between arms produc-' |
tion and overall output. For example, the American mili-
tary budget does not provide large- |
scale appropriations for carrying on —
the Korean war. But if these are ©
not called for, and no new “minor”
‘ war breaks out elsewhere, arms ex- i
a Besar areata, will hardly exceed the;
udget as now contemplated. This |
budget is smaller than the one the government laid
down in 1950 when, immediately after the Chinese _
intervention in Korea, we simultaneously launched q
huge rearmament program here and urged our Euro-
pean allies to do the same. That our expenditures have q
slowed down is made clear in the President’s report: |
“The rate of expansion of the security program slack-;
ened toward the end of 1951. During the last quarter,
security expenditures are estimated to have increased
only three billion dollars, at an annual rate, compared ~
with an average increase of six billion dollars in each of
the previous three quarters.”
According to the President's report of January, 1951,
the proportion of total cutput devoted to security oneal
poses, which totaled about 6 per cent before Korea and ©
rose to 11 per cent in 1950, was to rise 15 per cent by i
the end of 1951 and to approach 20 per cent this year. ”
In reality, 1951 military expenditures amounted to 14 |
per cent instead of 15 per cent, and will reach 18%
per cent (instead of 20 per cent) by the end of 1952.
These percentage differences would seem to bel
minuscule; in terms of money they amount to a great
deal. Each per cent of national income spent for re-—
armament means we are three billion dollars more |
out of pocket. If, instead of spending 20 per cent of our q
national income on military production this year, we ;
spend only 16 or 17 per cent, we have cut our military |
budget by ten billion dollars. That’s more than double
than the United States is spending this year for ne
and economic aid to all of Europe and Asia, i
It adds up, then, to this: We who are refusing to
sacrifice our relatively high living standards for rearma- |
ment cannot now complain because Britain, following |
Bevan’s policy, is reluctant to do anything which woul
imperil its own much lower standards.
Washington, D. C.
HIS campaign, it seems reasonable to believe, is
proving a little puzzling to Senator Robert Al-
phonso Taft, the “Mr. Republican” who for the third
ime in twelve years is making his bid for the supreme
“prize within the gift of the Grand Old Party. All the
tricks he is trying in 1952 were tested and found useful
in Ohio just two years ago. He has groups of “lawyers
for Taft” and “doctors for Taft” employing the direct-
“mail solicitations invented by Whitaker and Baxter, the
_ American Medical Association’s slick-paper propagan-
dists. He is campaigning through the hamlets and big
industrial towns of two dozen states as vigorously as he
campaigned in Ohio for nearly a year before he was
triumphantly reelected to the Senate. He holds babies;
he shakes hands; he repeats speeches until he is admit-
' tedly sick of the sound of his own voice; he insists that
he is “labor’s true friend.” He still claimed, as of last
week, that he would go into the Republican convention
in July with a majority of the votes on the first ballot
_ and emerge as the Republican nominee with a mandate
to make a better fight than Tom Dewey did in 1948.
Yet the suspicion exists among many observers that
he is wrong, that his blitzkrieg tactics have failed, that
once again he will lose the victory and end up making
speeches for the successful nominee and facing the
_ prospect of four years more as Senate Republican Policy
Committee chairman, doomed to execute programs for
some other’ Republican President or perhaps to fight
another Democrat.
Taft's political life is an enormous irony. Able, intel-
| ligent, a skilled legislator, he has twice previously been
J tricked out of Presidential nominations that by all the
| fules might have been his. By the rules he should have
| been the nominee in 1940: he had served in the Senate
only since the 1938 election but he had whipped a prime
New Deal intellectual, Representative T. V. Smith of
the University of Chicago, in a nationally broadcast
| series of radio debates, and he already was being hailed
by the Old Guard as the Republican champion. But sud-
denly emerged Wendell L. Willkie, with Wall Street
money and the public-relations techniques of the Henry
Luce-Atlantic Seaboard “‘internationalists” behind him,
and Willkie “stole’’ the nomination as the convention
4
a
+
_ This is the fourth of a series of profiles of persons most
_ widely mentioned as possible Presidential candidates. Wil-
la ee Shelton is a veteran Washington correspondent and a
egular contributor to The Nation.
vay re aaa 7
~
Pe ee ee Met te) Re
a: Caen oe i ¢:
‘Senator Taft |
BY WILLARD SHELTON ©
was stampeded by the packed galleries chanting his ¥
name, In 1948 Taft’s chances were less dazzling, but he —
could have had the nomination if Harold E. Stassen had
agreed, at the proper moment, to accept the vice-presi-
dential place on a Taft-headed ticket. The Chicago
Tribune did its best to
promote this deal, and
had it been concluded
before the first ballot
in Philadelphia, Dew-
ey might have been
blocked. It is amusing
to recall that James S.
Duff, then Governor
of Pennsylvania, was
pro-Taft in 1948 and
would have been de-
lighted to go along
with a Taft-Stassen
ticket. But Stassen
would not deal, the anti-Dewey forces collapsed, and
Taft was whipped. Today Duff is playing a role in the
Eisenhower coalition,
Some people in this world have bad luck. They work
hard, they live up to the maxims, yet they never win the
prizes that fall to the Horatio Alger boys, The electorate
never calls on them for “duty’—as Eisenhower would
put it. Taft may be one of these unfortunate souls, He is
the beau ideal of Republicans—except in Presidential
years. He had all the money he needed—at least $2,000,-
000—when he was in trouble in Ohio in 1950 and’ his
friends wanted to teach the labor boys a lesson. He is not”
precisely suffering from financial stringency this year;
he has a large and capable staff of technicians, tacticians,
and well wishers. But the big Republican money, the
slickest public-relations boys, are behind Eisenhower.
The coalition that backed Willkie in 1940 and Dewey
in 1948 is still functioning—and it is anti-Taft.
As the campaign has grown hotter, and as Taft has
seen blitzkrieg tactics fail to check the Eisenhower boom,
the Ohio Senator has become so reckless and bigoted in
his speeches that it is difficult to remember the Taft
who used to be respected for his integrity. He was
indignant when he was quoted two years ago as approv-
ing Senator McCarthy’s attacks on the State Department.
But he did not become indignant until weeks after the
newspapers had carried the original story and he made
no public denial until he thought he was in trouble
in Ohie for supporting McCarthy, At Des Moines, last
473
Senator Robert Taft
reo
eh
Seah,
ney 6;
Sew
Tae et i Pree
October, he suggested that McCarthy had perhaps s
sometimes “overstated” his position. This won from
Jumping Joe a warning rejoinder that he would not
credit any report of a repudiation by Taft until he
heard it himself—and he has never yet heard it. Instead,
he had the pleasure of getting a Taft testimonial in
Beloit last January, when Taft told a Wisconsin audi-
ence that the “pro-Communist” policies of the State
Department “fully justified” McCarthy's demands for
an inquiry. What nonsense is this? Decent people have
excoriated McCarthy not for demanding an “inquiry,”
but for lies and character assassination that brought
him a direct repudiation from the six Republican Sena-
tors who joined Margaret Chase Smith in her “declara-
tion of conscience.” Senator Taft's conscience has be-
come so flexible that he apparently refuses to admit the
difference. Taft cited the dismissal of John Stewart
Service as justifying the McCarthy “inquiry.” Is this the
Taft who prided himself on saving civil liberties by
blocking President Truman's ill-advised “draft strikers”
bill in 1946?
Taft has deluded himself into believing the legend
that Dewey's refusal to “fight” was responsible for the
Republican debacle in 1948. He does not seem to realize
that Dewey was placed in an impossible position by the
Republican Eightieth Congress—that to “defend” such
a Congress might very well have lost the Republicans
more votes than to ignore it. So, as a campaigner in
1952, Taft has severely criticized Dewey's 1948 tactics;
he thinks it necessary to show himself different from
Dewey and to assail the Administration on every issue.
AFT has become a military expert—although he
has never served on either the Senate’s Armed
Services or Foreign Relations Committee—and he pro-
claims his august lack of confidence in our Joint
Chiefs of Staff. Why? Well, Truman appointed them,
didn’t he? Taft believes we should build up air power
rather than ground power. Why? Well, he has had some
counsel from Brigadier General Bonner Fellers (re-
tired), the Republican National Committee’s military
attaché, and from General Wedemeyer (retired), and a
few others. And the Truman Administration, after all,
is in favor of “balanced” forces of ground, sea, and air
units. That is enough to make any good Republican
fighting mad and certain the policy is wrong.
The Korean war is “Truman's war.” It is the “un-
necessary war.”
retary Acheson. The record shows merely that Acheson
warned that we could not hope to settle all the problems
of Asia by our intervention—that our economic and
military strength could be usefully applied only when
our strength was the single “missing component”
needed to help an area stabilize itself, Acheson never
said that we would not fight to defend the Republic of
474
It is the war that was “invited” by Sec- -
eosiitind and military aid avonstel 4g the Administ
tion for Korea, But everything is Truman’s fault ah
according to Taft.
Taft thinks he must “fight” to prove that he would be
a different stripe of candidate from Dewey. If he tetas
to win votes by charging that the Administration “de=
liberately built up” Russia as a world power, he may
be charged with a stupid and unworthy distortion of |
history. But he can’t be charged with being “soft toward"
Truman.” B
Taft is hagridden with a desire to scotch the dreadful —
impeachment that he lacks political sex appeal, that as .
the Presidential nominee he couldn't win. So he told his”
audiences in New Hampshire that he had always been a
winner in his political adventures and that in 1950, ini
fact, he won by the largest plurality ever given a candi- }
date for the Senate in Ohio, He may —
have forgotten—it was so long ago \
—that he was licked in 1922 in a |
race for the Chio state Senate, and a
that in 1938 and 1944 he barely ©
won election to the United States
Senate. But the Taft of even four,
years ago—the Taft who was more cautious about his;
statements and enjoyed a reputation for integrity—
would have been expected to remember.
As a traditional conservative, Taft used to be valu-—
able in the Senate. Traditional conservatives tend to —
be compromisers with democracy and with facts, ane
Taft in the 1940’s was an advocate of “middle-way”
public-housing bills and aid-to-education bills, Tradi-
tional conservatives respect law and order and the pro-
cedural niceties that safeguard individual rights; they are
reluctant to support laws that restrict liberty. In 1948
Taft privately told reporters that there would have to
be “substantial changes” in the Mundt-Nixon Com-,
munist-control bill before he could support it, that its
registration-for-Communists provisions seemed to him
of questionable legality. But in 1950 he voted without ff
hesitation for the McCarran “internal-security” law,
which imposed registration provisions on Communists
and serious restrictions on freedom of movement of per-
sons merely accused of improper political associations.
He was running for reelection, just as were some liberal
Democrats and Republicans, and neither Taft nor the
liberals wanted to have to take time to explain away a
vote against McCarran, That is the situation into which fi
the country has been pushed by McCarthyism—and Taft ff
thinks that his direct support of McCarthy, his en-@
couragement of McCarthyism, can be balanced by the
wisecrack that he would “welcome the support of Wayne:
Morse” as well as that of McCarthy, The insult to Morse
is no worse than the insult to the intelligence of the
The hago wi
, to he iboard the Bicahawer Phen.
Taft today is apparently incapable of such a speech
s Senator Wiley made to the American Society of News-
per Editors recently—a speech reminiscent of Van-
nb ergs moderation and sense of responsibility in
ist g foreign affairs. The notion that Wiley could
be intellectually more honest than Taft would have
} s onished leading Wisconsin citizens as recently as
tht ree or four years ago. Taft’s partisanship, his desire to
“fi ght” the Administration, has led him into preposter-
Ous Overstatements and to reckless adventurism in the
whole field of Far Eastern policy.
_ One wonders what this man would do in the White
House. If he cites the Service case as justifying Mc-
} C thy, what protection could victimized public officials
"expect from his oath to preserve and defend the Consti-
‘tution? If he would throw out the Joint Chiefs of Staff
"and “bring back MacArthur,” as he has promised, to
"what lengths would he go in trying to overthrow com-
munism in China with American armies—or perhaps
jus American bombs? Would the Southern Democrat he
) promises to place in his Cabinet be a man like Senator
Byrd, who with Taft has been hostile to Mutual Assist-
ance and Marshall Plan appropriations and has voted
"fepeatedly to cut down assistance to Western Europe?
Would he pull American divisions out of Europe or just
Gainesville, Florida
S77 HE most surprising and significant feature of the
ney Russell-Kefauver Presidential-preference primary
|) in Florida on May 6 was the closeness of the vote. So far
Senator Russell is concerned, it fell so far short of
expectations as well-nigh to preclude a formidable Dixie
)reyolt against the Democratic Party this year.
Senator Kefauver was opposed by one of the strongest
combinations in the history of the state, a fact that was
repeatedly noted by the local press. A few days before
the voting, an election prediction based on the observa-
. e tions of Florida’s political correspondents gave Kefauver
enator Spessard L. Holland as predicting a Russell
h ; eep of more than two to one, possibly of three to one.
§) WILLIAM CARLETON is a member of the department
f f police science at the University of Florida.
ie
(ay 17, 1952
or ia about 40 per cent of the vote. Newspapers quoted .
er ier by reviving his barely defeated
1947 proposal to make the Taft-Hartley act harsher by
restricting industry-wide bargaining?
Taft's chances in the convention, it is clear, depend
on whether the Midwestern and rotten-borough South-
ern delegates at Chicago can outmaneuver, outlast, and
finally break down the coalition of Atlantic Seaboard
and West Coast Republicans that nominated Willkie in
1940 and Dewey in 1944 and 1948. Taft is Colonel
McCormick’s candidate, the isolationists’ candidate. He
may say as often as he pleases that he now “supports”
the North Atlantic Treaty Organization although he
voted against NATO’s ratification in 1949, But non-
isolationists from the East Coast and West Coast do not
trust him. Senator Morse does not trust him—and is
driven by this distrust to support a military man, Gen-
eral Eisenhower, whose known position on domestic
policies can scarcely be pleasing to the Oregon liberal,
Senator Ives of New York and Senator Lodge of Mas-
sachusetts shrink from the nightmarish thought of
running for reelection with Taft at the head of the Re-
publican ticket. The contest for delegates is now reaching
the no-holds-barred stage, and Taft is a tough and tena-
cious infighter in a political barroom brawl. It is a dis-
agreeable truth that the Taft of 1940 and the Taft of
1948 were preferable to this curious campaigner of
1952, this Taft whose thwarted ambition makes him
almost unrecognizable.
Yo Mandate for a Bolt
BY WILLIAM CARLETON
As it turned out, Russell and Kefauver ran a photo-
finish race in southern and central Florida, and it was
only the late returns from the rural, Old South counties
near the Alabama and Georgia borders that gave Rus-
sell his relatively narrow victory. Delegates to the Demo-
cratic National Convention will be chosen in the second
primary, on May 27, and indications are that Kefauver
will win several of them.
Russell had behind him a misalliance of Dixiecrats,
conservative regulars, ‘Presidential Republicans” voting
in the Democratic primary, and friends of Governor
Fuller Warren, who in the past frequently has been on
the liberal side and an ally of former Senator Claude
Pepper. Warten bitterly resented the Kefauver Commit-
tee’s activities in Florida last year.
Large sums of money poured into Russell’s campaign,
some reputedly garnered from Northern conservatives
and from national gambling interests; the Russell forces
475
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et ar Se nh A Ye
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officially admitted spending six times as much as did
Kefauver’s. Russell had the vigorous and almost unani-
mous support of the press, overwhelmingly conservative.
He also had the active and unanimous support of the
Congressional delegations, solidly conservative, and of
the vast majority of professional politicians.
HIS impressive array of Russell support must also
be viewed against the deeper social and political
background of the state. Florida, unlike north Alabama,
for instance, has few former Populist counties. There is
little manufacturing and organized labor is weak. Agri-
culture is predominantly specialized—citrus, fresh vege-
tables and truck crops, cattle raising. It is essentially
a middle-class state with small and medium-sized resi-
dential cities where chambers of commerce and civic
_ Clubs are influential. In the Middle West such communi-
ties are the bulwarks of Republican strength; here they
are bulwarks of conservative strength. Their conservatism
has about it the flavor of prosperous Iowa towns, inten-
sified and distorted by the race question. Nevertheless,
Kefauver did surprisingly well in many of these centers,
much better than Pepper did in 1950.
Russell's greatest single source of strength was his
stand against President Truman’s civil-rights program,
particularly his statement, repeated over and again during
the primary campaign, that as Democratic Presidential
nominee he would repudiate any FEPC plank written
into the Democratic platform at the convention. On the
other hand, Kefauver stated that while he favored a
voluntary FEPC he would support a compulsory one if
the platform pledged it.
Florida’s population contains many transplanted
Northerners, but it has many more transplanted South-
erners. For example, it is estimated that some 300,000
transplanted Georgians live here (to say nothing of
those whose ancestry is Georgian), and many of them
worked for Russell. In addition, squads of Georgia
“minute men” with tri-colored cockades invaded the state
to drum up enthusiasm for Russell.
A striking feature of the primary was the boldness
of the conservative tactics, which were even more daring
than those employed in the Pepper-Smathers campaign of
1950. In the closing days of the primary, Russell spoke
alongside Fulton Lewis, Jr., at a meeting of the Asso-
ciated Industries. Banks and building and loan associa-
tions displayed Russell pledge cards.
Nevertheless, Kefauver had some advantages. The )
most important was popular resentment over the gang-
_ sters, gamblers, and racketeers who for many years have
been operating in the state, and the general disgust with
political corruption and the low tone of official morality
the country over. Some of the Kefauver Committee’s
most sensational charges were made during its Miami sit-
tings, and these deeply disturbed the public.
476
’ to the women voters, and women’s organizations sprang
Ree. Shaan
ps: ‘ennessee Senator has” a good id hance t ie i
Democratic nomination while Russell has not.
were impressed by Kefauver’s victories in the Norther
primaries and often remarked that for the first time in.
century a Southerner might actually be elected Pres
dent; that-a vote for Kefauver would not be wastec
while a vote for Russell would be thrown away. To com-"
bat the appeal of this argument, Russell’s forces stressed)
their candidate's loyalty to the national party and main
tained that his prospects of being nominated were excel-
lent. On the night his candidacy was launched in Af+
lanta, the Senator showed extremé
annoyance when the chairman of
the Georgia Democratic State Com-
mittee declared that “the Seuth will
sit at the head of the Democratic
table or we won't sit at all.” Inj
every speech Russell insisted that if
nominated he would surely win 148 electoral votes fro
the South, and that these, with only 118 additional votes
from the North, would safely elect him. “Whe doubts
that I can get these 118 votes from the remaining thirty?
five states?” he would ask.
It was claimed that Russell was not a bona-fide can-
didate for the nomination, that he merely wanted to go to
the Democratic convention with enough delegate strength
to be in a bargaining position, that he would net even’
have entered the Florida primary if that position had
not been challenged by Kefauver’s entry. Toward the
end of the campaign Pepper charged that Russell’s fol-
Jowers were largely Dixiecrats who were planning a
bolt.
Pro-Kefauver speakers advised Russell to go after the
Republican nomination, saying that he has a good deal)
in common with Republican Senator Mundt, who at that}
very time was campaigning for Russell in Mississippi.
It was intimated that Russell was being used as an in-|
strument by those intransigent Southern conservatives
who are working for a Republican-Dixiecrat alliance
either in the Electoral College itself or in the House of
Representatives, which would elect a President if no
candidate received a majority. To allay these doubts,
Russell, the night before the primary, declared cate-_
gorically, “I will not walk out of the convention in an
FEPC fight.”
Kefauver came through to the Florida voter as the
more authentic internationalist. He made a strong appeal
wis a the | Dn rey
aS
CValill
up throughout the state to campaign for him. The state’s
biggest labor organizations endorsed him and he, had
the suppott of a large number of the 112,000 Negroes _
registered for the Democratic primary. The St. Peters-
burg T/mes, Florida’s foremost liberal. daily, did yeoman
service for the Tennessean. State’s attorney general
The NATION
Eat 7“
proved | fe be an oe a stacally able
! igner—friendly, imaginative, soft-spoken, out-
en, and indefatigable in shaking hands on sireet
ets, in filling stations, in stores, in factories. He was
stateful to leave the impression that where Russell was
c Reeined he was no mud-slinger—an impression: that
Russell did not trouble to give—and this helped him
with the voters. His eighty-year-old father campaigned
umong the old folks and made a decided hit; his attrac-
ive young wife filled engagements the Senator couldn't
make time for, and even the-pro-Russell newspapers
raised her vivacity and charm.
| The outcome was close and certainly no mandate for a
bolt. Even conservative Democrats, leaders and rank and
file alike, for the most part voted for Russeil in the be-
lief that Democratic differences should be aired inside
the party. Russell himself publicly endorsed this view.
- Russell was a candidate in 1948 and received strong
I d delegate support from the South. But when he failed to
. vin the nomination or even to soften the platform reso-
|
:
7 {N WEST AFRICA, where there are no white settlers
but only traders and officials, the populous British
olonies of Nigeria and the Gold Coast have recently
won a inter measure of self-government. This develop-
ment is “disastrous” in the eyes of Premier Malan of the
Jnion of South Africa, the only part of the Dark Con-
Mtinent where whites comprise even a sizable minority of
Pthe population. His government, which hopes to arrest
Mthe rising tide of African nationalism by establishing
white supremacy on an impregnable basis, is occupied
in n sweeping away such meager constitutional safeguards
bas the vast native majority of the country now enjoys.
® Caught between these cross currents, fearing both the
thrust. of Malanism, which is anti-British as well as
ai ati-native, and the African demand for equal rights,
he white settlers of British Central Africa have long
Bright salvation in unity. They desire a federal govern-
ment for the three territories—Southern Rhodesia,
HWorthern Rhodesia, and Nyasaland—to control com-
Munications and economic development. That, it 1s
aimed, would make possible the better exploitation of
| the very large potential wealth of the area, now hin-
| dered by artificial boundaries and conflicting interests.
4 ilroad extension would facilitate the movement of
coal from Southern Rhodesia’s enormous Wankie field
.
!
,
i
i
i;
if 3a
oe
[ay y 17, 1952
out of the es there is even less iounee for a bolt
_ now than there was in 1948. Moreover, the international
crisis has intensified since 1948, and Southern conserva-
tive Democrats, like Southern liberal Democrats, for the
most part are not prepared to return to isolation or to
support a foreign policy which gives priority to Asia over
Europe; hence in the end Southern conservatives are not
likely to allow themselves to become stalking horses fora
Taft-MacArthur foreign policy. And should Eisenhower
be nominated by the Republicans, the pressure for a
Dixiecrat third party would be still further weakened,
for in voting for Eisenhower on the Republican ticket,
conservative Southern Democrats could simultaneously
strike at Truman’s domestic policies, which they dislike,
and support his foreign policies, which they like.
Had Russell run in a Florida primary in 1948 he
would probably have won by a bigger margin, for there
was no Kefauver to oppose him. Yet while Florida re-
jected Pepper’s bid for the presidency in 1948 and
voted for Russell in the convention, it rolled up a hand-
some lead for Truman in the November election.
De iral Africa in Black and White
BY KEITH HUTCHISON
to the fuel-starved copper mines of Northern Rhodesia.
Development of the tremendous power resources of
the Victoria Falls and other Zambezi River sites would
benefit all three colonies. A unified market would as-
sist the growth of Southern Rhodesia’s secondary in-
dustries.
From the native point of view, however, the eco-
nomic advantages of federation are much less obvious
than the political disadvantages. They see it as a threat
to the existing safeguards against discrimination, and
still more as a barrier to future democratic advance.
It would mean, said Chief Masokatwane of Northern
Rhodesia in a recent London interview, “self-govern-
ment for white people—handing us over to the Euro-
pean settlers whom we do not trust.”
At present the political status of the three terri-
tories differs widely. Southern Rhodesia is a dominion
whose self-government is limited only in respect to
foreign affairs and by the British Government's rather
tenuous power to protect native interests. But it is
self-government by and for Europeans, who consti-
tute about one-twelfth of the whole population. For
while on paper there is no color bar at the polling
booth, in practice educational and income qualifications
deprive all but a handful of Africans of the franchise.
477
OE 2 yes i" . » Sey Fe)
Northern Rhodesia and Nyasaland are both protec:
torates under the tutelage of the Colonial Office and
governed in conformity with the principle laid down by
a joint select committee of the British Parliament in
1931: “The interests of the overwhelming majority of
the indigenous population should not be subordinated
to those of a minority belonging to another race.”
Thus in Northern Rhodesia the white settlers, number-
ing some 30,000 out of a total population of about
1,500,000, elect only a minority of the members of the
legislative council; and in any case the governor, who
represents the British Crown, has full veto powers.
Nyasaland, where the European population is minute,
is administered by a governor assisted by executive and
legislative councils which he nominates.
The protectorate is a very unsatisfactory form of
government to. the white settlers, particularly the ag-
Bressive group in Northern Rhodesia. They want “'self-
government’ so that they can deal with “the native
problem,” obtain more land, and hasten economic
development without constant interference from White-
hall. They support federation because, as their chief
spokesman has said, “it offers our best chance of
breaking with the Colonial Office.”
The Africans, on the other hand, cling to Colonial
Office rule despite the fact that in many ways it has
failed to carry out the principles of trusteeship. Thus
the color bar operates in Northern Rhodesia, where, for
example, no native is allowed to hold a skilled job in
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3
CHUANALAND ,ee"*°***
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Indian Ocean
Sailevacabossedes
oo?
UNIGN OF
SOUTH AFRICA
Scale of Miles
500 1000
Proposed Central African Federation
478
fe unable to acquice political power, the Aftian
hat the way to gradual democratic progress will
main open. a Ag
The opposition to federation arises from a belief th:
it would mean domination of the region by Seuthert
Rhodesia and the extension to the protectorates o
Southern Rhodesian native policies, Those policies we
described in a letter to the London Times of April 29,
signed by members of the African delegation to the
London Conference on Central African Fedesation, as”
more nearly- akin to those of the Union of South’
Africa than to those of any other British territory
“The two races,” the letter declared, “ate segregated
in different areas of land by law. . . . No African may
own land in any town, and an African may hive in a
“location” near a town only while employed by a
European. No skilled work may be done by an African
in any urban area. No African trade union is legally
recognized. An African requires a ‘pass’ to move from
one district to another.” . |
This list of disabilities suffered by the African in
habitants of Southern Rhodesia, which might be greatly
extended, goes far to explain why the native representa-)
tives from the protectorates are so suspicious ef the
white man’s motives that they refused to participate
in the London conference called to draft a plan fo
federation. Although this plan, which has not yet been
published, is believed to contain various constitutional
safeguards for native interests, the Africans are un-
likely to be impressed. The recent history of South
Africa has made it all too plain that such safeguards
may prove scraps of paper. Africans are skeptical too m
about the talk of “partnership between the races”
which has been a favorite theme with advocates of
federation. This term has not been clearly defined
but Africans suspect, not unjustly, that in practice it
would turn out to be the kind of relation that exists
between the farmer and his draft-oxen. F
There can, in fact, be no genuine partnership be-~ ff)...
tween races in Africa until the Europeans agree to drop
the color bar and accept the principle, once proclaimed fibre;
by Cecil Rhodes: ‘Equal rights for all civilized-men.” 7 te
That would mean giving Africans a chance to acquire] 1
skills and to rise to any position their ability warranted; gh
the grant of full equality before the law; the ending
of all qualifications for the franchise other than litera me
—in short, renunciation of the whole doctrine of whité ig
supremacy. Failing this, the African, as a special cor
respondent of the Economist wrote on January 26, will
react “by rejecting ‘partnership’ as a sham and defiantl
proclaiming his own brand of ‘black supremacy.’ Aftery
all, in Africa, there are far more Africans than Euro
peans; if there cannot be genuine partnership, the
let numbers alone count.”
[HE USES OF RELIGION
BY JOSEPH WOOD KRUTCH
A GENERATION ago only the re-
£4 ligious were interested in religion.
ost “intellectuals,” most scientists,
_ most sociologists assumed that it
“was, at most, a survival not destined to
survive much longer. Today members
f these same groups write books about
and religion is assumed once more to
lave a future as well as a past.
Two recent symposia* are cases in
t. In the first, twenty-nine “‘intel-
* discuss the subject as it pre-
itself to a predominantly literary
garde; in the second, nineteen
mewhat more diverse persons—sociol-
, Christian clergymen, rabbis, phi-
los psophers, etc.—address themselves to
the same topic, Despite the titles, “Re-
bs on and the Intellectuals” is the more
directly concerned with “culture” in the
)Marttow sense of the term; “Religious
Faith and World Culture” more con-
cerned with the political and economic
aspects of the problem. The twenty-
mine make confessions of faith or the
lack of it; the nineteen are more likely
“to ask whether society can cohere when
deprived of some set of basic assump-
tions commonly accepted which a re-
pe supplies,
Inevitably there are some desperate
Bicolvements with the difficulties of
Bennition and among the “intellectuals”
here is universal agreement on no sin-
Fac point. There are, for example, those
who deny that “intellectuals” really have
become interested in religion and others
who deny that they ever ceased to be.
en Tate begins, “I believe in God
the. Father’ Almighty, Creator of Heaven
and Earth”; Meyer Schapiro begins,
he recurrent interest in religion today
$ a sign that the great effort of emanci-
| pation that began three centuries ago
)hhas not been successful, or at least has
)mot completed its work.” Nevertheless,
One finishes the discussion with the
)
fF
[
(fe
{
|
]
r
i
| *Religion and the Intellectuale. Partisan Re-
| view pesics, Number Three, 80 cents.
g Faith and World Culture, Edited by
0 ava Prentice-Hall. $5.
/ 17, 1952
ense that there has been, on the whole,”
a tendency to agree, first, that to call’
oneself an intellectual is less likely now
than it was a few years ago to imply
a definite lack of sympathy with every-
thing which can reasonably be called
“religion’’; and, second, that this fact
may mean at least a little more than a
superficial change in fashion.
Several of the “‘intellectuals” are
nevertheless very acutely aware of the
fact that the avant-garde sympathy with
religion is often no more than an intel-
lectual affectation, and without denying
that it is sometimes genuine, more than
one makes shrewdly satiric thrusts at
the shallowness of what sometimes
passes for a religious attitude, Thus, on
the subject of those who have concluded
that religion is necessary to culture,
Hannah Arendt observes: “The idea of
somebody making up his mind to believe
in God, follow His Commandments,
praying to Him and going regularly to
church, so poets again may have some
inspiration and culture be ‘integrated,’
is simply exhilarating. . . . One cannot
escape the question of truth and there-
fore cannot treat the whole matter as
though God had been the notion of
some especially clever pragmatist who
knew what it is good for.” From a re-
lated point of view Robert Graves pays
his respects to the Evelyn Waughs who
boast their orthodoxy without show-
ing any disposition either to sell all they
have to follow Jesus or even to work
for the conversion of unbelievers.
When he knew Waugh and Graham
Greene at Oxford, both “appeared to be
impressed only by the dramatic possi-
bilities of the confessional and by the .
church’s amusingly strict stand on the
Seventh Commandment.” In a some-
what similar vein William Barrett com-
pares the attitude of certain intellectuals
who “‘seem to have discovered a very
salable commodity—a suave but vague
‘spiritual rhetoric’ that gives many peo-
ple the illusion they are somehow get-
ting more than they are willing to pay
for,’’ with that of the Christian business
man of the twenties who interpreted
Jesus as a successful business executive.
And he wonders what a certain tense
young man who smokes, drinks, and—
so far as one can guess—practices birth
control could possibly have meant when
he rose in a public gathering to assure
Mr. Nehru that “we intellectuals in
America want you to know how much
Gandhi means to us.”
WITH this aspect of the matter “Re-
ligion and World Culture” concerns it-
self little, but the two symposia are
drawn together by a question to which
all the “‘intellectuals’’ were asked to
reply. Is “the present revival of re-
ligion” due to “the worldwide failure
and defeat of a real radical movement
in politics’ and to ‘a renunciation of
hopes for any fundamental social im-
provement”? And the group to which
this question was not specifically posed
is the group which seems most united
in a sort of implied answer to it and
which takes what might be called the
more consistently secular attitude. Most
of even those members who are profes-
sionally concerned with religion seem
to assume that religion is important
chiefly because of its social utility and
have little to say of the religious experi-
ence as a personal thing or of what
salvation for an individual soul may
mean. In one way or another most of
them are occupied with the question
whether or not religion can oppose the
the evils which accompany world revo-
lution, technological development, stat-
ism, or what not.
In other words, both the question ac-
tually posed to the intellectuals and the
answer to it which seems often accepted
by the members of the other group tend
to prejudice the discussion because they
are thoroughly secular. They seem to
assume that both the real cause and the
teal importance of any phenomenon
must necessarily be sociological, and
thereby incline if they do not actually
force the reader to conclude that any
“revival of religion’’ must be, not a
religious or even a philosophical move-
ment, but simply a “reaction” to some-
thing more fundamental. Marianne
Moore implies a protest when she
writes as the first of a characteristic
series of detached sentences, ‘“The help-
lessness of individuals and of society I
479
attribute to breakdown in the indi-
vidual.” R. P. Blackmur, on the other
hand, states very simply and explicitly a
thesis which the habits of mind
dominant in the phrasing of the ques-
tionnaire led its formulators to over-
Jook. “I should not suppose that the
sevival of religion is in any. way a
result of the failure of radical politics,
nor that religion could remedy any
breakdown in the organization of so-
ciety. I should prefer to believe the
political failure and breakdown in or-
ganization resulted from prior or paral-
Jel failure of response to religious
experience.”
Considered from this point of view—
and I think it is the most fruitful one—
the “revival of religion” is not, strictly
speaking, either religious or a revival,
for nothing, neither a religion nor any-
thing else, has actually been revived.
What has really come about is simply
the realization that naturalistic positiv-
ism has not worked very well and that
it has not worked very well because it
has failed to establish those norms of
conduct which the individual as well as
society needs for successful living. What
“the intellectuals” have been experienc-
ing is less the discovery of a faith than
the loss of one—the loss, that is to say,
of their faith in irreligion, for late-
nineteenth and early-twentieth-century
naturalism was a positive and not merely
a negative thing, the declaration of
a conviction that scientific materialism,
relativism, and doubt were capable of
supplying whatever we need to live by.
Thus the so-called “revival of religion”
4s a loss of faith in skepticism rather
than a decline in skepticism about faith.
And that of course explains why the
positive aspects of the ‘revival’ are so
shoddy; why “‘intellectuals’” so often
either adopt Waugh’s pietist snobbery
of, even more commonly, profess, not
their belief in God, but their conviction
that it would be a fine thing for “cul-
ture” if everybody did believe. Strachey
once remarked that whereas to most
Victorians the loss of their religion was
the shedding of a burden, there were a
few, like Clough, to whom it seemed
the loss of a portmanteau full of neces-
sary articles which they spent the rest of
their lives looking for. Most intellec-
tuals belonged formerly to the first
class; more and more of them have been
joining the second.
480
is simply that
Marxist determinism, wi tie are
pologist’s relativism are alike incapable
of providing certain things which we
cannot get along without. To accept any
one of them as a complete account of
reality is to find ourselves in a position
where it is impossible to believe either
that one thing is better, absolutely, than
another or that we are capable of decid-
ing to do one thing rather than another.
It is to deny free will and to declare that
all value judgments ar ultimately in-
valid. Neither the individual nor society
can function successfully under such
conditions.
I strongly doubt that any considerable
number of “intellectuals” find either
the concept of revelation or Christian-
ity as an institution congenial in itself.
Mysteries, sacraments, dogmas, and
scholastic metaphysics are all stumbling-
blocks. But a Christian can believe in
the effectiveness of his own decisions,
and he can make value judgments. To
gain these two inestimable privileges a
considerable number of people, seeing
no other way of achieving them, make
a desperate effort to believe that they
can accept a faith upon which they were
once based.
The Chinese-Soviet Axis
MAO’S CHINA; PARTY REFORM
DOCUMENTS, 1942-44. Translation
and Introduction by Boyd Compton.
University of Washington Press.
$4.50.
NE cause of the current open season
on China specialists has been a
bifurcation in the American approach to
Chinese communism, Formerly, Ameri-
can specialists on China seldom worked
on international communism, while spe-
cialists on communism seldom worked
on China. The result was that those who
approached the Chinese Communist rev-
olution by way of Moscow could see it
as mainly an achievement of the Comin-
tern, or at least of the Leninist philoso-
phy and technique of revolution. Those
who approached the same scene, how-
ever, by way of China’s domestic his-
tory over the last century could see a
steadily developing revolutionary move-
ment within China which, in its latest
phase, had been “‘captured’”’ by the Com-
munist leadership. Henceforth neither of
for the iia
China. The internecine Sinological
fare of recent months may centinue i
some measure until these two appedsllll
are synthesized and resolved into one,
but resolved they must be, sooner or
Jater. We shall have no Chima policy
adequate to our needs until we under-
stand how China today can be er
Chinese and Communist.
Boyd Compton's volume, “Mao’
China,”
“party reform documents” from th
period 1942-44 can give American
readers direct insight into the Leninist
ideology which underlies Maoism. Mr
Compton has translated a score of ke !
statements by Mao and other Chinese
party leaders, excluding writings of
Stalin and other non-Chinese which were®
used in the reform movement but are
already available in English. The result-
ing volume is one of the University of
Washington publications on Asia spon- 4
sored by its Far Eastern and Russian
Institute and published with the assist-
ance of the International Secretariat of
the Institute of Pacific Relations.
Mr.
of the Chinese Communist Party during
the early years of the anti-Japanese war:
In its war bases in North China—the
“border region” and the “libetated
areas’’—the party found itself facing
great opportunities and dangers. As part
of its united-front line, it supported”
“coalition governments” in which Com-
munists, Nationalists, and non-party per
sons were equally represented in form,
even though the Communists held the
final power in the background. Similarly
in this ““Yenan” period, the Communists
made an appeal both to the tenants and -
the landlords by seeking a reduction of
rent and interest rates, yet at the same
time guaranteeing rent and interest pay-
ments.
The very moderation of this progra
by which the Communists gained
hegemony and local power in North
China created severe internal problems
within the party. During the war against
Japan the party membership increased 9
some twelvefold. A tremendous number
of enthusiastic youth and patriotic fol-
lowers of Mao’s “new democracy” had
The NATION
Compton’s illuminating forty- ;
page introduction analyzes the position”
is
provides important documenta? Hy ~
tion for this purpose. His selection of
al
D sen
fon
lt tal I
sh the
all) aj
iKOW.
ia i
ist
this §
in of
th
ia
MS 4
LS
dn
lay
te
Md) |
sic y had remained
and committed to “democratic
.” To complicate this problem,
ar bases were separated among the
nese-held communication routes.
ntralized control through the move-
nent of personnel or a central police
ower was all but impossible. In a situa-
jon where radio contact was the main
hesive device, a great premium had to
e put upon ideological, as opposed to
‘administrative, unity. Mr. Compton sees
re party-ceform (Cheng-feng) move-
t as principally an effort to use the
ans for maintaining unified control,
using the level of political sophistica-
of the party membership, assimilat-
ing the new recruits of the war-time
deriod, and thereby regulating the course
f the party's growth and political de-
iv lopment,
| The reform movement was inaugu-
ied by Mao in February, 1942. It was
e forerunner of the present-day move-
ment for study, self-criticism, and in-
festigation, which now has reached a
more violent level on a broader plane.
‘A decade ago, however, self-criticism
and public confession were already
i inese Communist techniques, al-
though Mr. Compton believes the move-
‘ment did not become and should not
‘be called a ‘“‘purge” in the usual Rus-
n sense of the term.
_ From the internal-party point of
view, Mr. Compton suggests that the
reform movemént was used by Mao to
effect the fina! consolidation of his lead-
ership as against that of the group of
or -trained Chinese Communists
t nder Wang Ming, who had remained
e his chief rivals since their return from
Russia in the early 1930's. As evidence
or this thesis he cites the fact that none
: these reform documents was produced
pss Russia-returned group, A major
efott of the “ideological remolding”
was “the eradication of dogmatism—
dogmatism of ali types, but principally
idogmatic imitation of Russian models.”
IThis did not mean a repudiation of
Ste inism at all, but rather a repudiation
of yf dogmatic theorizing. ““Mao’s idea of a
real theoretician in 1942 was one who
hs ad done as much organizing as he had
weading. The object of the movement
s the bolshevization of the Chinese
lay 17, 1952
ted into Bente wae in in party in the sense that the Chinese Com-
-munists took a ‘greatly intensified inter-
est in any lessons it could take from the g
experience of the Russian party.’” ff
Mao’s “new democracy” had already ac- §
cepted the Stalinist interpretation of §
Chinese history and the orthodox bol- }
shevik view of the class struggle and of &
the function and organization of the cen-
tralized party. The net result was a
“greatly increased rate of absorption”
of the Russian message for the Chinese i
revolution.
The greatest significance of Cheng-
feng was Mao’s insistence that Marxism 4.
be made Chinese. This effort at the Sini- §
fication of Marxism and the develop-
ment of writings which were Marxist §
in principle but Chinese in content,
contributed to the final amalgam—
a Chinese Communist doctrine (“Mao-
ism’) based on orthodox Stalinism. This
provides the occasion for China’s being
today the junior partner in an axis,
rather than a satellite of the Eastern
European variety.
As we watch the application of the
Maoist adaptation of Stalinism to the
Chinese scene, we are not likely to
find reassurance that Communist China
must soon break with Russia, On the
contrary, we should derive a keener
sense of the failure of the West in the
generation before the 1940's to offer
China an adaptation of its own prin-
ciples which could be more effectively
applied to meet the needs of Chinese
life. This was, of course, a task for
Chinese leadership in China, not for
Westerners; yet the fact remains that the
liberal-democratic West was not able
to provide an equally streamlined
method for the organization and con-
solidation of revolutionary power. The
American people, who had contributed
so much to the development of China’s
social revolution, could not suggest to
the new China how her political revolu-
tion might be organized and chan-
nelized. Political revolutions, of course,
gravitate toward dictatorship, and we
have few teachings to offer to dictators.
Yet it seems plain that the organization
of power in China was the essential in-
gredient which the Western democratic
model could not provide. Indeed, this
. lack had already been acknowledged
by Sun Yat-sen when he turned to
Comintern help in 1923 and by Chiang
Kai-shek thereafter when he based his
ANEURIN
BEVAN
states his
deepest beliefs
Bevan is one of the most contro
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NEURIN BEVAN's In
' Place Of Fear is just pub-
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1 = jaration of the deepest beliefs
of the miner's son who may be
Great Britain’s next prime min-
ister—the only man in the Labor
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Magazine, can “stand up to
Churchill and trade him blow
for oratorical blow.”
His book is the first complete
statement of the kind of life that
an important segment of the
British electorate seeks for the
individual citizen. It is pre-
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side lines, but by the man who,
as Minister of Health and Hous-
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the furiously debated National
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Bevan and his supporters look
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Soviet Union, and includes a
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cold war.
IN PLACE
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SIMON AND SCHUSTER
481
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HILL, in sum, is Wyndham
Lewis’ judgment on post-war
Britain.” — New York Times
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VANTAGE PRESS, 230 W. 41 St., New York 36
In Calif.: 6356 Hollywood Bivd., Hollywood 28
THE MONK
By MATTHEW G. LEWIS
Intreduction by John Berryman
452 Pages $4.75
NEVER BEFORE AVAILABLE
IN AMERICA IN ITS ORIGINAL
UNEXPURGATED EDITION
John Berryman calls the original text of
the novel “one of the authentic prodigies
in English fiction; and yet it has never
quite become a standard novel, Several
reasons for this must be its intermittent
unavailability, its reputation for eroticism,
its not being reinforced by excellence in
Lewis’ other imaginative work, so that it
has had to stand alone.”
0 CS ae ee Ce ee ee es ee ee ee
GROVE PRESS, 50 W. $ St., New York
oO Soa Enclosed [) Charge to my account
Gentlem -
Ple sae) copies of THE
Band) roo ose
MONK by Matthew @. Lewis at $4.75.
IN a en
power increasingly on
oes
apparatus. It is still = sate fois
which Western democracy faces in Asia.
J. K. FAIRBANK
Gothic Novel
THE MONK. By Matthew Gregory
Lewis. The Grove Press: $4.75.
MONK” was written in 1794
when its author was nineteen. It
was enormously popular for some years,
gained him the sobriquet of “Monk
Lewis,” the friendship, later, of Byron
and Scott, and the reputation of having
written one memorable book. After the
third edition it was expurgated, though
what was deleted to suit contemporary
proprieties is no more shocking than
what was allowed to remain. Little read
since the early nineteenth century, it has
been reprinted in its entirety by the
Grove Press with a valuable introduction
by John Berryman.
It is an authentic prodigy of great
aesthetic and psychological interest, a
sensational example of how far a novel-
ist whose experience must have been
slight can go on little more—but how
important these are “The Monk” wit-
nesses—than imagination and feeling.
Further, Lewis followed a fashion in
writing which regularly produced bad
novels, this one, and “The Mysteries of
Udolpho” and “The Italian” by Ann
Radcliffe excepted. The fashion was that
of the Gothic novel, a kind of fiction
which succeeded very well for a few
decades in disturbing pleasantly the
nervous systems of idle women. It was
derided by the best critics of its brief
day, but it, and ‘The Monk” in particu-
lar, did influence, along with many
others, Scott, Hoffmann, Poe, Haw-
thorne, and Emily Bronté.
The triple plot has all the trappings of
such fiction, touching on, to list a few
characters and ‘‘subjects,” one unjustly
imprisoned and one ghostly and bleed-
ing nun—Coleridge found the tale of
the latter “truly terrific’—a villainous
ptioress, the wandering Jew, a baleful
beauty who sells herself, most profitably,
to the Devil, rape, incest, matricide,
three serious cases of injured innocence,
bandits, ruined castles, ‘and the Spanish
Inquisition.
Ambrosio, the monk of the title, gives
life to some of these clichés; his history
soars above the others, though the book
is” 5 highly 2 read da ea ' a who
triumph of the. Th agin n.
he comes of a long line oy
Roman Catholic clerics invented by
Protestant propaganda. But he is +
a genuinely Faustian character. Lewi
rationalism is superficial and conven.
tional. As he writes he genuflects reg
larly and perfunctorily before th
eighteenth-century detestation of whg
was usually called “monkish supersti:
tion” and then hastens about his rea
business, the formulation of the thought
and’ feeling of a man who manages,
slowly but utterly, to damn himself,
though to make damnation certain he
must summon up the Devil.
We are told in the opening chapte
that Ambrosio, the idolized confessor
and preacher to a vaguely sketched
Renaissance Madrid, is at heart a hypo
crite, proud and vengeful, his origina
goodness corrupted by his training. Un.
til he is thirty, however, his outer life
is innocent. Lust is the beginning of
his ruin. Ht is first aroused by Matilda,|
herself a remarkable creation, who, oul
of what she considers platonic passion
contrives to live with him disguised as aj”
novice. The rapid shifts from mutualg™
self-deception about what they seek from
one another to mutual seduction and
then to satiety on Ambrosio’s pam are
finely drawn. Then, in a crescendo, he
seems to take the management of the
book into his own hands. He falls i
love with the pathetic Antonia. Love
becomes lust, and he murders her mothe
when she interrupts him in attempted
rape. He succeeds at a second effort, but
hard on success comes self-loathing and
remorse. By this time the officers of the
Inquisition are at the door and he signs
a contract with the Devil too late te
sa\e himself from minutely described
earthly torments and consignment to
eternal flames.
Lewis makes all this very important.
His imagination and his feeling infus¢
the most tritely shocking situations with
life and meaning. He never loses sigh
of the center of his imagined panorama
an immortal soul is in baiance.
novel gets better and better toward th
end as the other characters disapped
and Ambrosio is left almost alone with
the Evil which attracts and repels him baal
For Lewis had a fully developed if not
subtle awareness of Evil and was able
give a convincing body to his amiga a=
; The ag ON
an
an
al ao to be appearance
of ‘The Monk” has diminished the
i capacity for feeling and believing as
spontaneously and as strongly as he did,
- reading him—this boy !—one cannot
| avoid sharing, if only for the moment,
his central preoccupation.
. ERNEST JONES
ne But a Painter”
“GUSTAVE COURBET. By Gerstle
_ Mack. Alfred A. Knopf. $6.
- COURBET. Texte de Pierre MacOrlan.
Paris: Editions du Dimanche (at
Wittenborn and Company, $8.75).
HIS valuable biographies of Cé-
zanne and Toulouse-Lautrec, Ger-
7")
Ie Dike statuce. All three are eta com-
_ pilations of fact in chronological order.
AS such, they provide indispensable ref-
E “erence points for critical interpretation
which Mack leaves for others. The
sixty illustrations, of rather poor qual-
_ ity, combine documentary photographs
: with an adequate selection of Courbet’s
work. A full index is included, as well
as notes to sources and a map of the
_ Besangon-Ornans region, where Cour-
_ bet painted when he was not in Paris,
and of western Switzerland, where he
} - spent his final years in exile.
a “Shout loudly and march straight
. ahead!” This maxim, which Courbet
i
ty
,
a
a
inherited from his grandfather, became
a sort of leit-motif for Courbet him-
self. His conceit was (like his nudes)
ieee but his joviality made it en-
_ durable, even as his massive good looks
thade it plausible. For sheer aggressive
virility among painters, Goya and per-
' haps Caravaggio are his only real com-
_ petitors. A living rival in another field,
once accused of wearing false hair on
"his chest, is hardly in the running.
. Courbet was ‘‘nothing but a painter,”
be says Mack, referring to his misadven-
' tures in politics and elsewhere. This is
ie so exactly true that one may fairly ask
i how much any biography of Gustave
_ Courbet can reveal of the artist by the
_ same name. His social origins are cét-
| tainly relevant, as is the geography of
his homeland. In addition, the facts of
| his life clarify the literal-mindedness
which sometimes inspired and sometimes
ay 17, 1952
y
SOTA es
i
iL.
ti to observe, in the Mull. detail
that Mack affords, that Courbet’s
healthy sensuality was as strong—and as
external—in his life as it was in his art.
In a much too flowery essay, Mac-
Orlan attempts an interpretation of
Courbet. The most interesting part of it
relates the hunting pictures to Courbet’s
own prowess as a huntsman. Here life
and art overlap in a sort of “natural
brutality.” But Courbet was also ca-
pable of a distinctly erotic tenderness,
which in certain passages rivals Correg-
gio (Sleeping Girls, for example). The
common factor in this paradox, Mac-
Orlan suggests, is the sensation of
physical touch. In Courbet, hand and
brush are hardly distinguishable: one
was the extension of the other.
The plaes accompanying MacOr-
lan’s essay, particularly the superb de-
tails, make this clear enough. In addi-
tion, they extend the range of Courbet’s
work beyond Mack’s somewhat conven-
tional selection of examples. Lot and
his Daughters, a rarely reproduced early
work (wrongly described by Mack), is
included; but there are no still-lifes, no
Etretat cliffs, and none of the late, sur-
prisingly ethereal marines. I do not
mean The Wave, which is, after all, a
kind of self-portrait,
S. LANE FAISON, JR.
After Reconstruction
ORIGINS OF THE NEW SOUTH,
1877-1913. By C. Vann Woodward.
A History of the South, IX. Edited
by Wendell Holmes Stephenson and
E. Merton Coulter. Louisiana State
University Press. $6.50.
E ARE in favor,” announced a
Vicksburg, Mississippi, editor in
1881, ‘‘of the South, from the Potomac
to the Rio Grande, being thoroughly
and permanently Yankeeized.” His
whole section might have subscribed to
another newspaper headline: “MEN
OF MILLIONS TO REDEEM THE
SOUTH.” Never before had rape been
so “desperately sought, implored, ca-
joled.”” Symbolic of the return of the
South to the restored Union and of its
willing subordination to Northern in-
dustrial dominance was the marriage of
a North Carolina belle to the seventy-
one-year-old oil magnate, Henry M.
Flagler, who commemorated his con-
ate a MN feck? ie
oye 1 his : plastic penne . tee is re-
ROFESSOR BRITTAIN’s
new book is.an eye-opener,
It reveals a new science as mar-
velous as atomic physics: the
brilliant experiments being
made by the “food hunters” all
over the world. It is a smash-
ing affirmative answer to those
who claim we are all headed
for mass starvation. Here are
a few of the discoveries and
experiments described:
38” How the oceans are being
farmed and mined with a view
toward some day producing even
more food than we get from the
land. Pages 101, 106, 108
BE How the accidental discovery
of antrycide can wipe out Africa’s
scourge of sleeping sickness and
open vast new areas for cultiva-
tion. Page 173
BS” How Israeli scientists are
using dew to produce more food.
Page 26
B=- The challenging discovery of
the vast lake of pure fresh water
that runs for hundreds of miles
deep under the Sahara. Page 40
BS~ How UNESCO is laying the
&roundwork for transforming two
and a half million square miles
of Amazon jungle into productive
living space for tens of millions
of people. Page 61
LET THERE BE BREAD
By ROBERT BRITTAIN. With a foreword
by Lord John Boyd Orr. 244 Pages. $3.
SIMON AND SCHUSTER, PUBLISHERS
483
.
eS PSS a ES eer : erage oer git
: Sw et ? = -
im LAS =z ras ;
SPSS pee ae ae Es Peeper
a a a a Nate eee ee
—_ rr
tit to
quest by erecting a $2,500, 000 0 pales
for his bride at Palm Beach, |
The process by which the Southern
states, after four desperate years of
Civil War and a decade of Reconstruc-
tion disorder, became reintegrated into
the economy and politics of the Union
has been a subject little explored by his-
torians. There are more than enough
books on the ante-bellum South,
slavery, the Confederacy, and the poli-
tics of Reconstruction, and on a later
era one has the invaluable work of
Howard Odum, Rupert Vance, and
V. O. Key; but the intervening era,
from Reconstruction to New Deal, has
remained a lost period to most Ameri-
can historians.
With the publication of C. Vann
Woodward's “Origins of the New
South, 1877-1913,” there can no longer
be any justification for ignoring a pe-
riod and a process which deserve care-
ful study. As one might expect from
Professor Woodward's earlier writings
on Southern history—“Tom Watson”
(1938), still the best biography of any
Populist leader, and “Reunion and Re-
action” (1951), an almost revolutionary
reappraisal of economic forces during
Reconstruction—this is a book that is
crammed with facts and with ideas.
Based upon vast research, presented
with critical objectivity, and written with
clarity and at times with wry wit,
Ope of “rns of he New Se
portant as it is prove ag
The most cutsiendlaaet ay oes
this latest, and perhaps best, volume in
the “History of the South,” being pub-
lished by the Louisiana State University
Press, is its lack of Southernness. This
is not a book about magnolias and happy
pickaninnies. Instead, it is a realistic
reappraisal of basic. social and eco-
nomic forces in the South seen against
a national background. If Ohio had a
John D. Rockefeller, North Carolina
had a James B. Duke, and not even
“the standard mustache and goatee’ of
the Southern robber baron could make
him differ very much from his Northern
counterpart. ‘Let buffalo gore buffalo,
and the pasture go to the strongest” was
the motto of the Bull Durham to-
bacco firm, and other Southerners
likewise attempted to apply social Dar-
winism to the post-war economic strug-
gle. They might talk with drawls or
dress like Confederate colonels, but
these captains of industry were as hard
and unscrupulous as they were success-
ful. Lending money to farmers at inter-
est rates of 43 per cent or more, ex-
ploiting mill labor at an hourly wage of
not quite 3 cents in 1890, extracting
favors from purchasable legislatures,
these champions of the New South liked
to fancy themselves as the successors of
the ante-bellum gentry. Writing of this
The NATION
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and undepicted, in oe
magnitude, that ever was,” He
James rightly saw “this reversion . ._
to the things of the heroic age, the fou
epic years,” as “a definite soothing
salve.”
Dissatisfaction and discontent with
these lords of creation could be heard, ©
but the protests were ineffective. The ~
Southern Negro was at the bottom of.
the economic order, and he remained >
there. Bourbons might exploit his vote:
or Populists disfranchise him, but it
made little difference so long as he was
virtually a peon on farm or in fac-
tory. His brief day of political achieve- —
ment during Reconstruction was for-
gotten, and his new leader, Booker T.¥
Washington, gave him soothing syrup!
in “a gospel of consexvatisan patience, »
and material progress.’ .
Southern white farmers were more @)
articulate but equally impotent. The ~
gains of the Farmers’ Alliance and the
Populist movements were bartered away —
in the shabby politicking of their
leaders, “With the agrarian radicals in J.
alliance with the party of big business ' B..
and the party of white supremacy in
combination with Negroes against #
lower-class whites,” Professor Wood-
ward observes, “it was little wonder
that the masses lost confidence and be-
came apathetic.” A Watson or a Till- §,
man of the 1890's, if often misguided, —
had some constructive proposals; a —
Blease or a Bilbo, who succeeded to
Southern leadership, never “rose above _
the level of an obscene clown.”
In one essential way, however, this §
“New South” was different from the ~
rest of the rapidly industrializing na- §
tion. With its late start and its heavy 7.
handicaps, the whole area became an |
economic colony of the Northeast.
Southern railroads, Southern _ stecl, -
Southern banking, Southern plantations
came under the control of Northern —
capital. Southern business leaders could —
migrate or remain as puppets in their —
native region. “Cut off from the better- ff
paying jobs and the higher opportuni- J
ties, the great majority of Southerners © }
were confined to the worn grooves of a ff
tributary economy. . . . The inevitable —
result was the further intensification of J
the old problems of worn-out soil, | pte
cut-over timber lands, and worked-out
mines.”
The Nation |
| erhaps one of the most hope-
things about the present-day South
fact that such Southerners-as Mr.
odward can think-so critically and
so clearly about its past.
DAVID DONALD
oe
“
|:
| | Films
MANNY.
FARBER
caer
|
| | A 4 the hands of non-intellectuals who
‘fa chieved, at best, the truth of Amer-
4 life and the excitement of
}
|
|
E
i
right locusts from the Broadway thea-
fers and radio stations descended on the
studios aad won Hollywood away from
he innocent, rough-and-ready directors
of actioa films. The big thing that hap-
-
TJOLLYWOOD films were once in
gg
} Ame ican movement in simple-minded
| action stories. Around 1940 a swarm of
j a
| pened was that a sort of intellectual
"whose eyes had been trained on the
“crowded, bound-in terrain of Times
| Square and whose brain had been sharp-
! ened on left-wing letters of the thirties,
“swerved Hollywood story-telling to-
}) ward fragmented, symbol-charged drama,
‘Closely viewed, erratically acted, and
|
| evident in the screen version of Dreiser's
| “Sister Carrie,” which is less important
for its story than for the grim social
“comment underscoring every shot.
» You first see Carrie Meeber, rural
| and naive (Jennifer Jones), rushing to
“get off a daycoach while a drummer
tells her she is making a mistake: “South
| Chicago? That’s the slums.” The re-
“mark, which makes a 1909 masher
sound like a 1952 social worker, is
| full of meanings that the movie audi-
id ; ence by now is wise to, and the writers
| need only touch on Carrie's first thread-
bare months in the city. The next few
| scenes are also immersed in social sig-
| nificance and accomplish the same kind
¢ eviously given to sniping at their own
society. What Welles, Kanin, Sturges,
aa d Huston did to the American film is
p
them shows a crabby foreman driving
Carrie so relentlessly that she runs a
| needle through her finger and loses her
job as a shoe-stitcher. Since the fore-
17, 1952
a
mean “pinch-
ay
¥
per ny,” and since his dialogue runs to
sentences like “Here’s a dollar, a whole
day's pay,” the spectator has picked up
a quick course in non-union labor in no
more than two minutes of screen time.
The most important aspect of all this
social significance is its prejudice against
Americans, who are being ridiculed in
films as completely as they were in the
writings of Mencken. In this movie, the
bias is managed, Mencken fashion, by
treating people as ‘“‘national’’ or “‘local”’
types rather than ordinary figures, and
then casting the roles with actors who
love to over-act uncharming traits. Car-
rie’s first amour is played by Eddie
Albert, whose portrayal of an American
“‘go-getter’’ consists of flashing a big, lop-
sided grin, twirling a heavy gold watch
and using his voice like a loud musical
instrument. Somehow the heroine, whose
strong point is her essential gentleness,
puts up with this caricature who opens
every conversation with either a belch
or a couplet: “Charley's the name,
charm’s the game!” When Carrie and
her second lover, the sleek restaurant
owner Hurstwood, skip to New York
with his partner’s money, they are
tracked down by a detective from the
Western Bonding Company. The acting
of this leering, gum-chewing slob is
rendered by Ray Teal, who has a pen-
chant for using one eye as though it be-
longed to a cruel pig and working a
tich, sneering sound into his voice.
-Hurstwood's decline takes him into a
Third Avenue hash house run by the
sort of confident, ruthless Irishman Bar-
try Kelley has been enacting since he
entered films. The cameraman helps
with floor-shots that exaggerate hiv huge
belly and the lazy, tyrannical way in
which he lolls in a chair. And finally,
Hurstwood’s wife, rich shrew that she
is, turns up near the end to trade him
a divorce for the rights to their Chicago
home. Miriam Hopkins plays the scene
by holding her mouth in a single grim
line and keeping a rigid, buzzard-like
look in her eyes.
One of the cardinal elements of the
Times Square technique introduced in
the era of “McGinty,” ‘Citizen Kane,”
“A Man to Remember,” and ‘The
Maltese Falcon” was the use of very
close, snarling presentation which put
the actors practically in a nose-to-nose
relationship with the movie spectator.
The entire production of “Carrie” is
thrown at you in shallow scenes, the
actors arranged parallel-fashion and
statically on the front plane of the
scene so that their physical presence is
overpowering. The film was fortunate
in having Laurence Olivier as the high-
powered Hurstwood, all delicacy, in-
telligence, and high style up to his last
weakened whispers on the Bowery. But
after an hour of close views Olivier be-
comes less a figure than a formidable
mustache, a mouth that has a tendency
to flap, and poignant hands that some-
times mimic the gestures of madonnas
in medieval painting. In one of the last
views of the pitiable Hurstwood his
ravaged face is exposed to Carrie as she
turns a lamp on it. The fact that Hurst-
wood is ashamed to show himself seems
next to ludicrous after an hour spent
watching his face disintegrate over most
of the screen.
“Carrie” is also fortunate in having
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485
Ter at Bie r wat Bat eR re) ac Ppa ease ay ote hehe
Kelley to look repugnant and slovenly =
ain
tas
i
7t es) meen rs
a handsome production all around, pags at pea
in the deliberate and magnified style to
which Hollywood has turned, lightness
of touch is impossible. When the cam-
era dollies slowly over the cubicles of a
flop-house (the big “‘art’’ scene) one
has the feeling that the director is work-
ing with material that is as heavy and
dignified as a Steinway grand inlaid with
precious stones.
“Outcast of the Islands.” A lesser
Conrad story, showing the evil con-
sequences of a tropical environment on a
chivalrous, well-meaning leech. Starring
Trevor Howard, who is surprisingly
credible as a feverishly bored ne’er-do-
well getting hot over a native girl who
confines all her acting to moving her
eyes. Despite some bad casting (Robert
Morley and his daughter), Director
Carol Reed has created an exceptional
film that entangles the spectator in
tropical textures and worries him with
the shame and guilt of a hero who be-
trays only his friends. Alongside Reed's
film, “African Queen” looks as if it
had been shot in Palm Beach.
Drama Note
F THEE I SING” (Ziegfeld Thea-
ter) is worth going to, of course,
just for the music. Aside from that, it
is still funny and gay and in this long-
30% Less than List on LP Records
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GERTRUDE LAWRENCE
Io A New Musical Pray
The King avd I
with YUL BRYNNER
DOROTHY SARNOFF
ST. JAMES THEATRE, West 4dth St.
Evenings et 8:25: $7.20 to 1 80. Matiness
Wednesday & Saturday at 2:25: $4.20to 1.80. ©
Pulltzer Prize & Critics’ Award Musical Play
MARTHA WRIGHT
GEORGE BRITTON
South Pacific
with MYRON McCORMICK
MAJESTIC | Ug ae Basal ah Rd
Eves: at 8:30
2:30: Saneite ah tae oe ten
MONDAY EVES. ONLY: CURTAIN AT 7 SHARP
486
rd a a — o- a
it of the piece, a clear re io
the Ikittor' and coal with which of the paste, but occasional
it sets Supreme Court Justices dancing clean. I like the ieee) nate an
and cuts a wide farcical swath through
Presidential politics, is somehow reas-
suring as well as refreshing.
The book has been revised to make it
topical for 1952 and though some of
the changes don't come off, many of
them do—the sequence of election-night
bulletins, for instance, is hilarious.
Jack Carson didn’t seem to me a
good choice for John P. Wintergreen.
On the other hand, I was determined
in advance not to accept Paul Hartman
as a replacement for Victor Moore and
then was quite won over by Mr. Hart-
man’s own very different and distinc-
tive quality. Betty Oakes is appropriately
cast as Wintergreen’s partner on his
platform of Love and as the traditional
nice girl of musical comedy. Lenore
Lonergan is right too as the siren with
a Southern drawl whose amateur stand-
ing is never quite dispelled. The rest
of the company has the necessary com-
petence and gusto. M. M.
Records\ naccin
OME time ago Allegro issued a re-
cording of part of Bach’s Clavierji-
bung Part 3: the opening Prelude and
closing Fugue in E flat, and in between
the longer and more elaborate Chorale
Preludes. Now Decca gives us Part 3
complete—with, in addition, the shorter
and simpler Chorale Preludes, and the
Four Duets. For me the great music
.in the work is the magnificent Prelude
and several of the longer Chorale
Preludes—Kyrie, Gott Vater in Ewig-
keit; Kyrie, Gott, heiliger Geist; Dies
sind die heil’gen zehn Gebot’; Wir
glauben all’ an einen Gott, Schopfer—
with the Fugue impressive as a piece of
fugal construction rather than moving
as a piece of music. The shorter Chorale
Preludes I find less interesting; the
Duets very dull. Except for the Duets,
which are played on the harpsichord, the
pieces are played by Helmut Walcha on
the St. Jakobi organ in Liibeck and the
Schnitger organ in Cappel. The sound
is bright and, for the most part, clear
CI have given up hope of ever hearing
hour,”
continuity of Noehren’s per. ormanc
on the Allegro records; but the sound is
Jess bright and the surfaces are noisy
From Columbia comes the third re
ord in the series Bach’s Royal Instn
ment, with the great Passacaglia in €
minor and Toccata and Fugue in. D
minor, the fine Concerto in D minorgge
after Vivaldi, the little G minor Fugue gge®
and the uninteresting Fugue in Cie
(‘Fanfare’), played by E. Power Biggs it *
on the organ in Symphony Hall, Boston.)
The performances of the Passacaglia and
the Concerto are good; the one of the
Toccata and Fugue is the less effective
for its long pauses. This record is free
of the shattering and the noisy conf
sion from reverberation that afflicted the
first two of the series; but in loud pas-|
sages the thick sounds of the Symphony
Hall organ coalesce into a mass yiEm
which the strands of the contrapuntal
texture can't be distinguished; and one |
wonders again why Biggs uses this organ
instead of the one in Harvard’s Ger,
manic Museum.
Another Columbia recording has_
given me a second hearing of Mahler's @i
Symphony No. 8, the so-called ‘‘Sym- |
phony of a Thousand” for orchestra, fib wm
three choruses, and soloists. When Sto- |}
kowski performed the work with the
New York Philharmonic two years ago |
the first part, the “Veni, Creator
Spiritus,” impressed me as “twenty-five
minutes of frenetically apocalyptic rant- |
ing’’; this time I subtract the few min-
utes of a quiet and lovely interlude in iby
the ranting. As for the second part, the”
final scene of Goethe’s “Faust,” which —
two years ago I found to be “more
agreeable, but . . . much the same aes
over and over hae for almest an-
I am struck this time by the fact |
that it is, even at the start, what one has |
heard over and over again in previous —
works. The records offer a performance ~
in which Scherchen conducts the Vienna. —
Symphony, the Vienna Kammerchor, —
Singakademie, and Sangerknaben, Elsa.
Maria Matheis and Daniza Iitsch,
sopranos (both excellent), Rosette An-—
day and Georgine Milinkovic, con- |
traltos (both with formidable tremolo), |
and Erich Majkut, tenor, Georg Oeggl,
baritone, and Hugo Weiner, bass (all _
good). Though the recording was made
The Nanie: N |
coming through as arlene screams,
If: Completing my report on the Colum-
. LP dubbings of Weingartner re-
iS tdings of Beethoven symphonies, I
id the performance of No. 1 the most
sa tisfying of the series—the work being
¢ that suffers least from the char-
teristic lack of energy and cohesive
sion; and the recorded sound is good
ith bass reduced and treble stepped up.
# The first three movements of No. 4 also
afate satisfactorily played, but the slow
t empo lessens the effect of the finale;
e recorded sound needs stepping up of
reble, which makes it coarse, and there
fe the noise of shellac surfaces in the
two movements and some high-
frequency .hash in the finale. I think
t is the lack of energy and cohesive
msion, not just the slow tempos, that
wakes the performance of No. 5 seem
Sluggish; the sound of the first move-
iment requires treble to be stepped up a
Tot, which makes the brighter: sound
unclean; and there are noisy crackling in
the second movement, high-frequency
thash near the end. The first movement
bf No. 6 is graceless, the rest satis-
factory; the sound of the first, second,
and last movements lacks brightness
ven with treble stepped up, and the
)Htst two have the noise of shellac sur-
faces. The first movement of No. 7 is
‘sluggish, but the tempos of the later
Movements are good; bass needs step-
ing up and treble needs stepping up a
which makes the brighter sound un-
tlean; and the finale gets dim and ac-
quires some high-frequency hash. No. 2
I didn’t receive.
|:
|
CONTRIBUTORS
| JOHN K. FAIRBANK, author of "The
| United States and China,” is an asso-
| ciate chairman of the China Program
f the Committee on International and
R egional Studies at Harvard University.”
Sex Guideposts: Confusing
the Is with the Ought
Dear Sirs: A word on In Defense of
Current Sex Studies, which appeared in
your March 15 issue. This article pro-
poses that “the best and quickest way to
establish . . . sexual guideposts would be
to have many research projects.’’ This
naive asSumption is totally without
foundation in fact. When in human his-
tory have ideals of any type been estab-
lished by means of statistics ?
Ideals—which, for some reason, sex-
ologists call ‘‘guideposts’”—by definition
are distinct from reality. The majority
of people are not particularly brave; nor
do they love their neighbor. This fact
does not affect one whit the validity of
heroism and brotherly love as ideals.
Whence this peculiar idea that we must
model the “‘ought’’ on the “is”? The
day when ideals are patterned after the
real—or what is alleged to be real—
will mark the end of any ethical tradi-
tion that is noble or profound,
LAURA COMMON
New York
Voters for Douglas
Dear Sirs: Recent political statements
have revealed that there is but one man
among the many mentioned for the
nomination for the presidency who pos-
sesses the wisdom and courage required
to grapple with the complex interna-
tional and political problems which be-
set us. That man is Associate Justice
William O. Douglas of the United
States Supreme Court.
Justice Douglas’s views, stated on the
bench and off, have consistently evoked
a tremendous amount of favorable com-
ment throughout the nation. In spite of
this, there has been little inclination by
political leaders seriously to consider
him for the nomination, Although many
newspapers and magazines have editori-
ally favored and have indicated the
existence of strong popular sentiment
for his candidacy, this sentiment has not
yet been expressed in a movement de-
signed to secure the nomination for
Douglas.
Independent Voters for Douglas has
been organized as a rallying point for
Americans of all political faiths who
feel it is time that our nation dispense
with mediocre political leadership and
once more elect men of stature and
maturity to our highest office.
Those who are interested in support-
ing the committee should address their
inquiries to Independent Voters for
Douglas, Box 1572, Grand Central
Station, New York 17, New York.
BERNARD R. SORKIN
GERARD M. WEISBERG
SEYMOUR VALL
New York for the Committee
Government: Royalist Tool?
Dear Sirs: 1 have read so much about
my book, ‘“‘“How to Get Rich in Wash-
ington,” in the letters and literary col-
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FREEDOM vs COERCION
IN OUR SCHOOLS
Dr. Paul Lehmann, Professor of Applied
Christianity, Princeton Theological Seminary
OTHER SPEAKERS:
J. Raymond Walsh: Economist and Commentator
Cyril Graze: Suspended New York Teacher
Dr. H. H. Wilson: Professor Politics of Princetom
Judge Hubert Delaney: Domestic Relations Court
CARNEGIE HALL
FRIDAY, MAY 16, 8 P.M.
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488
umns of The Nation that now I woul
like to say a word about it~ ;
Mr. Shelton, the reviewer, misses the
point of my book if he really thinks
what he says ia his letter [The Nation,
May 3], that the subtitle, “Rich Man’s
Division .of the Welfare State,” is a
wisecrack.
The book shows that the economic
royalists whom the New Deal held at
bay have now captured control of the
strong central government which was
created to defend the traditional victims
of the royalists from continued victimi-
zation. The book assigns the blame for
this to both President Truman and
Congress.
Furthermore, the book gives repeated
instances of industrialists’ and business
men's reliance on the strong govern-
ment for favors, competitive advantage,
and financing, even as they pretend to
belabor the strong government. In other
words, the kind of government that
Franklin D. Roosevelt gave us has been
thoroughly perverted. The narrative of
the book serves to illustrate the above
points.
Washington BLAIR BOLLES
Course Offered on Problems
of Race Violence
Dear Sirs: 1 think some of your readers
would be interested to know of a semi-
nar to be held by the University of Chi-
cago Law Schoot during its summer
session (July 14 to 28). Because racial
violence has been increasing recently
and because the handling of such inci-
dents is an important test of democratic
practices, the Law School is sponsoring
a special seminar, headed by Joseph D.
Lohmon, on Police and Racial Ten-
sions. The seminar, primarily designed
for law-enforcement officers, will cover
specific incidents of race violence, po-
lice practices in treating violence, the
law on segregation and discrimination,
techniques which will increase the ca-
pacity of the police to deal effectively
with racial tensions, etc. The partici-
pants include well-known sociologists,
lawyers, psychoanalysts, and social scien-
tists as well as police officials who have
had long experience with race vio-
jJence. The National Conference of
Christians and Jews has expressed ‘a
willingness to offer scholarships to rep-
resentatives of those police departments
whose budgets do not include funds
which could be used to cover the cost of
tuition.
Chicago JOHN R. BUTLER
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REAL ESTATE
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Greet sgl ue
Crossword Puzzle N No. 465
ACROSS
/1 It’s nothing to a would-be fireman
—that’s the funny part of it! (5)
_ 4 Hubble-bubbies. (9)
iy 9 Fine, under which we get rough.
5.10 Should be something like the Isle
of Man! (5),
‘11 China could’ lose a certain amount
_ of soil in inundation if this is ap-
—§ plied. (9)
112 This name leads by association to a
Ie parting song, or to its composer.
(5)
) 148 Perhaps indulge in “Sweet Adeline”
' about the club, but you’d be in-
| | ‘coherent if you were. (10)
17 Extremely brave, with the nose
broken in the middle. (10)
21 The way your house is finished
- should be certainly more than an
idle thought! (2, 3)
22 One cinder is needed on the inside.
(9)
) 28 and 24, Occupied with a familiar
line of chatter. (2, 8, 9) ;
| 25 The anticipation of gett ting an estate
- for small change. (9)
26 and 1 down. Off base like an old
rabbit? (3, 2, 6)
DOWN
1 See 26 across.
_ 2 25 doesn’t take tea rit with Sher-_
8
ren ea
wood for example.
Even other than these skates ena
n’t cut much of a figure here! (6)
requests to Puzzle Dept.,
BY ee W. at
Readers are invited to send for a free copy of Mr. Lewis's “ground rules.” Address
The Nation, 20 Vesey Street, New York 7, New York,
4 Mine stops, but not exactly after
the sergeant goes crazy. (3, 6, 6)
5 Communist, pallid and discouraged,
doesn’t show his true colors.
(3, 5, 3, 4)
6 It should find its mark, with zero
if it’s bad. (8)
7 The reasoning about its getting up
pertains to supply. (8)
8 Would you stand for ea if they
painted you on your feet?- (8)
14 Get along (but not if you have a
chip on your shoulder and someone
else does). (3, 2, 8)
15 Does one hold a fitting position (or
is he involved in a “fix”)? (
16 If you take the advice of Weis:
you'll not give it or get it! (8)
18 The destroyer of Carthage was a
Minor. (6)
19 Fade away. (Like the ee if it
sounds like this?) (3, 8
20 Concerning this, the enemy comes
up to her. (6)
—_———_
SOLUTION TO PUZZLE No, 464
ACROSS :—1 STAFF SERGHANTS; 9 COR-
OLLA; 10 NARRATE; 11 NECROLOGY; 12
OILED ; 18 SENECAS; 15 ANDIRON: 16 ON-
AGERS; 17 KATYDID; 20 YEAST; 21
EVAPORATED; 23 ATTIRED; 24 ANt-
MALS; 25 DRESS DESIGNERS.
DOWN :—1 SECOND STORY MAN; 2 AFRI-
eae 3 FELLOW CREATURES; 4 BRAT O;
5 GUNNY SACK; 6 AIR CONDITIONING:
7 TRAILER; 8 WEDDING DRESSES; 14
SUSPENDED; 17 ADAPTER; 19 DIABASH;
22 AMASS,
Printed in the U. §. A. by Stetupuee Press, Inc., Morgan & Johnson Avos., Brooklyn 6, N. Y, enn
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OPEN MAY 23
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Batter ADULT VACATIONING
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Phone: Tannersville 299
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A 4 Louls A. Roth, Dir.
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YOU ARE CORDIALLY INVITED
to Attend a Conference on
FREEDOM’S STAKE IN THE MIDDLE EAST
AND NORTH AFRICA
Sunday, MAY 25th — WALDORF-ASTORIA HOTEL
Auspices THE NATION ASSOCIATES
Three Sessions
Morning Session—I10 A.M. ;
1. IMPERIALISM AND FEUDALISM « Twin Threats to Peace
Roger W. Baldwin, Chairman, International League for the Rights of Man
2. NATIONALISM « Friend or Foe of Democracy
H. E. Abba Eban, Ambassador of Israel to the United States
H. E. Ambassador L. N. Palar, permanent representative of Indonesia to
the United Nations
Discussion
iW
t
:
1
}
Afternoon Session—2 P.M.
Presiding: Dr. Dewey Anderson, Executive Director, Public Affairs Institute
1. MILITARY BASES AND THE LOYALTY OF PEOPLES
Kingsley Martin, Editor, The New Statesman and Nation of London
Dr. Benjamin Rivlin, Professor of Political Science, Brooklyn College
Discussion ;
2. OIL, LAND REFORM, DEVELOPMENT OF HUMAN AND
NATURAL RESOURCES « Pathways to Peace and Democracy
Dr. H. J. van Mook, Director, Public Administration Division of the United _
Nations Technical Assistance Administration
Prof. Reza Zadeh Shafaq, Professor of Political Science, Teheran Univer-
sity; visiting Professor, Middle East Institute, Columbia University
Discussion
Dinner Forum—7 P.M.
ARAB-ISRAEL PEACE « Key to Stability in the Middle East :
All Sessions epen to the Public. Guest cards available without charge by applying to
The Nation Associates, Room 1010, Twenty Vesey Street, New York. BArciay 7-1065
| Dinner Reservations « $12.50 per person.
Pe siworken Will ee —
May 24, 1952
sermany: Last Chance |
A British Quaker Views Our Policy
BY GERALD BAILEY
+
| © Warren of California
| A Study in Political Gronth
BY HERBERT L. PHILLIPS
+
| Norway’s Little Point Four
; Small Country, Big Plan
BY ERLING BJOL
ts
ie
) CENTS A COPY EVERY WEEK SINCE 1865 ~- 7 DOLLARS A YEAR
oa) aig ee
Mormons and the Negro
St. Paul, Minn.
CCORDING to Mormon theology
the status of the Negro on earth
was determined in the ‘“‘pre-existent’’
state, specifically in the War in Heaven
(Revelation 12:4, 7). As everyone
knows, Lucifer rebelled and was ‘“‘cast
down,” taking with him one-third of
the hosts of Heaven. These are the sons
of perdition. Michael clearly had a
Majority with him, some more active
supporters than others. Although I can
find no Scriptural basis for it, I have
heard it said that the active pro-Michael
group was no more than one-third. The
other third “sat on the fence,” refusing
to take sides. The latter, in the Mormon
lore of my boyhood days, was identi-
fied as the Negro. This places him in
a sort of never-never land, a twilight
zone between the Satanic hosts and those
who were ready to be counted on the
side of Michael. Thus the blessings of
the Mormon Church cannot be ex-
tended to anyone with Negro “blood.”
This unfortunate policy of the
church is a source of embarrassment
and humiliation to thousands of its
members (the writer among them) who
find no basis for it in the teachings of
Jesus, whom all Mormons accept as the
Saviour. The issue has become increas-
ingly important as members of the
church outside of Utah and adjacent
states have increased rapidly in recent
years and are brought into direct con-
tact with Negroes, and who see their
fellow-Christians engaged in programs
to reduce racial prejudice—programs in
which they cannot fully participate. Such
persons would like to see the policy al-
tered in the interest of peace and simple
humanitarianism.
The doctrine of white-race superiority,
so much the vogue in the early nine-
teenth century when Mormonism had its
beginning, has been so thoroughly de-
bunked as to catalogue its adherents to-
day as either grossly uninformed or vic-
tims of traditional irrational prejudices,
or both. Mormons as a group are not
ignorant people; they rank high in for-
mal schooling, with an extraordinarily:
high proportion of college graduates.
_ Many of them naturally find it difficult
to reconcile what they learn in college
‘about racial differences and equalities
with the stand taken by their church.
Curiously the position of the church
on the Negro does not carry over to
other racial groups. Natives of the
South Seas, Mongolians, and Ameri-
can Indians are given a clean bill of
health. And Mormons, according to
their theology, regard the Jews as their
own kin! The doctrine, however, does
not mean there is no anti-Semitism
among Mormons, but that is another
problem.
The basic question remains as to
whether the church will modify its pres-
ent stand on this matter. Perhaps a more
important question is, caz it change?
Theoretically the church has a means by
which its doctrines may be modified.
It was founded upon the idea of “pro-
gressive revelation,” that as God spoke
to the people in Bible days, so He con-
tinues to do today through the head
of the church. An announcement ex
cathedva on this question would be ac-
cepted by the body of the church; joy-
fully by some although, no doubt,
reluctantly by others. It is recognized, of
course, that it is very difficult for a
religion based upon revelation to modify
its doctrines, but few other denomina-
tions have the procedures for change
that the Mormon church has. The lead-
ers of this church are men of good will.
It is difficult to believe that deep in
their own hearts they are not troubled
by the ethical problem which this bit of
dogma presents.
A very real difficulty is the fact that
those who disapprove the church’s at-
titude have no way of expressing their
point of view. It is safe to say that
most of the one million members give
passive assent to the present policy.
For most of those living in Utah and
adjacent states the Negro question is
academic; they hardly ever see Negroes,
much less live in the same community
with them. In any case, they would find
comfortable agreement with the white-
supremacy idea because of latent histori-
~ cal prejudices which they share with so
many other white people. However, my
knowledge of the deep humanitarianism
of the Mormon people leads me to think
that if the question could be openly
discussed they would line up on the side
of justice,
Such open discussion, especiall
print, however, is a perilous d
taking for any member. It automatica
leaves him open to the charge of “d
obedience to constituted authorit
which may lead to his being excomm
nicated. The upshot is that discussio:
by interested persons are largely
rosa. So widespread are such discussio
groups that they might be said to ca
stitute a ‘Mormon underground.” T
participants are not disloyal chu
members; rather they are generally activ
in the church and rationalize their cor
duct by weighing the many admirab
features of their religion against th
features with which they disagree.
In writing this article for publica
tion the author does so in a spirit
constructive criticism and in the caf
viction that his church, with so manyy@:
admirable qualities and achievements tome’
its credit, is faced by a challenge toma
place itself alongside those other groups
which are laboring against racial bigo
LOWRY NELSON —
{The writer is a lifelong member of
the Mormon Church. f
IE
Bevan Symposium i
The Nation will present in an |
early issue a symposium on Aneurin /
Bevan’s important book, In Place of |
Fear. Among the contributors will
be Stringfellow Barr of the Univer- #M%
sity of Virginia, author of Let's 4
Join the Human Race; Carrol Bin-
der of the Minneapolis Tribune; |
Palmer Hoyt, editor and publisher | eh
of the Denver Post; Benjamin Jav- —
its, author of How the Républicans |
Can Win in 1952; Murray D. Lin- |
coln, president of the Cooperative ff’
League of the U. S, A.; Howard K.
Smith, Columbia Broadcasting Sys- _
tem’s European correspondent and |
a Nation staff contributor, and | q
James P. Warburg, author of How: fii:
to Co-Exist and many other books. fits (,
Aneurin Bevan, leader of Brit- |
of the most colorful political figures ff"
in the world today. His book, par- [ff
ticularly the sections on foreign ff
policy, is perhaps the most contro- |
versial of the year. i
Oy
LUME 174
— -
i
} The Shape of Things
he West’s Answer
That the Western powers took five weeks to compose
md send their answer to the last Soviet offer on Ger-
many does not necessarily mean, as the Russians charge,
lat they were merely stalling for time. The note must
‘Biave been a ticklish one to compose, since it had to
fove the unprovable and untrue: namely, that the West-
waetn Big Three were ready to support German unification
Brought about through free elections and that, in reject-
ing the Soviet demand for German neutrality, they were
. pt merely expressing their own determination to inte-
'
arate West Germany, willy-nilly, in the Atlantic Defense
| ommuhity. The note was thus necessarily weak, even
Pho gh it made certain concrete proposals for insuring
e freedom of all-German elections and proclaimed a
| illingness to start talks with the Russians.
But what would the Big Four talk about? The real
| ambling block in the way of serious Repetiasions was
pointed out by the London Times last week: “Russia
ec ly would not accept a united Germany that was
lilteady included in the Western Alliance.” The reaction
) the note in East Germany and Russia has emerged in a
sries of dark warnings of civil war and threats of re-
tisal. In West Germany the Social Democrats have
mally voted to reject the contractual agreement.
; _ The only hope of a compromise solution—a rather
fecble hope—seems to lie in the suggestion made by the
‘BLondon Times, and echoed by French Foreign Minister
3 3 uman, that the accord between Bonn and the West,
resumably to be signed this week, should not be ratifred
mtil after new four-power talks have been held. “As
ong as there is no ratification there is no fait accom pli,”
| uid M. Schuman, “and the Russians will have an oppor-
j§munity to make unification proposals.” It is to be noted,
however, that this suggestion has received no encourage-
Iment from either Moscow or Washington.
|
t
E
uw
2
“@Truman’s A. D. A. Speech
7s ! Delegates to the Americans for Democratic Action
nvention in Washington seem to have enjoyed listen-
to the President's speech almost as much as he
d delivering it. But read in cold type a day later
NEW YORK + SATURDAY >
MERICA °"§ LEADING LIBERAL WEEKLY SINCE 1865
MAY 24, 1952 NuMBER 21!
ample, the ribbing of certain A. D, A. leaders for having
supported Eisenhower in 1948 was amusing and de-
served; but, on second thought, one recalls that Mr. Tru-
man once announced that he, too, would support the
General for President. The do-or-die commitment to
civil-rights deserved the applause it received, but the
President is well aware that the chairman of the Demo-
cratic National Committee has been trying for the last
two months to work out a “compromise” with the Dixie-
crats on this issue. In taking a lusty poke at the tide-
lands-oil swindle—“robbery in broad daylight”—the
President put General Eisenhower on the spot, but he
did not succeed in diverting attention from the scandals
of his own Administration. Democrats have, moreover,
promoted this swindle as actively as Republicans. Again,
the President pointed to “the terrible dangers that lie in
wait for us if we surrender to McCarthyism and adopt
the practice of guilt by association.” But guilt by associa-
tion became the law of the land with the Supreme
Court’s decision upholding the Feinberg law. And even
the Feinberg law provides that organizations cannot be
listed as “subversive” without a hearing—which is more
than can be said of the President's own Loyalty Order.
Despite these inconsistencies, the President’s speech
will make effective campaign material if only for the
reason that the Republicans will not be in a position to
exploit its major weaknesses. As the President said, you
can always count on the Republicans to make it perfectly
clear before the campaign is over that they are the party
of big business.
Norway’s Unique Plan
We call to the special attention of our readers the
short piece by Erling Bjol, entitled Norway’s Little Point
Four, which appears on page 500 of this issue. The
generosity and unique social conscience of the Norwegian
people have become proverbial; that they should have
initiated the project described will surprise no one.
More important, as the author implies, is the example
that might be set. Relatively poor Norway, with a popu-
lation of only little more than 3,000,000, is undertak-
ing to raise $3,000,000 to help modernize an “adopted”
backward area in the world. How much could the United
States raise? For that matter, how much could be raised
by New York State, with more than four times Norway’s
population, or New York City, with more than twice?
Ce |
ae
of
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a a
.
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2 =
a
peng? hk
opie cw
hess se ree +S So Se Y
_ We can, of course, see ¢ mplications fro
attempt to apply the plan in widespread fashion. $
"| Mr. Bjol’s article is both heartwarming and—to say
°
* IN THIS ISSUE least—provocative. It’s interesting that much the sag
suggestion was advanced the other day by Murray D
DITORIALS }
F Lincoln, president of the Cooperative League of th
The Shape of Things 489 U. S, A., who said that our own Point Four progral
Anti-Union Offensive 492 should be supplemented by the “combined best efforts ¢ | «
all our schools and churches, our trade and profession
ARTICLES associations, labor unions, and farm and consumer ut
operatives.” - ao
Germany: Last Chance to Negotiate ee mS:
? . We'd like to hear from our readers on the subjed
by
KC
by Gerald Bailey 493 as
Warren of California by Herbert L. Phillips 495 Pentagon ie Coban } / te:
* : ai
Dilemma in the Sudan by Andrew Roth 408 The reports of Jacob S. Potofsky, Frank Rosenblumjg ..
Norway's Little Point Four by Erling Bjol 500 and Hyman Blumberg to the Amalgamated Clothing® 4
Steelworkers Will Fight by Willard Shelton 501 Workers convention in Atlantic City bear out phases 0!
Keith Hutchison’s analysis of the slump in the textileg,
industry [The Nation, May 3 and 10}. Seeking “theg..
cheap bid,” the Pentagon has been awarding huge coft
tracts to non-union Southern textile mills, many of which
Close-up of Boswell by Joseph Wood Krutch 504 have been subsidized by Southern communities. These
short-sighted procurement procedures violate the gov#
BOOKS AND THE ARTS
God, Man, and Stalin by Irving Howe 502
Serre Peels: 67 Bi. Ps Leganes oe ernment’s declared labor policy by encouraging tht .
Records by B. H. Haggin 507 growth of non-union plants in the South and, at the Cy
same time, undercutting the position of once prosperous§ -™
LETTERS TO THE EDITORS 508 textile manufacturing communities in other areas. fae AG
In order to stop these practices, the Amalgamated de=¥ tii
CROSSWORD PUZZLE No. 466 mands the establishment of a civilian procurement agen
by Frank W. Lewis opposite 508 composed. of government, labor, and industry represen=i (iti
tatives. Special emphasis is given to this recommendation hy ()
by the recent majority report of a Senate subcommittee of
“Labor-Management Relations in the Southern Textiley ‘tee
EDITORIAL BOARD Industry” which points out that the extent and effective Nora
Editor and Publisher: Freda Kirchwey ness of the opposition to labor in the Southern textilep nate
. s ac 2 ” 2 a
Editorial Director Director, Nation Associates industry is of “unbelievable” proportions. The Pentagon’ sat
Carey McWilliams Lillie Siultx procurement policies undoubtedly bear large responsizg poy
Managing Editor: Victor H. Bernstein bility for this situation. But before these policies can bef fir,
Foreign Editor Literary Editor : . all
iP Aigaies del Vay Margaret Marshall effectively changed, something must be done about the Peter
Financial Editor? Keith Hutchison . unholy alliance of Republicans and Dixiecrats which, : Log tap
&j 4 i ‘eldell«.
Drama: Joseph Wood Krutch Music: B. H. Haggin though peer tae a ee of the nation, ae magne,
Assistant Literary Editor: Caroline Whiting kino
4 1 0”
Staff Contributors ’ h
Andrew Roth, Alexander Werth, Howard K. Smith, Carolus Malan s New Threat P Vi
ee ae ; j : ora”
Business Manager: Hugo Van Arx In the midst of his campaign to torp edo the South _
es ° . . . . ay he ‘ U
Advertising Manager: Mary Simon African constitution, Prime Minister Malan has turned te th
The Nation, published weekly and ight, 1952, in t I iti i i © an
bp The Nation Associate, Tn. 2 Veaay Siret be, in the BB A blast the British government for refusing to yield to hi hts
mtered as second-class matter, 3, 1879, arc] i n-t
of New York, N, Y., under the act of March 4, 1879. Adveriris tender mercies the three native protectorates of Bechuai | q
and Circulation Representative for Continental Europe: Publicitas, aland Basutoland. and Swaziland. ‘‘No free soverei ot to by
at! Subscription Prices: Domestic—One year $7; Two years $12; Three , t 2 I yi ie a Be th
years $17. Additional postage per year: Foreign and Canadian $1. country,’ he declared in Parliament, would allow a pow’
Change of Address: Three weeks’ notice i ired for ch f ai Saas haben ee aif fi
address, which ‘cannot be made without the old address as well a sition where territories within its borders are controlled”
‘the new. s ” : : Ze "Utiog
Information to Libraries: The Nation is indexed in Readers’ Guide by another country.’ Malan gave notice that next year ne}
Gsiicles Publis Aftairy Tntormation Beaion Iiematle wide would present a formal demand for incorporation of thef
MM . . . Aid
protectorates within the union. i
Norse emir Se ES SS RT Se EE A CRN ARE TT
490 3 The Nation)‘
ar
li chall, for instance in the case
is Setse hans, who was deprived of his hereditary
h hip of the Bamangwato, largest of the Bechu-
analand tribes, following his marriage to a white girl.
Now that a delegation of Bamangwato elders has forced
Lord Salisbury, Secretary for Commonwealth Relations,
to admit that this exclusion is strongly opposed by the
tribe, it is clear that the real reason for the action was an
overtender regard for the South African taboo against
mixed marriages.
- It does not follow, we hope, that the British govern-
| ment will yield to Malan’s new demand. For the most
. solemn pledges have been repeatedly made to the native
inhabitants of the protectorates—their white population
| is negligible—that their status will not be changed with-
‘out their consent. In view of the South African govern-
| ment’'s treatment of its own natives, it is inconceivable
| that such consent would be forthcoming. Nor do we
| think that British opinion, disturbed by the fascist over-
si. tones of South African nationalism, would stand for
) coercion of the Bechuanas, Basutos, and Swazis should
@ they ask for the continued protection of the British
own,
e Db Wh
| Congressional Censors
Add two mote to the roster of pending Congressional
inquiries. With only 31 of 435 members present, Con-
a giess approved H. R. 278, drafted by Congressman E. C.
a Gathings of West Memphis, Arkansas, and sponsored
by Congressman William Meyets Colmer of Pascagoula,
j 4; ississippi, authorizing a commerce subcommittee to
ij “determine the extent to which radio and television
i | programs . .,. contain immoral or otherwise offensive
fi I matter or place improper emphasis upon crime, violence,
| and corruption.” At the same time Congress also ap-
| proved H. R. 596, offered by the same members, calling
, for the appointment of a committee of nine members to
f | * determine the extent to which current literature—books,
| magazines, and comic books—-containing immoral, ob-
Scene, or otherwise offensive material, or placing im-
5 proper emphasis on crime, violence, and corruption, are
| being made available to the people of the United States.”
While both resolutions purport to dea) with ‘
La moral” and “obscene” material—Congressman J. ‘R.
| Bryson of Greenville, South Carolina complained that
| beautiful ladies on TV shows have been demonstrating
| techniques for pouring cocktails”"—the texts are so vague
| as to be almost completely meaningless and apparently
' give the committees dangerously wide powers of investi-
‘MH gation. Moreover the manner in which the word “cor-
“ fuption” is used in both resolutions lays Congress open
© the suspicion that it- wants to crack down on pro-
and printed material calling attention to the
on
;
pram
a)
| May 24, 1952
ility ¢ of ihe Fees i
An . 4 r.
a Ro Bietpnesty which is such a conspicuous fea-
_ture of contemporary American society and government.
_ These latest investigations are certain to be used
further to restrict freedom of thought and expression
rather than to improve the undoubtedly low moral
standard of our mass-entertainment media.
Franco’s W orries
Our information from Spain indicates two concurrent
developments: Franco's determination to capitalize on the
recent visit to the Arab countries of Martin Artajo, his
foreign minister, and the increasing deterioration of the
domestic situation. The two are connected, for the dic-
tator needs a spectacular success in foreign policy as a
weapon against his domestic opposition.
The presence in Madrid of the Regent of Iraq em-
phasizes Franco’s play for the Arabs. Franco’s goal would
seem to be the formation of a powerful Arab-Latin
American bloc in the United Nations which would back
Spain’s admission into the world body at the propitious
moment. That moment would come when a way could
be found to circumvent the Soviet veto on new mem-
bers. Japan first—and then Spain.
- Domestically, Franco faces growing opposition from
the three groups which put him in power: the church,
the Falange, and the army. Cardinal Segura and his fol-
lowers are attacking him openly. Schism among the
Falangists is indicated by the fact that the dictator has
ousted Colonel Luis Serrano de Pablo, a Nationalist civil-
wat hero, from the National Council of the Falange
Party. As for the army, widespread dissatisfaction is re-
ported because Franco, in a gesture of friendship towards
the Arabs, is elevating native military chiefs in Morocco
at the expense of veteran Spanish officers.
The Anvil of Policy
Speakers at the Stanford University Alumni conference
held in San Francisco recently apparently agree with
J. Alvarez del Vayo on the necessity of “Speaking Out on
Foreign Policy” [The Nation, May 17}. ‘‘Scurrilous at-
tacks on the State Department by a horde of witch-hunt-
ing fanatics,” to quote Professor Graham H. Stuart,
“have endangered our capacity to make wise decisions on
foreign policy.” “For the first time in our national his-
tory,” said Dr. Harold H. Fisher, chairman of the
Hoover Institute, “it is a political virtue to be afraid .
we are eficouraging fear of each other.” On the same
day, Governor Adlai Stevenson told the members of San
Francisco's Commonwealth Club: ‘These contemporary
exponents of irresponsible accusation and guilt by asso-
ciation can do us more grievous injury than all the miser-
able thieves and opportunists that foul the public nest.
We have all witnessed the stifling, choking effect of
491
rt pase
ar Tie Sci Ne lala a aria
> bee
Sa
Seat
ee
ee!
—E4
—_,. —- e
a
®
os
ee
——
'
irresponsible witch-hunting, the paralysis of initiative, the
hesitancy and intimidation that follow in its wake and
inhibit the bold, imaginative thought and discussion
which is the anvil of public policy.”
Anti-Union Offensive
OR nearly nine years reactionaries in Congress have
been giving aid and comfort to the anti-union forces
of big industry. They passed the Smith-Connally war-
time disputes act over President Roosevelt's veto in 1943
and the Taft-Hartley law over President Truman's veto
in 1947. Now they are aiming a double-barreled blow
at labor by threatening to destroy the Wage Stabilization
Board’s authority to handle disputes and by threatening,
further, to pass the drastic injunction-receivership bill
sponsored by Representative Smith of Virginia.
The Smith bill is so violent an attack on trade unions
and their operation during any kind of emergency that
unions for practical purposes would cease to exist. It
provides, in effect, for permanent injunctions against
strikes. If a dispute were not settled in eighty days after
a crisis atose—and a strike would be forbidden during
those eighty days—both the industry and the union in-
volved would be thrown into “receivership.” “Re-
ceivers” for the company would be forbidden to change
the wages and working conditions of the employees; the
union, for its part, would be forbidden to quit work, and
it would be unlawful for “anyone” to instigate or give
guidance or direction to a work stoppage.
The “receivers” for the company would not be for-
bidden to raise prices or increase profits. The actual
managers of the company, therefore, would have no
incentive whatever to settle any dispute with the work-
ers. The union would be robbed of its only economic
‘weapon—the threat to interfere with production and
ptofits—and the company would be permanently sus-
tained with a guarantee that the union was helpless.
Smith of Virginia knows exactly what he is aiming at
in this bill. He did not dare try to put it through the
Labor committees of Congress even though the House
Labor Committee is headed by Representative Barden of
North Carolina, whose lack of sympathy for unions is
notorious. Smith offered his bill as an amendment to
measures now pending on universal military training and
service so that jurisdiction would be in the hands of the
Armed Services committees. He is basing his bill on the
theory that drafting men for forced labor for the private
profit of private employers is as much within the domain
of Congress as drafting thém for military service for the
country. The theory is wrong, and Chairman Carl Vin-
son of the House Armed Services Committee has indi-
cated that he recognizes it, But until it is beaten into
utter defeat the Smith bill will remain a menace.
Scarcely less serious, however, is the drive of big in-
492
— World War II; a tripartite Wage Stabilization Board
i SIE Re Ree
Sone CTE eae
dustry to kill the Wage Stubilization Bos das it ng
exists, to destroy its organization as a tripartite boar
with industry, labor, and the public equally represented,
and to rob any new board of the power to handle dis-
puted cases between unions and companies and to reco
mend settlements. The immediate offensive arises from™
the WSB’s proposed settlement of the steel case, but this
is merely an expedient: big industry was opposed, more:
than a year ago, to letting the WSB have authority to§, »,
handle disputes or make recommendations on so-called } ..
“non-economic” issues such as the union shop. With
newspaper editorialists almost unanimously supporting
the steel companies, parroting the industry's misrepre-
sentations and lies, ignoring the protests of WSB Chait-
man Feinsinger, Economic Director Putnam, and Price
Stabilizer Arnall, Congress seems at last ready to sive .
industry what it wants.
The unions are no happier than the companies sboutl
the general idea of government intervention to settle
wage disputes: they greatly prefer the processes of col-
lective bargaining. But if free collective bargaining js |
inhibited for a period of years, because the country §}
cannot accept strikes in important industries, then some
substitute must be created. What substitute can there be |
except a government board with power to recon
settlements? j
In the long run, the recommendations of this La
must be generally acceptable to both parties in industrial |
disputes—to both management and labor. That is why
the board should be a tripartite group, with management |
and unions equally represented along with “public” J
members who are experienced in the field of industrial |
relations. The suggestion that the board should be com-
posed exclusively or even predominantly of “public”
members is unrealistic and naive.-The steel industry in |
1946 turned down proposals of a special board com-
posed entirely of “public” members, just as this year it:
has turned down the recommendations of a tripartite } j
board. Within the field of wage stabilization, when the |
whole country is involved, compromise and adjustment J,
are needed, and these cannot be obtained without the’
voluntary participation of unions and management. We |.
are not dealing with a dictatorial system: there must be.
a degree of voluntarism and consent even when the
WSB’s “recommendations” carry moral obligation, The
tripartite War Labor Board worked brilliantly during
Neside
Bid las
popula
ty a
met Hi
I f5, H
miicers
Mite
The;
kit
can work equally well now—if Congress can be pers r
am
suaded not to give all the advantage to the side of in-
dustry. e
CORRECTION {
In last week’s editorial, Freedom’s Stake, the phrase wh
“formerly independent” as applied to the Middle East-)}
ern states, should have read “formally independent.” —
The Nation
oe =) “? A +
. a 7 atts.
i oe eee
. é oy
London
HAVE recently returned from a mission of ex-
_ ploration to Western Germany in behalf of Quaker
groups in Britain and the United States to encourage
igteements between the Soviet Union and the West
iE and thereby to lessen international tensions and
t a ethen the hope of a more stable peace. It was this
aE bose, among others, which took the British Quaker
| delegation to Moscow last year and which has animated
ithe work of the international teams of Quaker ob-
: servers in the last two sessions of the United Nations
issembly. The crucial relation of the German question
to 9 the possibilities of an East-West settlement warranted
i attempt to study on the spot the urgent problems of
Germany unity and remilitarization.
In a crowded fortnight I had conversations with a
pumber of groups directly concerned with these issues
5 well as with many political and religious leaders and
Other representative persons. Among others, I talked
With ministers and deputies of the Christian Democratic
Union (the major government party); the deputy Jeader
3 ad other parliamentary members of the opposition
Social Democratic Party; the president of the Bundestag;
Ernst Reuter, the Lord Mayor of West Berlin; Martin
Niemiller, recently returned from Moscow; Bishop
™4) Dibelius, who proudly claims that he is one of the
[ ew people able to send birthday greetings to the
| presidents of both the East and West German republics;
Bad last but not least, the two courageous leaders of the
“popular movement against rearmament and for German
u@ unity and European peace, Dr. Gustav Heinemann, for-
. ir er Home Minister in the Adenauer government, and
HE) Mrs. Helene Wessel, deputy of the Center Party. I had
@the privilege of talking also with John J. McCloy, the
nited States High Commissioner; and at what might
ibe ‘called the other extreme, I spent two hours with the
#® officers of the Communist-controlled German Peace Com-
: aeetce in the east sector of Berlin.
’ The adage, “so many men, so many opinions,” or at
east so many shades of opinion, aptly fits the German
’ ene today. And indeed the confusion and uncertairity
W@ of the political outlook deepened even during the few
bweeks I spent in Germany. When mj visit there began
Ny
iy
i
U
c
| GERALD BAILEY, organizer of last year's Quaker mission
“to Moscow, is secretary of a British Quaker group working
‘on the problem of East-West relations.
May 24, 1952
_
any: ast Chae to Negotiate
BY GERALD BAILEY
about five weeks ago there was, despite the unsettling
influence of the Russian notes, a confident if some-
what optimistic assumption among West German and
Western government officials that within a short time the
general treaty between the Bonn government and the
Western Big Three would be signed, together with the
agreement establishing (at any rate on paper) a German
contribution to the European Defense Community. The
treaty and the agreement may still be signed—though to
sign is one thing and to ratify is another and the gap
between theoretical and actual German military forma-
tions may be wider still. But as the moment for signing
has approached, hesitations inside and outside Ger-
many have increased and enough difficulties have now
accumulated, if not to imperil Western plans, at least
to delay their implementation and certainly to make
necessary a realistic review of Western strategy.
The more technical difficulties, such as the appor-
tionment of defense costs between Germany and the
Western powers, can be resolved quite easily, given the
will to resolve them. But there exist more fundamental
and tenacious difficulties which directly involve the whole
question of an East-West settlement.
RENCH fears of German rearmament under any
rs: have been increased by German emphasis
on the provisional nature of the proposed contractual
arrangements, To the French, this means that Germany
will consider its membership in the European Defense
Community as equally “provisional.”
Within Germany, the more the government parties see
of the detail of the proposed agreements, the less they
like them. Simultaneously, the opposition of the Social
Democrats is stiffened by the visible success of Dr.
Heinemann’s anti-rearmament program and by the sup-
port of the British Labor Party, which is now free to
question the policies it reluctantly proposed while in
office. And there exists, over all, the growing determina-
tion of Germans of whatever political persuasion not to
be committed to remilitarization and integration with
the West until the possibilities of German reunion
through Four Power negotiation have been tested.
For though Germans may differ widely on the ex-
pedience of this or that method of attaining unity,
sovereignty, and independence, they leave no doubt that
these must be the central aims of national policy. West
Germans do not lie awake nights lamenting the lot of
493
eee = er
NG OS aOR
their fellows in the Eastern zone, “The oS minset he
as the London Times said recently, “‘is for safety first and
unity later.” But the desire for unity is elemental and
strong and the normal German regards the division
of his country as abnormal and transient. This is not
merely sentiment. Neither East nor West Germany is
by itself a viable economic entity and the desire for the
normalization of East-West trade, stimulated recently by
the reported achievements of the Moscow Economic
Conference, will grow steadily with the approach to full
sovereignty in the West.
It would be equally misleading to assume that there is
a united will to maintain German demilitarization at all
costs and in all circumstances, The average German has
not been converted to pacifist principles. The Social
Democrats who reject rearmament under Adenauer
would not necessarily reject it under Schumacher. Gustav
Heinemann’s Emergency Movement against Rearmament
has, of course, pacifist and near-pacifist support, but
neither Heinemann himself nor his colleague Helene
Wessel is a pacifist. The slogan of their movement is not
“no rearmament” but ‘‘no rearmament before reunifica-
tion.” Nevertheless this platform is attracting widespread
support which reflects not merely an after-war reaction
and a justifiable fear of the implications of the rearma-
ment of a divided country, but also a deep desire in many
thoughtful Germans to avoid the disasters which re-
liance upon military might has brought to their country
twice in a lifetime.
All Germans, of course, want their sovereignty re-
stored and the foreign occupation ended. Recognizing
that their country would be the cockpit of the struggle in
the event of war, many Germans want to keep out of
both the competing power blocs. But they differ widely
as to the practicality of doing so. Those who have no
faith in Russian declarations are quick to point out that
under a four-power treaty creating an ostensibly free and
united Germany, the Red Army would still be on the
Polish boundary while the weight of American armed
power would be several thousand miles away. Even those
who retain a more hopeful view doubt whether neutrality
-is a workable option for a country so strategically
placed—militarily, politically, and economicaily—as Ger-
many is today, unless there is concurrently a decisive
change for the better in great-power relations. They feel
not unreasonably that the gravitational pull towards one
side or the other would be irresistible.
in Britain and the United States whose desire is to
see international tension relaxed and the prospects of
peace enhanced? What should they demand of Western
policy? We have now entered the most critical period of
international relations since the war ended. The next
six months may provide the last opportunity for moderat-
494
r THIS situation, what is the responsibility of those
ne 2 vu he oan PD ee
in eg eZ er Soattien ? Vere It 1s 1 th >
Jess will discharge the obligation of the West to ex:
" P oan}
ad al
; f “re
ed. Ls
Eu ope, around the future of the yerman
issue is most likely to be decided. ce
The attempt to integrate the Federal German Repub bli
with the West was made plausible, if not inevitable, by
the continuing failure to negotiate a four-power se
ment for Germany and specifically by the absence hither
of any sign of a Russian willingness to make concrete
concessions to this end. But the’
weakness of Western policy in this) i,
matter over the past year is that it
has been governed too exclusively
by considerations of the cold wat,
In consequence it has failed to
take adequate account not only
of the aspirations of the Germans themselves but also
of the crucial importance to the Soviet Union of the’
German question. It was always clear that Moscow |
would not sit by idly while Germans were rearmed
and the Ruhr industrial potential was harnessed to‘
the West. And even before the recent Sovict notes were
issued, there were growing indications that the Russians |
might well pay handsomely for the abandonment of these
Western plans. Here was—and here remains—the best @
chance of a balanced and negotiated agreement between |
East and West.
Does this mean that Western policy should now be |
reversed? It may well be reversed by changing political |
conditions in Germany itself. But in any case the readi- |
ness to reverse it, if a valid four-power agreement can ‘
be reached, is imposed upon the Western governments
by their declared policy of negotiation through strength |
and by their commitment to German reunion and inde-
pendence. It may not be possible at this late moment”
to hold up the actual signing of the contractual arrange- Vo;
ments and the defense treaty, though there is always the 9m cate
possibility—so far too lightly regarded in the West—of 9 to
a sharply hostile Russian reaction, focused perhaps in 9p ™.
Berlin, to the signing itself. The forecasts of an open
and intensified counter-rearmament in Eastern Germany | 3
are not just idle threats. But if the treaties with the bt
Federal Republic are to be signed and the risks of a
hostile Russian response are to be minimized, it is ab-
solutely vital that simultaneously the West should show.
unequivocally its readiness to get around a table with the
Russians with the primary purpose of establishing the’
conditions for genuinely free elections in the whole of 1B) tu,
Germany. Nothing less than this will prevent a mount-
ing German opposition which would render the treaties es
abortive even if signed. More important still, nothing
A.
ap
ce}
plore every possibility of an agreed settlement not only ©
in the interests of German unity but in the wider inter-
ests of a world desperately needing some relief from ne
threat of war and from the paralyzing burden of
i
otiation, will is further Russian concessions
id strengthen the prospects of peace. A contrary esti-
nate might well be nearer the mark.
» It is not surprising, after all that has transpired in
"} ‘recent years, that Western governments should take a
dim view of the possibilities of ending the cold war
and of negotiating valid agreements with the Russians.
And it is certainly right that they should insist on a
+ genuine freedom for the whole of Germany, not only
| during but after elections, as the basic condition of an
agreed settlement. But despair is the negation of states-
es man hip and in this situation the betrayal of the deepest
| hopes of mankind. “As long as there is one thousandth
ARL WARREN of California is the only Repub-
q Jlican candidate for President who bases his bid for
| the nomination upon the fundamental contention that
‘B® the Republican Party must become more progressive
"B or lose the November election, as it has lost every
| mational election since 1928.
_ Facing the Old Guard of the Republican National
| Committee, meeting in San Francisco last January 17,
"# Governor Warren stated this position very plainly:
Our party has never had a radical wing, but we have
our problems just the same because we do have in it
extremists of the Right—those who would freeze our
nation to the status quo with whatever inequalities go
' with it and those who would have our country return to
| what they look back to nostalgically and oo
call the good old days.
! J believe these extremists of the Right are not as nu-
merous as they are vocal and influential. It is my very
deep conviction, however, that, unless there is a forth-
‘tight repudiation of this thinking by our party, we will
suffer again at the hands of the voters. . . .
I am convinced the American people are not Socialists
and will not tolerate socialistic government, but they are
definitely committed to social progress. Any party which
turns its back on social progress will be repudiated
_ by the people.
_ He then proceeded to document his argument for
This is the fifth of a series of profiles of persons most
widely mentioned as possible Presidential candidates. Herbert
L. Phillips is political editor of the McClatchey newspapers
| of California.
May 24, 1952
7 ~ of a chance,” said George F, Kennan, the new American
Ambassador to Moscow, recently “that a major world
conflict can be avoided, let us guard that chance like the
apple of our eye. Let it not be said that we allowed any
hope for the avoidance of war to die by abandonment or
neglect.”
The best chance that we are likely to have for a long
time confronts us now and it is centered in the determi-
nation of the German question. But it is not only the
chance of avoiding war. Viewed with sufficient imagina-
tion and pursued with sufficient courage, it is the chance
‘of transforming the climate of East-West relations, of
establishing the United Nations as the guardian of the
security and well-being of all peoples, of giving reality to
the hopes of disarmament, and of directing the resources
of mankind to the purposes of peace.
arren of California
BY HERBERT L. PHILLIPS
Republican liberalism with extensive quotations from the
G. O. P. platforms of 1944 and 1948, What the Re-
publican Party must do, he insisted, is practice what it
preaches, not just at campaign time but between elec-
tions. The American people want a change in national
administration, he went on, but they want to know to
what they are changing and they will not switch parties
simply for the sake of change itself. ‘The Republican
Party,” he said, “cannot make its appeal on the basis
of invective, ridicule, or negation.”
That kind of talk, frequently reiterated this spring
and added to several lively battles with special-interest
lobbies in the past, has prompted disgruntled factions
of the Republican Old Guard in California to set up a
rival ticket, headed nominally by an ultra-conservative
Congressman, Representative Thomas H. Werdel, for
the June 3 Presidential primary. If this seventy-member
anti-Warren slate wins over the Governor’s ticket, the
scheme is to release all California delegates at the con-
vention, allowing them to vote as they please for any
of four listed “legitimate” G. O, P. candidates: Taft,
MacArthur, Eisenhower, and Stassen. The Old Guard
advocates of this proposed “‘uninstructed” delegation are
denouncing Warren as guilty of “Trumanism.”
This is a far cry, indeed, from the situation in January,
1943, when Republican Attorney General Warren as-
sumed the California governorship, having unseated
Democratic Governor Culbert L. Olson at the previous
fall election. It was the fashion in the liberal wing of the
defeated Democrats at that time to classify Warren as
simply a good-looking, genial stooge for the Republican
reactionaries. It was argued that the Old Guard, finally
495,
awake to its inability to win in California with obvious
political hacks, had seized upon the pleasing personality
of big, silver-haired Earl Warren as an effective mask
for its drive to regain state-government control. Ac-
cording to this reasoning, the reactionaries were in the
saddle again, and the progressive goals that Olson had
recommended so persistently—but failed to reach—
would be abandoned under Warren.
This forecast was drowned out by cries of consterna-
tion from the extreme Right, however, when Governor
Warren, in the ensuing years, advocated a fair-employ-
ment-practices act, reorganized half a dozen major state
departments, fought organized medicine in an attempt
to establish a public health-insurance program, and ob-
tained liberalization of old-age pensions, unemployment
insurance, and workmen’s-compensation benefits. The
medical fraternity—or what Warren calls an ‘eloquent
minority’’ of it—assailed him as a dangerous sponsor of
“socialized medicine.” Oil interests reviled him when he
demanded gasoline-tax increases to modernize a high-
“way system carrying the largest number of motor vehicles
in the nation. He stepped on the toes of other interests
when he worked actively for the Central Valley Project
—and particularly for publicly owned and operated
hydroelectric transmission lines to carry the federally
developed cheap power of the CVP. And lobbyists were
alienated by his demand for a strong lobby-control act.
Warren did not get all the legislation he wanted, but
his stubborn efforts year after year soon convinced the
Old Guard that he meant business and was altogether
too progressive to have around. Democrats were dubious
about this at first, claiming that he was a political
phony shrewdly advancing progressivism in order to
gain a reputation for liberalism which would be helpful
at election time. Then Warren prevailed with a bill that
made California the first large state to inaugurate a sick-
ness-and-disability insurance system for working people.
(Little Rhode Island was first in this field.) He followed
that up with a measure giving hospital-aid benefits to
workers. In this program California led the nation.
Meanwhile, California had absorbed in good order
something like four million new citizens after Pearl
Harbor. State facilities and institutions had to be en-
larged to cope with what has been called the greatest
peacetime migration in history. Tax rates were cut back
below pre-war levels for six years, yet at the same time
_ more than $400,000,000 was saved for long delayed in-
stitutional public works. California became the second
largest state of the Union in population with a minimum
of growing pains. Inroads by the underworld were com-
bated by a Warren investigating commission on or-
ganized crime which antedated Kefauver’s national
investigations. Not the least interesting thing about the
Warren administration, considering the current national
rash of exposés of corruption, is the fact that it has
496
‘ ay, SAO FE a ite toe vere + Ge neh
survived for nearly a decade w thsi a
: S fs,
aes b
Te
dpe)
rete eultas
yo
a. Be hs ee
‘That survival itself contained elements of the poli
cally spectacular. Availing himself of California’s mu
discussed practice of cross-filing on more than one party”
ticket, Warren conducted a ‘‘non-partisan” campaign if
1946—and won in the primary. The Democrats nomi
nated him over their
own candidate, Attor-
ney General Robert
W. Kenny. No Cali-
fornia Governor ever
before had scored
such a victory. Bounc-
ing back after the Re-
publican defeat of
1948, when he served
as a reluctant vice-
presidential candidate
with the overconfident
Thomas E. Dewey,
Warren tackled James
Roosevelt in the 1950 4
gubernatorial campaign and was elected for a third term I
—also unprecedented in California—by more than a bi<
million votes. Alam
ands
ing |
they |
Governor Warren
UDGED strictly on his achievements, Governor War-
J ren presents an arresting example of the political @ tie
growth of a man in public office. Yet it is hard to put piv
a finger on the causes of his development from district | ivy:
attorney and attorney general, primarily concerned with 1 mi
law-enforcement problems, to his present stature as one ff Pra
of the most outspoken advocates of progressivism in his] fy
party. His independence as Governor has produced pain- 10)
ful headaches for conservative G. O. P. machine poli- 7 Wor)
ticians who had taken it for granted that they would Bx,,
become his close advisers on patronage and his mentors # tiny
on governmental policy. It turned out that, while Warren 4 tin:
was willing to listen to advice, he insisted on making his W Pj;
own decisions. It also turned out that, while he was § uj)
careful—even cautious—in arriving at a policy judg:
ment, he was willing to stand by it with a stubborn-cour-
age which both his political enemies and his would-be
handlers found extremely irritating. And what proved.
more irritating still was the discovery that, though he
warmed up to almost everyone with the friendliness of a |, *
political extrovert, he appeared to have no cronies who :
_ could be depended upon to sway his decisions. If any- th
thing, Warren is cursed with an inability to delegate re- ha
sponsibility or authority in vital matters. There has been’ bo
no palace guard in his Capitol, these last nine years. 4 BY
When Warren took office in 1943, he surprised a good ) »,
many people by approaching controversial public ques-
tions with what appeared to be an almost complete lack
of political ideology. He did not seem impressed by assur-
The Nat
us-and-so was the pest position. He preferred
0 Po up the issue by its four corners’’—he is cer-
ainly no Rooseveltian phrase maket—and judge it after
studying all the facts.
_ As time went on, Warren, along with the rest of the
state, seemed to recognize his middle-ground progressive
inclinations, and nowadays he refers to them frankly as
‘such. But in his first administration, even in his second,
| he was sometimes characterized as a master of improvisa-
! tion. There seemed to be a public disposition, though—
) teflected at the polls—to regard intelligent improvisation,
| especially at a time of fluctuating population and eco-
| “nomic conditions, as an admirable thing so long as the
| met result served liberal causes. There were those, too,
| who claimed that Warren blazed a forward-looking and
untried governmental trail only when his personal ob-
servations and experiences led him in that direction. “If
that is so,” commented one observer, “may the good
Lord give Warren more experiences.”
i.
HIS is Warren’s thirty-third consecutive year of
public service in California. Attempting to explain
| his clmb from a minor political post in conservative
| Alameda County in 1919 to the rank of Presidential
| candidate whooping it up for progressivism—even urg-
| ing the G. O. P. to absorb Democratic policies when
af) they are sound—interested onlookers have dug into his
nil’ private, professional, and political background for the
ij] answer. They found a devoted family man with a big
ii = smile—and a gubernatorial record which the Democratic
| President calls excellent.
i =«=©606-s Earl Warren was born in Los Angeles, March 19,
inf’ 1891. Educated at the University of California, he was a
|
jit) World Wat I infantry captain. He began political life
as a deputy city attorney in Oakland and moved on to
| deputy district attorney of Alameda County, district at-
af _torney, state attorney general, and finally governor.
| ~ Politically, he has served as Republican state chairman
_ and National Committeeman from California. He has
wg
i
Beyond Comment
Speaking of [radio advertising} copy, Mr. Charles
said there is a value in having copy so poor that listen-
ers get sick and tired of hearing it. He explained: “‘If
’ you hit the nail on the head with a catchy commercial,
the whole country is talking about it. If your copy is
purposely so poor that listeners can’t stand it, they talk
about that kind of commercial too. . . . I try to nau-
| seate people,” he added laughingly:—From the maga-
| zine Broadcasting.
”
[The Nation will pay $2 for acceptable contributions
| to Beyond Comment.}
May 24, 1952
Ree een
‘Wiberal. Seat or that > "been ‘married since 1925 and has three boys and three
gitls. He belongs to 2 dozen or so clubs, lodges, and
fraternities and is a Past Grand Master of Masons in
California. :
If lifelong progressives find it difficult to explain why
Warren turns up so often on their side of public ques-
tions, confirmed reactionaries accept the bitter fact that
he does and dislike it intensely. Early in this year’s
pre-campaign Presidential maneuverings a California out-
fit known as the Partisan Republicans—repudiated, in-
cidentally, even by Senator Taft—began circulating
charges that the Democrats and the Communists were in
an unholy alliance to build up Warren for the Republican
nomination so that the leftists would be in power after
the November election even if the Democrats lost. Eisen-
hower was berated in similar vein.
Warren’s political effectiveness in his home state is
unique. His support is not organized in the legislature
even though both houses have Republican majorities,
His success with tough issues is attributed to his willing-
ness to take half a loaf at one session and try for the rest
the next year. Warren long since broke with the Herbert
Hoover faction of his party. On the big policy objectives
which have made him a controversial figure it can be
said truthfully that he has neither been backed nor
dominated by the Republican State Central Committee
or the county-committee leaders.
Warrenites recognize that their man’s main chance of
obtaining the Presidential nomination depends upon a
Taft-Eisenhower deadlock in the convention. As a pos-
sible compromise choice in such circumstances, the Cali-
fornian has been giving his own views of desirable
_ Republican and national policy and largely abstaining
from personal attacks on the other G.O.P. political camps
to which he might later have to look for support. From
his affirmative declarations, however, Warren is poles
apart from Taft on both domestic and foreign policy;
there is no indication that he takes Stassen any more seri-
ously than the voters appear to be doing. Warren has
said that he has no major disagreement with Eisenhower’
on international affairs, but he has also made it clear that
he does not know, and would be highly interested to
learn, the General’s views on domestic matters.
Meanwhile, the Republican Old Guard misses no op-
portunity to publicize the fact that President Truman not
only has praised Warren as an outstanding governor but
on one occasion described him as “a good Democrat who
doesn’t know it.” Governor Adlai Stevenson of Illinois -
also had words of praise for him recently. And Walter
Reuther was quoted in a press dispatch as calling War-
ren “enlightened”—so enlightened, he said, that the Re-
publicans will never nominate him.
To this extent probably most politicians will agree:
electing Earl Warren to the Presidency would be very
much easier than nominating him.
497
je age te Oh ean Vee ee
‘ x _ < aM
; i ~
London
RITAIN seems on the point of being locked in a
ae of its own making. British foreign and im-
perial policy dearly loves creating triangles, with the pos-
sibility of playing one of its two associates off against the
other.
It was the danger inherent in the peculiar Anglo-Egyp-
tian-Sudanese situation that caused Foreign Secretary
Anthony Eden on April 18 to summon to London Sudan's
Governor-General Sir Robert Howe and Britain's Am-
bassador to Egypt Sir Ralph Stevenson. With this expert
help Mr. Eden hoped to appease the Egyptians in order
to form the top-priority Middle East defense organiza-
tion without making the Sudanese feel they are being
“sold down the river.”’
Early in April Britain got a foretaste of the difficulties
involved in trying simultaneously to side with King
Farouk in Egypt and attempting to bar him as nominal
sovereign of the Sudan. At the outset, Anglo-Egyptian
talks proceeded quickly and the negotiators were edging
towards agreement in principle on British evacuation of
the Canal Zone and Egypt's participation in a Middle East
Defense Pact. Egypt’s Prime Minister, Hilaly Pasha,
asked Britain for a gesture towards the “unity of the
Nile Valley’; specifically, that Farouk’s title as “King of
Egypt and the Sudan’ be accepted, subject to its subse-
quent ratification by the Sudanese. The British said the
Sudanese could, if they wanted, accept King Farouk as
their monarch when they were self-governing. The nego-
tiators were impelled toward compromise by their
mutual fear that the anti-British Wafd would be re-
turned with a stunning majority in the elections, then
scheduled for May 18, if the Palace-sponsored Hilaly
Pasha government did not score a success in the nego-
tiations.
Then, without any warning, the Sudan’s British civil
secretary presented a new draft constitution enabling the
Sudan to become self-governing this year. The action
infuriated all sections of Egyptian opinion, including sup-
porters of the conciliatory Hilaly Pasha government. The
Egyptians considered it proof of a British “plot’’ to es-
tablish a nominally independent Sudan governed by the
anti-Egyptian Umma Party. Only Britain’s “good-will
gesture” in releasing an additional 10 million pounds in
Egyptian sterling balances and a personal message from
ANDREW ROTH is a staff. contributor now stationed in
London.
498
~ and Commander of the Egyptian Army, Britain seized the ~
BY ANDREW ROTH
Foreign Secretary Anthony Eden enabled talks to besiall |
again. The Egyptian Cabinet, which had thought it could i>
defeat the Wafd if it secured an agreement with Britain, _ ws
postponed the elections indefinitely, fearing that the Boi
Watd would win a sweeping majority on an “I told yous be
so” platform. rex
The Sudan's return is as popular an issue to Egyptians” i x
as Kashmir is to Pakistan and to Mr. Nehru, or Formosa
to the mainland Chinese. For King Farouk it means add- <
ing a million square miles—more than the whole of |
Europe—to his sovereignty; to the pashas it means a new
area to loot. And to all Egypt it means controlling the «
upper reaches of the river on which Egypt completsiy |
depends: the Nile.
INSTON CHURCHILL wrote in The River ©
War: ‘The Sudan is joined to Egypt by the Nile
as a diver is connected with the surface by his air pipe.
Without it there is only suffocation. Aut Nilus, aut
nihil.” This was written in 1899, when Britain finished — |
conquering the Sudan in Egypt’s name. In order to ac-
quite de facto possession of the area for Britain, Lord —
Cromer—who really ran Egypt from 1883 to 1907— —
devised the condominium of the “Anglo-Egyptian —
Sudan."” Technically, the Sudan came under the joint
sovereignty of Egypt and Great Britain, but in fact the |
Governor-General and his top officials have been ~
British.
From the outset real power was in Britain’s hands;
Egypt's early responsibility was chiefly that of paying the ©
annual deficits in the Sudanese budget. As Egyptian
nationalism came to life, Britain further reduced Egyptian
participation. When, in 1922, Egypt was recognized as
“an independent sovereign state” (with defense and
foreign interests retained in Britain’s hands) Britain in-
sisted on retaining control of the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan —
as well. In 1924, when Egyptians assassinated Britain's
General Sir Lee Stack, Governor-General of the Sudan —
opportunity to insist on the withdrawal of all Egyptian
troops from the Sudan, and the unlimited increase in the _
use of water for the irrigation of British cotton planta- — .
tions in the Gezira portion of the Sudan. 4
These 1924 actions showed the twin bases of Britain's
Sudanese policy. By controlling the Sudan, Britain always —
has the whip hand over Egypt's chief resource, Nile _
water. “British imperialism in the Sudan,” concluded —
Tom Driberg, leading Laborite M. P., after his recent 4
The Natio . |
there, been an indirect imperialism; our pres-
ence there . . . has given us a powerful hold on Egypt,
a hold which we have kept for other, bigger strategic
rea ons.” The present strategic aim, of course, is to se-
cure Egyptian participation in a Middle East military
Da
t .
__ By controlling the Sudan and raising there Egyptian-
type cotton, Britain also prevents Egypt from monopoliz-
‘ing the cotton needed for Britain’s fine-quality textiles,
Commented Malcolm McCorquodale, Conservative M. P.
and cotton printer in the November 20, 1951, debate in
‘the House of Commons: “I say without any hesitation
"that it would be a major tragedy not only for the cotton
industry and for employment in that industry in this
ite country but for our whole export trade and our balance
| of payments, if Sudanese cotton were to come under the
_ same sort of control as Egyptian cotton is at the moment,
i with the manipulated markets, the wild gambling, the
" barter to Russia, and all the rest of it.”
| Britain's objectives in the Sudan have, from the begin-
' ning, been” overwheimingly imperial—including the
# original hope of a Cape-to-Cairo railway. But the manner
_ in which the Sudan has been administered has been out-
" standingly enlightened, albeit paternal. The Sudan has
_ been very fortunate in attracting high quality British
a:
nae ats weit
eae coe Crips
arr ak tn
ot
imperial administrators of a kind which inspired the epi-
gtam of the late H. A. L, Fisher: ‘The Sudan, gentle-
men, is a large country populated by blacks and governed
by Blues.”
Their outstanding accomplishment is the “Sudanese
TVA"—the famous Gezira project. This 1,000,000-acre
cooperative cotton project between the Blue and the
White Nile, is the economic heart of the Sudan, pro-
viding two-thirds of its exports and virtually the whole of
its governmental revenue. The government settled over
25,000 Sudanese families in the area; seeds and technical
advice are ptovided and those families who do not follow
the advice are ousted, At the end of the season the crops
are cooperatively marketed at world prices. The peasant
gets 40 per cent, the Sudan government 40 per cent and
the Gezira Board—now nationalized—which manages
the project, gets 20 per cent. The Gezira settler is com-
paratively prosperous.
British administrators have long taken full credit for
their achievements in the Sudan. As early as 1912 Lord
Kitchener claimed “there is now hardly a poor man in the
Sudan.” But even today there is plenty of poverty; the
Gezira only affects a fraction of the total population of
9,000,000. And the British cannot take much credit on
the educational side. Only every seventieth person is
BansH @
(CANAL Zone)
a
World Copyright.
By arrangement with Daily Herald.
499
re
r
|
?
5
b
|
Fi
i
a PLE a ars
: rr me . ‘
literate; there are scarcely 100 Sudanese with a full uni-
versity education. Even today, on the eve of self-govern-
ment, there are only 2,000 students in secondary schools.
Meeting educated Sudanese, one is struck by the fact
that they seem the least frustrated of colonial inte/li-
gentsia. This comes in large part from the fact that the
small minority of educated Sudanese have had a full op-
portunity to participate in administering their country.
Fully 85 per cent of the government service is now
Sudanized, with only 1,000 Britons left in key positions.
Britain's problem in settling with Egypt over the Sudan
is that two generations of British administrators and
their Sudanese subordinates have developed an anti-
Norway Little Point Four
Copenhagen
HE giving of technical assistance to backward areas
has been a function of the United Nations for several
years now, but action has been sadly limited by the very
modest appropriations which have been made available.
The current budget is about $20,000,000, a drop in the
bucket compared to the needs, and microscopic when
compared with the military budgets of the great powers.
Undoubtedly inspired by Secretary General Trygve Lie,
a firm supporter of the idea, Norway has now decided to
launch a unique experiment in the field. A group of
Labor members of the Storting, the Norwegian parlia-
ment, has worked out a plan for “adopting” a backward
area which would then become the beneficiary of a
technical assistance program financed and executed in
_ partnership by the government and the people of Norway.
Supporters of the plan lay stress on the fact that tech-
nical. assistance should involve the cooperation not only
of governments, but of peoples. Thus, under the pro-
posed scheme, Norwegian agricultural organizations
would undertake the modernization of agriculture in the
“adopted” area, Norwegian teachers and school children
would gather educational material and help build schools,
Norwegian trade unions would take over the job of im-
proving social conditions, Norwegian engineers would
contribute their skill to basic capital improvements.
The area to be adopted has not yet been decided upon,
but logic calls for an Asiatic region, mountainous and
with unexploited water power and access to the sea, which
would present problems of a kind with which Nor-
wegians are familiar. Negotiations to this end are now
going forward with Secretary General Lie.
ERLING BJOL is a well-known Danish journalist.
500
made to go. Obviously they are hoping that their action ©
the most nominal suzerainty is accorded King §
British administrators would probably resign en masse”
in protest against their work being despoiled by Egypt's }
pashas. And the anti-Egyptian Umma Party, which pro-
vides most top Sudanese administrators, would react
violently against the government—which they have been |
groomed to inherit—being taken over by the Egyptians
and their Sudanese confedersila In short, no matter how |
willing Britain might be today—or how hard-pressed by'
the State Department—to appease Egypt to build up the”
Middle East’s anti-Communist defenses, a half-century of —
triangular politics has its own logic.
arouk
I
Ez
BY ERLING BJOL
Initially the Norwegians plan to spend about 20,000,-
000 kroner (approximately $3,000,000) on the project,
half of which would be supplied by the state and half ¢
by popular subscription. In an absolute sense, this is ¢
not a large sum, but for Norway—struggling with —
financial problems left from the German occupation—
it is a great deal. It is fifty times as much as Norway is
now called upon to contribute annually, on a pro rata
basis, to the United Nations technical assistance fund,
Supporters of the plan have no doubt that the Nor-
wegian people will accept their share of the financial
burden. “I spent a good deal of last winter lecturing
throughout the country on technical assistance,” said
Haakon Lie, secretary of the Norwegian Labor Party.
“This project has aroused more popular interest than —
anything since the campaigns in behalf of Finland and
Republican Spain.”
Another of the plan’s sponsors, P. Mentsen, vice presi-
dent of the Norwegian Trade Union Council, said re-
cently: ss
ao
Sep, ew
z=
gee
E
- —
We consider the assistance for underdeveloped areas a
very important part of our defense preparations. To
abolish poverty and misery is the best kind of defense.
The Norwegians are a realistic people and they know -
exactly how far their very modest $3,000,000 could be
will set an example for other countries to follow. Only
in such a case would their own action be given real
meaning in terms of the world’s needs. And in this |
connection they are aware that their own: Little Point
Four has been fashioned in the spirit of a policy long —
advocated in the United States by such men as Justice
William O. Douglas.
The NATION ;
ee
ey i mt ys neal Ne pe TRH
"| 7 Renee
Philadelphia
HE most striking fact about the sixth biennial con-
vention of the United Steelworkers here was the
=. oe
as eB wen
whatever their difficulties of the moment, they would
_ eventually win their wage fight with the steel companies.
_ The business of this convention was to serve notice
on a hostile press, a hostile Congress, the hostile steel
_ companies, a perhaps hostile Supreme Court, that steel
_ workers were not going to be kicked around indefinitely,
’ that they would not work indefinitely in 1952 “for 1950
wages,” that if necessary they would strike the basic steel
{ industry harder and faster than ever before whenever
} their freedom of action was restored.
American union members are, by and large, an orderly
} group, respectful of constituted authority. Contrary to
_ Arthur Krock’s dreary misstatement in the New York
_ Times, the convention did not “threaten to strike while
= bei
fh _ dustry.” Not a syllable embodying such a threat was ut-
_ tered in the Convention Hall.
. Every speech by a leader or delegate acknowledged
The issue, as the steel workers see it, is simple. They
tabided by all the ground rules set up to moderate in-
| dustrial disputes, to check protracted work stoppages dur-
| ing the petiod of Korean fighting and remobilization.
| They submitted their wage and security demands to the
[* ‘umpire named by the government. The steel companies
| also accepted the umpire’s jurisdiction and argued their
' ‘case. But when the decision came down, and the com-
_ ‘panies did not like it, they shouted, “Kill the umpire.”
Congress, it seems clear, is in the process of obediently
killing the umpire—the Wage Stabilization Board's au-
_ thority to make recommendations in disputed cases.
The delegates aren’t lawyers and they have no desire
_ to abandon permanently their cherished system of col-
_ lective bargaining and see their interests subordinated to
. _ WILLARD SHELTON, veteran Washington correspondent,
45 a frequent contributor to The Nation.
May 24, 1952.
| _ that legal issues were pending which made a strike
' temporarily impossible. The emphasis was on what
"would happen after the high court rules on the disputed
if question of Truman’s seizure powers. Let the decision
5 | be adverse, let the court rule that the seizure is illegal,
‘fy _ and the union’s position is clear. If steel workers are
' not, even in theory, “working for the United States,”
; : _ then they have a right to strike—and strike they will un-
.
| ca
ye
tit
}
}
less they get a satisfactory contract.
.
uo Sse a Sea J oo ~
bese
apparently unshakable confidence of the delegates that,
BY WILLARD SHELTON
rulings of government boards. But they are well aware
that “precedents” for seizure as a weapon against unions
already exist. They know that they may still be “Taft-
Hartleyized” and enjoined from a strike for 80 days.
They know that the coal mines were seized by Truman
in 1946, that the United Mine Workers were enjoined
from striking and fined for contempt for disobeying the
injunction, They know that as long ago as 1941—before
we were at war and in the absence of a statute—Roose-
velt broke a strike by using troops to shatter a picket
line and seize an airplane plant.
What the steel workers’ convention wanted to know
was whether seizure as a weapon is always and exclu-
sively to be used against unions, to keep them from
striking for higher wages, or whether seizure can also
be enforced against management trying to keep wages
down or force prices up. Patiently waiting for the Su-
preme Court, the delegates were by no means dis-
heartened by the union’s position. They remembered
that in 1950 the mine workers found a way to beat even
Taft-Hartley by individually refusing to work despite
union orders in obedience to an injunction. The steel
workers have complete confidence in the strength and
integrity of their own union.
Clarence Randall, president of Inland Steel Company,
a few weeks ago charged on the air that the steel recom-
mendations resulted from “a corrupt political deal’ be-
tween Murray and President Truman. Nothing in recent
years has so infuriated Murray, a mild-mannered gentle-
man whose tongue can nevertheless scorch the angels
when his anger is aroused. Murray grimly told the con-
vention that at the White House a few days earlier, he
had asked Randall to repeat this charge to his face.
Murray quoted Randall as replying, “I did not say
that about you, Phil. I think you are a good citizen,
and I cannot charge you, I never did charge you, with
any kind of corrupt deal.”
Randall might have been disagreeably impressed with
evidence in the convention that the pro-Republican steel
managements had blundered politically in this struggle,
that Truman’s personal prestige had skyrocketed, that the
magnetic attraction of the Democratic Party for large
groups of workers had been restored and strengthened
just at a moment when it seemed to be breaking down.
Speakers included Vice-President Barkley, Secretary
of Labor Tobin, Senator Humphrey of Minnesota, all
stalwart Democrats. Without exception they endorsed
the union’s fight for the wages and working conditions
‘recommended by the WSB.
501
BOOKS and th
GOD,
AT Whittaker Chambers told the
truth and Alger Hiss did not,
seems to me highly probable. Personal
tragedy though their confrontation was,
it had another, almost abstract quality:
the political course of the ‘thirties made
it inevitable that, quite apart from this
well-groomed man and that unkempt
one, there be a clash between two men,
one a liberal who was recruited from the
idealistic wing of public service, the other
a former Communist who repudiated his
past and then, as ‘““Witness’’* testifies,
swung to the politics of the far right.
If not these two, then two others; if
not their shapes and accents, other
shapes and accents. And that is why
most of the journalistic speculation on
their personalities proved so ephemeral:
for what did it finally matter whether
Hiss was a likable man or Chambers an
overwrought one? what did it matter
when at stake was the commitment of
‘those popular-front liberals who had
persisted in treating Stalinism as an
accepted part of “the Left’? and why
should serious people have puzzled for
long over the private motives of Cham-
bers or Hiss when Stalinism itself re-
_» mained to be studied and analyzed ?
Now Chambers has told his story and
put down his ideas. “Witness” is a
fascinating grab-bag: autobiography, ac-
count of underground work, religious
tract, attempt at an explanation of
Stalinism. As confession, it has an al-
_ most classical stature: whatever opinions
Chambers may now superimpose on his
memory, the narrative itself demands
the attention of anyone interested in
_ modern politics. As autobiography, the
book is embarrassing: Chambers’ memoir
of his family seems a needless act of
masochism while the portrait of his
adult self suggests a man whose total
sincerity is uncomplicated by humor,
irony, og persuasive humility.
The most remarkable fact about ““Wit-
* Random House $i
502
pu
a es we
MAN,
BY IRVING HOWE
ness”’ is that as a work of ideas it should
be so ragged and patchy, In all its 800
pages there is hardly a sustained pas-
sage of, say, five thousand words de-
voted to a serious development of
thought; everything breaks down into
sermon, reminiscence, self-mortification,
and self-justification. Service in the
G. P. U. is not, to be sure, the best
training for the life of the mind; but
there is something in Chambers’ flair for
intellectual melodrama that seems par-
ticular to our time and to the kind of
personality always hungry for absolutes
of faith. Writes Chambers: “I was not
seeking ethics; I was seeking God. My
need was to be a practising Christian
in the same sense that I had been a
practising Communist.” A little time
spent in “seeking ethics” or even a
breather from “seeking” anything, might
seem to have been in order.
The world, as Chambers sees it, is
split between those who acknowledge the
primacy of God and those who assert
the primacy of man; from this funda-
mental division follows a struggle be-
tween morality and murder, with com-
munism merely the final version of the
rationalist heresy; and the one hope for
the world is a return to Christian vir-
tue, the ethic of mercy. These views
Chambers announces with an air of
abject righteousness. Indifferent to the
caution that the sin of pride takes no
more extreme form than a belief in God
as one’s personal deus ex machina, he
several times acknowledges a Mover at
his elbow and declares the appoint-
ment of Thomas Murphy as government
prosecutor in the Hiss case to be evi-
dence that “It pleased God to have in
readiness a man.” From “Witness” an
unsympathetic reader might, in fact,
conclude that God spent the past several
years as a special aid to the House
Committee on Un-American Activities.
In reading this book one is non-
plussed by the way its polemics violate
4!
he ARTS
AND STALIN
‘to discredit its exposure of the muni- —
¥e
~
its declared values. A few illustrations” dae
may suggest the quality of Chambers:
thought:
Again and again he declares himself iT
interested in presenting the facts. With-
out questioning his personal story, I
must doubt his capacity as historian and —
social observer. It is mot true that
Trotsky “led in person” the Bolshevik
troops that suppressed the Kronstadt
rebellion. It is not true that “Lenin gave —
up listening to music because of the py
emotional havoc it played with him"; — we
the man merely said, if Gorky’s report #isy
of a casual remark be credited, that
music made him want to stroke heads at —
a time when he felt it necessary to make —
revolutions. It is not true that “Com-
munists are invariably as prurient as gut-
ter urchins.” It is an exaggeration to say
that in the 1927 faction fight in the
United States Communist Party, dirty as
it was, each side “‘prompted’ scandalous —
whispering campaigns, in which embez-
zlement of party money, homosexuality,
and stool pigeon were the preferred
whispers.” And it is a wild exaggera-
tion to assert that the Communist agents
in Washington, dangerous as they were,
“if only in prompting the triumph of
of communism in China, have decisively
changed the history of Asia, of the
United States, and therefore, of the
entire world (italics mine—I.—H_}.”
Mao, alas, recruited his armies in the
valley of Yenan, not the bars of Wash-
ington. 7
Chambers’ extreme political turn has
dizzied his historical sense. By noting
that Alger Hiss was counsel for the Nye °
committee during the thirties, he tries 7
tions industry. “The penetration of the
United States government by the Com-
munist Party,” adds Chambers, “coin-
cided with a mood in the nation which
light-heartedly baited the men who man-
ufactured the armaments indispensable _
to its defense as ‘Merchants of Death.’” V§ ..
a
The NAT. o1 =
vealed that so me arm $s maf-
had not hesitated to sell in
> Hitler, that their profits had been
scionably high, that some had pres-
d both sides in the Chaco to buy
products and thus to prolong the
war. The truth of these disclosures does
not depend on whether Hiss was coun-
sel for the committee that made them.
Chambers complains bitterly, and
with justice, about the smears he has suf-
fered from many Hiss supporters, Un-
fortunately, he is not himself above the
use of similar methods. One of Hiss’s
attorneys was Harold Rosenwald, about
whose face Chambers darkiy pronounces:
“I had seen dozens much like it in my
t “time.” The notion that people can be
: “placed” politically by the shape of
their faces, is both preposterous and,
at least in this century, sinister. It may
‘b that Rosenwald does hold the politi-
cal views Chambers hints at, but this at-
tribution must seem completely shabby
when it rests on nothing more than the
fact that Rosenwaid worked for O. John
Rogge in the Attorney General's office
and that Rogge “is now the legal rep-
_tesentative of the Tito government.”
_ In the course of breaking away from
Stalinism, Chambers came to feel that
“it is just as evil to kill the Czar and
| his family . . . as it is to starve two
| million peasants or slave laborers to
death.” What, if anything, does this
| highly charged statement mean? Com-
|
j
~—
.
[ce ae SS eR BS
sy eo ee ie
|
|
|
)
|
|
|
=slUCUCc hCOlUlCUO
ing from a pacifist, it would be per-
fectly clear, for it would suggest that
_@ killing is forbidden under any circum-
| stances. We might then hope to hear as
a sequel that “It is just as evil to kill
60,000 civilians in Hiroshima as it was
to kill the Czar and his family.” But
"Chambers is not a pacifist, he is willing
to “struggle against [communism] by all
_ means, including arms.” So the evil of
. killing the Czar cannot for him be
simply that it was a killing, but must
be that it was an unjustified killing—
which leaves him with the moral
enormity: “Several unjustified killings
are just as evil as two million unjustified
| killings.”
| Throughout the book Chambers
| praises the Christian virtues of humility
_ and meckness, Unfortunately, this credo
does not prevent him from declaring
“the deft-wing inteliectuals of almost
every feather” to have been Hiss sup-
i
as
puffins, skimmers, skuas, and boobies.”
These delicate designations prompt one
to remind Chambers that a good-many
“left-wing intellectuals” of one or an-
other feather—those who truly de-
served to be called “left’’ and “‘intel-
lectual’—fought a minority battle
against Stalinism at a time when both
he and Hiss were at the service of
Messrs. Yagoda and Yezhov.
WHAT IS STALINISM? It is evil,
declares Chambers; a proposition nei-
ther disputable nor enlightening. No-
where in his 800 pages does he attempt
sustained definition or description, no-
where does he bound the shape of the
evil. He seems unconcerned to ex-
amine the workings of Russian society,
the social rule of the Western Stalinist
parties, the relations of the Asian parties
to native nationalism. And with good
reason. If you believe that the two
great camps of the world prepare for
battle under the banners, Faith in Man
and Faith in God, what is the point of
close study and fine distinctions? You
need only sound the trumpets.
Almost unwittingly, Chambers moves
toward the view that the source of our
troubles is the Enlightenment: ‘The
crisis of the Western world exists to the
degree in which it ds indifferent to
God.” The French Revolution becomes
the villain of history, its progeny every
godless society of our time. Chambers
accepts, of course, the common, crude
identification of Stalin’s totalitarianism
with Lenin’s revolutionary state; both
seem to him forms of fascism; the New
Deal was a social’ revolution which
crippled “the power of business’; and
the motto of ‘the welfare state” is best
expressed by his former associate,
Colonel Bykov: ‘‘Who pays is boss, and
who takes money must also give some-
thing.’’ Everyone might thus be lumped
together: Voltaire, Jefferson, Lenin,
Roosevelt, Hitler, Stalin; not all equally
evil, but all, apparently, “indifferent to
God.” A man who thinks in such pat-
terns can hardly be expected to notice—
or have much reason to care—that
Stalinism and fascism, while symmetri-
cal in their political devices, have dif-
ferent historical origins, class structures,
political ideologies, and social rationales,
Or that the Keynesian measures of the
New Deal, far from constituting a revo-
ters and, then fren calling them
capitalism. :
Chambers’ approach to history rests,
finally, on no social theory at all; it is a
return to Manichean demonology. Since
for him everything depends on whether
one takes God or man to be primary,
he can write that “as Communists, Stalin
and the Stalinists were absolutely justi-
fied in making the Purge. From a Com-
munist point of view, Stalin could have
taken no other course. . . . In that fact
lay the evidence that communism is |
absolutely evil. The human horror was
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eh ee me i A A A A AS A YO A OT Se ra a ee
503,
SVR De cost Sie eRe We f
ihe cry) oa SP a ses, wit
lution, proved a crutch for a stumbling be
wn om 3m =
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ee
eee reef
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not evil, it was the sad consequence of needs and internation 1 power - Maneu
evil.” The first two of these sentences vers. A unique blend ¢ f reactionary aid
are historically false: various Commu-
nists opposed the purge and proposed
other courses of action, among them the
removal of Stalin from power. The last
sentence is shocking in its moral callous-
ness. In effect, Chambers is saying that
those of us who attack Stalinism for its
inhumanity are sentimental, lacking in
his austere disdain for what he calls
“formless good will.” Is it, however,
more important to attack Stalin for dis-
believing in the primacy of God than for
killing millions of men? If the killing
is to be regarded as a mere “‘con-
sequence” of first principles, specific
moral criticism of it can only seem
superficial. But, in fact, the purges were
the result of a decision by men in power,
a decision for which they must be held
responsible. A society is to be judged
less by its philosophical premise about
God and man, if it has any, than by its
actual treatment of men; “the human
horror of the purge’ was evil, not
merely “sad.” What matters is not the
devil's metaphysics, but his morals.
Chambers’ major insight into the
problem of Stalinism—and an acute one
—is his insistence that in this era of
permanent crisis it provides a faith, a
challenge, even an ideal. Feeding on
crisis, Stalinism offers a vision. ‘The
vision inspires. The crisis impels. The
workingman is chiefly moved by the
_ Crisis. The educated man is chiefly
moved by the vision.” This is an im-
portant observation and a necessary cor-
rective to vulgar theories which make of
Stalinism mainly an atavistic drive for
power. But Chambers, ignoring the fact
that the vision of Stalinism is corrupt,
“treats it as if it were a revolutionary
movement in the Marxist sense. He takes
it as a legitimate form of socialism, and
pays slight attention to the counter-
revolution that occurred in Russia during
the very years he was underground.
Is this an academic matter? Not at all;
for the essence of Stalinism, in its Rus-
sian form, is that it rests on a new kind
of bureaucratic ruling class which en-
gaged in “‘primitive accumulation” by
destroying the revolutionary generation
and appropriating to itself total eco-
nomic and political power. Outside of
Russia, Stalinism utilizes the socialist
tradition of Europe and the nationalist
sentiment of Asia for its domestic class
504
jéeodo-revolutioasry aaa Stalinism
attracts, in this age of crisis and decay,
all those who feel the world must be
changed but lack the understanding or
energy to change it in a libertarian di-
rection. Dynamic but not progressive,
anti-capitalist but not socialist, Stalin-
ism causes, in the words of Marx, all
the old crap to rise to the top; under
its domination, the best impulses of
modern man are directed toward the
worst consequences. And the problem
for the historian is to determine precise-
ly the blend of seemingly contradictory
elements that Stalinism comprises.
Chambers himself provides an anec-
dote which dramatically confirms these
remarks. His boss in the underground,
Colonel Bykov, was a perfect specimen
of the new Stalinist man, the Gletkin
type: coarse, obedient, unintellectual,
brutal. To Bykov “the generation that
had made the Revolution . . . seemed
as alien and preposterous . . . as for-
eigners. They belonged to another spe-
cies and he talked about them the way
people talk about the beastly or amusing
habits of cows or pigs.” So disgusting
was Bykov that Chambers felt, before
introducing him to Hiss, that he would
have to apologize for the Russian. Yet,
after a brief conversation, Hiss found
Bykov “impressive.” Why? I would
guess that it was the attraction of an
extreme bureaucratic personality for a
mild bureaucratic personality, of one
man who instinctively scorned . the
masses of people for another who had
been trained to think of them as
objects for benevolent manipulation. If
Hiss had possessed a trace of revolu-
tionary or liberal spirit, he would have
shuddered at the sight of Bykov, he
would have seen on Bykov’s hands the
blood of Bukharin and Tomsky and
thousands upon thousands of others.
Where will Chambers go? His
strength lies in a recognition that we live
in an extreme situation; he agrees that
“jt is necessary to change the world.”
No longer a radical, scornful of liberals,
convinced that ‘in the struggle against
communism the conservative is all but
helpless,” he accepts, formally, the posi-
tion of those reactionaries manqués who
edit the Freeman. But only formally;
for unlike them, he is drenched with
the consciousness of crisis, he has none
ar he:
of their omplacenc nce, he contis
turbed and dieontishial 4
extreme gestures and ulinste 4 ul
ments. What remains? Only the fact th
estranged personality and reactionar
opinion form an explosive mixture. —
In his final sentence Chambers hints
that he believes a third world war both
inevitable and necessary. Yet he yearns
for some spiritual reformation, a turn to
God. What likelihood there is that
spiritual or any other desired values
would survive in a world-wide atomit
war, he does not discuss. Would there,
in any case, be much point in reminding
him that religious faith has rarely pre-—
vented despots from being despotic?
that many of our most precious con- |
cepts of liberty are the work of skeptics? —
that Stalinism thrives in pious Rome as 4
in worldly Paris? that it wins supporters
in an Orient which has not known a loss —
of religious faith comparable to that of |
the West? that if Stalin is an atheist,
Franco is a believer? that the priests in |
Russia pray for Stalin as in Germany —
they prayed for Hitler?
Very little point, I fear; little more ~
than to have told him during the ’thirties —
that Stalinism was betraying the Ger-
man workers to Hitler or by its trials and
purges murdering thousands of innocent
people. Those who abandon a father —
below are all too ready for a father
above. But this shift of faith does not ~
remove the gnawing problems which,
if left unsolved, will drive still more
people to Stalinism; it gives the op-
ponents of the totalitarian state no
strategy, no program with which to
remake the werld; it makes our situation
appear even more desperate than it al-
ready is. For if Chambers is right in
believing the major bulwark against
Stalin to be faith in God, thert it is
time for men of conviction and courage
to take to the hills.
gett es =o
b> as = & GF
tides
| eth
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| Come
Close-up of Boswell
BOSWELL IN HOLLAND, 1763--"
1764. Edited by Frederick A. Pottle.
McGraw-Hill Book Company. $6.
IS is the second volume of the.
popular or “reader's” edition of the
Boswell papers which will later be
paralleled by a complete, more heavily
annotated edition to consist ultimately
of at least thirty volumes. It takes up
the story where “The London og 3
-
_ ‘The Nati
Kite
iby
Boswell was attempting to follow
her’s wishes by studying law at
cht. The supplementary correspond-
with “‘Zélide” had appeared previ-
sly in the now unobtainable “Private
Papers” issued in 1928. Most of the
rest of the material is new and presents
us with an important addition to the
Boswell saga.
‘Readers should perhaps be warned
that the form is entirely different from
hat of ““The London Journal.” The lat-
a was an artful narrative carefully
worked up by the author as though in-
— tended for publication. The correspond-
ing journal of the Dutch period was
lost in Boswell’s own time and what
‘8B has survived is the collection of letters,
} practice themes, and brief diary jottings
as rom which the lost journal was no
doubt rewritten. Nevertheless its inter-
% Best, though different, is hardly less
great. It brings us closer to the man
himself because it is more unguarded if
‘not more frank.
Boswell had left London with a
heavy heart bound for a country where
he promised himseif no pleasure and
for studies which did not interest him.
He obediently attended the law lectures
and, in accordance with what was also
his father’s desire, introduced himself
to Dutch society. Partly because of
“Johnson's influence he was determined
to discipline*himself and in the process
he. exhibited a determination and a
- fortitude of which one’ would hardly
| have believed him capable. Here, one
|. might almost say, is Boswell trying to
Wi someone else and all but succeeding
_ outwardly if not inside. He flirted
} | decorously with both Zélide and with a
|| gich widow but he was sober and hard
working. He rose usually at six and be-
sides attending the law lectures he read
methodically in Latin and Greek, learn-
_ ing some Dutch, practiced composition
in French, and came as-close as so ir-
_ tepressible and ebullient a man could
come to turning himself into a grind.
Most of the diary is written in the
second person even when its substance
_ is narrative. “Yesterday you did per-
| fectly well. You read much Greek and
| finished “The Anabasis.’-—You was quite
genteel and gay at Assembly—But you
_ talked rather too much. Have a care
__ of being étourdi.” In addition there are
- May 24, 1952
‘
hi
a
=)
es
pce
ae SS
Rendreds of i oe injunctions
written } to remind him of what he had
resolved to do or not to do. “Be
retenue’”’ is the refrain and there was,
of course, nothing more contrary to his
nature, ‘‘Have real principles. You have
acquired a noble character at Utrecht.
Maintain it.” Or again, “Remember
Johnson.”
Obviously Boswell had more of what
is called “strength of character” than
he is commonly credited with, but the
moral of the diary remains nevertheless
dubious since he may have paid a ter-
rible penalty for the determined attempt
to go against his nature. Again and
again he was seized by fits of melan-
choly so obviously genuine as to remove
any suspicion that they were part of a
pose. And as he himself came more and
more to suppose, they may have been
connected with the denial of strong im-
pulses, including, of course, those of
his frantic sexuality. Even in London
he had failed to achieve his ambition
to form a liaison with a woman of fash-
ion, but he had ranged widely among
prostitutes of every class including the
very lowest. In Holland he was deter-
mined—from motives which included
prudence, the opinion of Johnson, and
religious scruples—to permit himself no
indulgences and the serio-comic history
of his struggles with himself runs
through the entire volume. “Go to
Amsterdam,” he wrote once, “and try
Dutch girl Friday, and see what moder-
ate Venus will do.” But it is not clear
that he did “go to Amsterdam” and
when, on another occasion, he wrote
“No whoring except” the last word is
struck through with a pen as though to
say “‘No exceptions.” Boswell had many
gifts but what religious writers some-
times call “the gift of chastity’ was not
—
——e
—
——
——
——
—<m
——
——
—
—a
——
—
——
—
—
—=
oe
—-
—
“ee
—-
—
—
——
—o-
—
—=
—
—<-
—<-
—
awn
—e
—a
—
—
—-
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as
——
——
=~
—
—
—
—
—o
——
—
—s
—<
—
—
all
(eneee sh ek
among them. Since he was by now what
he believed to be ‘‘a rational Christian’
religious principles were important and
he was already debating with himself
those questions which, as readers of the
“Life of Samuel Johnson” will remem-
ber, he could not keep out of conversa-
tions with the great Cham himself. The
example of the patriarchs was a hearten-
ing faot but not, he seemed to feel,
absolutely conclusive. “Does God for-
bid girls?” he asks himself on one occa-
sion, and again, more confidently, ““Con-
Wyndham Lewis
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UAUGLIUEOOUCEUOOUEGOOOOEGSUOOASGUUEUGGREEALAOEUG SUSE
505,
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‘cubinage is no dire sin.” But then, on
the other hand, there was the question
of what prudence denied even if God
did not. “Never do it unless some very
extraordinary opportunity of fresh girl
that can do no harm; and such a case is
impossible”; ‘‘Hahn pronounced grave-
jy: No metaphysics, plain common
sense. No claps. Women are necessary
when one has become accustomed, or
retention will influence the brain.”
Perhaps in Boswell’s case it really
did. At least the melancholy, whatever
its Cause, was genuine enough. In fact
the whole of this journal has the effect
of increasing one’s opinion of the
strength and the sincerity of Boswell’s
character. No other available document
makes him appear less dandiacal and
less complacent, more deeply troubled
and sternly resolute,
JOSEPH WOOD KRUTCH
The Symbolical Apple
DOTING. By Henry Green. The Vik-
ang Press. $3.
ENRY GREEN’S new novel, writ-
ten almost entirely in dialogue, is
a comedy of manners of the amorous
chivvying of five characters, three of
them middle-aged and two young, and
all of them ordinary, average, unim-
portant. They don’t want doting and
they do want loving, but they are not
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sure which is which, any n
Annabel, a young girl ( liistcgh io fankk
of her own) with urgent needs (she
hopes) who keeps saying in her helpless
search for experience that she is “ex-
pendable,’” knows what she means by
the word.
Annabel is expendable; loving, in
the usual approximate way, wins out;
marriage wins out in the usual proximate
way—and all for the wrong reasons.
Charles, the friend of the family, finds
himself unaccountably choosing married
love with Claire (whom he wanted only
for doting) when during the course of
the very amusing closing scene in a
night club he gets drunk enough to see
the dreary bickerings of the married
couple who give the party as a vision
of marital happiness.
The comedy arises from the lack of
self-knowledge of the characters whom
the reader, who is both one of the
characters and the stranger who ob-
serves them, gets to know only a little
better than they know themselves. The
comedy is double-edged, for really no
one can know anybody, and nothing
ever happens—from the first sentence:
“Pretty squalid play all around I
thought!” to the last: “The next day
they all went on very much the same.”
There is nothing in “Doting’” that
Mr. Green has not done better before.
Unlike his other novels, at least in
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506
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?
Doting” creates no
web of insinuations * which sh : ald,
has stated, “slowly appeal to feeli
unexpressed.” The comedy disso
most of the feelings, and those left ove
fail to spin out into the endless wet
of the other novels in which apparer cn
meaninglessness reaches out into insinua
tions of order and meaning, into in-
timations of the mystery of feeling thal,
transcending knowledge, can never be,
must be, and somehow is inexplicabl
expressed. |
“Doting” is significant in the de.
velopment of a novelist who from the fj at!
first has been obsessed with the con
flict between the reality of the objec:
tive world and the unreality, the un-
knowableness, of the subjective world
Mr. Green wants to present the char
acters in “Doting” with the least pos-
sible intrusion on his part, to let them
be as they are, almost as if they were
objects—the literary equivalent “of
Cézanne's apples. The danger “Doting”
fails entirely to circumvent is that Mr.
Green's respect for the object and dis-~
trust of feeling—which he sees as the
danger but without which the apples are”
only apples—may produce characters —
whose “unexpressed” feelings remain
unexpressed.
To compare Henry Green’s char-
acters with those of Henry James is to
take the measure of more than a change
in literary style. James’s characters, those —
knowing protagonists of their fate,
progress from ignorance to self-knowl-
edge through a disciplined accommo- ~
dation to alien and external reality. Mr.
Green’s characters know nothing about
themselves, and what they do know is —
wrong; they say only what they do not
mean or feel. They never change, and
if they end up happy, as they often do,
it is almost in spite of themselves. They —
destroy the whole fiction of self-knowl-
edge. Only the external world, and as
part of it, instinctive impersonal human
nature, is real. All the rest is unreal, . |
the created, the symbolical apple. “Only
crazy for what I haven’t got,’ says one
of the characters in ‘Party Going,”
“like any drowning, starving man.”
H. P. LAZARUS:
Coming Soon in The Nation
“The Private Papers of
Senator Vandenberg”
Reviewed by Wayne Morse
‘The Nation |
Nei cB
HAGGIN
| DCA VICTOR has issued a recording
AY of Toscanini’s broadcast of “La
Bohéme” in February, 1946. Not even
Toscanini’s performance could induce
el me to listen to the tear-jerking third
i) and fourth acts then or now; but I can
feport remarkably clear and agreeable-
sounding reproduction of his perform-
ance of the first two acts—wonderful in
” its buoyancy, animation, and gaiety, its
“plastic continuity and coherence, its pre-
cise gearing of the N. B. C. Symphony’s
i] playing with the superlative singing of
‘f Albanese, Peerce, and others of the ex-
cellent cast.
Columbia gives us on one record only
a few arias and duets from Verdi's
- “Otcilo’—some, but not all, of the
most beautiful and effective passages in
what seems to me Verdi's finest opera.
_ Steber’s singing is very beautiful except
for a shrill high note or two in the
_ third-act duet (she should rid her Ital-
ian of its sharp American t); Vinay’s
_also is excellent for the most part; Guar-
_ fera hasn't sufficient weight of voice in
the Credo (this aria, incidentally, is for
_ me Verdi's one failure in the opera—a
_ failure, that is, as a musical embodiment
- of the ideas of the text), but is very
' fine in his duet with Vinay; and the
_ singers are effectively supported by the
_ Metropolitan Opera Orchestra under
Cleva’s direction. In the first-act duet
the singers seem too close to the micro-
phone for proper balance with the
‘orchestra, and distinctness is carried to
the point of unpleasant sharpness which
fequires reduction of treble to mini-
mum; elsewhere the sound is good,
‘though the orchestra lacks luster. If
Columbia had issued the entire opera it
would have provided the entire text; but
. it issues these passages without the
_ words one needs to follow the develop-
_ ment of the music, and with a synopsis
that ranges from inadequate to inaccu-
_ tate. I should mention that the Willow
_ Song and Ave Maria were issued a year
of so ago on Steber’s record of Verdi
arias.
__ Another Columbia record is devoted
to the magnificent singing of the bass-
_ baritone George London in a beautiful
‘May 24, 1952
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less valuable ocae from Rubinstein’s
“The Demon,” Massenet’s “Don Qui-
choite’”’ (with Rosalind Nadell, mezzo-
soprano), and Paladifhe’s ‘“Patrie.”” The
Metropolitan Opera Orchestra is con-
ducted by Kurt Adler and Jean Morel.
Again treble must be reduced; and again
there are no texts.
A similar Urania record devoted to the
singing of the late Maria Cebotari gives
us, in effect, three soprano voices. In
what I would say is an over-impassioned
performance of Deh vieni, non tarder
from “Figaro” (in German) we hear a
beautiful voice of remarkable amplitude;
in Martern aller Arten from ‘The
Seraglio” we hear a less voluminous
voice of astonishing accuracy and bril-
liance in the florid passages and high
notes; in the final scene of “Salome”
this thinner voice is often tremulously
shrill (the duet from “Madama Butter-
fly” with the tenor Walter Ludwig I
didn’t listen to). Artur Rother conducts
the orchestra of Radio Berlin—not too
effectively in the introduction to Mar-
tern aller Arten—and changes the end
of the “Salome” excerpt. Treble must
be stepped up for the “Figaro’’ record-
ing and reduced for the others; bass
must be stepped up for the ‘Salome’
recording, which acquires a hash of
high-frequency distortion. Again no
texts.
As for Urania’s recording of Dvorak’s
opera ‘‘Rusalka,” it has some engaging
arias separated by long stretches of less
interesting material. The Dresden Opera
performance is excellent and well repro-
duced.
Re dell’ abisso from “The Masked
Ball” is well sung by Cloe Elmo on a
Victor 45, with an aria from “La
Gioconda.”” Morel conducts a Victor
orchestra.
Haydn’s Missa Sancti Bernardi de
Offida (1796), which has been issued
by the Haydn Society, turns out to be an
impressive work not only in its vigorous
and joyous passages, like the et vitam
venturi, but especially in the slow and
quiet ones, like the Gratias agimus and
Crucifixus. And there is fine singing by
the Copenhagen Boys’ and Mens’ Choir
with the Danish Royal Opera Orchestra
in the well-paced performance conducted
by Mogens Woldike.
Columbia offers Steber’s beautiful
singing in I Know that My Redeemer,
tion,” and other arias by Bach and
Mendelssohn. Max Rudolf conducts the
orchestra,
On another Columbia record are six-
teenth- and seventeenth-century mad-
rigals—many of them very lovely, and
one by Gesualdo very strange in its un-
usual harmonic progressions—well sung
by the Renaissance Singers under Leh-
man Engel’s direction. Mr. Engel in-
forms us on the envelope that “most
of the music is minutely illustrative of
the text,” which is “‘pootry ... of an
enormously high order’; yet the texts are
not provided—and they are not intel-
ligible as sung. The recorded sound
coarsens near the end of the second
side.
Some fine examples of secular and
sacred music of the sixteenth century are
beautifully sung by the Robert Shaw
Chorale on a Victor record. Again no
texts.
And Columbia has issued an LP
dubbing of its old recording of the ex-
cellent performance by Lyons musicians
of Fauré’s lovely and moving Requiem.
The sound is good except for some
strident fortes of the chorus.
CONTRIBUTORS
IRVING HOWE has begun work on a
history of the American Communist
Party. He will publish a book on Wil-
liam Faulkner in July.
H. P. LAZARUS is a member of the
English Department of Temple Uni-
versity.
GERTRUDE LAWRENCE.
Ja A New Musical Play
The Bing and I
with YUL BRYNNER
DOROTHY SARNOFF
ST. JAMES THEATRE, West 44th St,
Evenings at 8:25: $7.20 to 180. Matinees
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Pulitzer Prize & Critics’ Award Musical Play”
MARTHA WRIGHT
GEORGE BRITTON
South Pacific
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508
CENTURY-OLD barn mdested to mod-
The Pechan Act
Dear Sirs: Pennsylvania’s Loyalty act,
the Pechan Jaw, in its first two months
of existence has had exactly the effect
its opponents predicted. Two school
teachers with impeccable records have
resigned their positions rather than sign
the oath. A public-assistance worker has
also resigned.
Hans Blumenfeld, chief of Phila-
delphia’s Division of Planning Analysis,
took the oath and resigned in protest
against “second-class citizenship.”
Philadelphia's District Attorney, Rich-
atdson Dilworth, refused point-blank
to take the oath, branding it an “out-
rageous” procedure resembling the
methods of the Spanish Inquisition.
Mayor Joseph S. Clarke, Jr., signed the
oath but called it “nonsense” and “a
lot of red tape.”
Four young doctors and a nurse at
Philadelphia General Hospital were re-
luctantly discharged by the hospital
board for failure to sign. The board
chairman, acting without option, called
it a “‘worthless law,’ and eighty out of
106 staff interns and resident physicians
denounced the law as “insidiously dan-
gerous in its implications and _pro-
foundly undemocratic in its implemen-
tation.”
A cheering development resulted
from the recent primary elections. One
Democratic state assemblyman from
Philadelphia, Edward Conway, had been
particularly active in securing the en-
actment of the Pechan law. An Ameri-
can Legion post commander, he had
associated himself with the Legion’s
blustering lobby and had frightened a
number of Democratic representatives
from voting according to their con-
victions. A committee was formed of
teachers residing in Conway's district
for the purpose of defeating him in the
primaries. By taking advantage of sev-
eral good breaks, the teachers split the
machine and gave Conway an impres-
sive beating. The significant thing is
that all his successful opponents (in a
three-representative district) campaigned
on the Pechan-law issue. One incum-
bent had voted against the law; the two
newcomers promised to work for re-
peal. Thus, the Legion’s threats to “‘get”’
every legislator opposed to the Pechan
law backfired in at least one district.
FRANCIS P. JENNINGS
Philadelphia
FINANCING
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ACROSS
1 Cellar bedpost, ae those who are on
their toes, (5, 2, 6)
10 Charybdis personified this pool. (5)
11 A battle cape might be square. (9)
12 The reason for starving poets, if
this is what nee dish out! (4, 5)
13 The part of a lance which might
lead to a vein. (5)
14 Are they flooded with extras in Hol-
- lywood? (12)
19 Something to argue about, when fond
parents do. (5, 2, 5)
22 2 who run them live danger-
ously.
24 The barter of a twisted yarn manu-
facturer. (4, 5)
25 Discharge the boss at the station,
' perhaps. (4, 5)
28 Would occur yearly if it weren’t for
a missing void. (5)
27 How to “put your mother-in-law in
@ grave position with reciprocity?
(13)
DOWN
2 Apostrophe to the organ made by
the Lord Protector, perhaps. (6)
2 Meet, in part, to make the upper
Slav ‘safe. (4, 5)
4 Discourage a man, but not with
soap! (3)
Readers are invited to send for a free copy of Mr. Lewis's
requests to Puzzle Dept., The Nation, 20 Vesey Street, New York 7, New York,
a such girls indifferent to sable?
5)
Jumps out of 21. (5)
Such a rag never would fit a man
who chases things. (8)
________ as a shadow, short as any
dream.” (M.N.D.) (5)
9 Did Luther, in favor of a trial? (7)
15 Authoritative, like the Louvre? {33
16 You might need it for a gangster
film—so get plastered! (9)
17 The first writing of United Press
in the wind? (2-5)
18 Primitive race? (You’ve
ake seen such a picture |
5-3)
20 He makes money, and nothing else
(worse luck)! (6)
21 A series of changes, perhaps. (5)
23 It forms close aupaale is a wall. (5)
24 Brer Rabbit had such a patch. (5)
Ba
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YOU ARE CORDIALLY INVITED
to Attend a Conference on
FREEDOM’S STAKE IN THE MIDDLE EAST
AND NORTH AFRICA
Sunday, MAY 25th — WALDORF-ASTORIA HOTEL
Auspices THE NATION ASSOCIATES
Three Sessions
Morning Session—10 A.M.
1. IMPERIALISM AND FEUDALISM « Twin Threats to Peace
Roger W. Baldwin, Chairman, International League for the Rights of Man
2. NATIONALISM « Friend or Foe of Democracy
H. E. Abba Eban, Ambassador of Israel to the United States
H. E. Ambassador L. N, Palar, permanent representative of Indonesia to
the United Nations
Discussion
‘Afternoon Session—2 P.M.
Presiding: Dr. Dewey Anderson, Executive Director, Public Affairs Institute
1. MILITARY BASES AND THE LOYALTY OF PEOPLES
Kingsley Martin, Editor, The New Statesman and Nation of London
Dr. Benjamin Rivlin, Professor of Political Science, Brooklyn College
Discussion
2. OIL, LAND REFORM, DEVELOPMENT OF HUMAN AND
NATURAL RESOURCES « Pathways to Peace and Democracy
Dr. H. J. van Mook, Director, Public Administration Division of the United - =
Nations Technical Assistance Administration
Prof. Reza Zadeh Shafaq, Professor of Political Science, Teheran Univer-
sity; visiting Professor, Middle East Institute, Columbia University
Discussion
Dinner Forum—7 P.M.
ARAB-ISRAEL PEACE « Key to Stability in the Middle East
All Sessions open to the Public without charge.
Dinner Reservations ¢ $12.50 per person.
The Nation Associates, Room 1010, Twenty Vesey Street, New York. BArclay 7-1065
My 31°92
Battle for the Schools—An Editorial
I ; 107;
May 31, 1952
| WILLIAM O. DOUGLAS
Revolution
ls Our Business
ys
BY CHARLES R. ALLEN, JR.
| Levittown in Bucks County
I
|
yg
| Plebiscite in California
| Should Parochial Schools Be Taxed?
BY HANNAH BLOOM
a
te
I
|=
|
-}20 CENTS A COPY -
EVERY WEEK SINCE 1865 ° 7 DOLLARS A YEAR
AROUND
McCarthy Muddle
Evanston, Ul.
T IS traditional at Northwestern Uni-
versity to hold a springtime Mock
Political Convention in Presidential elec-
tion years. In this rock-ribbed Republi-
can area, the affair seldom amounts to
more than the usual parades, pseudo-
political machinations, and the final “bi-
pattisan” selection of a candidate who
almost invariably fails to win the fol-
lowing November, The only time in 44
years the Northwestern student body
managed to agree with the nation at
large was in its choice of Calvin
Coolidge in 1924,
This year, however, the M. P. C.
attracted widespread interest for two
reasons: it chose General Eisenhower
for the Presidency and listened to Sen-
ator McCarthy, from nearby Wisconsin,
as its keynote speaker. The campus re-
acted strongly to the surprise an-
nouncement of McCarthy's scheduled
appearance; the pages of the Daily
Northwestern crackled with letters pro
and con. Actually, as members of the
convention steering committee pointed
out, the Senator had been invited only
after other notables—including Presi-
dent Truman, Vice-President Barkley,
and Senators Taft and Kefauver—had
declined. Moreover, Senators Morse and
Douglas were also on the convention
speakers’ list, so it is unlikely that the
invitation to McCarthy was impelled
by anything other than a desire to get
an additional “big name” for the oc-
casion.
More than 1700 student delegates, ob-
servers and townspeople packed the
gymnasium to hear McCarthy at the con-
-vention’s opening. The Wisconsin dele-
gation, blissfully unaware of possible
- implications, raised two huge gas-filled
balloons labeled “McCarthy.” Pande-
monium broke loose when the Senator
entered, cheers and cat-calls about bal-
ancing each other. The speaker launched
an attack on “the suicidal foreign policy
of this nation . . . and the extent to
which that policy is dictated from Mos-
cow.” His major “case” for the evening
was that of Lawrence K. Rosinger, based
on Rosinget’s views as expressed at the
famous round-table discussion on Amer-
ican Policy Towards China sponsored by
the State Department in 1949. Mc-
Carthy's attack consisted primarily of
charges already aired by Professor Ken-
neth Colegrove of Northwestern Uni-
versity, one of the faculty sponsors of
the convention, who was seated behind
the speaker on the platform.
Both Professor Colegrove and Harold
Stassen, who was to speak to the con-
vention the following day, were present
at the 1949 round table. McCarthy
failed to point out that these two men
had been in a minority at that affair; the
so-called Lattimore-Rosinger group had
the support of William R. Herod of
International General Electric, William
S. Robertson of the American and
Foreign Power Company, and other
business representatives—as well as
clergymen—who knew the China scene
intimately.
From Rosinger, McCarthy drifted into
a discussion of the Daily Worker,
Shakespeare, and God, spicing his pero-
ration with a quotation from Macdeth
and a dramatic account of a chaplain’s
last words to McCarthy's marine unit in
the Pacific. The Senator bid his audi-
ence to have courage and follow him, re-
gardless of “the filth, the mud, the
scars and the pain they may make you
suffer.”
After most of the spectators had filed
out of the hall with McCarthy, a motion
came from the floor to put the conven-
tion on record as supporting the
Wisconsin Senator's views. Almost im-
mediately, a counter-motion was intro-
duced to table the first motion. In a
shouting contest, the “nayes’’ were de-
clared to have carried, but the noise was
so great that a roll-call had to be held
which McCarthy won, 543 to 387. So
ended the meeting, but not the storm.
Late the following afternoon, a handful
of delegates were confronted with the
civil-rights section of a proposed plat-
form which specifically condemned the
“character assassination” methods of
McCarthy. With less than a quorum
present, a “token vote” was taken which
approved the anti-McCarthy plank.
Only three hundred participated in
this voice-vote and at the evening ses-
sion, brief consideration of the plank
was squeezed in before the feature
speaker of the evening, Harold Stassen.
At this time a motion was presented at-
tempting to delete the anti-McCarthy
sentiments, but by a standing vote, it
was defeated. It should be pointed ou
that there was considerable confusion
among the delegates as to just what
was being voted upon, particularly sin *
this plank was in obvious conflict y
the roll-call voted approving McCarthy's
speech less than twenty-four hours
earlier, 1
Viewed in retrospect, the Mock Po-
litical Convention did not speak well for
the political maturity of ‘the students, |
They apparently had no clear picture of
the major issues confronting the nation:
and were swayed by the emotional shock!
of the speech of the moment. Thus the
delegates, while giving McCarthy a
handsome vote of confidence, also for-\
mally approved the speech of Senator 7 im
Morse, whose opposition to McCarthy- “# \iy
ism should have been known to thé fo)
students. Furthermore the Morse speech, }.
which was given a rousing reception,
was a relentless attack on the Presi-!
dential candidacy of Senator Taft; yet
the delegates wrangled for four hours”
before they could steel themselves to § ™'
vote for General Eisenhower as the con- Sex
vention’s choice. ® As
The students’ reaction to McCarthy il- J thud
lustrates the way in which a college)
group, removed from the mainstream of”
political debate, can shift from a mood
of skepticism, even hostility, to one of ©
acceptance under the impact of florid |
oratory. This was the first formal test of
McCarthy's strength on an American “WV
campus. The reception he was given ff }ttsy
suggests that youth can be considercd § tit hp
Ne
A
fe
fu
tie
Frere
t
Of th
bi
Masco
lites
“radical” only if it be understood that § weds
“radicalism” can be of the left-wing § fj.)
variety as well as of the left. FD tects
PHILIP HALEECK iy
As)
Cultural Attrition?
How are music, opera, and the
stage faring in these times of fabu- -|/
lous public expenditures on every-
thing except culture? Included 4
among the contributors to a seties |
on the subject soon to appear in |
The Nation ate John H. Mueller,
author of the The History of the
American Symphony Orchestra; Dr.
Herbert Graf, stage director of the {ff
Metropolitan opera, and Hallie [}
Flanagan Davis, distinguished head }
of the Smith ae drama: faculty
AMERICA Ss LEADING LIBERAL WEEKLY SINCE 1865
VoLuME 174
The Shape of Things
‘) ©New East-West Abyss
A last effort by the Soviet Union to prevent the inte-
| gtation of West Germany into the North Atlantic com-
‘munity has failed, and on Monday representatives of the
three Western powers and of the Bonn government
) signed the fateful “contractual agreement.” Thus on
i) May 26, 1952—seven years to the month after its “un-
conditional surrender’—Germany reemerges as poten-
' tially the strongest power in Europe. Warnings from the
"@ French fell on unheeding ‘ears. Perhaps history will lis-
"ten to the dramatic appeal by Edouard Herriot, chairman
‘By of the French National Assembly, urging the Americans
sf mot to precipitate an “irreparable” situation; certainly
| _ Secretary Acheson did not.
|, As for the British, they seem to have given up any
shadow of opposition; Anthony Eden limited himself to
| hoping that some kind of understanding with the Rus-
“a sians might be worked out in. the period between the
signing and the ratification of the contractual agreement.
| Moscow, too, seems to be counting on this hiatus. The
| latest Soviet note on German unification, delivered to
' the Western powers even as their foreign ministers’
_ pens were hovering over the agreement in Bonn, could
a i not have been designed for immediate effect. But in the
| IP weeks ahead the peoples of France and Germany, pat-
_ ficularly, will be able to speak out through their repre-
sentative parliaments, and ratification is yet far from a
. reality.
_ As we go to press, rumors are circulating concern-
ing the movement of Soviet troops on Germany’s
eastern border. Such stories should be taken with the
greatest reserve. European chancelleries, while admitting
that we have entered perhaps the most critical period
_ since the end of the war, believe that what lies ahead is a
| great political and diplomatic struggle rather than a
shooting war. In any case, May 26 marked the opening
of a new abyss between East and West.
oS
a aie
Government by McCarran
_ By a vote of 52 to 18, the Senate has confirmed Judge
nes P. McGranery as Attorney General. Under any
stances, the Senate’s willingness to brush aside
s charges against Judge McGranery would
ee
S
re
€ seriou
eet
NEW YORK + SATURDAY « MAY 3i, 1952
NuMBER 22
be remarkable; for it to ignore them in view of the
ptesent low repute of the Department of Justice is
truly shocking. There was, of course, no real investiga-
tion of McGranery’s qualifications by the Judiciary Com-
mittee. Coached by Senator McCarran, who, as the
Alsops’ widely syndicated column notes, “seems to have
a fellow feeling” for McGranery, the nominee had a
pleasant session with the committee. The impressive
testimony of Richardson Dilworth, Philadelphia’s Dis-
trict Attorney, was disposed of by McCarran’s reference
to the Americans for Democratic Action, of which Dil- —
worth is a member, as .“‘that left-wing organization
headed by Francis Biddle.” Similarly, discrepancies in
McGranery’s testimony were waived aside with the gen-
efous comment that the events in question “happened
seven years ago.”’ Yet a few weeks back, Senator McCar-
ran demanded the indictment of Owen Lattimore for
less significant discrepancies relating to matters even
more remote in time.
It was doubtless clever of the President to nominate
for Attorney General a man to whom he knew McCar-
ran would give “impassioned” support regardless of any
_ embarrassing evidence that might be presented. But it
would seem that, in view of the public’s concern with
“corruption” in government and Administration’s prom-
ises of a clean-up, the President could have selected a
nominee for Attorney General possessing more relevant
qualifications for the office than the fact that he is a
crony of the President and of Senator McCarran.
Franco in Unesco
The vote of the United Nations Economic and Social
Council (Unesco) to admit Franco Spain to membership
was a disgrace to the whole United Nations. To have
accepted this fascist state into any agency bearing the
banner of the “free world” would have been bad
enough; to admit it to Unesco, devoted in large measure
to international cultural rapport, was a particularly out-
tageous act. The leading representatives of modern
Spanish culture are either dead or in exile; the culture of
the Spanish people, savagely repressed by a dictator, is
beyond the reach of Unesco.
By voting “no” Mexico and Uruguay upheld the best
traditions of Latin America; Padilla Nervo of Mexico,
president of the Sixth General Assembly, and Rodriguez
Fabrigat of Uruguay were eloquent in their opposition.
5
ee ee ee
ee eal
a armen
e IN THIS ISSUE e
EDITORIALS
The Shape of Things 509
Second Round: Battle for Schools 512
How Wrong Was It? by Alexander Werth 513
ARTICLES
Switzerland—Cradle of Neutralism
by J. Alvarez del Vayo 514
Revolution Is Our Business
by William O. Douglas 516
The Depressing German Press
by Manfred George 519
California’s Church School War
by Hannah Bloom 521
High Tariffs vs. Foreign Policy
by Keith Hutchison 522
Levittown in Bucks County
by Charles R. Allen, Jr. 524
That Nietzsche Book by Alfred Werner 526
BOOKS AND THE ARTS
An Undiscovered Language by Helen M. Lynd = 527
World Government by Philip E, Mosely 529
Literary Bazaar by Harvey Swados 530
Derelict Youth by Frances Keene 531
Books in Brief 532
Films by Manny Farber 533
Music by B. H. Haggin 534
Record Notes by Robert E. Garis 535
LETTERS TO THE EDITORS 536
CROSSWORD PUZZLE No. 467
by Frank W. Lewis
ee EL SR OR OEE
EDITORIAL BOARD
Editor and Publisher: Freda Kirchwey
opposite 536
Editorial Director Director, Nation Associates
Carey McWilliams Lillie Shultz
Managing Editor: Victor H. Bernstein
Foreign Editor Literary Editor
J. Alvarez del Vayo Margaret Marshall
Financial Editor: Keith Hutchison
Drama: Joseph Wood Krutch Music: B. H. Haggin
Copy Editor: Gladys Whiteside
Assistant Literary Editor: Caroline Whiting
Staff Contributors
Andrew Roth, Alexander Werth, Howard K. Smith, Carolus
Business Manager: Hugo Van Arx
Advertising Manager: Mary Simon
Lhe Nation, published weekly and copyright, 1952, in the
by The Nation Associates, Inc., 20 Vesey Street, New Vouk: N 2
Entered as second-class matter, December 13, 1879, at the Post Offica
of New York, N. Y., under the act of March 3, 1879, Advertising
and Circulation Representative for Continental Europe: Publicitas,
Subscription Prices: Domestic—One year $7; Two years $12; Thr
-years $17, Additional postage per year: Foreign and Canadian sl.
Change of Address: Three weeks’ notice is required for change of
ers which cannot be made without the old address as well as
e new.
Information to Libraries: The Nation is indexed in Readers’ Guide
to Periodical Literature, Book Review Digest, Index to Labor
Articles, Public Affairs Information Service, Dramatic Index.
Pi es el ee
ol r q t mm 4
; »
RS ak Sa oe
But the United States, France, and Great Brita
in favor—a painful spectacle, especially in view of the
fact that the fourth great power, the Soviet Union, on
this issue voted on the side of democracy. p
For two years now we have been betraying the Span-
ish people in the United Nations, and for two years the
Eastern-bloc states have been coming to their defense. —
One often wonders whether Western policy is not a —
better propaganda agent for communism than the Com- ©
inform itself.
“Political” Passports
The State Department has denied a passport to the —
Rev. Dr. J. Henry Carpenter, executive secretary of the
Brooklyn Division of the Protestant Council of New |
York, secretary of the Department of the Urban Church |
of the National Council of Churches, and treasurer of the *
Presbyterian Peace Fellowship. In 1942, Dr. Carpenter
undertook a trip to India and China at the request of |
T
’
/
Dr. H. H. Kung, then Vice-President of China, and with -§ i
the cooperation of the State Department. A trustee of* @
Keuka College, he also serves on the board of the League “@ ¥»
for Industrial Democracy and the International Associa- J pu
.tion of Daily Vacation Bible Schools. Some two years Af
ago, Dr. Carpenter, in a church message, voiced a warn- 1 pan
ing against “the infiltration of communism” but appar- 7 lee
ently he did not voice it loudly enough. ae te
The State Department, which has just issued a lengthy J thu
and indignant repudiation of a “red” smear of Secretary ff uc
of State Dean Acheson, was at first reluctant, to offer any —
aa
"
nen
explanation for refusing Dr. Carpenter a passport other § 7)
than the familiar phrase—‘‘not in the best interests of the J pury
United States.” Later, Mrs. Ruth Shipley, chief of the § 6 «:
Passport Division, admitted that the passport had been the
denied because of Dr. Carpenter's “political activities.” J} pily
It appears that he once signed a statement favoring ff idly
a peaceful settlement with the Soviet Union and also & th j
went on record publicly opposing the Mundt-Nixon & py.
bill and military aid to Greece and Turkey—grave in- | idvidy
discretions, in retrospect. Bilt
The Ice Age
Coming in the wake of the denial of a passport to Pre
Dr. Linus Pauling, head of the Department of Chemistry | Bir
of the California Institute of Technoiogy and former | bas
- president of the American Chemical Society, the Car- Mat,
penter incident should be—though unhappily it won’ 4 UW be,
be—the last count in the indictment of the State De- § la:
partment’s arbitrary passport procedures. Dr. Pauling, § Ate,
to whom President Roosevelt awarded the Medal of § titre.
Merit for distinguished wartime service, wanted to visit ff Woy,
England in order to take part in a Royal Society con- ff iin»,
ference on the structure of proteins. His application ff Sw,
was rejected because of a suspicion that he was a Com-§ \»:,,.
a rn RR TET BR EEE AT BET EE ROS AE SEARS SR NESE SS UE * a “A
510
e is ae. oe not been ‘
8:
Disturbed 1 by this correlation of proteins and sub-
- version, the American Psychological Association wisely
decided to hold the 1954 meeting of the International
Congress of Psychology in Montreal instead of New
“York. This action suggests that groups such as the
~World Council of Churches are now confronted with
an insoluble dilemma. If international meetings are
~ scheduled for European cities, not all the American dele-
gates will be able to obtain passports; whereas if meet-
_ ings are scheduled for the United States, some European
_ delegates are certain not to be admitted. In the end,
_ international gatherings of all kinds may have to be
| postponed for the duration of the present ice age.
| ; The Loyalty Question
The tragic results of the President’s loyalty program
in terms of needless suffering, wrecked careers, and a
sabotaging of our traditional American liberties is no-
where more succinctly covered than in the recent pam-
phlet “Loyalty in a Democracy” published by the Public
pamphlet reviews the abuses which have developed in
legislative and private investigations, and in the enact-
ment of loyalty oath requirements. If the experience
_ thus far shows anything, it holds, it is that grave abuses
ate almost inevitable once you begin inquiring into
men’s minds and possible motives.
The darkest aspect of the civil liberties picture, the
pamphlet states, is to be found in the reluctance of many
of our foremost citizens to oppose the witch-hunt lest
_ they be called subversive. On the positive side, the pam-
phlet describes numerous local struggles in which indi-
viduals and groups have successfully stood up against
the forces of repression and suggests that the loyalty
problem might be solved by giving the average in-
‘dividual a more significant role in our economic and
| political life, thus Een the fabric of our demo-
| cratic society.
en for Whom?
An organization calling itself Freedom Clubs, Inc.
|, has come to the defense of Senator Joseph R. McCarthy
| in a ten-page document denouncing the investigation
| mow being conducted by the Senate Elections Subcommit-
tee as “one of the most vicious smear campaigns in
_ American history’’—a statement that strikes us as being
| extremely unfair to Senator McCarthy. Mailed in en-
_velopes bearing the return address of Alfred Kohlberg,
leading figure in the China Lobby and close friend of
Senator McCarthy, the pamphlet was written by Dr.
K mee Colegrove of Northwestern University who
P
oY
!
os
jai
pe
" Ma y 31, eee
710:
2%
x, ca r
ea , 4 : ea * 5 ed
Peay fee because his i Ray testified against Owen Lattimore before the Me
‘sufficiently — ~ Carran Committee. Among the members ef the advisory —
~ Lewis, Jr.,
Affairs Committee. Summarizing various viewpoints, the
committee are: Bing Crosby, Dr. Roscoe Pound, Fulton oe
Lieutenant-General Albert C. Wedemeyeenn
;
(now active in Senator Taft’s campaign), Dr. Robert A. Re “4
Millikan, Erle Cocke, Jr., past commander of the Ameri- —
~ #
can Legion, Cecil B. DeMille, Edgar Goodspeed, Rupert
Hughes, Dean Clarence Manion of the University of |
Notre Dame Law School, Felix Morley, Dr. Norman — :
Vincent Peale, Eddie Rickenbacker, and George Sokolsky.
But the principal figure behind Freedom Clubs, Inc.,
according to Dr. Roscoe Pound, is the inimitable Dr.
James W. Fifield, Jr., of the First Congregrational —
Church of Los Angeles, founder of Spiritual Mobiliza-
tion. James P. Selvage, public-relations counsel for the ©
club, is also public-relations advisor to National Citi-
zens for Taft, the committee headed by General Wede-
meyer. A member of this committee, Felix Wittmer,
wrote the vicious attack on Secretary of State Dean
Acheson which appeared in the April issue of The
American Mercury. According to the New York Times,
over 250,000 reprints of this article have been distrib-
uted, some by the National Republican beadqualteria ;
“and at least one other Republican organization.” The
Senate Elections Subcommittee should be encouraged to
ad
seri ging oy. ae se hs tee acy ap
pi re a Ail ale Ll
find out who is financing the public-relations activities
of Freedom Clubs, Inc.
Hopping Mad
=Rear Admiral Francis C. Denebrink has exonerated —
the skipper and chief executive officer of the U. S. S.
Reclaimer, against whom seventy crewmen had filed
charges of harsh and unjust treatment. During the five-
week hearings in Honolulu, Admiral Denebrink seemed
more interested, as we have already pointed out [The
Nation, April 19], in discovering how the press learned
of the charges than in investigating them. In particular,
the Admiral’s ire seems to have been aroused by the fact
lea eet ee
that Seaman Bruce S. Hopping, who in civilian life man-
ages a lumber firm grossing $3,000,000 annually, had
retained counsel to represent himself and the other crew-
men who had filed the charges. Shortly after the Ad-
miral’s report was made, Hopping was convicted by a
special court martial of soliciting complaints from sea-
men and of conspiring with them to embarrass his
commanding officer. Given a “bad conduct’ discharge, —
he was immediately confined pending a hearing on his
appeal. Judge Delbert Metzger has, however, ordered
navy officials to show cause why Hopping should not —
be released. é
Our concern with this case was first aroused by the
generally “hush-hush” atrnosphere in which the hear-
ings were conducted. This concern has not been lessened
by Admiral Denebrink’s report which on its face ignores _
Sikes
the central issue on which the charges were based—the
question of morale—nor by the promptness with which
higher-ups accepted the Admiral’s recommendation that
it -. Seaman Hopping should be court-martialed. We predict
Speen aaa
that the navy will not hear the last of this case for a
long time,
Nation Associates Conference
In many respects the Nation Associate's all-day con-
ference last Sunday on Freedom’s Stake in the Middle
East and North Africa was the organization’s most suc-
cessful affair to date. It brought together 600 delegates
from ten states to hear an especially distinguished list of
speakers including Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt and (by
proxy) Senator Estes Kefauver, who at the last moment
wired that he was detained in California by the Presi-
dential primary campaign there. His speech was de-
livered by the chairman of his New York campaign,
Boris Kastelanetz. Among the other speakers were
Ambassador L. N. Palar, Permanent Representative of
Indonesia to the United Nations; David Goitein, Min-
ister Plenipotentiary of Israel; Dr. S. R. Shafaq, mem-
ber of the Iran Senate and now a visiting professor at
Columbia University; M. Jean Louis Manderaeau,
Director of Missions Division of the United Nations
Technical Assistance Administration; Professor E. A.
Speiser, chairman of the Department of Oriental Studies
of the University of Pennsylvania, and Kingsley Mar-
tin, editor of the British journal The New Statesman
and Nation.
The proceedings of the conference—representing,
we believe, a constructive contribution to the solution of
a vital subject—will be covered more fully in next
week's Nation. We'd like now, however, to quote Arthur
Garfield Hayes who, presiding at the final dinner ses-
sion, took the unusual step of introducing the audience
to the speakers. ““You have before you,” he told the
occupants of the dais, “the intellectual elite of New
York and surrounding areas.’ Geographically, Mr.
Hayes’ assertion was on the modest side; delegates came
from as far away as Utah, which was represented by
‘Chief Justice James Wolfe of the State Supreme Court.
The directors of the Nation Associates feel that so long
as they can command the support of so dynamic and
significant a section of the American community, no-
body need worry about the future of the true liberal
tradition in this country,
Let ’Em Eat Fresh
On the same day that Congress defeated a bill to
increase federal old-age insurance payments to enable
the aged to meet higher prices, the Office of Price
Stabilization raised the price of canned vegetables by one
to two cents a can.
512
NEF un
ai ca
Battle ys Shook
ITH the publication in the June issue of the
American Legion Magazine of an article attack- |
ing the National Education Association, the “battle for
the schools,”’ to which we devoted a series of articles last . ~
fall,* has entered a new phase.
In itself the article—Your Child Is Their Target, by .
Irene Corbally Kuhn—is unimportant, It simply repeats
and elaborates standard charges used in all recent attacks
on the public schools: failure to emphasize the three -
R’s; the use of Communist-influenced textbooks by “‘sub-
versive” teachers; and the evils of progressive educa-
tion. The importance of the article stems from two facts:
it appears in the official publication of the American
Legion and it directly assails the National Education As-
sociation. The largest and most influential of American
educational organizations, the N. E. A. has an active
membership of 400,000—made up of teachers, prin-
cipals, and superintendents—and a total or affiliated
membership of nearly 800,000.
While Miss Kuhn’s article attempts to drive a wedge
between the membership of the N. E. A. and the top
echelon of its leadership, and concentrates its fire on the
N. E. A.’s National Commission for the Defense of
Democracy Through Education, it can only be read as a
direct attack on the N. E. A. as a whole. “One of the
strongest forces today in propagandizing for a socialistic.
America,” she writes, “is the hierarchy of the National
Education Association.” And in a reference to the organt-
zation itself she says: “Some of its performances have
been more typical of the tactics of a captured labor union,
complete with goon squads, than of a respectable na-
tional organization.” To appreciate the significance of
the appearance of an article using such language in the
Legion Magazine, it should be recalled that the Legion
and the N. E. A. have been active allies since the estab-
lishment of a joint committee on educational prob-
lems some twenty years ago. What exactly has happened,
then, to prompt this aggressive and provocative attack
by the most influential veteran organization in the
United States on the largest educational organization in
the country?
HERE is more to the developing feud between
the Legion and the N. E. A. than meets the eye.
For example, certain sub-surface tensions have been
growing over the question of federal aid to education.
The N. E. A. has, of course, steadily maintained that
federal aid should only be granted to public schools,
while the Legion has been under great pressure from a
section of its membership to favor federal aid to paro- —
* Reprinted as The Battle for Free Schools, The Beacon Press, 25 Beacon ~
5
Street, Boston, Mass,
t
Miss
Wy ;
ilk,
1 lead]
me Vie
“_ ie Ge
of which Pasadena was the first major skirmish, have not —
yet See ae accounts for the press
l-out attack on the N. E. A.
‘The key is probably to be found in the success of the
N. E. A.’s counter-offensive against the enemies of pub-
f lic education. Drawing a sharp distinction between
| honest criticism of the schools, however drastic, and or-
ganized attacks on public education, the National Com-
' mission for the Defense of Democracy has effectively
and has exposed the activities, of such groups as Allen
| Zoll’s National Council for American Education, the
__ American Education Association, Lucille Cardin Crain’s
_ Committee on Education of the Conference of American
Small Business Organizations, and other groups which,
under the pretext of opposing progressive education and
other symbolic targets, are out to capture control of the
public-school system. The N. E. A.’s counter-offensive,
which Miss Kuhn denounces as “an all-encompassing-
umbrella smear campaign,” has been so effective, in fact,
that in not a single test engagement have the enemies of
public education been able to win a clear-cut victory. In
Pasadena they did succeed in forcing the resignation of
Superintendent of Schools Willard E. Goslin, but only at
the cost of alerting the community and the nation to the
dangers of their campaign. In Scarsdale, New York;
_ Englewood, New Jersey; and in Denver, Minneapolis,
and Palo Alto the “enemy” has been forced to retreat
if not to capitulate.
At the same time, there has been a tremendous growth
of citizen interest in the public schools; Benjamin Fine,
that some 5,000 citizens’ organizations concerned with
education ‘have been formed in the last five years. Now
that the first assaults have been thrown back and this
formidable body of public opinion has been organized,
_ -the “enemy” cannot resume the battle to capture control
of the schools without first bringing into play new forces
| powerful enough to impose “coordination” upon the
N. E. A. If this can be done, then the next objective will
be to capture control of the grass-roots committees and
| ‘organizations that have come into being since 1947.
: Miss Kuhn hints, for example, that these groups will be
_ “linked together at the appropriate moment.” One can
| .seadily surmise that the appropriate moment will be
| + when the N. E. A. has been forced to repudiate or dis-
_ band its National Commission for the Defense of De-
| mocracy. As a matter of fact, the Legion attack on the
_N. E. A. was foreshadowed by a report which the Sons
of the American Revolution: issued last summer, blast-
8 the N. E. A. as “the chief culprit” in a conspiracy
| “to force socialism and communism on the United
_ States.” A copy of the report was submitted to the House
_ Committee on Un-American Activities.
_ The-forces that launched the “battle for the schools,”
4 315 1952
ie
ao ee
Wt ae a ee ee ee ee Le ee a
re
alerted communities from coast to coast to the dangers, -
writing in the New York Times, estimates, for example,
ge es
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been able to break through the defenses which were so
quickly and effectively thrown up by the N. E. A. and
other bodies. These forces are now being regrouped for —
another assault, the full force of which will not be felt :
until this fall. The strategy, however, is already clear. It
will aim, first, at removing the roadblock which is the —
N. E. A.’s National Commission, and second, at capture
ing control of the various citizens’ grassroots commit-
oF
Fn
w
oy
*
tees and fusing them into a mass movement under
Legion auspices and control. The new congressional com-
mittee that was recently established to investigate the —
foundations will doubtless inquire into the various
grants that the N. E. A. has received—a matter which is
touched upon, incidentally, in Miss Kuhn’s article. It
would be difficult, therefore, to exaggerate the impor-
tance of the second offensive in
“the battle for the | *
schools” of which the Legion article is the first major
fusillade.
How Wrong Was It?
BY ALEXANDER WERTH
T ANY paper other than the Monde had published
the “Fechteler document,”
have been forgotten in a day or two. The hullabulloo
over it, not only in France but also abroad, is certainly
a tribute to the Monde’s authority, influence, and unique
position in European journalism. To see it tripped up no
doubt embarrassed all those who think the Monde not
only one of the most courageous and independent, but
also one of the best-informed papers in the world; while
its enemies were filled with such glee that some screamed
for government action and some even for police action.
As if there were a paper in the world that had never
madea mistake!
But how big a mistake was it? The article written
recently in The Monde in self-defense by its editor, M.
Beuve-Mery, though rather lame in spots, made a num-
ber of direct hits. Why, he asked, did the Americans, in-
cluding Fechteler, dismiss the whole thing as “fantastic”
when in reality a large part of the report was a direct
transcript of an article in the U. S. Naval Institute Pro-
ceedings by Commander Talerico, an associate of Ad-
miral Fechteler and of Admiral Carney? Why also did
Talerico lie low until a bright Dutch journalist dis-
covered where large parts of the “Fechteler report” had
been “cribbed” from? And how very inefficient of
Fechteler’s own men to have “spent a whole week-end
searching for any possible basis” of the Monde docu-
ment when all they had to do was to look up a few back
numbers of the semi-official U. S. Navy publication.
As far as the top-priority to be given to the Mediter-
ranean in the next war against Russia was concerned,
the only mistake the Monde made was to attribute the
513,
the whole thing would
=
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t
i;
Mai,
Tah ae
Knick hagas rep edieae
smoke to a slightly wrong fire; a much bigger mistake
was to assume that Fechteler had written the passages
concerning the almost instantaneous collapse of the
European army, the invasion of England by 150,000
paratroopers, and so on. If this was not part of the
Talerico document, where then had it come from? Had it
been added by the “editors” of the “Fechteler document”
on their own initiative, or had they found it in some
other American military or naval expert's article? The
most Beuve-Mery found to say on that score was to quote
the self-same U. S. Naval Proceedings which recently
published an article by Commander C. S. Arthur, ad-
vocating a “scorched earth’’ policy throughout Western
Europe in the event of a Russian advance, and adding
that, from the standpoint of United States strategy, “‘it
would be far better if Europe did not exist at all.”
Finally, Beuve-Mery said that if he was “taken in”
by the “Fechteler document,” which had been procured
by somebody in the Secret Service (no names were men-
tioned ) ie wis Bec certain important F ones official
who. Gane about it had also been “taken in.” eae
experts undoubtedly have been messing about with all
sorts of dangerous ideas involving the fate of Europe, .
and yet anxious that Europe should not know anything
about it. And when sometimes Europe does learn about
American strategic plans, it is often too late to avoid
trouble.
What Beuve-Mery apparently feels is that it would be -
better if in Europe, at any rate, we did not have a
repetition of the “obscurities” of American policy in the
Far East; and that Europe is entitled to know a little
more about American planning for the next war, The
fact remains, however, that the Monde made a bad tech-
nical mistake.
Smitzerland—Cradle of Neutralism
WITZERLAND does not often make the headlines
in the American press but its position in the ideologi-
cal world conflict is worthy of thoughtful attention. For
Switzerland is the neutral country par excellence. Its neu-
trality is not a static dogma; it is a subject of controversy
not only abroad but among the Swiss themselves.
Officially Swiss neutrality has been understood and re-
spected ever since the Declaration of Paris on Novem-
ber 20, 1815, which stated that “The signatory Powers
-tecognized the neutrality of Switzerland and proclaimed
that her inviolability and her independence from any in-
fluence are in the interest of all Europe.’’ When, in 1848,
Switzerland adopted a federated political structure, neu-
trality was made the foundation of its foreign policy.
The country has remained remarkably faithful to this
policy ever since.
Neutrality does not mean isolation. On the occasion of
Switzerland’s ratification of the Covenant of Euro-
_ pean Economic Cooperation signed in Paris on April 16,
1948, the Swiss government stated this plainly: “Placed
at the center of Europe, our country can neither isolate
herself economically nor remain indifferent to the events
_ that take place on our frontiers.” A year earlier, when in-
vited to participate in the Paris conference to examine
the Marshall Plan, Switzerland declared its conditions for
participation: (1) that collaboration would not be in-
compatible with neutrality; (2) that the country would
not be tied by decisions of an economic character taken
without its approval; (3) that Switzerland must be free
514
BY J. ALVAREZ DEL VAYO
to maintain its present agreements and conclude any new
ones it might desire with countries not participating in
the organization created at Paris. The last point was to
insure freedom of action in regard to Russia and other
Communist countries. In the case of China, in a gesture
of loyalty to the principle of political neutrality, Switzer-
land extended recognition to the Mao Tse-tung govern-
ment as soon as its authority over the country appeared
definitely established.
Western Europe is an important factor in Swiss trade
policy, imports traditionally having the upper hand over
exports. But since the commercial treaty signed in Mos-
cow on March, 1948, there has been an exchange of
goods between Russia and Switzerland, though not on a
large scale. Since 1950 trade with Poland has increased,
especially the import of Polish coal. Swiss exports to
Czechoslovakia rose in 1951. With Rumania and Hun-
gary a normal though modest commerce has also de
veloped. Certain Western powers frown upon this trade;
What Beuve-Mery's defense amounts to in ‘the last ;
analysis is that if the publication of the “document” was *
a bad technical mistake, it was not a major political .
mistake. The truth is that American military and naval 4
2
the Swiss government, however, insists that it has taken. ~
all kinds of effective measures to prevent strategic goods
sent to Switzerland from the West from reaching the
Eastern countries. Neutrality does not prevent either the
government or the press, the latter one of the best in the .
world, from openly criticizing certain trends in Euro- |
pean policy, such as the Schuman Plan or the frivolous q
attempt in the Council of Europe to adopt a program 4
of federation—a subject on which the Swiss speak bhi
some authority!
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world tensions, should join the United Nations; but the
idea was overwhelmingly rejected on the ground that
| the charter imposes upon members the obligation to sup-
port armed sanctions against aggressors. In a poll of
52,000 persons of both sexes, 58.8 per cent of those
‘questioned supported unconditional neutrality; 38.2 per
| cent voted to maintain the principle of neutrality in the
event that Switzerland should decide to join the United
| Nations, and only 3 per cent called for the abandonment
__ of neutrality.
Ft Neutrality in Switzerland does not imply any lack of
| determination to defend the country. Great sacrifices are
| made to maintain a first-class army. The sum of 1,464
- million Swiss francs, an enormous total for such a small
| country, has been voted for military purposes for the
) years 1951 to 1954, The policy of “armed neutrality” has
| __ the solid support of the Swiss people.
Large sections of European opinion enrolled under the
banner of “neutralism” have found justification and en-
couragement in the example of Switzerland. The move-
ment started in France; at the outset it appeared destined
to remain the intellectual platform of a group of his-
torians, professors, and writers. The planners of Atlantic
defense strategy paid almost no attention to the cam-
paign by Claude Bourdet in the Observateur, to an article
by the academician Etienne Gilson in the Monde, or a
single challenging essay by the late Emmanuel Mounier,
| founder of Esprit. Neutralism suffered a reverse when
war broke out in Korea but regained impetus as the gen-
> etal international situation worsened.
HE mistrust with which the Communists at first re-
garded a movement which, in their view, confused
the issues, gradually vanished. The Soviet note of March
10 on Germany offered the extreme Left a chance to
soften their hostility to neutralism. In Action, Pierre
‘Herve, who had previously used his satiric talent to poke
fun at the neutralists, wrote: “The Soviet plan may create
in the center of Europe a neutral power that will prove
that the neutrality of a great nation is not only possible
but beneficient.” But even before a change of attitude
was registered by Communist spokesmen, neutralism was
assured of Left-wing mass support. A recent study by the
|- French Institute of Public Opinion reveals that the
| average French Communist voter is a “neutralist.” Only
one in five replied “yes” to the question: “Do you believe
France should participate in a war between the U. S. S. R.
and the U. S. A. if given opportunity to remain neutral?’
| Sixty-five per cent said “no.” An American news agency
| stated: “This neutralism is the strongest current in
| French political thought today and the one most difficult
| to overcome in a push for a defense build-up.”
_ The movement is no longer exdusively a French prod-
May 31, 1952
apa
en
——————————
=
vas at one time a lively debate in the Swiss
as to whether Switzerland, in view of the growing |
3 3 : sa | s
uct. In Italy it played a considerable rele in the campaign
» ae
wrk
prior to last Sunday’s elections. It is spreading in Britain
and the Scandinavian countries; in Germany it is tied up
with the idea of unification and the withdrawal of the
occupying powers. It has been particularly strong during
the far-reaching events of recent months—the signing
of the new “contractual agreement” with Germany, the
signing of the treaty to pool the military strength of
- France, Italy, West Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands,
and Luxembourg, and the signing of a protocol to extend
to Germany the territorial guaranties of the North At-
lantic Treaty. Neutralism is bound to become still more
active in the period just ahead, when all efforts to avert
the consequences of these events will multiply.
Neutralism has crossed the ocean, though the word
is less used in this hemisphere. We see it in the Mexican
refusal to enter into a military pact with the United
States, in the position taken by such popular leaders as
Frondizi of the old Radical Party in Argentina, in the
feeling against making precise military commitments
which prevails throughout most of Latin America as
well as in large parts of non-Communist Asia.
Neutralism is not merely, as has been suggested, fear
of an atomic war, cowardice, selfishness, reluctance to
pay taxes for rearmament or to exchange butter for guns,
It is also the révolt of the best spirits against the hypoc-
La Tribune des Nations, Geneva,
Mr. Eisenhower Says Farewell to General Eisenhower
515
—_
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Basen is much talk these days of war.
risy of a policy that asks people to be feady to die for
principles that are daily betrayed by the very governments
that issue the call to arms. An outstanding neutralist—-
and anti-Communist—explained to me in France last
January the reasons for his position:
I simply have come to the conclusion that there isn’t
any appeal to decent impulse in our foreign policy. They
speak of democracy and support Franco in your country.
They praise self-determination and identify themselves
with the traditional colonialism. They talk of Point Four
and withhold the funds necessary to put it into prac-
tice.
My friend told the story of how thousands of posters
that had been prepared by the United Nations for distri-
bution during the Assembly had been suppressed be-
Revolution Is Our Business
[> GF
course, am not in a position to know, but I have a
feeling that the fears of America are often misplaced.
I have a feeling that we have misinterpreted and mis-
judged some of the forces in the world.
Soviet Russia, with its hungry appetite for im-
petialistic expansion, is a military threat, and America
must be prepared, of course. But I don’t think there is
going to be war with Russia at this time. And why?
I think the stakes involved, the immediate stakes
~ are the stakes of Asia and the Middle East. I think
that Soviet Russia will not move in a military way
until it has on its side the balance of the people of the
world. Freedom and justice and equality are the bulwark
against any form of totalitarianism, the most virulent
of which is communism... .
~ ‘The great struggles for the world today are at the
political level. The battle for Asia is at the political
level, and in that sense, I think we in America have mis-
interpreted the signs of the times. It is my deep con-
viction that the peoples of Asia cannot be won by guns
of by dollars. The peoples of Asia must be won, if they
are to be won, with ideas.
I suppose that each of us projects into his personal
relationships and into his community relationships, the
conflicts he has within himself.
This article is a condensation of an address by the Hon.
William O. Douglas, Associate Justice of the United States
Supreme Court, at the 18th biennial convention of the
Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America (C. I. O.),
beld recently at Atlantic City.
516
cautse they ciie? the picture ae ge vhich
“mistaken for the Picasso “peace dove.” “We. a ve a
allowed the Russians to steal from us the symbol of
peace,” he repeated bitterly.
Not every country is in the privileged situation of
Switzerland which has not been invaded since 1815 and ©
has been able to combine neutralism with the most agile
and alert preparedness for defense. Only six weeks ago |
its War Office urged all householders to be ready for any
emergency and arranged for the sale of a package con- |
taining a one-person ration, as if war were going to:
break out tomorrow. The Swiss do not fear immediate
war but neither do they wish, in this era of growing neu-
tralism, that the significance of Swiss neutrality be
wrongly interpreted. .
ht be
ate
BY WILLIAM O. DOUGLAS
That is inevitable because, after all, we are all human
beings. If you do not believe in free speech, if you
are afraid of new ideas, of course, you will be panicky”
and alarmed at people like Nehru of India, who be
lieves in experimentation.
If you are suspicious that every one who has a new
idea may be a secret Communist agent representing the
Kremlin, of course, you will be suspicious of the peoples
of the Middle East who are speaking and working and
striving for a higher standard of living for themselves.
And, if you practice racial discrimination, if you do
not believe that a man is entitled to the same opportuni-
ties, whatever his religion, whatever his race, whatever
his creed, when you turn to the colored people of Asia,
you will be confused and in trouble, because you who
are not able to recognize equality at home will not be
able to recognize equality abroad,
The worst provincialism of which America canbe
guilty is the provincialism of prejudice, racial prejudice, ff
prejudice against new and challenging ideas. . . . i
The most powerful things in the world are ideas,
more powerful than all of the atomic bombs, all of the §
big guns, all of the airplanes. They are the most ~
dangerous things in the world too.
What is this hold that communism has on people?
Mostly ideas, and rather shabby ones at that—ideas bor-
rowed from the West and perverted to the Communist.
goal.
What-is the great, powerful thing of which we are
proud in America? What is it that we represent? ... It
is our Declaration of Independence, it is our Constitu-
tion, it is our Bill of Rights. Those are the things that
(The Ns TIC
saved streets. And when the atomic dust settles, if it ever
does, we will still have our ideas of brotherhood
nd freedom and justice and we will go on from there
and not turn back.
” There ate tevolutions that are sweeping the world
and we in America have been in a position of trying to
stop them. With all the wealth of America, with all of
the military strength of America, those revolutions can-
not be stopped. Those revolutions are revolutions against
a form of political and economic organization in the
countries of Asia and the Middle East that are oppres-
Sive. They are revolutions against feudalism. It is
feudalism that is feeding the fires of communism in the
‘Middle East and Asia.
| When I say feudalism, I mean a system of economic
Organization in which a few men own the wealth of the
| ‘country, where a few men run the politics of a country
|) and where there is a government of the landlords and
by the landlords and for the landlords. We do not have
that in America. We have in America a broad base
for participation in all affairs by everyone. We in
» America are not perfect. We have much to do, but our
| standards are right and our ideals are good, and we are
|) striving to live up to them.
But out there in the Middle East and Asia, people
|
ae * Ss esPF 3S 22
“=
+. = =
like us who have come from the bottom of society, as
all of us have, would not have any opportunity.
We would have no schools for our children; we
would have no doctors or dentists to take care of our-
_ selves or our families; we would have no hospitals; our
income would be barely enough to live on.
We would be tied into a farm-tenancy system in
which the owner of the land would get a net return
Beyond Comment
aoercrlUcwrUrrDlUlUCUMCCO CUCU POlCUCUcrhOhUhhUC hlhUrS
A federal judge refused to let five Negro parents
send their children to a white high school Saturday,
holding that nineteen miles is not an “unreasonable
distance for them to travel to a Negro school.’—
Dispatch from Knoxville, Tennessee, to the Denver
Post.
Asked about a breakdown of the votes of the mem-
' bers [of the Senate armed services committee] present,
Senator Byrd said, “We decided not to announce the
results to avoid confusing the public."—From the
Boston Herald.
~*~
as
“I have found on an around-the-world tour that the
| ptinciples of the American Legion are as good as
those in the Bible.” —Erle Cocke, Jr., former National
_ Commander of the American Legion, as quoted in the
| Los Angeles Times.
A oe
not ‘out ane cars, at vont buildings, and
we would get 5 per cent or 10 per cent—a bare sub-
sistence. He would own our land, our houses, our oxen, —
our plows, our water. He would own our souls.
That kind of a system is not going to survive,
People are on the move. I did not fully appreciate that
until I got to the Middle East and spent three sum-
mers there and saw what was happening in the villages.
People are on the march.
Who are their champions today? The underground
Communist Party. Why aren't we their champions?
Why aren't we in America standing in the villages of
the Middle East and Asia and saying
we are for economic justice and so-
cial justice and we are going to
help you, the peasants, achieve your
revolution? Not by throwing bombs,
of course. Not by smuggling in
guns, not by leading. armed ins
surrections. But through revelutions in the political sense.
What do we do instead? We have been supporting
corrupt reactionary regimes, putting money behind gov-
ernments that are vicious governments, reactionary gov-
ernments, wasting the wealth of America, trying to
underwrite the status quo, trying to stabilize the situa-
tion, as our officials sometimes say.
The situation cannot be stabilized with all the wealth
of the world, with all of the guns of the world, Things
are on the move. Revolutions are in the making. The
stakes are civilization. Russia is not going to move ina
military way, in my opinion, until the balance of power
politically swings to Russia in Asia. So I say, let us con-
centrate our thinking upon Asia and the Middle East and
decide, as a result of our own soul-searching, what we do
really stand for...
This is a great country and the people are generous
and warmhearted and idealistic. There is today, I think,
a great groping for something that is constructive and
positive. There is a growing feeling in this country of
futility, of frustration. What we are doing is not suc-
ceeding while Russia seems to be having political suc-
cess after political success.
Russia has been winning by default. With very few
exceptions, there is no such thing in the Middle East as
political parties as we know them. The only political
alternative that the people have had, who have been
trying to escape from their misery and their poverty,
has been the Communist Party. There are exceptions,
but the exceptions are not many. We, in our generosity,
go to these countries with a vast Point Four program
from a technical point of view. With all our medical
skills and public-health services, we can move into the
Middle East and Asia and we can improve conditions
substantially.
In many parts of the Middle East and Asia, eight out
517
j-
ie
4
apt our IGE ool pee about 90 per cent or 95 per cent on the crop aia a
*
~~ aaa ae
=
4
~~
aE oe 4 PPS
a +o ae
of ten babies die before they reach the age of one; and
it would not take very many American technicians to
move through that part of the world and to stop that, by
cleaning up water supplies, by teaching vaccination, and
so on. " :
But if that is all that is done, if all you do is keep
the babies from dying before they reach the age of
one, you have done nothing but increase the number of
people among whom you will have to ration the
poverty.
You can move in to your agricultural areas of Asia
and the Middle East with our wonderful Point Four
program and increase the production of the land. But
if the net return to the tenant is still only 5 per cent, all
_ you are doing is making a few landlords richer.
I am not exaggerating. I do not think we have any
idea of the extent to which the feudal system has
fastened itself upon that part of the world. It is about
the way Europe was before 1000 A. D.
I met men out there who own farming land greater
in acreage than the entire state of Switzerland. One man
owned 1,600 villages lock, stock, and barrel. Go into
those villages with your Point Four program and in-
crease the production of the land and if the owner takes
95 per cent, what have you gained in the struggle against
communism?
There are many raw materials in Asia and the Mid-
die East. There are tremendous industrial possibilities
there. Those industrial possibilities fill men like Nehru
with alarm and deep concern, Why? Your unskilled
labor in that part of the world gets around 25 cents a
day. Your skilled labor in that part of the world gets
about $1 a day.
The standards are not the same as they are here.
Conditions are vastly different. Of course, Asia needs
industrialization. Of course, the Middle East does too.
But it will take years and years to get it, in the Ameri-
can sense, unless there is going to be tremendous ex-
ploitation.
It cannot be done quickly. It cannot be done in the
typical American way of doing things. It must be slow.
One of the things that must be imported along with
capital is the organization of unions for the protection of
the rights of labor. ...
When one sees how far back in the train of things the
peoples of Asia are, industrially speaking, one begins
to appreciate the wisdom of Gandhi when he was arguing
for the development of home industries and village in-
dustries, rather than these tremendous social cancers that
would fasten themselves on Asia and India for the
benefit of a few men.
Yes, we must go to the Middle East and we must go
to Asia. We must help them. We must go with tech-
nical programs, We must also go with social and po-
litical ideas. If we do not go with social and political
518
.: oy
. o |
American Activities] Committee's questions about my- |
self, I must also answer questions about other people,
and that if I refuse to do so, I can be cited for con-
tempt. . . . I am not willing, now or in the future, to
bring bad trouble to people who, in my past associa-
tion with them, were completely innocent of any talk
or any action that was disloyal or subversive. ... I
cannot and will not cut my conscience to fit this year’s
fashions, even though I Jong ago came to the con-
clusion that I was not a political person and could have
no comfortable place in any political group.
I was raised in an old-fashioned American tradition
and there were certain homely things that were taught
me: to try to tell the truth, not to bear false witness,
not to harm my neighbor, to be loyal to my country,
and so on... . It is my belief that you will agree with
these simple rules of human decency and will not
expect me to violate the good American tradition from
which they spring.—Extract of letter from Lillian
Hellman, playwright, to House Committee on Un-
American Activities.
ideas, our technical program will be of little value in
saving that part of the world from Soviet imperialism.
Abraham Lincoln said that the Declaration of Inde-
pendence was an instrument forged not only for the
benefit of Americans on this continent, but one destined ©
to lift the weight off the shoulders of men’ the worid
around. That is what people in the backward areas think.
Let us be true to our great traditions. Let us go to the
world with ideas of freedom and justice, Let us make the
revolutions. Let us make sure that when our technical
people go into the villages of the Middle East and
Asia the people of the villages know on which side
America stands.
You cannot go into those villages and be there a
week without taking sides. You are either for the land-
lord or you are for the peasants. Before we go, let us
make up our mind whom we are for; and if we cannot |
make up our mind, we should not go. If we can hitch —
the few dollars that we have and the much knowledge ©
that we have to a few simple ideas of economic democ-
racy and political democracy and social justice, and be
heard in that part of the world as the advocates of
economic and social and political democracy, the red :
tide of communism will turn. Then we of the West
will make a political victory; we will have Asia and —
the Middle East on our side; we will save those people ©
from the curse of Soviet imperialism. Those are things —
that we must go to the world with.
We have been hesitant, we have been afraid. We —
have poured billions of dollars into Europe, and we did —
. Ls
rm V4
re)
Roa Rey <
of our European dollars to ideas.
_ Why do you think the number of Communists have
been increasing in France and in Italy? Why do you
. ‘think they have been growing? Because we have not
hitched our dollars to ideas. Unless we hitch our few
' dollars to ideas, unless we are forthright in our deal-
ings in the Middle East and in Asia, we are going to
go down in history as identified with the worst reac-
| NDER Hitler the German people learned to dis-
| trust the printed word. The avalanche of lies which
he Goebbels unloosed practically blotted out any distinction
| between fact and propaganda, When the Allies marched
| into Germany they needed a reliable press which did not
i) exist. Most of the old newspapermen had been Nazis and
© hhad fled or gone underground. The younger generation
had had no political or technical training for the job. The
) few members of the German press who had belonged to
the resistance movement or, being stout Social Demo-
} ctats or Catholics, had disappeared from the scene during
| the Hitler period, were therefore pressed into service. In
| addition, there were numerous prominent journalists
| who had left Germany in the thirties and returned with
| _ the Allied armies.
|
eo &2 f* F B&F
=
i At present the West German Federal Republic has
) only one daily with national circulation—the Neue
| Zeitung, published until recently in Munich but now
removed to Frankfurt and Berlin. Edited by Hans Wal-
| lenberg, a brilliant German exile who became a major in
the United States army during the war, it is read by
_ everybody in public life. Its coverage of political and cul-
tural events is of the highest quality. But the Newe
as eee &
Zeitung—and this is the important thing—is the official
_ mouthpiece of the American authorities. Although it is
ay _ ‘widely read and discussed, it is considered a “foreign”
+ paper by the politically-minded German public.
&% ~~ Other German dailies are more or less local papers.
e
‘Their distribution is confined to the town or city in
’ ‘which they appear, or at the most, to the province. News-
papers in cities like Frankfurt, Munich, and Cologne
have of course a fairly large circulation, but it cannot be
said that they exercise a definite influence on political
opinion. The most impontant are ‘Die Welt (Hamburg)
| MANFRED GEORGE, editor of Aufbau, New York Ger-
i man-language weekly, is also American correspondent for the
| E well-known Swiss daily, the Basel Nationalzeitung. He
| «visited Germany last year.
- ~
x =
Ma y 31, 1952
“te Mt.
ye ta a ae
il ly, I think; b r we eae never Picci much iboats imperialistic forces, apart from Soviet Russia,
_ that the world has known. That is not fair to America
nor to her people, because America is not made up of
people who want to do that kind of thing.
We believe not in terror, but in tolerance; we be-
lieve in justice for everyone, regardless of his political
faith, his racial origins, or his religious creeds. Those
are the strongest ideas that have ever been let loose in —
the world.
The Depressi ng German Press
BY MANFRED GEORGE
the Frankfurter Rundschau, the Stuttgarter Zeitung, the
Suddeutsche Zeitung of Munich, the Rhein-Neckar
Zeitung of Heidelberg (one of the owners is President
Heuss), and the Berlin Tagesspiegel. West Germany is
strictly decentralized; the federal government plays a
lesser role than the governments of the Laender, or states.
For that reason most papers have a narrow provincial
outlook, their interests centering in municipal or state’
affairs,
Almost all the larger newspapers have remained in the
hands of the men who started them in 1945. The Nazis
who returned to the newspaper field a few years ago have
as yet been unable to reconquer it, Although the Allies
no longer require Germans to obtain a license for putting
out a paper, the liberals have held their own against re-
surgent Nazi competition. In the midst of a rising tide
of Nazism, the dozen leading dailies are still unequivo-
cally anti-Nazi.
Does this mean that the German mind gets healthy
nourishment? A look at the average German newsstand
will furnish the answer. Slick magazines and cheap
“yellow” journals crowd out everything else.
The best approach to a German is still the emotional
one. Stories supported by pictures are the chosen medium.
Among the weeklies only those that are illustrated and
cater to German sentimentality have a country-wide circu-
lation, To increase their appeal by playing on hidden
sentiments and suppressed ambitions, these papers soon
adopted the nationalist line. The two largest, Quick and
Der Stern (The Star), each with a circulation of some
600,000, are definitely nationalist, displaying even a Nazi
tinge. Two others are democratic in tone—the Nene
Illustierte of Cologne and the Frankfurter Ilustrierte,
whose editor-in-chief is Friedrich Kroner, in pre-Hitler
days editor of Germany’s best magazine, Uy. Until very
recently the Mdnchner Illustrierte also belonged in this
group. Hans Habe, the well-known novelist, author of
“A Thousand Shall Fall,” edited it, but he has now re-
signed, and the magazine has become non-political.
d19
ra ne
Ps the
(Habe himself has just started publishing a weekly,
Echo der Woche, with the characteristic subtitle Inde-
pendent European Magazine.) Each of these three week-
lies has a circulation of about half a million. Revue,
which closely follows the nationalist line, sells perhaps
400,000 copies weekly.
To show how the facts are all too frequently distorted:
on October 6 last Revue carried two letters to the editor
which termed the figure of 11,000,000 for the victims
of Nazi occupation fantastic and impossible, One letter
said the “Quarterly Report of the United States High
Commissioner” gave the total number of Nazi victims as
2,000,000. The editor of the “Quarterly Report” replied
that the figure of 2,000,000 referred only to victims of
the S. S. occupation troops. Revue carried this explana-
tion but in a carefully abridged form and surrounded by
four other letters which painstakingly quoted obscure
sources to prove that Jews always grossly pneae the
losses suffered under Hitler.
These illustrated weeklies tell more about the German
temper than any Gallup Poll could possibly do. After a
surprising number of stories about life and happenings
in the United States—some giving a false picture of the
“American way of life” and some outspokenly hostile—
their main features are evocations of the “good old
times.” For the democratic magazines the “good old
times” are the era of the Kaiser. A serial entitled “My
Grandfather the Kaiser,” written by a granddaughter of
Wilhelm II, had tremendous success and increased the
paper's circulation by 10,000. The nationalist magazines,
under the pretext of presenting documentaries of histori-
cal interest, glamourize the Fiihrer and his lieutenants.
One series, “Behind the Walls of Spandau,” depicted the
sad life of war criminals in the military prison near Ber-
lin. A semi-documentary, “Night Without Pity,” started
out with the assassination of a high Allied officer. An-
. other extremely successful serial was “Hitler's Tischge-
sprache” (“Conversations at Hitler's Dinner Table’),
published ostensibly to show the irresponsible maunder-
ing of Hitler's talk but in the final analysis serving a
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different purpose which its readers were not slow to find
In addition to the big six, there are no fewer than
thirty-two smaller illustrated weeklies, A number of
other periodicals, some of them illustrated, are devoted
to the interests of special gtoups—veterans, refugees, —
ex-prisoners of war, and so on. During the past few —
months two have attracted particular attention. One calls |
itself Der Stahlhelm (The Steel Helmet) and shows the °
grim face of a steel-helmeted soldier next to its mast- |
head, Banned by Hitler in 1935, it is again being pub- a
lished as the organ of the reactionary generals, clamoring
for restitution of the territories lost to Poland and ex-
tolling General Mannstein, a convicted war criminal, as a
kind of male Joan of Arc. Die Deutsche Soldaten-
zeitung (The German Soldier’s Weekly) features an
Iron Cross on its front page. It was this paper, inciden-
tally, which published the outrageous demands proposed
by General Friessler as the price of Germany's military
cooperation within the framework of a European army.
Some of the most dangerous propaganda is spread by
wecklies like Der Sudetendeutsche (The Sudeten Ger-
man) and the Ostdeutsche Zeitung (East German
Weekly), organs of the ten million German refugees
from the eastern provinces and the German districts of
Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Poland, and the Baltic states,
These refugees are full of hate against those who drove
them from their homeland and support any nationalist
movement which aims to reconquer the lost provinces. |
On the other side of the ledger, several periodicals live
up to the best traditions of the German press. Die Gegen- “vr
wart, Europaische Hefte, Europa Archiv, Die Aktion, |
Geist und Tat, and a few others represent the politically
progressive minds in Germany. Unfortunately, they are
comparatively few in number, and so are their readers.
There is not much chance that this depressing picture
will change. Only if we stop considering a motley crowd e
of full-fledged reactionaries and semi-fascists our friends 9 |
just because they profess to be anti-Communist will the > ©
pfogressive press of Western Germany get the encour- 9)
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Los Angeles
ALIFORNIANS will tangle with some turbulent
issues in this year’s elections, but none more touchy
‘than the referendum to repeal the Waters act, which
exempts from property taxes all religious schools of less
than collegiate grade. Always “the great exception,”
California is the only state that, until the adoption of
the act last spring, had never granted tax exemption to
parochial schools; in fact, the state legislature had re-
jected the principle on three prior occasions in the last
quarter century. In November, for the first time in Cali-
fornia or anywhere else, the issue will be subjected to
popular vote on a state-wide basis.
It goes without saying, of course, that a question so
“hot” as this is already being debated at luncheon clubs,
open forums, and on radio and television programs, con-
firming that “Californians adore being campaigned.”
As soon as referendum petitions began to circulate,
parochial-school patrons entered the lists. The Parents’
Taxpayers Association and the Committee for Justice in
Education blasted the petitioners: as “religious bigots’
and “subversives.” Allowing the voters to pass on the
Waters bill was condemned as an illegitimate use of the
referendum; directors of the campaign were branded as
“unscrupulous promoters’; persons distributing the
petitions were threatened and accused of “misrepresen-
tation’; the state Un-American Activities Committee
promised to investigate charges of “subversion.” A
month after the referendum qualified for the ballot, with
a surplus of 50,000 signatures, the Los Angeles Mirror
pleaded for a four-month moratorium on the issue be-
cause an avalanche of letters to the editor reflected “irra-
tional hatreds and bigotry.”
The impetus for the Waters bill was supplied by the
Los Angeles Board of Supervisors, which habitually con-
venes in July as a board of equalization and conducts
quasi-judicial hearings on tax relief for religious,
charitable, and other single-purpose institutions. Pleading
hardship, necessity, or public service, such institutions
had gradually won tax reductions amounting in some
cases to neatly 90 per cent of the initial assessment.
After a 1950 Supreme Court decision, the county counsel
advised the board that such high exemptions were in-
valid, since its authority to correct tax inequities did not
include the power to exempt. The remedy for this legal
quirk, denominational advisers decided, was complete
HANNAH BLOOM is The Nation’s Los Angeles corre-
Spondent.
May 31, 1952
he
bs a
i) hs 4
BY HANNAH BLOOM
tax exemption. Legislation to this end was promptly in-
troduced by Assemblyman Laughlin E. Waters and spon-
sored by fifty-seven other Assemblymen. Within
twenty-seven legislative days the bill was approved by the
Legislature with three dissenting votes and signed by
Governor Earl Warren. It amends the “welfare exemp+
tion” of the state revenue and taxation code and extends
“tax exemption to property used exclusively for schools
of less than collegiate grade owned and operated by non+
profit religious, hospital, or charitable institutions.”
BOUT 160,000 children, according to the New vane
Times, are enrolled in California's 700 parochial
schools; the Roman Catholics operate about 453 schools,
Seventh Day Adventists 146, and Lutherans less than
100. (The inclusion of hospital and charitable schools
in the amendment was a touch of political whimsey, —
since none is known to exist which meets the full
requirements of the exemption.) The bill gives a sub-
stantial boost to religious schools but is a boomerang
to voters who supported in good faith the 1944 welfare
amendment. At that time Charles W. Lyon, then speaker
of the Assembly, and Thomas A. Maloney, speaker
pro tem, assured the voters in the official argument for
the measure that “schools other than colleges will not be
exempted under this amendment because the Legisla-
ture expressly eliminated the term ‘educational’.”” The
original intent of the legislators and voters specifically
to exclude elementary and secondary parochial schools
from the advantages of the welfare exemption is de-
liberately reversed in the Waters bill.
The referendum temporarily annuls the Waters bill
until the voters decide the issue. In the campaign against
it prejudice and persecution have been artificially in-
jected and recklessly used as political weapons. Those
who oppose tax exemption become the devil’s advocate—
anti-Christian, anti-religious, or just anti-Catholic, The
“character of the principal opposition’ is described by
the Committee for Justice in Education as “those who
believe in a state monopoly of education” and “those
who believe in the subversion of our free institutions by
inciting distrust, disunity, and controversy.” The popular
position for public officials and political candidates is
to support the religious schools by pleading for tre-
ligious “unity” and “equity’’ or emphasizing that, after *
all, a paltry $650,000 in tax money is involved. Many
will follow the lead of the Democratic and Republican
parties and will duck the issue entirely,
Of major political-action groups, only organized
521
Sen. Swe Sere per Sat); 7 L.A
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> “—&
labor has as yet taken a stand on the question, Union
leaders have unhesitatingly indorsed the Waters bill and
denounced the referendum. The state A. F. of L. found
the exemption of parochial schools “in line with the
historical position , . . to advance education every pos-
sible way.”’ The C. I. O., referring to the opponents of
exemption, was resolved to “root out this cellar society
whose purpose it is to breed religious hatred.’’ A few
days after Assemblyman Waters said he had a “hunch”
that such racists as Gerald L. K. Smith were supporting
the referendum, a Los Angeles labor leader expressed
“suspicion” of the sources of referendum funds.
While making numerous sorties in other directions,
proponents of the tax exemption would like to confine
the argument to an analysis of fiscal policies and revenue,
If the parochial-school system did not exist, they say,
and if its 160,000 students were suddenly thrust upon
the public schools, the state would be forced to expend
$43,000,000 in operating expenses and $150,000,000 in
construction costs to accommodate the additional load.
The $650,000 tax exemption is thus regarded as fair
compensation for relieving ovet-crowded public school-
rooms of a hypothetical “burden” of parochial-school
children. To reward this ‘public service’’ with taxes on
school property is “discriminatory’’ and “unfair.” In-
deed, the “essential functions’ of these schools, accord-
ing to campaign literature, are to “reduce substantially
the burden of taxation’ and provide a “guaranty that
education will not become a state monopoly dominated
by political thinking.”
The natural appeal of economy is somewhat obscured
by the insistence of spokesmen for the Waters bill that
“it’s not the money; it’s the principle of the thing.”
_ Familiarity with that principle accounts for much of the
determined opposition to parochial-school expansion
with public funds. As sponsors and directors of the
referendum campaign, the California Taxpayers’ Alli-
ance, founded in 1933 to defeat a similar proposal, con-
siders the referendum long-range insurance against
future demands upon public tax moneys for buses, text-
igh Tariffs vs. Foreign Poltcy
URING the next few weeks governments of many
countries will be keeping an eye on Washington to
see whether the United States will continue to practice as
well as preach the gospel of freer international trade.
Before Congress are two bills with an important bearing
on this question. One is a measure, supported by the
Administration, for the simplification of customs regula-
tions and procedures which would eliminate some of the
222
a
ee
- ae “
—s Sere
achets’ oe ‘and other service for par
schools. The A Alliance represents a oe wa opin
ion which is dormant except when challenged to action.
It appeals alike to harassed taxpayers, advocates of a
strict separation between church and state, and Jevtoll
protectors of the public schools, Prominent Masons, 5
Christian Scientists, and leaders of other denominations ~
participate as individuals, not as group representatives. —
The agitation provoked by President Truman's pro- ~
posed appointment of an ambassador to the Vatican
has provided the Alliance, and numerous Protestant —
synods also protesting the tax exemption, with a ready- *
made audience. While waging a limited battle “against —
the continuing purposes of the Roman Catholic hierarchy
to attain political power through the eventual control of
all education,” the Alliance stresses that the referendum
“is not a question of the right of religious groups to
conduct their own private schools, nor is it an attack
upon these schools." Advocates of a school system
“which subordinates education to religious instruction
and the propagation of one faith to the exclusion of all
others” are conceded the right to build and maintain
their own schools. If the costs voluntarily assumed “do
not justify the ends they seek, then they are free to dis-
continue their schools and educate their children at
public expense.” ;
After the first flood of election hyperbole, major em-
phasis in the tax-exemption fight will probably settle J...
where it belongs, on the implicit threat to the public
schools. California voters must decide whether they want
to encourage the expansion of a private, sectarian school
system at the cost not of a mere $650,000 but of loss of
pride and confidence in the public-school system. Per-
haps the Jesuit magazine America is correct when it
states, ‘The Catholic and non-Catholic school systems
are absolutely irreconcilable.” Certainly, moral and
financial support of the public schools is not encouraged
when the system is described as “political education,”
and “the precursor of autocracy,” and its defenders are
associated with subversion and bigotry.
DOO “S, p
BY KEITH HUTCHISON —
hazatds and delays that now face importers of foreiga
goods. Protests by American interests have already led tof (iy
weakening of this bill and its ultimate fate remains un-
certain, ;
Of greater immediate interest to some of America’s
trading partners is the bill to extend the Defense Pro- iki,
duction Act. Although one of the primary purposes of Mii...
this act was prevention of inflation, representatives of the = 9.
Bing I
year in inserting a clause
Secretary of Agriculture to restrict the
of milk ptoducts. The result has been a
stic J nitation by quota of cheese imports which has
oP prices of many types of cheese and brought
tests from Denmark, Canada, Holland, Italy, and a
ber of other countries. Retention of this clause in a
y Defense Production Act will suggest to many
eign traders that protectionism is making a come-
ao
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\nother straw in the wind will be the-decision of the
riff Commission, due not later than June 15, on a re-
est by a motorcycle manufacturer for increased tariffs.
is application, like a number of others on file, invokes
pee 7 of the Trade Agreements Extension Act of
. which instructed the Tariff Commission to investi-
4 any complaint that a concession granted under a
ide agreement has caused, or threatens to cause, “‘seri-
§ injury’ to a domestic industry. Since the motorcycle
¢ is the first to be investigated under Section 7, its
sposition will provide a clue to the commission's inter-
etation of the phrase “‘serious injury.”
While awaiting the outcome of these various legisla-
e and administrative actions, foreign observers are also
mcerned about the party platforms that will be con-
ucted at the July conventions. In particular, as there
pears to be a strong possibility of a Republican victory,
y are wondering whether the G. O. P. has learnt
aything about the facts of economic life during its long
litical exile or whether it will stand pat on its traci-
nal protectionist plank. This is a question of imme-
jate importance since the Trade Agreements Act will
xpire next year.
zs
WOULD be difficult to maintain that the reduction
of American tariff since the first Reciprocal Trade
gtreements Act of 1934 has resulted in floods of im-
borts threatening to drown out American business.
Dyring the whole period, in fact, the United States has
‘onsistently exported more than it has imported and since
946 its export surplus has averaged almost $5 billion
innually. Although the balance of trade favors this
ountry so heavily, any increased importation of any par-
icular line of goods is likely to send representatives of
he industry concerned howling to Washington for “re-
ief.’’ In the lexicons of many businessmen, farmers,
nd labor leaders, foreign competition is always unfair
1 | ompetition.
Consider, for example, the claims of the cheese-
ak ers at whose behest Midwestern legislators sneaked
on 104 into the Defense Production Act of 1951.
fhe flood of imports which they assert was threatening
1eit livelihood amounted at no time to more than 5
et cent of domestic production. Moreover these imports
ncluded considerable quantities of sheep’s and goat’s
_ > —™ = 32 eT = -— & He BR”
metcial basis. Nevertheless, the Secretary of Agriculture
felt compelled by Section 104 to limit cheese imports for
the year ending June 30 next to 30 per cent Jess than the
1950 total. This is a real blow to some of the best for-
eign customers of the United States, such as Denmark
and Italy, which have depended on cheese for some 10
per cent of theic export dollars. It has also been a
blow to American consumers, who have seen prices
of many varieties of cheese rise steeply since the quota
was imposed last August. The wholesale price of domes-
tic Swiss on May 2 was about 33 per cent higher than
on August 24, 1951.
In a memorandum sent to the Department of State on
April 9, the British Embassy in Washington described —
the anxiety caused to British export-
ers by the growing numbers of ap-
lications by American industries for
relief under Section 7 of the Trade
Agreements Act of 1951. British
manufacturers, it pointed out, had
been urged, not only by their own
government, but by the United States, to push their
wares in America with a view to reducing the “dollar
gap.” Now “they are perturbed by the mounting evi-
dence that any marked success in selling their goods in
the United States will be encountered by applications
from American industry for further protection and the
fear that some at least of these applications will be
granted.”
One British industry that has put both money and
energy into building an American market since the war
is the motorcycle industry, which has long led the world
in the production of medium-weight machines appealing
to young sportsmen. In this country the most important
manufacturer of motorcycles is the Harley-Davidson
Company of Milwaukee, which has specialized in a type
of heavy machine favored by police forces and the
military. This company has not hitherto stirred itself to
produce sports models, yet now that British and Euro-
pean makers have created an entirely new market for
such models, it is claiming “serious injury.”
The present tariff on motorcycles is 10 per cent ad
valorem, the rate fixed by the Tariff Act of 1930, while
that on parts is 15 per cent. By recent trade agreements
the United States has bound itself not to increase these
rates. The Harley-Davidson Company wants the Tariff
Commission to recommend an increase in the rate on
machines to 40 per cent and in the rate on parts to 50
per cent and, pending necessary legislation, asks for a
quota on imports of 10 per cent of the previous yeat’s
domestic production. In 1950—the last year for which
complete figures are available—Harley-Davidson pro-
duced 17,024 motorcycles while imports numbered
9,426 (over 80 per cent of which were British). Al-
523
milk cheese which are not manufactured here on a com-
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into Harley-Davidson’s sales to public authorities: the
company’s established position and the ‘Buy American”
Act afford it sufficient protection there. However, since
filing its application with the Tariff Commission, Harley-
Davidson has launched a new model which will have
to compete with the lighter imported machines. Thus
what it is really seeking is the practical exclusion of
foreign manufacturers from a market which they actually
created.
This seems such a flagrant bid for monopoly that it
is hard to believe that the Tariff Commission will
recommend any increase in the tariff. Should it do so,
applications for “relief” will pour in from every indus-
try that finds it is in the slightest degree inconvenienced
by foreign competition, And foreign exporters in increas-
ing numbers will ask: Why spend money in adapting
designs for the American market, in building sales or-
ganizations, in maintaining adequate stocks, if as soon
as we begin to attract customers, our trade is cut off by
higher tariffs or quotas? Better to forget America and
urge our governments to hustle up more trade through
bilateral agreements.
Tariff propagandists argue that the industrialist who
seeks additional protection is strictly within his legal
rights. That is true and it is also true that Article
XIX of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade
(G. A. T. T.), which was promoted by the United
States as a means of breaking down trade barriers, pro-
vides for withdrawal of tariff concessions, in exceptional
circumstances, by any signatory. Nevertheless, as the
British memorandum pointed out, the whole purpose of
G. A. T. T. would be defeated if Article XIX were in-
voked frivolously, and particularly if “the major
Levittown in Bucks
Bristol, Pa.
HEN 300 workers from the powerful Building
Trades Council of Philadelphia (A. F. of L.)
recently threw a picket line across the entrance of the
mammoth Levittown housing project near here, it was
a familiar story to builder William J. Levitt. The same~
thing happened to him during his debut into the mass-
housing field on Long Island in 1947—and for the
same reasons.
Levitt’s local project is part of an industrial and gen-
CHARLES R. ALLEN, JR., is a free-lance writer.
524
though imports form a relatively high proportion of the ere
total supply, there is no evidence that they have cut —
County a :
_ States Steel Corporation plant—called Fairless after the
, é Ly uv, | Rc Ww tay
ditor country in t ney shad: ran exa
Pie tariff oe renever th ey f
their effectiveness through more vigorous competi ti ‘io
tween the imported and the domestically prod
product.”
It is saddening, and even frightening, that this d 3
should have to be continued at all. Here is a coun
which is the leading exponent of competitive free enter: »
prise, which has an industrial capacity greater than alga «
Europe put together, which rightly prides itself on bis
superior technical efficiency, which so consistently undénmene
sells foreign producers that year after year its expomigm i:
vastly exceed its imports. Yet this country believes th
unless it continues to cling to the old tariff nurse thay e
protected it in infancy, it will be knocked out by thie
neighbors. ba pi
The American tariff is an anachronism: That fact | h
been recognized by Democratic Secretaries of State sin
Cordell Hull, but pressure from, vested interests h
forced them to move very slowly toward its abolition hut
As for the Republicans, a majority clearly believe thatgint i:
the tariff plank they nailed to their platform seventy yea
or more ago is as good as ever. It is almost certain to BEM
reaffirmed at Chicago in July unless General Eisenhow
speaks out boldly. He, at least, must have learned frot
his experiences in Europe that the Western alliance ad
doomed if this country pursues policies that encourag
internecine economic warfare, and must agree with tl
Wall Street Journal's editorial comment: “It is obvioi
that a return to high tariff protection on our part will I
glaringly inconsistent with a policy of appropriatin
Treasury funds to shore up the economies of othe
countries in the hope of assuring their political devotio:
to ‘the West.’” It will be interesting to hear Gener
Eisenhower on this subject.
BY CHARLES R. ALLEN; JRii:
eral building boom which is threatening, among othe
things, to chase the artists and writers out of historigg)
and beautiful Bucks county. The biggest single industrial} jy.
development in the area is the $500,000,000 Unitec
firm’s famous executive vice-president—in neighboring
Morrisville. It has been predicted that the industrial
boom will bring at least 100,000 workees into the are |
and Levittown is designed to accommodate 50,000 off} j.,,
them.
Levitt has been called the Henry, Ford of the howl a
industry; he mass-produces his houses in “cycles,” Firs
o ‘excavations; a ‘crew hase to lay down the
undations; another crew sets up the walls in assembly-
e fashion. Roof and interior soon follow, and then
teed tira Here at Levittown the schedule calls
f construction of nearly 6,000 houses a year for three
pats—an average of nineteen per working day.
The picketing union workers charge that while Levitt
Tikes to deal with materials en masse, he prefers to deal
: ith his employees on an individual basis. Specifically,
3 bers of the Philadelphia council charge that 400 of
ithe 600 men employed in building Levittown are non-
Punion; that skilled mechanics are made to perform a
ariety of jobs which cut across craft lines and thereby
; violate union rules; that many of the workers are paid
‘on a piece-work instead of an hourly basis.
@® Ralph W. Myers, Levitt’s public-relations man, ad-
a that “some of the work is done on piece-work
pbasis,” but insists that in most cases wages are paid on
an S aaiy scale. On the open-shop charge, his reply
't at all evasive: ‘Mr. Levitt, biggest builder in the
ji country, bas been in business for twenty-two years and
as never had a union shop.’”’ Presumably he never in-
‘tends to have one. Last week he got a county court order
enjoining the pickets. The injunction was not obeyed
and state police were called out by Governor Fine to
@ “provide whatever assistance is needed” to preserve
| order.
td
i
hos
—
EVITT is likely to meet trouble in fields other than
labor, There is the question of racial discrimina-
tion. According to the Philadelphia Housing Authority,
about a half-million Negroes live in the metropolitan
area and a lot of them are going to be employed in
Bucks county: Where will they live? In Levittown?
The other day I dropped into a Levittown office and
| applied for a house. ‘‘But,’’ I told the salesman, ‘“‘there’s
something I want to ask you about that’s very im-
| portant to me.”’ The salesman lifted a reassuring hand.
' “You mean the talk that’s going around about colored
| people living here?” he asked. “Listen, this is the point
1} of sale—strictly between you and me—and believe me,
we sell to whites only, mister.”
* “Under Pennsylvania law, housing for Negroes is guar-
anteed in all residential construction aided by public
mu} funds—as is Levittown. Confronted with this issue,
|) Levitt said he wasn’t planning to make any “noble
i) experiments” but added that, if necessary, he would
#| build a an community for Negroes “with their
-own clubhouse.” The builder's efforts to maintain a
-“‘Lily-white” clause in his Long Island leases were de-
feated by the stubborn opposition of liberal New
Yorkers. But here, as there, he can attempt to keep
his community white by adroit manipulation of his sales
instead of his leases,
+.
i
a
¢
Te isinelination for “noble experiments” ex-
tends into other areas. For instance, he doesn’t like to
mix varied economic groups in a single area. His
“Country Clubber” houses, most expensive of the Levit-
town models, sell for $17,000, and are separated from
the $10,000 homes designed for housing-starved vet-
erans and defense workers. Moreover, there are reports
that he doesn’t like to mix Democrats with Republicans,
either. The story is that he has assured Joseph R.
Grundy, boss of the Pennsylvania Republican machine,
that Levittown won't become infested with too many
Democrats. It would be a neat trick, though obviously
difficult of accomplishment.
Levittown is only one factor—albeit an important
one—in the metamorphosis of Bucks county from
bucolic retreat to factory-plus-suburb. Other similar de-
velopments are beginning to dot the rolling country-
side, including one being built by United States Steel.
Public-spirited citizens complain that there is no over-
all planning, no proper zoning, no proper conservation
of the area’s natural beauty. The Philadelphia Housing
Association has warned:
The open green of the countryside can all too easily
be changed . . . into the dirty, foul-smelling crowded
landscape of badly-planned factories, hot-dog stands,
service stations, and a wilderness of trailer camps and
jerry-built speculative developments,
The United Automobile Workers of America
(C. I. O.) and the United Steelworkers of America
(C. I. O.) have expressed similar uneasiness, and not
only about the physical changes in the region. Charles
Ford, regional director of the Steelworkers union in-
sists that “democratic growth” must accompany mate-
rial well-being in an intelligently-planned community.
Drayton Bryant, imaginative and dynamic assistant to
the Executive Director of the Philadelphia Housing
Authority, points out that Levittown failure to adopt a
program of racial integration can mean:
- - » separate housing, separate schools, plus lines of
tension in home and community facilities... . The steps
are short from separation and ignorance to suspicion—
from fear to hatred and then violence. Levittown and
Bucks county have now become an outstanding oppor-
tunity and a national front line for the growth of @
strong but adolescently fearful American democracy.
Acutely aware of the dangers implicit in the shatter-
ing of the Bucks county idyll, a group of representative
citizens have formed a Human Relations Council under
the chairmanship of Clarence Pickett, honorary secre-
tary of the American Friends Service Committee. The
council will seek to make sure that the area has enough
schools, playgrounds, and other facilities and does not
secede from the Bill of Rights.
525
That Nietzsche Book
By ALFRED WERNER
ERHAPS the most sensational book of the. winter
cs was a volume entitled “My Sister and I”
which was published, advertised, and reviewed as the
autobiography of Friedrich Nietzsche which the German
philosopher is supposed to have written in a psychiatric
clinic in 1889. The book recounts an astonishing tale
of sexual abnormality which begins with a description
of an incestuous relationship between the philosopher
and his sister.
The autobiography is said to have been posthumously
discovered, but there is mounting evidence, circumstan-
tial but nevertheless very persuasive, that the manuscript
on which the book is based was also posthumously
written. This belief is fortified by the opinion of Nietz-
sche experts that from 1889 until his death in 1900
the insane Nietzsche was quite incapable of writing
anything which required mental exertion, especially
a reminiscent and philosophical work, In addition, the
book contains many ideas and attitudes which were not
current at the time ‘‘My Sister and I’ was written. For
example, although Sigmund Freud’s main theories were
not published until about 1900, Nietzsche was appar-
ently familiar with them in 1889. Nietzsche also ex- -
hibits a miraculous power of foresight. He prophesies,
for instance, that his superman concept would be dis-
torted to serve evil ends; he also predicts that “‘in the
20th century in a fit of nihilistic frenzy they [the Ger-
mans} will turn all Europe into a butcher's slaughter-
house and wash away their sins in the blood of Israel.”
Anticipating the day when Karl Marx would be put on
the political index of the West, Nietzsche says, “I avoid
reading Marx as passionately as I pursue every new
paragraph of Heine's.” (This passage is suspect on
other grounds as well. There were no “new” paragraphs
by Heine in 1889 for the simple reason that the poet
had been dead for more than thirty years at the time
Nietzsche was committed.) Incidentally, there ate no
references to Marx in the philosopher’s collected works.
The most questionable aspect of the book, however,
is the autobiographical material it presents. According
to Nietzsche authorities and his contemporaries, the
philosopher led a temperate, modest life except for a
tragic experience in his youth. In “My Sister and I’
“evidence’’ is produced for the first time which runs _~
counter to this well-authenticated body of opinion. The
author of the “autobiography” traces Nietzsche's sex
life from one excess to another, his alleged conquests
including Richard Wagner’s wife, Cosima, a sadistic
\ALFRED WERNER, formerly editor of Getechtigkeit,
Vienna, is a contributor to literary and political magazines.
526
"co ‘co hese ee a nu mM be q of women n of : -
ree
Vere Mv -
er
A third count against the sathes ticity 0 ih ‘bo
the fact that it is supposed to have been translated
the eminent German-born scholar, Oscar Levy. If th
occurred, according to his daughter, Maud Rosenth
it is the only work of Nietzsche he ever translated. Sin n
Dr. Levy was the editor of the monumental eighteer
volume English translation of Nietzsche's works puk
lished between 1910 and 1927, it seems strange indee
that he did not include the “aut
biography” which Samuel | Roth
publisher of Boar's Head Book:
claims to have turned over to hin
in 1921 for translation. A host o}
other questions spring up aroundyy y, .
the authorship of the translation. :
and the introduction which is also credited to Dr
Levy. Why, for example, did Dr. Levy, who lived i
England, use so many Americanisms? Why, to quote
Dr. Levy’s son-in-law, is there “complete nonexist=jgqix
ence of any written or verbal allusion to the work
during the twenty-four years in which Dr. Levy is
said to have had knowledge of the ‘text’?” How couldgge*®
a scholar of Dr. Levy's reputation and vast knowledge
commit the simple academic errors which appeat
throughout the preface? Is it really possible, as the pub:
lisher insists, that the original manuscript was lost when
John S. Sumner, head of the Society to Maintain Public
Decency, raided his office in 1927? If so, where is thegi....,
manuscript of the translation? Why did Samuel Roth
tell this reporter when he was trying to’ authenticate @Biiic
the translation that Dr. Levy had died a bachelor? If
the publisher would produce the translation it could
easily be proved whether it was typed, as Mr. Roth jp pte
claims it was, on Dr. Levy’s typewriter (still extant) 9p%:
and whether the spelling of various words was originally @
British rather than American as they appear in the book.
If these questions could be cleared up and the ap-
parent errors and distortions in “My Sister and I’ satis-
factorily explained then the book would be, as it has
been called by so many critics, one of the most sensa-
tional literary discoveries of the last fifty years. On the @ j,,,.
other hand if they cannot, as this writer firmly believes, @ ne},
then the evidence would seem to indicate that, as Walte
A. Kaufmann of Princeton and other Nietzsche scholars #} {st
insist, a malicious hoax has been perpetrated. @ wt:
Among many important books to be reviewed in The | mh
Nation duting coming weeks are Reinhold Niebuhr’s | Pit
“The Irony of American History,” to be reviewed by | Peta
Francis Biddle, and two works by important British | ™
writers: Chester Wilmot’s ‘The Struggle for Europe,” |
to be reviewed by H. A. DeWeerd, and D. W. Bro- | “!'
gan’s “The Price of Reyolution,” to be reviewed by ; Ci
Philip E. Mosely. a
3 reason for wanting to be alive
| \ five hundred years from now is
curiosity about how future generations
| will appraise the interpretation of hu-
| man nature which stems from Freud.
| No such curiosity disturbs Andrew
| Salter. He has no doubt of the verdict.
| He says of his recent attack on psycho-
| analysis,* which follows his earlier
| “Conditioned Reflex Therapy’: ‘There
a@ is no need to lie or to quote out of con-
text. The truth is preposterous enough,
i . Freud himself provides the evi-
iM dence that refutes him . .. [the] under-
& lying theories of [psychoanalytic ther-
“® apy} are not only incredible but...
| unsound, the therapeutic principles de-
| rived from them can only . . . serve as
“ guideposts on the road to... . futility.”
_ The book sets out to show that
- Freud himself has made such a burlesque
MM of psychoanalysis that attempts by his
| critics to demonstrate its absurdity are
i superfluous, It is not difficult to select
statements from Freud which can be
| presented in a ridiculous light. Salter
| does, nevertheless, find it necessary to
_ suppress counter-evidence and to isolate
| quotations from context and implication
in order to carry through his burlesque.
‘\} ~He relies heavily on Robert R. Sears’s
“Objective Studies of Psychoanalytic
Concepts,” a survey singularly lacking
in imaginative grasp of the materials it
ify deals with, and making use of piecemeal
methods as inadequate for appraisal of
* psychoanalysis as elementary algebra
fer dealing with quantum physics.
‘Salter’s way of treating evidence ap-
‘pears in his use of the 1940 symposium
_on “Psychoanalysis as Seen by Analyzed
AiG Psychologists.” Eight well-known ex-
|} perimental and clinical psychologists all
|] of whom had been analyzed contributed
. ‘ to the discussion. Of these Salter quotes
_ only two, Carney Landis, the one most
- critical of psychoanalysis, and Edwin G.
a _ Boring, who expressed grave doubts
_* The Case Against Psychoanalysis, By Andrew
| Salter. Henry Holt and Company, $2.50.
| Ma
y 31, 1952
BY HELEN M. LYND
about the personal benefits and the
scientific value of psychoanalysis. He
makes no mention of the other six, all
of whom, although they made specific
criticisms of method and theory, were
in varying degrees favorable to psycho-
analysis because of the personal insights
they had gained from it and of their
belief in its contributions to the science
of psychology. Henry A. Murray, for
example, says: ‘‘. , . Psychoanalysis...
furnishes—despite its logical fallacies
and omissions . . . the best corner-
stone for the future development of
psychology.” Elsie Frankel Brunswick,
David Shakow, and the others make
similar statements about the impor-
tance of psychoanalysis for psychologi-
cal theory and of the experience of
personal analysis for the academic psy-
chologist. All of this Salter ignores,
Similar biased selection and juggling
of evidence appears in the use Salter
makes of Freud’s own writings. He
blames Freud severely for saying that
all people are alike in suffering from
an Oedipus complex, but later he him-
self makes an equally over-simplified
judgment of all people: “. . . in es-
sence Pavlov’s conditioned reflex ther-
apy declares that fundamentally every-
body has the same problem and the
Same cure (italics in original).”
His quotation from Freud’s “The
Question of Lay Analysis’ —"Among
the causes of and occasions for neu-
rotic complaints sexual factors play an
important, an overweening—even per-
haps a specific role’’—is taken from a
section where Freud’s main emphasis is
on the moral responsibility of observ-
ing confidence in analysis because of
the intimate nature of the material. He
says that ‘‘psychoanalysts are of the
opinion that the only way to cure
patients is to influence them by sex-
_ualized suggestion—transference, as they
call it,” although this contradicts what
Freud explicitly said in the passage
AN UNDISCOVERED LANGUAGE
quoted above and elsewhere about the
necessity for the analyst not to introduce
“sexual suggestion” and what he has
said elsewhere about “‘transference.”
This slippery treatment of evidence
is bolstered by invective and vulgarizing
figures of speech: the patient lies on the
analyst’s couch “as in an undertaker’s
parlor’; “Freud made no fundamental
change in his recipe. The psychoana-
lytic cake remains completely sexual.
Only a few scattered raisins of death
instinct -and aggression have been
added.” “. , . the psychoanalytic grab
bag of conceits has had new booby
prizes added to it.”
The most significant questions raised
by Salter’s book, however, do not con-
cern its obvious defects in taste and ac-
curacy; they do not prove anything one
way of the other about Freudian theory.
Eulogies by ardent pro-Freudians have
shown similar lack of discrimination,
Furthermore, all misrepresentation aside,
there is still the fact that Freud did at
times speak of id, ego, and super-ego, of
Oedipus complex and death wish, as if
they were not figures of speech attempt-
ing to describe elusive phenomena, but
as if they had a kind of substantial ex-
istence established by some equivalent
of scientific proof. And it does not need
Salter to point out people for whom
psychoanalysis has been a failure.
What then? We do dream. We are
beset by anxieties, compulsions, and
seemingly senseless errors whose source
we can not readily trace or control. Our
illness and our health appear to contain
psychological as well as physical ele-
ments, If such “irrational’’ phenomena
are not to make cowards of us all we
must seek some way of understanding
them, Freud with a wealth of clinical
observation attempted to explore this
undiscovered country and to establish —
a continuum between these aberrant
aspects of human behavior and “ra-
tional” waking life. He developed bold
D271
hypotheses to explain what he found
_ and shaped a new vocabulary or ex-.
tended the meaning of older words to
express his theories. It is easy enough
to ridicule, as Salter has done, his words,
any particular theory or metaphor, or
any particular outcome of therapy. But
what are we to do with the phenomena
Freud attempted to explain? We must
either deny that dreams, fantasies, neu-
rotic illness have any meaning in rela-
tion to other human experience or at-
tempt to discover what that meaning is.
Two books* by Dr. Marguerite A.
Sechehaye, a Swiss psychoanalyst, record
such an attempt at discovery. The main
difference between Salter's and Seche-
haye’s approach is not that the one is
anti-Freudian, the other pro-Freudian
(Dr. Sechehaye is not pro-Freudian in
any rigid or orthodox sense); not that
the one resorts to misrepresentation to
prove a case and the other is a care-
ful descriptive account (there are doubt-
Jess errors as there are clearly omissions
in Dr. Sechehaye’s record). The dif-
ference lies in the contrast between
thinking that the explanations of “irra-
tional” human experience are easy or
self-evident and the recognition that
they are incalculably difficult; between
thinking that only the more obvious and
observably repetitive aspects of human
existence are of serious importance and
the belief that no human experience
however unusual or rooted in the “foul
sag-and-bone shop of the heart” is with-
out meaning or can be excluded from
the attempt to understand.
“Reality Lost and Regained” is the
autobiography of a schizophrenic girl
from her first recalled disturbing experi-
ence of unreality at the age of five to
her resumption of normal life in her
Jate twenties, with an interpretative note
by Dr. Sechehaye, who supervised or
carried on her treatment from the time
she was eighteen. In ‘Symbolic Realiza-
tion” Dr. Sechehaye gives a more de-
_ tailed account of the various methods of
therapy attempted during a period of ten
_ years, those which failed and those
which finally led to recovery. This book
also includes a series of drawings by
the patient which portray her systema-
* Reality Lost and Regained: Autobiography of a
Schizophrenic Girt, With Analytic Interpretation
by marcuerite A, Sechehaye. Grune and Stratton.
$2.75.
Symbolic Realization: A New Method of Psycho-
therapy Applied to a Case of Schizophrenia. By
Marguerite A. Sechehaye, International Universi-
ties Press. $3.25.
528
_
vs 2) Gee
PP La WR ; <x | bh ie
tized fantasies at various stag
illness. ‘.
In one sense there is nothing new in
these books. There have been other ac-
counts by a patient of a mind that found
itself. Other analysts, Harry Stack Sul-
livan, Frieda Fromm-Reichmann, Kurt
Eissler—not to mention their historical
antecedents—have made similar at-
tempts at exploration. They, like Dr.
Sechehaye, have shown almost infinite
imagination and patience in their at-
tempts to learn the language and to un-
derstand the imagery of schizophrenic
individuals in order to establish the
communication which must be the pre-
liminary to recovery. They have, also,
shown the error of the earlier assump-
tion that the schizophrenic is either
happy or without feeling, and the dif-
ficulty of understanding with each in-
dividual the meaning of his particular
expression of feeling. But I know of no
other records which bring together in
the life history of a single person the
autobiography of the patient, the draw-
ings which present different stages of
the illness, and the account of the
analyst of successive efforts to reach
communication.
This is by no means to say that these
accounts leave nothing to be desired.
There is naiveté and stiffness in Dr.
Sechehaye’s phrasing, which may be due
in part to defects in translation. Her use
of “symbol” is not clearly enough dis-
tinguished from sign, image, and certain
types of concrete experience. In some
places there are omissions where fullness
of detail would be particularly desirable.
Dr. Sechehaye’s theoretical explanations
are not as convincing as her descriptions
of what took place.
But the inadequacies do not lessen
the importance of attempting to under-
stand what these records represent. From
the side of the patient they give a poig-
nantly vivid description of the shift-
ing appearance of the world of un-
reality which gradually encompassed
her: the “illimitable vastness, brilliant
light and the gloss and smoothness” as
well as the hardness and separateness of
material things; the horror of being un-
able to find ways to communicate the
altered sense of space, size, and detail
which so frightened her. She relates, too,
why certain seemingly slight changes in
treatment brought to a full stop her
sense of hope of- being understood and
Sete ine
the coaicincte wre oun
tion and find ways to express w st
felt. She explains how what ol
the doctors as delusions were, in some
instances, attempts to make less frighten-
ing what she could not find words 4 be
describe in any other teems which would
be understood. It must be remembered
that this is the record of a person whose
illness would until recently have meant
the abandonment of all hope, who had
to be forcibly fed, subjected to restraints
and who was for long periods without
any means of communication whatever.
Idr. Sechehaye’s report on the various
methods of treatment which failed
(hypnosis, Freudian methods, and
adaptations of Freudian methods) show?
that trained analytic skill, patience, love,
and consistent efforts at understanding
may not in themselves be adequate to
the treatment of severe mental illness.)
For six years she tried all of these in
various combinations and failed, failed
sometimes after much progress had been |
made because she did not interpret cor-
reotly a cue from the patient, or because” sid
she did not take sufficiently into account
the patient's hypersensitivity to any hid-
den, unspoken mood of the doctor, It
was only when she had learned the lan-
gauge of her patient (including the spe-
cial meaning to her of certain gestures,
colors, tastes, and objects) that she could
find ways of translating her skill and te
patience and love into ways of com-—
munication which would reach the 7
schizophrenic. This was a learning ©
process for the doctor. Only after this —
process had been mastered so that she
could enter into the total world of this —
particular patient was there the con-
fidence and interchange which made it —
possible for her to begin to bring-her
patient back to the language of “reality.”
Specialists in the treatment of serious —
mental disorders will appraise this ac- —
count in terms of its technical value to
them. For others, psychotherapists deal-_
ing with milder difficulties, teachers;
and parents, its chief value lies in what
it suggests about the art of communica- —
tion in the broadest sense. The schizo-
phrenic forces upon the analyst the need “J
to learn a new language; if he is to
communicate at all the more conven-
tional and less discriminating rubrics
will not serve. Although analysts may
appear to get by without this effort in’
Te
g to be more Peecopnined that
able although less drainatic di-
sity is present in the linguistic ex-
sssion and emotional life of all per-
s. The patience and imagination
hich Sechehaye and Fromm-Reich-
ann use with schizophrenics need not
confined to treatment of the most se-
sre disorders. As analysts are able to use
ar methods with neurotics their
eatment may give less basis for the
laints of Salter and others of Atting
ch th patient into the mold of a particu-
ur analytic school, and the results may
how as marked improvement as there
as been im the treatment of more severe
| Ulness.
| In much the same way education of
Wmormal children has often benefited
from methods first developed with the
ill of retarded; and teachers still have
auch to learn from such accounts as
Dr. Sechehaye’s. Would the aims of
Neducation and child rearing be more
ally realized if more imaginative effort
vere used in learning the language of
he individual child (not just the lan-
wage which Freudian or any other
Itheory assumed in advance that he has)
Nbefore teaching him the language of
the adult or of the assumed child
world? Such studies as Jean Piaget’s and
Ernest Schachtel’s “Memory and Child-
thood Amnesia” suggest that this may
i the case, and that all the recent
emphasis on s¢eing the world through
the eyes of the child still fails to take
account of the possibilities, Stress on
earning the language of individuals
does not contradict Sullivan’s statement
}that we are all more simply human than
we are diverse. But it does suggest that
* ee So & * %
“Wwe may have prematurely classified dif-
et ferences, and that we are currently at a
) Wstage where inductive study is once again
! Wheeded. Only after we have learned how
& Hto become at home in the world of a
OPparticular child, a particular schizo-
i} @ phrenic, a particular neurotic can we
Mi begin once more the search for common
ul human elements.
#@ The question of finding ways of
7 testing Freud’s hypotheses still remains. _
Tt cannot be solved by viewing them
oy from the outside as Sears and
alter do, nor wholly from the inside
as some Freudians have done. It is no
a iticism of Freud’s theories that he him-
sself changed and criticized them and
p= G
- that later workers have continued to do
so. Any future appraisal of Freud and
his work must give full weight to such
records as Dr. Sechehaye’s. There is a
world and a language which lies outside
the range of rational adult life, and
the exploration of the meaning of this
language is no insignificant part of the
human endeavor,
World Government
HOW TO CO-EXIST WITHOUT
PLAYING THE KREMLIN’S
GAME, By James P. Warburg. The
Beacon Press. $3.
By AN up-to-date and pungent analy-
sis of the perilous state of world
affairs Mr. Warburg has pointed out
what he regards as the strong and weak
points of American foreign policy and
urges his fellow-citizens to do some-
thing, or various things, about it. His
comments and criticisms are often
penetrating, and in speaking out he is
performing a patriotic duty. Certainly,
American foreign policy, if it is to re-
ceive widespread support among demo-
cratic allies, must be, basically, a coali-
tion policy. Undoubtedly, racial dis-
criminations are a tragic anachronism in
America, and abroad they make millions
of enemies for this country, Granted,
American foreign policy cannot rest
(when has it?) solely on military
power, but must make plain, for people
everywhere to see, that it seeks to pro-
mote self-advancement and freedom
through economic and political coopera-
tion. Admittedly, the claim of America
to stand for intellectual freedom is
ominously weakened when admission is
denied to scholars and artists, as well as
less gifted persons, on grounds which
remain undisclosed and hence unchal-
lengeable by common sense.
Even if these and numerous other
correctives to a strong tendency toward
national self-righteousness (called .“hy-
pocrisy” by friends as well as enemies)
be accepted and taken to heart, the ques-
tion still remains whether Mr. Warburg
is advocating a consistent foreign policy.
It is clear that he disapproves, at least
mildly, the Uniting for Peace resolution,
adopted by the General Assembly of the
United Nations in 1950, and feels that
its critics are justified in regarding it as
“illegal,” even though he considers the
United Nations a political device rather
than a rule based on law. On the other
hand, the United States is at fault also,
he feels, in not having worked harder to
strengthen the United Nations between
1945 and 1948. Apparently, the United
States was at fault when it tried to
work within the original concept of
great-power dominance within the
United Nations, and it is again at fault
when it strives to make the United Na-
tions more than a bureau for registering
Soviet vetoes of actions approved by a
large majority of its members.
Mr. Warburg is convinced that in
1945 it was possible, by American fiat
or American force, to create ‘an au-
BOOKS AND from the
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(An Eple of Education) ¢ In 3 Vols,
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THE BATTLE FOR FREE SCHOOLS
Edited by Theodore Brameld. Includes eight
chapters as follows: Fever Spots in Ameri-
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the “Thing” by Goodwin Watson; Big Busi-
ness and the Schools by J. Austin Burkhart;
The Foot in the Door by Jerome Nathanson ;
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Education Is Not Expendable by Frederick
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Single copies 50¢
DEMOGRACY’S TRUE RELIGION
By Horace M. Kallen. A distinguished writer
on educational philosophy and democratic
values defines the religion of science and
democracy as “‘the religion of religions.’ 25¢
THE BEACON PRESS
25 Beacon Street, Boston 8, Mass.
BUY
UNITED STATES
SAVINGS BONDS
529
/* oN > ae ea
-
thority superior to the nations—an au-
thority created by all the world’s peoples
in order to outlaw force or the threat of
force as a means of settling disputes
betwee: national governments, and in
order to remove the instruments of
force from the reach of any national
government.” And he believes that even
today such an initiative would win the
support of all except the Soviet and
Soviet-controlled governments.
Just when Mr. Warburg's position
seemed clear, though too optimistic and
- too much inclined to believe in a uni-
versal acquiescence in a Pax Americana,
this reviewer was surprised to see a
warning finger raised. Suddenly he read
_ that “we shall never succeed in trans-
forming the United Nations into an ef-
fective world organization, if we yield
to the admittedly great and understand-
able temptation to renounce the prin-
ciple of universality and to convert the
United Nations into an anti-Soviet coali-
tion.” However it is read, this argument
appears to assume that a world govern-
ment (not of the Soviet type) can be
established with the active cooperation
of the Soviet government. Perhaps Mr.
Warburg has some private evidence that
the Soviet leadership may wish to de-
stroy itself in this manner; without it,
the assumption seems farfetched.
Mr. Warburg assumes that the Soviet
government maintains an iron curtain
through “fear of espionage and sabo-
tage; fear of discontent, if the Russian
people were allowed to compare their
living standards and conditions with
those prevalent in free societies; and
fear that a free flow of information
might expose the errors of the Kremlin
and undermine the doctrine of Kremlin
infallibility.”” These are motives which
might guide any old-fashioned, slip-
shod, authoritarian regime. The Soviet
leadership, however, feels a positive
duty, not merely to exclude undesired
~ influences, but actively to mold, direct,
and exploit to the maximum the psycho-
logical of spiritual resources, which it
has appropriated or “monopolized,” of
its subjects. It is hard to see how Mr.
Warburg can expect leaders who have
sisen to vast power under such a system
to accept and implement his proposals
for establishing a universal world gov-
ernment based upon free consent freely
. given and renewed.
PHILIP E, MOSELY
530
i pai ts a a4 ‘
Ve Pe A aw ee é
Literary Bane
NEW WORLD WRITING. First Men-
tor Selection. New American Library.
Fifty cents.
NE of the great cultural paradoxes
of our time is the increasing. iso-
lation of American writers in the midst
of the largest potential audience any
writers have ever had, The powerless-
ness of the literary intellectual, his
awareness that he can no longer assume
a stable audience to which he may
address himself, although the mass audi-
ence for the subliterary products of mass
culture is constantly growing—these
have impelled critics to a number of
wrongheaded conclusions.
We have had serious artists con-
demned for being out of step with
“the masses’—whether because they
would not write patriotic tracts, or
proletarian novels, or &itsch—and on
the other hand we have had the avant
garde exhorted to stand fast against the
advance of the comic-book barbarians,
who attack to the sound of singing
commercials. But there have been al-
most no thoughtful attempts, with a
few honorable exceptions such as the
books of Gilbert Seldes, to bridge the
widening gap between serious art and
popular culture. Wherefore we have
cause to be grateful to the New Ameri-
can Library for the initiative and re-
sourcefulness it has displayed in extend-
ing its hospitality—and its publishing
and merchandising resources—to novel-
ists, Critics, poets, and short-story writ-
ers, in the manner of the British Pen-
guin New Writing series.
“New World Writing,” however, is
more than merely another little maga-
zine, if only because of its circulation
as a Mentor Book, which will place it
within reach of many thousands of
Americans who might otherwise never
have the opportunity to discover the
younger writers. The sheer quantity
and variety, furthermore, are closer to
an anthology of aurrent writing, or
a “bazaar” as the editors call it; than
to a periodical which is more restricted
both in space and in range of interests.
Naturally with such variety there are
bound to be corresponding extremes of
quality; but among the essays, for ex-
ample, Charles J. Rolo’s glib and super-
ficial revelations about Simenon and
Spillane, and Oliver Evans’s earnest and
treatment of Carson McCul
sre Gane eas a a ccellen
pieces as a chapter on Negro writer
(although it oddly omits mention,
James Baldwin and Ralph Ellison) fro
Alain Locke's forthcoming “The Negr
in American Culture” and a well-ille
trated and intriguing analysis of “Th
Buildings We See” by Henry Russ
Hitchcock and Philip C. Johnson,
The poetry, carefully chosen so as ne
to overwhelm or frighten the
reader, ranges from the cerebral to the
lyrical, and presents several younget
poets, in addition to Merton, Nemeroy,
Brinnin, Frankenburg, and Moss. 4
But it is the fiction that raises the
most interesting questions about the na-
ture and function of a pioneering enter-
prise like “New World Writing.”
is an international flavor which is a y te
to the good: French and Italian novel-
ists are represented in translation, Be-
sides a fine cross-section of Americans,
and there is surely reason to hope that
future issues will bring us samples ©}
the work of the younger English and
German prose writers. There is also,
however, a flavor of the excerpt yanked
from its context, of the chapter from a
longer work rushed into print for rea
sons other than its intrinsic interest a
a self-contained aesthetic’ statement.
One reads the fourteen fiction pieces
and observes that six of them are ex-
cerpts from novels (this does not in-
clude the non-fiction pieces also taken
from larger works), and one wonders
whether this indicates a resurgence of 7
the attraction of the novel for young’
writers and a corresponding weakening
of the appeal of the story form, even
when writers are invited to display
their wares in a perishable soft-cover
periodical. Of course there are valid
reasons for both editors and con-
tributors to publish excerpts of works
in progress—it has become a standard
practice in the quarterlies, where chap-
ters of novels are often the only fictier
presented; but one feels bound to note
that when half a dozen sections from
novels are included in one volume, there
is inevitably an effect of scrappiness. |
Certainly the most satisfying work of
fiction in this volume is a remarkable
long short story, Faces of Hatred and of Ww, o
Love, by the brilliant young Frenchman, 99! the
Jean-Baptiste Rossi. mt,
At any rate it seems appa We sen
ly
V ny
their serious work, and one
10 ‘that this receptivity will en-
age new writers to be faithful to
elves, and to grasp the opportunity
free of the restrictions of length
tyle imposed by other large-cir-
ion magazines. One of the most
aspects of this exciting
7 venture is the modesty and straight-
wardness with which Arabel J. Por-
and the other editors have gone
ut their task: they neither condescend
d eir ceaders nor patronize their
My major complaint is that my copy
“New World Writing” fell apart
fore I finished one reading, and while
1 can’t have everything for fifty cents,
haps the publishers will be able to
vise some way for the book to hold
gether for the thousands of readers
ho may, one hopes, accept it with even
pte seriousness than those who were
sighted enough to offer it to them.
the public’s reception makes possible
e regular publication of this literary
yok-mapazine, perhaps other paper-
ok publishers will be encouraged to
allow suit. In that case this little book
lay turn out to have been an im-
ortant first step in breaking down the
barriers separating writers from a large
n|teading public that deserves so much
pf Detter than it has been getting, and that
jas already denionstrated its willingness
ito accept the best—if it is made avail-
mele. HARVEY SWADOS
seworthy
= 7 5 - gs < =
ye = ’ sa s bs. aan
if
Derelict Youth
“)WHO WALK IN DARKNESS. By
| | Chandler Brossard. New Directions.
aL ($2.75.
| ir WHE young and lost have always had
“2 a peculiar fascination for Ameri-
can readers. It’s almost as if our writers
‘endowed us, as a people, with the im-
‘Maturity, the misplaced sensitivity (so
close to megalomania), the inability to
focus on problems requiring adult re-
5 " sponsibility, which characterize the
fant terrible.
‘Starting with World War I, our
“young and lost’’ have always been of
im 2ge, or well past it. The little lost boy
§ in the adult male, the fragile girl-wife,
these and the familiar galaxy of un-
rate, overage children who peo-
, 1952
“se
a
i
3
]
twenties,
¢ have chiefly occupied our writers until
now (with a parenthesis for the pro-
letarian novel and a no less valid one
for the novel of war experience). Only
now, after World War II, when slews
of legal infants (under eighteen) are
so visibly, palpably lost, have the new
writers begun to train their sights not
on the immature adult but on the root-
less young.
This derelict youth, buffeted by every
wind and unstable as soot, has been
good copy since delinquency hit the
front page, and lately we have had a
spate of novels which, by implication,
place the responsibility largely where
Cocteau placed it a generation ago, on
the parents terribles. Two that have
packed a punch are “Flee the Angry
Strangers” and “Who Walk in Dark-
ness.’ The former, though the stronger,
better constructed, and more absorbing,
is so highly specialized in the problem
it treats (drug addiction in an adoles-
cent girl) that it somehow misses the
wide target. Brossard’s book, instead,
hits straight to the center. A sense of
waste, of betrayal, of unfocused, almost
footless rebellion marks each of the
principal characters.
The novel deals with a group of
casual yet close acquaintances who drift
from job to job or, jobless, consider
which is the better choice, to continue
on unemployment insurance or to find
some uninvolving work, like hotel clerk-
ing, the better to preserve their intel-
lectual integrity.
The protagonist—at least, the most
irritating character—one Henry Porter,
is a heel who has the unattractive habits
of slickness and opportunism which
permit him to get on at some minor
literary activity (never specified) ap-
parently without moral qualms. There is
Porter's girl, Grace, a finely drawn
Italo-American whose love for and dedi-
cation to Porter are his redeeming fea-
tures (he can’t be all bad so long as
Grace sticks with him, and conversely
he becomes all bad when at last Grace
ae him, losing first, painfully, her
ability to find him important). Then
there is Harry, a young New Englander
whose fastidious reaction to the phony
Porter is one of the few authentically
funny things in the book. Harry con-
vincingly portrays’the quite bright but
distressed young man who goes through
life apologizing for having been born
solvent. There are, too, Max Glazer,
ubiquitous sponger; the narrator, Blake,
who falls heir to Grace (and who
reminds me of no one so much
as of O’Neill’s Good Old Charlie);
the two models, Gloria and Margaret.
And, briefly, there is the world of
the big fights (Brossard, having got
“Who Walk’ out of his system, should,
please do some more work on the
LET TUNISIA BE HEARD!
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Are Indivisible
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Tuesday > JUNE 3 + 8:15 P.M.
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Admission: $1.20 Members 85¢ (all tax incL}
Speakers:
Rev. Edward McGowan, Chairman
KumarGoshal Dr. W.E.B. Du Bois
Dr. John Paul Jones J.J. Joseph
and others
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om
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Fights: they too are part of the current “rents
show and on them he is all good).
Brossard’s group of young people
ends by being, and I think it was his
intention that they be, damn dull com-
pany. Though the narration, and at
times even the dialogue, are flawed and
clumsy, the world he recreates pulses
with a true beat. What it adds up to
is that self-absorption has taken the
place of self-reliance, either intellectual
or moral. Impotence to love or let love,
to create or appreciate, has robbed these
token citizens of the juice of life. Lone-
liness hag-rides them into pleasureless
association with one another and even
their rebellion seems fruitless, as they
have never stopped to define what they
are rebelling against or to what end they
erect their barricades.
FRANCES KEENE
Books in Brief
ALEXANDER POPE: CATHOLIC.
POET. By Francis Beauchesne Thornton.
Pellegrini and Cudahy. $4.75. Pope’s ad-
herence to the faith of his parents was a
notorious disadvantage in his own day,
the early eighteenth century, when in
England legal sanctions were enforced
against religious minorities. In this book
Mr. Thornton gives a full treatment to
the poet’s life and writings, attempting
to wring out of them every possible
drop of evidence that will show not
only Pope’s nominal status as a Catholic
but also the devout piety that pervaded
his life as well as his writings. To be
reminded of Pope’s religion is useful in
dealing with his personality and poetry,
for its influence is often overlooked;
but it will seem to many that here the
thesis is driven far beyond its reasonable
limits. In the intellectual circles where
Pope ‘rotated, as his letters to non-
Catholic friends show, dogma and faith
were not taken very seriously. His most
extensive treatment of religion is his
“Essay on Man’; and when we con-
sider that the poem’s strongest personal
stimulant was Bolingbroke, a deist, and
ats chief defender was Warburton, a
Church of England clergyman, we get
some idea of the protean character of
Pope’s mind in this matter. Like his
“Essay on Criticism” it is a statement
of many philosophical and religious cur-
532
. ew
wall, g
Tae
in the Is
Pope’s main contribution to them was
to say “what oft was thought, but ne'er
so well expressed,”
amy ee es
:
NEW ‘DIRECTIONS 13. Edited by
James Laughlin. New Directions. $5. If
the contents of this anthology point to
the new directions that writers are tak-
ing today, then they are knocking them-
selves out standing still. The best prose
pieces here are conventional onés that
might have been written when our
grandmothers were alive—those of De
Lanux, Creeley, Kerner, and Paulhan,
for example. And when a new direction
is actually tried, it usually turns out to
be a dead end; Maude Hutchins’s short
play is killed by cuteness, May Swen-
son’s story by sheer ponderosity. The
poetry is more varied and more interest-
ing, much of it sparked by metaphysical
wit. And of the essays Harold Guinz-
burg’s reprinted piece on the publishing
business is good common sense, Mr.
Laughlin’s introduction is, as usual, full
of sound and fury, and J. B. Pick’s
meditation giving the average English-
man’s thoughts about the present war
crisis is eloquently and sweetly reason-
able.
A LAND. By Jacquetta Hawkes. Ran-
dom House. $3.75. This original and
often stimulating book oddly combines
reverie with scientific fact, mystical
speculations with geological data. The
author, wife of an Oxford professor of
archaeology and with considerable scien-
tific experience of her own, believes like
Mary Austin that the land influences the
spirit of a people and also, more curi-
ously, that they influence it. To her
geologists and archaeologists are ‘‘en-
gaged in reawakening the memory of
the world.” Historical personages, New-
ton for example, are fossils whose age
could be determined by the strata in
which they are found and the work of
- Proust is related to that of the geolo-
gists because both have something to
do with the fact that “we are return-
ing to an awareness of our unity with
our surroundings, but an awareness of a
much more exalted kind than anything
which has existed before.” The indus-
trial revolution violently reversed an
old process by removing man from the
context of nature to that of the machine
but it is still possible that we may find
PB hy es
ee
n 7S) “
Pao. re ah alee, Be Ce
os
way back. The publishe
“The « ind . ith th ey ry]
“The Sea Around Us” and the
parison is not too inapt though thi
phasis in the one book is the re
of that in the other. Miss C
presents facts with a mystical overt
Mrs. Hawkes presents many facts
they are used chiefly to support |
often elusive but often stimulating
ulations. on
THE WORLD OF GEORGE Jz
NATHAN. Selected and Edited with
Introduction by Charles Angoff. Kno
$5. This is an anthology of neat
five hundred pages drawn from WM
Nathan's thirty-nine books and pw
lished for his seventieth birthday. E
sides criticism of the drama there 4
substantial selections from his
on women, bachelorhood, etc.; ref
niscences of Mencken, Dreiser, Sincla
Lewis, Eugene O'Neill and others; §
gether with assorted pensées such ag
“Criticism is the art of appraising othe
at one’s own value’ and “I drink {
make other people interesting.” Tho
who think of the author as playbe
and show-off will be surprised at th
seriousness and solidity of much tha
he has to say. He learned his mann
and assumed his more superficial atti
tudes in the teens of this century but h
has survived as most of his contempe
raries have not because his knowledgi
and his intelligence are genuine an
impressive. Despite bad-boy flourishe:
he seems to have read everything ever
remotely connected with the drama and
he remembers most of it. Despite char-
acteristic stunts like enumerating which
plays with dogs in them have failed ander.
which have succeeded he can also quietly
marshal opinions from Dryden to Shaw
on any important question. Partly be-
cause he has scorned to follow changing
fashions he will probably last a good
deal longer than younger commentators
who seem at the moment so much mor¢
serious. 7
DRYDEN: POETRY, PROSE ANE
PLAYS. Selected by Douglas Grant. The
Reynard Library. Harvard. $4.25. This
latest edition to the series of “com
pendous books” is more than usually
welcome since neither the complete
works of Dryden nor any other really
representative collection of his prose
have been celebrated in
ears by Eliot and his disciples.
contributes a sound sensible
rod duction which Dryden himself
d have approved and gives substan-
t iiresentation to all the principal
ds of writing Dryden did. Nearly
> hundred pages from one of the
t writers of the English language is
eneney's worth.
1 ERS’ LIFE OF POE. Edited with
a Introduction by Richard Beale Davis.
@#Outton. $5. Since the days of Wood-
srry Poe students have made some use
pf the material left by Chivers but this
j the first publication of all the most
" gnificant parts of it from the MS
w in the Huntington Library. Chivers
fas a bad but enthusiastic poet who
ked to believe that he had influenced
'@Poe's style and the relations between
he two were not always perfectly ami-
ple. He was, nevertheless, an ardent
ichar pion after Poe’s death and _ his
sminiscences are of real value to the
tudent as well as of some curious
finterest even to the casual reader who
will find in Chivers’s exalted and ex-
lamatory style some of the charm of the
liwhat-not and antimacassar. The editor
thas written a sound informative intro-
duction and provided elaborate annota-
mtion. For a book of one hundred and
wenty-five pages the price seems a bit
psteep.
THE WILD WHEEL, By Garet Gar-
cum rett. Pantheon. $2.75. An odd and in-
diiteresting book on Henry Ford, “the
) extreme and last pure event” in the his-
wif tory of free private enterprise. “A di-
vine mechanic,” Garrett calls him,
“who thought with his hands; the ulti-
ate child of his era, acting upon his
world with ruthless and terrible energy
#} by instinct and intuition.” A helter-
#@ skelter book, repetitious and disorgan-
| ized, but with flashes of insight and
“passages of first-hand observation that
cut deep into the Ford mystery.
Coming Soon in The Nation
“The Private Papers of
Senator Vandenberg”
Reviewed by oe Morse
y 31, 1952
5 fact when one Uaeaders me
MANNY;
FARBER
| Films
HE SNIPER’’—the story of a sweet-
faced laundry driver who com-
pulsively murders pretty brunettes be-
cause “someone did something mean to
him when he was a kid”—is a smooth,
technically astute, 100 per cent dull
melodrama. It was made by a progres-
sive producer, Stanley Kramer, whose
films often fight prejudice with all the
usual antiquated prejudices. For ex-
ample, he has gone to unusual lengths
to build sympathy for the underdogs of
society—the oppressed Negro, mother-
fixated tenement kid, or paraplegic—
while sniping at publishers, business
men, government officials, etc. Here, he
has cast the role of a sex offender with
an actor (Edward Franz) whose nice
manners and muffled personality make
him appear to be the movie’s most
wholesome American. The only thing in-
teresting about the figure is that he is so
unlikely as a ‘maniac.’ He has a neat
way with guns, cars, baseballs, and
laundry deliveries. When he spots a
likely victim, he picks himself out a
rooftop, calmly removes a telescopic
carbine from a briefcase, efficiently puts
it together, and puts one bullet cleanly
The NATION
[_] with Harper’s Magazine «..
The NATION
through the girl’s temple. Then he goes
home, locks the carbine in the top
bureau drawer, and writes a note to the
police begging them to capture him
(“Stop me—Find me and stop me—
I'm going to do it again.’’). Aside from
the fact that Franz is an expert driver
and takes his laundry truck into pic-
turesque San Francisco locales, his be-
havior is pretty colorless in a movie
where the more normal citizens knock
themselves out acting angry, cocky, pom-
pous, or mean.
Though Kramer never tires of expos-
ing ugliness in society, his movies are
peculiar for an absurdly well-organized
look; they move well, have a laundered
kind of slate-toned photography, and
never get tangled up in any event. It is
typical of his Business Machine style
that when the boy is finally spotted by a
painter working a block away on the top
of a factory chimney, the kid brings him
down with a single bullet (the body
slides down so photogenically on a
pulley contraption that it must have been
engineered by a Phi Beta Kappa in
movie stunt shots), Another interesting
example of Kramet’s efficiency is the
way his females act when the bullets hit
them. They go into a cyclonic version of
Leon Errol’s rubber-legged walk before
smashing into a brick wall or table;
this is a difficult thing to do, but it is
managed with fascinating skill by other-
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208
\%, + _
wise wooden females. Finally, there are
the scenes between aroused civic leaders
and police officials, in which “liberal”
and “‘anti-social” remarks turn up with
perfect timing and placement. A news-
paper publisher, played by a stock Re-
publican type, says some asinine thing
("We want this fellow caught, and
punished, punished, punished.”), and
is immediately put in his place with a
semark that sounds like it hurried in
from a Barry Gray disc-jockey show
(“Your paper slants the news, exploits
killings.” ). Because of his spic-’n-span
technique and the predictable left-
wing slanting of characterization, ‘The
Sniper” is a movie that you'll have to
fight to enjoy.
“The Pride of St. Louis,” another
ultra-civic-minded work manages to kill
the idea of baseball as the national pas-
time. The script-writer (H. Mankie-
wicz) decided that Dizzy Dean is a
democratic Ozark peasant, more im-
portant for his clean habits and civic
behavior than for his fast ball. He has
confined the movie to shots of Dizzy
(Dan Dailey) glad-handing customers
and developing, via talk, into a good
citizen, while his career is described by
radio announcers and newspaper head-
lines. When the movie occasionally gets
eround to baseball, it shows Dailey
doing a hammed-up burlesque of pitch-
ing—so intricate that he doesn’t seem
to be throwing the ball. Odd note:
Dailey, in certain profile shots with his
hair dry and bushy, looks a bit like
Dean’s old-time rival, Car] Hubbell.
Music
HIS comment on Roger Sessions’s
“The Musical Experience of Com-
poser, Performer, Listener’ (Princeton,
$2.50) is late because the book (origi-
nally a series of lectures at the Juilliard
School) was to have been reviewed by
a composer, performer, and listener who
after many months reported himself un-
able to produce a review. And I could
understand why when I came to read the
book myself: the writing is diffusely
unprecise and unordered, which means
that reading for continuous sense one
has great difficulty in getting hold of the
thought for reporting and comment.
534
BH,
HAGGIN
oe Ly pe po
: = a a iu
, 7 ae ; Pde. |
7
Mr. aS: : sine with the p sycho-
physiological basis of musical inl
expression, and communication—the
fact, for example, that a melodic motif
or phrase, which “is in essence and
origin a vocal gesture . . . a vocal move-
ment with a clearly defined . . . profile,”
is ‘‘sensitive to infinitely delicate nuances
of tension and relaxation, as these are
embodied in the breathing which ani-
mates the vocal gesture and shapes its
contours’’—an instance of this being
the “sharp, irregular accents, or suc-
cessive violent contrasts in pitch’? which
“call forth subconscious associations sug-
gesting the kind of agitation which pro-
duces violent or irregular breathing.” I
understand Mr. Sessions to contend that
awareness of this basis is necessary for
the composer, the performer, the lis-
tener, and the reader of a book about all
three; but to me it seems no more
necessary than the awareness of what
anthropologists have established as the
basis of linguistic communication is nec-
essary for the writing or reading or dis-
cussion of poetry. One can accept as fact
the operation called language, and begin
with its use in a poem; and one can, I
think, similarly accept the operation
called musical communication, and begin
with what is done in or with a piece of
music. And Mr. Sessions himself goes
on, in subsequent chapters, to talk about
the external manifestations of the opera-
tion of the composer's or performer's
mind in the music or performance, with-
out relating them back to their internal
basis in conditions of his body.
It is in these later chapters, when Mr.
Sessions’s mind is engaged with actual
music, that he produces the valuable
material of his book. When, for ex-
ample, he points out that a musical idea,
“the starting point of a vital musical
‘train of thought,’ can be virtually any-
thing which strikes a composer’s imagi-
nation”—not only a theme, a motif,
but a chord, a sonority, a rhythmic
figure, a relation between two harmonies
or keys. Above all when he illustrates
this by showing in quoted passages of -
music what the composer's mind works
with and what it does with this mate-
tial. (To have Mr. Sessions seated at a
piano with a score in which he points
out the course of events in the music
should be an illuminating experience.)
And so when he discusses performance,
his score Tarde
D eed
he comr er inc
ol ee
embodying its movement or gesture |
best be made clear by the perfonme
whose playing must reveal his undet
standing of the music “in terms of it
articulation, its contours, and its pro
portions” (he must play “not so mu
notes as motifs, phrases, periods, sec
tions . . . rhythmic groups”) and hi
awareness also of “the melodic and
harmonic values.” ¥ toa,
In an ordered progression the n@
step would be to discuss the listener’
apprehension of the course of event:
indicated in the score and made explici
in the performance. But Mr. Sessions
begins his chapter on the listener by
describing derisively the enormous num
ber and variety of books, courses, and
radio programs—including some that
would appear to perform a useful func
tion—which undertake to “prepare the
listener fully for the strenuous task of
listening to music.” Why all this un-
necessary concern about the listener,
asks Mr. Sessions. And his explanation
is that the musical public has increased
to the point where entrepreneurs and
musicians (“I am of course speaking
of performances rather than composi-
tions’) are involved in large-scale busi-
ness enterprise as producers’ for a mass
consumer; that the producers must there-—
fore consider their buyers’ tastes, must
persuade them to buy their goods, and
must “do everything possible to en-
hance the value of the goods sold”—
which, in logical connection with what
has led up to it in the sequence of
thought, can mean only that the courses
and books are the performance indus-
trys means of “‘selling’ its products
to the public. Mr. Sessions himself
doesn’t explicitly state this implied —
meaning of the conclusion of the se- —
quence in logical connection with its
beginning, doesn’t think back to the
courses and books after they have en-
abled him to talk about music as big ~
business—logical connection, in this
sequence, being only a means of bring- —
ing in one thing after another that he ©
wants to get off his chest. And the next
such thing is that in the situation in
which the listener is only a consumer,
the musician is “no longer a cultural
citizen, one of the cultural assets of the
community with purely cultural respon-
Sonoma profitable,
In most of this I recognize one of the
- schematic ideas with which the late
_ Artur Schnabel held his disciples spell-
one of the great minds of the century.
_ And if I am less impressed it isn’t be-
cause I am unaware of the situation
today, but because I am aware that it is
only one variant of the situation at all
| times—because I recall, for example,
ea | that the eighteenth-century musician pro-
le} duced for the eighteenth-century con-
| sumer what that not always enlightened
consumer demanded, and was treated
not as a cultural citizen and asset of
the community but as a cog in the
- eighteenth-century musico-economic ma-
chine—that is, wore the consumet’s
Eavery and ate at his servants’ table. For
_ the rest, Mr, Sessions, as I understand
him, notes the many courses and books
which represent a concern with the large
_ musical public; notes that the perform-
ance industry has a concern with the
large musical public; and derives from
the two observations the idea that the
courses and books represent the perform-
ance industry's concern with the pub-
lic—whereas actually, I need hardly
point out, they represent the various
concerns of schools, colleges, writers,
and publishers with the public, and
| serve the performance industry’s inter-
_}) est only incidentally. It appears that
4 when Mr. Session’s eye is not on the
47) course of events in a piece of music he
san operates as an angry man with a mud-
: . dled mind.
.4} The muddled mind also contrives the
t
d
|
8
v
ot
| pretexts first for having dragged in this
| irrelevant material and then for get-
| ting away from it and back to what
the book is concerned with. If we are to
if understand the listener, says Mr. Ses-
_ ‘sions, “we must see him... not as an
. abstraction but as an existing and con-
ctete figure in our musical society’—
which is not the way we have had to
understand the composer, and not really
the way we have to understand the lis-
tener, in this book. “But it is not mainly
in his role of consumer that I wish to
speak of the listener. The question for
us is rather his own experience of
"__ music’—which in fact is the only ques-
5 tion i in Fis book,
_ bound and persuaded them that he was |
e RECORD NOTES
BY ROBERT E. GARIS
Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 1;
Gulda with Vienna Philharmonic under
Bohm (London); Gulda for the most
part first-rate, orchestra quite poor; re-
cording badly muffled and blurred; noisy
surfaces,
Piano Concerto No. 4; Backhaus with
Vienna Philharmonic under Krauss
(London); Backhaus fair in first two
movements, brutal in the last, orchestra
throughout undistinguished; piano tone
muffled, and occasionally blurred.
Serenade for flute, violin, and viola,
Op. 25; Baker, Joseph and Lilian Fuchs
(Decca); superb performance.
String Trio, Op. 9, No, 3; Joseph,
Lilian, and Harry Fuchs (Decca);
superb performance,
Brahms: Alto Rhapsody; Anderson
with RCA Victor Symphony and Robert
Shaw Chorale under Reiner (Victor);
good performance apart from Ander-
son’s current tremolo.
Double Concerto; Milstein and Piati-
gorsky with the Robin Hood Dell Or-
chestra under Reiner (Victor); fair
performance.
Symphony No, 2; Furtwangler with
London Philharmonic (London); per-
formance spiritless and slack; recording
very muffled, noisy surfaces.
Symphony No. 3; Szell with Con-
certgebouw Orchestra of Amsterdam
(London); excellent performance; re-
cording a bit muffled, swish in the third
movement.
Symphony No. 4; Walter with the
N. Y. Philharmonic (Columbia); good
performance, in Walter's familiar re-
laxed style.
Chopin: Recital by Maryla Jonas (Co-
lumbia); familiar waltzes, etudes, and
the Berceuse; second class performance
in the conventionally mannered style.
Dvorak: “New World” Symphony;
Kubelik with the Chicago Symphony
(Mercury); good performance, noisy
surfaces.
Franck: Symphonic Variations; Brai-
lowsky with the RCA Victor Symphony
under Morel (Victor); effective per-
formance in the virtuosic manner.
Handel: Sonatas for violin, Nos. 13,
14, 15; Elman and Rosé (Victor); El-
man’s performance vulgar almost beyond
belief, Rosé undistinguished.
Liszt; Todtentanz; Brailowsky with
RCA Victor Symphony under Reinet
(Victor) ; effective performance,
Mahler: Kindertotenlieder; Anderson
with San Francisco Symphony under
Monteux (Victor); sumptuous per-
formance, a bit heavy compared with
the Ferrier-Walter recording.
Schumann: “Spring” Symphony;
Minch with Boston Symphony (Vic-
tor); fine performance; recording occa-
sionally blurred.
Strauss: Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme;
Strauss with the Berlin State Opera
Orchestra (Decca) ; heavily light music;
fine performance; acceptable dubbing
of a very old recording.
Tschaikowsky: Symphony No. 4;
Kubelik with the Chicago Symphony
(Mercury); excellent performance ex-
cept for an occasional loss of pace in soft
Passages; noisy surfaces.
Weber: Overtures to “Oberon,”
“Euryanthe,” ‘Preciosa,’ and ‘Peter
Schmoll und seine Nachbarn’; Béhm
with Vienna Philharmonic (London);
the unfamiliar pieces are pleasantly in-
consequential; good performance.
DOUBLE your listening pleasure
with the composer's ORIGINAL SCORE}
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Is Hiss a “Liberal”?
Dear Sirs: A typographical mix-up in
the first paragraph of my review of
Whittaker Chambers’s “Witness” may
lead to misunderstanding. In a context
suggesting Alger Hiss, I referred to “a
liberal who was secruited from the
idealistic wing of public service.” The
surrounding quote marks that should
qualify the word “liberal” wete unfor-
tunately omitted; as the review itself
makes clear, 1 dé not believe nor could
I] say that Hiss is, or was, a liberal. One
of the few things on which I agree with
Chambers is his political characteriza-
tion of Hiss.
Princeton IRVING HOWE
SUM MER RENTALS
PRIVATE, furnished cottages, modern im-
_provements in genuine country surround:
ings. Pool, handbal], etc. Congenial, mature,
family clientele, pleasant social hfe, 3-4
rooms, $490, up. Long season. Easy com
muting, deliveries. Oakridge Cottages, Old
Trolley & Red Mill Roads near Oregon
Corner, Peekskill vicinity. FO 7-1329 week-
days to noon and 6-8 P.M. or LAkeland
8-4236.
WANTED: Modern cottage for summer
rental. 2 bedrooms, swimming, facilities,
furnished, within 1-1Y4y-hour drive N. Y.C.
Prefer N. Y. or Conn. Box 271, c/o The
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CANADA vacation? Spend it on 4-acre
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ville, Pa.)
WESTPORT, CONN. on Easton Road.
Old farm house, 7 rooms, 2 baths, 12 acres,
long season $1600, prefer children, will
furnish pony. Telephone or write: Leslie,
LUxemburg 2-0100, 130 West 46 Street,
New York.
FOREST HILLS, N. Y. Furnished house,
6 rooms, 3 baths, "yards, garage, Launderall,
piano. Convenient transportation. July 1-
Sept. 5 incl. $350. 71-22 Yellowstone
Blvd., Forest Hills 73.
GUEST COTTAGE on private estate—
virgin pine forest—sand dune—shore Lake
Michigan. Modern with fireplace—rent
a or season. Earl Miller, Oostburg,
16C.
FARMS @© ACREAGE
BERKSHIRES; 7 rooms; fireplace; partly
installed heating—plumbing; view; brook;
150 acres; timber. $6500. Berkshire Farm
Agency, East Chatham, New York.
REAL ESTATE
FOR LEASE—Commercial Building 7,000
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“FINANCING
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THE READERS’ SERVICE DIVISION J |
20 Vesey Stree? New York 7,N.Y. ~
ho NATION
ae
A
BY FRANK W. LEWIS
|
~~
eer ts |
ACROSS
1 Scalp? (You cou!d get sort of elated
about the wrong type.) (8)
5 Cowers, perhaps, at the outcome of
the deeds (6)
9 Fighters’ exercise? (23
10 Capital city of Sen. Knowland, ac-
cording to his critics. (7)
11 Not even a crew left, for example,
to make the weight? Certainly! (7)
12 A connection run by Truman’s state-
ship? (7)
13 Jefferson Davis, for example, might
ia the Carboniferous period.
15 Is Fido haunted by them? (6, 7)
21 No birch branches, even in the “dead
man’s chest’! (7)
22 Immoderate. (7
‘23 Thucydides said the ones of Athens
were purchased by valiant men. (7)
24 The need for them is dependent on
the brightness of outlook. (7)
‘25 And in Formosa she seems part of
the outlook mentioned above. (7)
26 He used to be responsible for an offi-
cial dispatch. (8)
co
DOWN
1 and 4. Needs what is in photos for
the direction of naval personnel.
(42) eee
2 Rap, on my word, for wisdom to
wise,
ttt Pee
aa E EE
oe | | |
i i CE
Pt Lee
i
angnanuuanany
rd Pee
| eg
Qe
o
10
14
16
17
18
19
20
ACROSS :—1
WHIRL; 11
VERSE;
POINT AT
HARTE: 25
Neither the Hanseatic nor the
American were the sort covered by
Capt. Nemo. (7)
See 1 down,
Kind of cup? Well, you’ve put your
foot in it! (7)
Under-water actor in Spanish
Guinea? (3, 4)
Berns responsible for trauma,
haps. (8)
You might expect to get a letter of
character if you do. (18)
They accompanied royalty with title
—yet their heads could roll! (8)
Ce with a bad sort of tribesmen.
)
Impute to be like a writer? (7)
Vocalized a-sort of dentition with-
out it, (7)
Backbone? Quite the opposite,
spite its sound. (7)
An ocean lad, or salt, perhaps! (6)
——_+#
SOLUTION TO PUZZLE No, 466
CORPS DE BALLE T; 10
TRAFALGAR; 12 IE
13 SHAFT ; 14 SUPERMARKE TS; 19
ISSUE; 22 RISKS; 24 BRE’
FIRE CHIERP; 26 ANNUL; 27
per-
de-
INTERRELATION.
DOWN :—2
OLIVHR; 3 POLE VAULT; 4
DETERGENT; 5 BLASE; 6 LBAPS; 7
ENGRAVDR; 8 SWIFT; 9 PROTEST; 15
MASTERFUL; 16 ROUGHCAST: 17 UP-
DRAFT; 18 FIRST- RUN; 20 FRANCO; 21
PEALS; 28 SOCLE;
Readers are invited to send for a free copy of Mr. Lewis's
requests to Puzzie Dept., The Nation, 20 Vesey Street,
24 BRIER.
“ground rules.’ Address
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Phone: Tannersvitle 299
50 Miles to FOREST HOUSE
Near enough for easy travel, far enough.for an
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new levels of gay relaxation in inspiring sures
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cordial hospitality. Two grand lakes, All sports.
FOREST nouse
Lake Mahopac, N, Y. ° Tel. Mahopac 8-3449
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| WINDY HILL i
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ON ORANGE LAKE
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Books, records, aports, ping-pong, a two-mile lake
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quality in generous quantity
® NOW OPEN ©
Pre-Season $45.00 Weokly; $7.00 Daily
65 Miles from Now York City
JANE C. ARENZ + R.D. No. | * WALDEN, N.Y,
_ Phone: Newburgh 15 we2
5¢o|
Mayans
RIDGEFIELD, CONN,
Phone 6-7000
A resort of distinction offering
relaxation and recreation in the
modern manner. Outdoor activ-
ities, tennis, water sports on
mile long lake. Excellent culsine
and accommodations. Dancing,
TV, recordings.
RATES MODHRATH.
MERRIEWOODE
A CAMP FOR ADULTS
HIGHLAND LAKE — STODDARD, N. H.
Where Interesting People Meet for the Perfect Vacation ©
Pnjoy beautiful 10-mile lake, all Land & Water Sports,
featuring Water Sliding & Wxcellent Tennis ¢ Interesting
hiking obfectives through woodland trails © Horseback
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A “Worest-Farm-Lake-Mountain Paradise’’
For ALL Falths, Races, Colors, Convictions
Very GOOD FOOD, Room, Bath, $4 to $7 dally
Evening FORUM, July-August, SPEAKERS
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ie)
CLARK REPUDIATES COLSON
AGREEMENT WITH RED CAPTIVES—N. Y. Times
CLARK CANCELS CONCESSIONS
TO KOJE PWS—Herald Tribune
GEN. CLARK BANS RED
JAIL DEAL—Doaily Mirror
CLARK SCRAPS RED
PW PACT—Doaily News
We Blush for America|
>» For these headlines from the May 15 issue of New York papers.
» We recall from school-day study of the Declaration of Independence: —
» Men gathered to set down on paper the stirring call that was to lead
them on the road to freedom, writing, ““When in the Course of human 97
events...” etc., etc., ete., “A DECENT RESPECT TO THE OPINIONS OF
MANKIND REQUIRED .. .” etc., etc.
» In the support of their Declaration they pledged “each other our Lives,
our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.”
» Decent respect to opinions of mankind... sacred honor.
» In 1776, a little band of brave men without atom or napalm bombs, —
with only the muskets they held in their hands, could pledge their honor
to a cause which they laid before the world to inspect.
/
» Today, a mighty nation, self-appointed leader of the “free” throughout
the world, armed with the most frightful weapons, careless of honor,
callous to the opinions of others, we repudiate the written pledge of a
general of our army made to a group of prisoners of war.
>» We blush for America—for to what heights have we risen that we can
fall so low? What priceless treasure, what precious secret, did these con-
cessions hold that we stoop to such indignity?
» We remember that one of the grievances detailed in the Declaration ] |
said: “He (King George) has affected to render the Military indepen
of and superior to the Civil power.” - =
» We blush for America, but we fear for our children that billions poured
into war machines may once again raise the military to heights of power |
beyond the control of civil authority.
» War, not peace, is the use for which arms are fashioned, but peace, not —
war, is in the hearts and yearning of those of us who still hold honor high ©
and desire the decent respect of the opinions of mankind. a |
143.4 AVE.(13 & 14 ST.) N.Y.3 = “GR;3-7819.-
WASHING MACHINES © RADIOS © ELECTRICAL APPLIANCES
yea C Bow, M.D.—Robert M. Cuinaaliaes Jr.
™ Nation
June 7, 1952
Rother View of tLe
is
1
| BY JOSEPH C. HARSCH
| +
|
|
.
A
France’s Fatal Indecision
BY ALEXANDER WERTH
+
' Freedom’s Stake in North
\ - Africa and the Middle East
A Report on the Nation Associates Con ference
20 CENTS A COPY EVERY WEEK SINCE 1865 7 DOLLARS A YEAR
i
AROUND THE U.S. A.
Berkeley’s Example
Berkeley, California
ENIED the use of a public audi-
terium in San Francisco and Oak-
land, the Negro Labor Council, seeking
a hall for a Paul Robeson concert, re-
quested the Berkeley Board of Educa-
tion for permission to use the magnifi-
tent new Betkeley Community Theater.
On May 6 the board met to vote on the
sequest. Mrs. Eileen Ready, chairman,
and member A. K. Sackett voted “no”
on the pround that to permit the noted
singer to appear in the school audito-
rium would be “giving support to com-
munism which we are fighting in
Korea.” But three members of the board
voted “yes”: Mayor Laurence L. Cross,
who is also minister of a local commu-
nity church; Mrs. Mildred Brown, and
David P. Smith, active Republican, who
laid down the sole condition—which
the Negro Labor Counoil was glad to
meet—that no political speeches be
made at the concert.
The majority vote in favor of per-
mitting Robeson to appear created a
city-wide furor. Hundreds of letters
supporting the majority decision were
sent to board members and to the press;
on the other hand, veterans’ and other
patriotic organizations publicly attacked
the three who had voted favorably. J.
Frank Coakley, district attorney of Ala-
meda County, warned: “If Mr. Robeson
were to appear in a public school build-
ing, it is possible that a disturbance
might occur that would result in injury
to persons and damage to property for
‘which your school district and the city
of Berkeley would be liable.” But
Mayor Cross replied that he had full
confidence in the ability of the Berkeley
police to maintain order, and Police
Chief John Holstrom added that his
men would carry out their responsibility
to “maintain public peace and prevent
*
injury.
In response to pressure, Mrs. Ready,
as chairman of the board, called a spe-
cial open meeting for May 10 to review
the case. More than 1,200 Berkeley citi-
zens crowded into the board chamber to
participate in the proceedings.
The first item on the agenda was the
reading of a letter from the district at-
torney which said, in part: “Your board
could reconsider the matter and rescind
a > me 2 he ade PF ry
- . ~ ; ui a ee
‘ ‘
Tuesday night's action whereby the ap-
plication was granted. .. . It is common
knowledge that Mr, Robeson has made
certain inflammatory and highly provoc-
ative remarks and that his appearance in
other parts of the country have precipi-
tated riots and disturbances of the
peace.”
Members of the board then made
public statements explaining their posi-
tion. It was clear that no member had.as
yet changed his mind. Mayor Cross
commented forcefully on the district at-
torney’s letter. “I consider this letter as
one which is inciting to riot. I have full
confidence in the ability of the police to
maintain order. Paul Robeson appeared
in a concert in San Francisco only a few
months after the Peekskill [New York]
trouble and there was less disturbance
than there would be at a Presbyterian
prayer meeting.”
David P. Smith asked the audience to
indicate by show of hands how they
stood on the majority decision to grant
Robeson the hall. The vote was at least
four-to-one in favor. Smith then said:
I am concerned over the spread of
communism, but I do not believe we can
stop it by such action as those of you in
the opposition would have us take. Since
World War II 600,000,000 people have
been won over by the Communists with-
out the Red Army having fired a single
shot. There are still hundreds of millions
wavering... . We cannot win this fight
by guns or bullets... .
Why then are the Russians winning
this battle for the hearts and minds of
people? One of the major factors is that
although we preach freedom regardless
of race, color, or creed, unfoftunately we
do not always practice it... . If we turn
down this noted singer, the action would
be proof to the people of India and Indo-
China, even to minority groups here, that
Paul Robeson was denied a place to sing
because he is a Negro. I beseech you...
to prove to the world by example that
democracy does work.
After the board members completed
their statements, comment was invited -
from the audience. About fifty people
spoke, most of them in support of the
board majority. Several veterans—both
Negro and white—read petitions signed
by fellow-veterans urging the board to
stand by its decision. One veteran
stressed that “to allow free expression
of ideas in a building dedicated to the
memory of our war dead would indicate
} oy
| Bi
that theie deaths in fighting for | ie -
principles of democracy were not in
vain.”
A school teacher declared: “ROBIE
has a special place in the cultural life o AM
this nation. As a high school student I |} —
heard recordings of his Shakespearean oy Vous
roles. I checked our library shelves the
other day and found three books writ-—
ten about him. If we deny him the
chance to be heard, isn’t it only a short
step toward removing his recordings — | Stran
from the library shelves and finally to- +"
ward burning books... ?” (ne
A minister thus el up the dan- — of the
ger involved in excluding Robeson: D of am
West
To my mind the real threat to democ- — agree
racy lies not in the ideas which Robeson — ?
may have, but in the use of the fear of — tee
communism as a justification for the =] mitted
undermining of all the constitutional safe- pel
guards of individual rights. It was pre- ihe 2
cisely this supposed danger from Commu- ol
nists first, and other minorities later, ind co
which the Nazis used to silence all oppo- — their ¢
sition while they hacked away at the very J] dee
foundations of government in Germany. |]
The reason I deplore the type of argu-
ment used in the district attorney's letter — Saar
is that it says in effect: our democratic
processes are not strong enough to with- — of by
stand the threat of force and, violence— — the A
hence we must abandon them in favor of teal
the use of force and violence our- oo,
selves... . » tod P
kis
The meeting adjourned at midnight have te
with the board’s majority vote in favor sees f
of permitting Robeson to sing standing itis r
unchanged. On May 23 Mr. Robeson i to
appeared, as scheduled, before a capacity * fon
audience. There was no trouble. by Gin
ALICE S. HAMBURG
tral Fi
a B the is
In An Early Issue ym
As a follow-up to Hugo Ernst’s os ;
article Labor Views the Campaign, | 4} iad a
which appeared in the May 10 | ind pe
issue, The Nation will soon publish J ;
a statement on the same general Anott
subject by George M. Harrison,
gtand president of the Brotherhood ; be
of Railway Clerks (A. F. of L.), | @ “th
one of labor's most influential | — pte i
spokesmen. With the Harrison @ Arend
statement will also appear a sum- | | Ney
mary of the views of a number | | time
of other labor leaders on the great f ff fem",
issues of the 1952 campaign.
Da ny
i Of State
Tr | Ves 2 Ow ae Se Vos. SS . ie ee
— — & os =
ae
wy
AMERICA aor niyG LIBERO wWRAEKLY SINCE fees
VoLuME 174
Ihe Shape of Things
Strange Inconsistencies
One of the most disturbing things about the signing
of the two European treaties last week was the absence
of any important reaction in the United States. The
West German peace contract and the European Army
agreement, between them, committed this country to the
defense of a frontier on the Elbe River. They have com-
mitted us to military expenditures of proportions im-
possible to estimate over an indefinite future. Perhaps
the country has weighed these commitments soberly
and concluded that it has no choice but to accept them;
their early ratificatiort by Congress, without important
debate or partisan division, seemed assured as the week
began. But if that is the case, there are strange incon-
sistencies in the picture, chief among them the lopping
off by Senate and House of a billion dollars or so from
the Administration’s foreign-aid measure—a procedure
totally incongruous with the agreements signed at Bonn
and Paris.
It is our view that the people of the United States
have neithef understood nor consciously prepared them-
selves for the policy these fateful acts express, and that
it is past time that they woke up. An election campaign
is upon us and several of the men responsible for our
~ foreign relations are seeking the Presidential nomina-
tion. Questions should be asked, and quickly, of Gen-
eral Eisenhower and Mr. Harriman and Senator Taft;
the issue of foreign policy should be pushed to the
front. It would be strange indeed if the United States
were to leave the job of debating German rearmarnent
and all its imminent consequences to the parliaments
and peoples of Europe.
Another Miracle Needed
By reversing the ban on ‘The Miracle,” the Supreme
_ Court has made it clear that motion pictures fall within
the free-speech guaranties of the First and Fourteenth
Amendments. At the same time the court bas given the
New York Board of Regents who banned the film a
timely lecture on the historically-restricted meaning of the
| term “sacrilegious” and the irrelevance of that concept
| in a nation which does not support an established church
of state religion. “It is not the business of government in .
a}.
« A
ak
NEW YORK + SATURDAY =>
JUNE 7, 1952 NuMBER 23
our nation,” the court points out, ‘‘to suppress teal or
imagined attacks upon a particular religious doctrine,
whether they appear in publications, speeches, or motion
pictures.”
Surprisingly enough the decision was “hailed” with
delight in Hollywood by executives who had just granted
the American Legion a power over the industry that
Cardinal Spellman, who precipitated the controversy over
“The Miracle,” has never asserted. Employees whose
names appear on lists submitted by the Legion must be
screened and proper clearance obtained before they can
work on future productions. If the craftsmen who make
motion pictures must submit to political tests of this
character, the obvious implication is that they had better
not put out films of which the House Committee on Un-
American Activities and other agencies consulted by the
Legion might disapprove. Indeed censorship is implicit
in the statement of James F. O'Neill, editor of the
American Legion Magazine, that the Legion’s program
is one of ‘watchful observance” of persons employed in
radio and television as well as motion pictures and the
theater,
Encouraged by the Supreme Court’s decision, the in-
dustry executives who have been entertaining Mr.
O'Neill in Hollywood should permit him to return to
his editorial duties in Indianapolis. Or can it be that the
Legion will successfully assert a power which the Su-
preme Court has just decided the State of New York
does not possess?
Ridgewood’s Littler Point Four
Citizens of Ridgewood, New Jersey, a commuters’
community of some 18,000 population forty minutes
from Times Square, has launched a program not unlike
Norway’s “Little Point Four’ described by Erling Bjol
in The Nation of May 24. Last year Octavius Pitzalis,
operator of a barber shop and beauty parlor and one of
Ridgewood’s highly respected citizens, paid a visit to
his native village of Nuri (population 6,000) in Sar-
dinia. While there he organized a cooperative agricul-
tural project and invested $3,500 of his own money as
the down payment on a tractor and other farm equip-
ment. Learning of this, the citizens of Ridgewood de-
cided to back the project as a community enterprise. At
the present time they are raising funds by subscription
for the purchase of additional farm equipment for Nuri.
oy tO ee ee eee
SoA y) eel ea
4° ok ¢ (es Sl
, 7 J
°.IN. THIS 1i6s72:°
EDITORIALS
The Shape of Things 537
Platform for American Labor - 539
Judge Waring on the Civil Rights Issue 540
Six Years Too Late 541
ARTICLES
One View of Eisenhower by Joseph C. Harsch 542
France's Fatal Indecision by Alexander Werth 544
Germany, Germany! by J. Alvarez del Vayo 546
Italy: Danger from the Right
by William Murray 547
Jim Crow, M. D. by Robert M. Cunningham, Jr. 548
Battling the Private Power Lobby
by Barrow Lyons 551
Freedom's Stake in the Middle East and North
Africa: A Report on The Nation Associates’
Conference, with Excerpts from Speeches by
Eleanor Roosevelt, Senator Estes Kefauver,
Ambassador L. N. Palar, E. David Goitein,
Senator S. R. Shafaq, Jean Louis Mandereau,
Clarence E. Pickett, E. A. Speiser, Roger Bald-
win, Kingsley Martin, and Freda Kicchwey 553
BOOKS AND THE ARTS
The British Case by H. A. De Weerd 560
Men and History by Carl F. Hovde 561
Faithful Disciple? by Harvey Swados 561
Art by S. Lane Faison, Jr. 562
Music by B. H. Hagegin 563
LETTERS TO THE EDITORS 564
CROSSWORD PUZZLE No. 468
by Frank W. Lewis opposite 564
EDITORIAL BOARD
Editor and Publisher: Freda Kirchwey
Editorial Director Director, Nation Associates
Carey McWilliams Lillie Shultz
Managing Editor: Victor H. Bernstein
Foreign Editor Literary Editor
J. Alvarez del Vayo Margaret Marshall
Financial Editor : Keith Hutchison
Drama: Joseph Wood Krutch Music: B. H. Haggin
Copy Editor: Gladys Whiteside
Assistant Literary Editor: Caroline Whiting
Staff Contributors
Andrew Roth, Alexander Werth, Howard K. Smith, Carolus
Business Manager: Hugo Van Arx
Advertising Manager: Maty Simon
The Nation, published weekly and copyright, 1952, in th.
by The Nation Associates, Inc., 20 Vesey Strect, New weeker N. x.
Entered ag setond-class matter, December 13, 1879, at the Post Office
of New York, N. Y., under the act of March 3, 1879. Advertising
and Circulation Representative for Continental Europe: Publicitas,
Subscription Prices: Domestic—One year $7; Two years $12; Thr
years $17. Additional postage per year: Foreign and Canadian <1.
Change of Address: Three weeks’ notice is required for change of
address, which cannot be made without the old address as well as
the new,
Information to Libraries: The Nation is indexed in Readers’ Guide
to Periodical Literature, Book Review Digest, Index to Labor
Articles, Public Affairs Information Service, Dramatic Index.
apace a adhe
($38
tt hae eee
¢ “+
4) ea AVE
‘
at b a
Cee Ser
TYR Le Se
cz:
Whue projects of t
lic attention from the lack of gov
an effective national Point Four program, they c
also havea quite contrary effect. Apart from their pr
tical value they provide one of the best means of atous- —
ing popular interest in the possibilities of an enlarged
Point Four. Other communities might well profit by the
example of Ridgewood and Mr. Pitzalis who, instead
of firing a shot heard round the world, made a sensible ~
down payment on a tractor and a plow.
7
Grass-Roots Common Sense
An award for the week's outstanding contribution to —
civic sanity should go to Berkeley, California. Apparently —
concerned by local excitement over the Robeson inci-
dent (see this week's Around The U. S, A.) a group of —
civic leaders organized a public forum, chaired by Ad- —
miral Chester W. Nimitz, on Our National Security and —
the American Tradition of Freedom, Speakers were asked —
to address themselves to three questions: What is Free- —
dom? How do we maintain it? And how do we
strengthen our defenses against communism? Out of this —
meeting has come the Berkeley Committee for Security —
and Freedom sponsored by such diverse organizations as
the Junior Chamber of Commerce, Americans for Demo- —
cratic Action, Young Republicans, the C. I. O. and the ~
A. F. of L., and the Berkeley Church Federation. The —
committee is not an action group and none of these —
organizations is involved in any commitment except to 4
further security and freedom through full and open —
discussion. mia
It is through local groups of this sort that opinion can
be organized to resist the current hate hysteria which is —
beginning to have dangerous “mass” manifestations. For
example, the Sons of the American Revolution recently 4}
started a “grass-roots anti-subversive drive’ which they —
dim will function through thousands of local organi- —
zations. Known as Patriotic Education, Inc., the new 4
movement aims to capture local citizen groups con- —
cerned with public education in the manner fore- —
shadowed in last week's editorial, The Battle for the —
Schools. “Hae
*
South African Hitlerism q
Conscious of growing opposition to its plans for a
subverting the South African constitution, Dr. Malan’s _
Nationalist government has brought into play the
Suppression of Communism Act, an instrument of —
tyranny worthy of Hitler. This law, writes Mr. E. S, —
Sachs in his new book ‘The Choice before South Africa’
(Turnstile Press, London), contains “‘a definition o
communism which is sufficiently wide to embrace any —
liberal who advocates racial tolerance or any trade
unionist who urges higher wages for workers. The ques- —
— - es a
~~ —— eo a ee eee
~ cordance with recognized legal procedure.”
re —s - ay ee eee eee ¥ A of *~
ey AP ae aol Ptze ! ’ y ee Co
aT Glee ta rd ee x
as | Z eh ae”
ho 2 ee
10t be decided e ie courts on factual evidence in ac-
_ The accuracy of these charges has been proved up to
the hilt by the use of this act against Mr. Sachs himself,
despite the fact that he was expelled from the Commu-
nist Party over 20 years ago. He was ordered to resign
as secretary of the South African Garment Workers
Union and to abstain from all political or trade union ac-
tivities. When he defied this order by addressing a mass
meeting of union members, the police dragged him off
to jail, precipitating a bloody riot. Now he faces the
possibilty of a three-year jail sentence.
Mr. Sachs, whose article South African Madness,
appeared in The Nation of April 12, is not the only vic-
tim of this vicious act. It has already been employed
against about twenty persons and new orders are steadily
being issued. A few of those concerned are known Com-
munists: the rest are simply people like Mr. Sachs whom
the government deems it convenient to tag with the
Communist label. In addition C. R. Stewart, Minister of
Justice, has banned Mr. Sachs’s book and suppressed
The Cape Guardian, a left-wing weekly. The British
Trades Union Congress has protested strongly the arbi-
trary actions. We hope American trade unions will
follow suit.
Tribute to the “Survey”
More than almost any other journal in America, the
Survey expressed the faith, the ideas, even the per-
sonality of its editor. Paul Kellogg was the Survey, al-
though he gathered around him through the years many
eminent associates. To have to record its passing is
like saying goodbye to a valued friend; a painful task,
humanly and professionally.
Always a pioneer in the field of social welfare and
social ideas, the Survey was from its beginning a member
of the “deficit group” of forward-looking journals, but
‘until recently the financial problem was successfully met
by interested friends, members of Survey Associates, and
‘a few foundations which recognized the unique contri-
bution to social thought and education made by Paul
Kellogg and his colleagues. It was the devastating com-
bination of rocketing costs and Mr. Kellogg's serious
illness that finally defeated the valiant efforts of the
' Survey's friends to raise the necessary funds.
Fortunately Mr. Kellogg is on the road to recovery.
Knowing him as the sort of person who would never
accept defeat in a personal sense, we are encouraged
to believe that his great authority, wisdom, and imagina-
tion will still be put to good use; and so, also, the
talents of his devoted staff. But we shall miss the Survey;
it filled a place no other journal occupies and filled it
with integrity and distinction.
June 7, 1952
J
at
1952 Platform
for American Labor
it anti-union offensive is gathering momentum,
Almost daily some reactionary congressman comes
forward with a bright new scheme for loading the col-
lective-bargaining scales against labor. Taft-Hartley, it
appears, is not enough: it must be supplemented by
further legislation designed to blunt the edge of labor’s
strike weapon.
One proposal is to bar strikes in key industries when-
ever an emergency is declared. A second suggestion is
compulsory arbitration of disputes affecting the public
interest but this is likely to be as strongly opposed by
employers as by unions. A third, discussed in an editorial
two weeks ago, is Representative Smith’s bill, now before
the Armed Services Committee of the House, which
would empower the courts, following the Taft-Hartley
eighty-day injunction period, to place both unions and
companies engaged in a dispute in a receivership of in-
definite period during which working conditions could
not be changed.
Still another plan, with which congressmen of both
parties are toying, is to curb the unions by putting them
under the anti-trust Jaws. Senator Robertson of Vir-
ginia is seeking to revive a bill to achieve this end
which he introduced in 1950. And in the House, Repub-
lican Representative Gwinn of New York has brought
forward a measure to outlaw both industry-wide bar-
gaining and industry-wide strikes—a proposal written
into the original Taft-Hartley law and defeated by only
one vote in the Senate after ceo the approval of the
House.
The Gwinn bill seems to have been inspired by the
Wall Street Journal which for years has been plugging
for legislation to break up what it calls “labor monopo-
lies.” An industry-wide strike that cuts off the supply
of some vital commodity or service, this paper argues, is
really directed against the whole community. Hence if
the government is not armed with legal weapons to ban
such strikes, it must be endowed with the power to coerce
both sides, “There is the choice. . . . Either the with-
drawal of the monopoly power or the creation in the
government of a greater power before which beth prop-
erty and personal rights lose their sanctity.” (Wall Street
Journal, May 1, 1952.)
Extreme proponents of this idea aim at breaking up
Jabor organizations such as the United Steel Workers.
As the U. S. News and World Report of May 16 ex-
plains: “No single union could be certified as bargaining
agent for workers of competing unions. There would be
one union for U. S, Steel, another for Bethlehem, another
for Republic.”
Senator Taft, while not at present willing to go quite
539
so far, apparently plans, if elected President, to include
am anti-labor-monopoly law’ in his first State-of-the-
Union message. According to Philip Geyelin, Washing-
ton correspondent of the Wall Street Journal, he believes
that such a law should not prohibit union organization
on a national basis. However, except in a few industries
such as building and coal which would be allowed to
negotiate regional agreements, it would enforce bar-
gaining om a company basis by forbidding any union of-
ficial to negotiate labor contracts for more than one com-
pany. The Senator admits that this ban might not prevent
simultaneous strikes to enforce identical demands but he
believes localization of bargaining would, to quote Mr.
Geyelin’s paraphrase, “eventually encourage workers and
employers in each company in an industry to work out
their problems independently.”
There is much in this outline that is unclear. For
instance, when Taft talks of “bargaining on a company
level,” would he permit negotiations with a holding
company, such as United States Steel, or would he in-
sist on separate contracts with each operating subsidiary?
Nevertheless, if some details are obscure, the objective is
all too plain. Taft, like less cautious anti-labor col-
leagues, aims at atomization of the unions, at the sapping
of the strength they derive from national solidarity by
reducing them to loose federations of autonomous locals.
This is a real threat but one that can be met. As Mr.
Geyelin writes; “This November's elections hold the
key to what happens. If the Democrats win a smashing
victory this fall, the chance of Congress passing major
labor legislation next year would be slim. But if the
Republicans hold their own or gain new strength in the
House and Senate, it’s almost certain that there will be
. a new effort next year to crack down on the unions.”
| It is up to. organized labor to insure against another
Eightieth Congress. If it rallies its potential political
strength, it can do so.
Judge Waring on the Civil
Rights Issue
ORE than ten thousand people gathered in Chi-
cago’s Coliseum, at one of the sessions of the
e recent General Conference of the African Methodist
Episcopal church, to hear J. Waties Waring pay his
Bs respects to the Dixiecrats and make an eloquent appeal
for a strong civil rights plank in the platforms of both
major parties. Ostracized by the “white folks” of South
Carolina, Judge and Mrs. Waring were given a tumuliu-
ous reception in Chicago; among other honors the Judge
was given the annual Abbott Award of the Chicago
Defender. The meager accounts of this extraordinary
meeting which appeared in the press are, perhaps, a
measute of the pitch to which racial tensions have
ee ee meee oo
540
there next month, they will be visiting a community in
which racial tensions are at the highest pata ‘a ce
World War II. The city’s large Negro population should
be-in the mood, as it certainly will be in a position, to”
bring great pressure to bear on the platform committees —
of both parties. ‘i
Judge Waring, whose decisions opened the way for
Negroes to vote in South Carolina in the Democratic
primaries, spoke of racial prejudice as “a cancer which |
cannot be cured with a sedative. . .. You must go to the |
source of the trouble. So long as we have legal segrega-
tion in the South, the poison will spread to the rest of the —
country. So you and I and the other decent people of |
this country have got to go to the source of the prejudice —
ie segregation laws of the South—and wipe them —
" To all appeasers and “Uncle Toms,” the Judge —
Gauuisa that the reply should be: “We don’t care how —
much money the white supremists spend; we don’t want —
the chains of slavery gold-plated, we want them stricken —
off. We don’t want gifts, we want rights.” a
At the close of his speech, Judge Waring suggested —
a civil rights plank, approved by the conference, for ue
adoption by both major parties: 4
-
We deplore and condemn all attempts to discriminate
for or against any of our citizens by reason of religion,
race, or ancestry, and pledge ourselves to a re-examina-
tion of those pillars of our democratic way of life, the
Declaration, of Independence and the Constitution of
the United States, and especially those amendments
guaranteeing to all persons the equal protection of the
laws and prohibiting any state from making or enforc-
ing laws abridging the privileges of citizens or denying
to any person equal protection.
We demand that the immortal words of Thomas
Jefferson that “‘all men are created equal’ be made a
reality,
In furtherance of this principle, we call upon the
Congress of the United States to consider and adopt
rules which will allow the introduction and discussion .
and orderly consideration on its merits and the eventual
enactment of legislation guaranteeing: 1
1. The right of full and equal participation in the
exercise of suffrage.
2. The right to equal opportunity of employment.
3. The right of security of person and property.
We further call upon the executive departments to
implement such rights as are now granted and those to
be hereafter granted and assured by:
1. Directing the immediate integration of all person-
nel in all of the armed forces and complete and sincere
elimination of discrimination and designation by color
or racial origin; this is to apply to all forces whether
serving in this country or foreign lands.
2. The insertion in and enforcement of provisions in
all contracts made by the federal government for fur-
The NATION
oe oe sestcde dis.
<
P form committees of both parties.
Six Years Too Late
BY FREDA KIRCHWEY
YNGMAN RHEE is a taunting symbol of what is
wrong with American policy in Korea. From the
| moment he and his clique were imposed on the Korean
people by the American occupation, they served as a bar-
ticade against any popular movement or any democratic
_ development that might conceivably play into the hands
‘} of communism. As long as they performed this function,
‘| their corrupt and violent practices were regarded as
peccadilloes. Now, suddenly, the United Nations com-
mand, which is to say the top American brass, is re-_
ported to be “much embarrassed” by President Rhee’s
recent behavior. If this is the case, perhaps one should
be gratified; a change of heart might betoken a change
of policy—although it might merely mean that Ameri-
can prestige, badly battered as the result of the prisoner-
of-war fiasco, cannot stand any more slings and arrows
just now. But one thing is sure: with all his manifold
faults, Syngman Rhee is our man and it is a little un-
grateful, and also a little late, for American generals to
__ begin to be embarrassed by him.
They should have got round to it sooner, say in 1946
_ when, under the sponsorship of the American army he
set up his blatantly dictatorial rule, maintained by Japa-
nese-trained police and his own terrorists, arresting
potential opponents, outlawing independent political
associations, bestowing benefits—land and concessions
and jobs—on his faithful henchmen. The~American oc-
cupation was never more than mildly concerned with
, these matters; Syngman Rhee ran his little police state
‘ without serious interference, and when the elections of
1948 came along he had things well in hand. What with
. the people he had thrown into jail and those who had
_ been killed and those who were in hiding or had fled to
the north, he was in a position to elect a National
_ Assembly which chose him President by a handsome
_ majority.
Those elections were well cooked. But by 1950 the
United Nations was on hand to supervise that year’s vot-
_ ing, and while it was still distorted by government re-
_ pression and corruption, the tide turned sharply against
E the President and from that date to this the anti-Rhee
forces in the Assembly have been in a majority. Fortu-
nately for Mr. Rhee the war began in time to save him
from serious inconvenience; while the fighting raged
Parliamentary government went into partial eclipse, Al-
June 7, 1952
q
‘ - -
We commend this plank to the members of the plat-
ae ' ; -
‘though the South Korean army was put under United
Nations command, Syngman Rhee displayed an impres-
sive degree of initiative. When the other U. N. forces
halted briefly at the Thirty-eighth Parallel, Rhee’s troops
drove northward, apparently without orders. If the
U. N. command, General MacArthur then in charge,
felt embarrassed it did not show it; nor did it summon
back the ambitious ROKs. And only a little later when
the U. N. armies, defying Chinese warnings, moved into
North Korea, President Rhee dispatched his terrorists
and police into captured territory to “establish order,” a
phrase which by this time hardly needs defining. Even
then we find no record of embarrassment on the part of
MacArthur and his generals. But outraged protests bes
gan to be heard in the United Nations itself and in the
press of the cooperating powers—and eventually the ad-
vance agents of Syngman Rhee were called back to their
homes.
Is it not odd, in the light of these not too ancient facts,
that on May 25, with a thoroughly hostile Assembly
preparing to elect a new President in less than a month,
Syngman Rhee should have declared martial law and
arrested nine opposition deputies? Or that a few days
later he should have announced an “international con-
spiracy” against South Korea, arrested a batch of ordinary
citizens, and formally rejected the urgings of mili-
tary and diplomatic officials that he behave in a consti-
tutional manner? It is not odd. For he knew very well
that if he did so the Assembly would presently vote out
of office his whole apparatus of control. In fact, he had
every reason to expect, it seems to us, that the people
who put him in power and countenanced his abuses of
power would display composure rather than embarrass-
ment when he took steps to hang on to it.
So Syngman Rhee calmly ignored the resolution
adopted 96 to 3 by the Assembly which demanded that
martial law be revoked—though such an order is man-
datory under the constitution—and the Assembly’s fur-
ther resolution to remain in session until the arrested
members wete freed. As complete justification for his
conduct, Mr. Rhee pointed out that the legislators were
“trying to grab political power by intrigue.” He also
ignored, or has up to the moment of writing, the pres-
sures brought by General Van Fleet and various U. N.
representatives, announcing that he will lift martiai law
when he pleases and that, instead of releasing the jailed
deputies, “more arrests can be expected.”
Whether the high brass will finally force President
Rhee to knuckle under, we cannot guess. All we can say
is that, win or lose, they have a miserably weak case. If
they had really wanted democracy in Korea, in place of
corruption and terror, they would have started differ-
ently. They wanted anti-communism, nothing else, and
they got Syngman Rhee. Their embarrassment is about
six years late.
541
ee
Ww Lb ae -,
= P "
One View of Fisenboue
Paris
EFORE Dwight Eisenhower left Europe he was
HN puzzled when certain of his visitors went
away saying that in domestic politics he was “to the right
of Taft.” The visitors, coming from an America where it
has become customary to tag evetyone as being right or
left, had seen in some of his customary views evidence of
a rightward domestic political inclination, Ike himself,
however, is conscious only of a desire to find the right
solution to any given problem regardless of what kind of
people have generated the idea.
This urge to find a right solution without finding one’s
self labeled reactionary or radical is the overlooked key
to the man Eisenhower and might well lead to consider-
able confusion before Ike and the American public get
to know each other better. In foreign policy Ike is a
modern American, But when anyone in these black and
white days adopts what is plainly a modern point of view
about foreign policy there tends to be an assumption that
he must be quite as modern in other areas of public af-
fairs and therefore as easily placed in the domestic
political spectrum.
That is precisely where 2 number of political experts
are going wrong these days, because in domestic affairs
Ike hasn’t had a chance to become modern, He left
civilian life in 1910 and has been busy ever since build-
ing an army career, waging wars, and trying to remake
the face of Europe. True, he had a few brushes with
modern America when he was president of Columbia
University, but it is important to remember that while he
resided in the general environment of a great civilian
university he continued to move through it within the
immediate environment of a five-star general surrounded
by aides and staff sergeants.
Certainly not consciously, but just as certainly un-
_ consciously, Ike looks ahead with the attitude of a man
who is not just taking off a uniform, but who feels that he
is going to move from the world of “we” to the world
of “they.” So far as foreign policy is concerned the
transition will be easy. In that area the two worlds have
not exactly merged, but have intermingled to the point
where the army recognizes, albeit with sadness, that po-
litical and military affairs can no longer exist in separate
compartments. In domestic affairs it is bound to be a
different story.
JOSEPH C. HARSCH, Paris correspondent of the Christian
Science Monitor, covered General Eisenhower from the
time the general was first given the NATO assignment.
542
- ditions, as has Harry Truman. This is a process through —
Ae
a heen Spel Ra
3 bat
-
BY JOSEPH C. HARSCH
This doesn’t mean for a moment that Ike will move —
into domestic affairs unequipped to comprehend or deal
with them. The America of 1910 in Abilene, Kansas,
does not prepare a man to grasp instantly the subtleties
of Senator Taft's rela-
tion with Joe McCarthy —
or the reasons why it is ©
more respectable for a —
member of the N.A.M, 5
to be seen lunching with
John L. Lewis than with —
Philip Murray. But it |
isn't a bad starting point
for a new look at 1952's
America. After all, peo-
ple from small Mid-
west towns in 1910 were
decent people capable of
tolerance for eachother’s ||
peculiarities, slow to pass
doctrinaire judgments, possessing faith in the general
decency of mankind, and free from a certain modern
tendency to feel that the other man’s ideas need to be
purged if one’s own are to survive.
On the other hand it is hardly surprising that some of
Ike's visitors haven't seemed to be able to grasp what he
was talking about or be able to agree that his political
views as of Paris in the spring of 1952 make him a “mid-
dle of the roader.’’ To them, he has seemed instead to
sound like a man “to the right of Taft.”’ The confusion
really arises out of the fact that Ike is not at all to the
right of Taft, but rather about 40 years behind Taft in
applying his own personal inclinations to the actual prob-
lems of America today, Ike simply hasn’t had a chance to
apply himself to these matters. Taft has.
It is important to compare Taft’s and Eisenhower's —
personal inclinations. On any such comparison Taft —
would certainly be well to the right. But over the past
forty years the Senator from Ohio has found it either —
necessaty or desirable to make certain modifications in
the application of his personal doctrines to specific con ©
Dwight D. Eisenhower
which Ike has not yet had the time or need to pass (or *
rather had not until he found the transition from mili-
tary to political life looming ahead of him). ii
As an announced candidate, Ike began to do some
setious thinking. But being able to regard himself with
reasonable objectivity he came quickly to the realiza-
tion that he was certainly not equipped at this stage to
The NATION |
1, ote aE
Rc
}
form dei sive juc
‘as the steel strike. Political instinct seemed to guide him
in the same direction, warning him that he had better
not mix in too many current issues until he had had a
chance to do some home work. The fesult has been
that he has talked to his visitors in the only idiom
available to him; the political idiom of Midwest Amer-
ica, circa 1910.
The real question, however, is not where his domestic
views are to be found today, but how good are the pieces
~of political equipment he has brought home with him as
devices for evolving a useful and constructive set of
views of modern America. Most of these are too well
known to require more than itemization. His personality
and easy friendliness are proverbial, and real. So is his
ability to act as chairman or moderator of a board meet-
ing and to lead wrangling individuals towards a workable
compromise between conflicting views. No one can take
from him the fact that the hammering out of the
European Defense Community agreement in one year
among Europeans conditioned by a thousand years of war
and suspicion borders on the miraculous.
Add his ability to express his ideas with an intensity
and enthusiasm which actually do arouse public confi-
dence and light little fires of hope and faith. This derives
from the fact that he is an optimist with a belief that
men are decent and that mankind can move from where
it is to some better place. It also derives from an ability
unusual in military men to handle words. He did a lot
of writing in his day—including General MacArthur's
annual reports as Chief of Staff and some MacArthur
speeches in the Philippines. He works long and hard at
such tasks and picks words carefully. One is surprised by
his vocabulary when moving from conversations with
military ‘men around him to conversations with him.
HESE are his political assets. What about his liabili-
ay es There are several minor ones. Like Harry
Truman, Ike has had some difficulty avoiding undesirable
personal associations. He makes friends easily. He has
found it necessary to terminate several such friendships.
- But unlike Truman, Ike can terminate them firmly and
decisively. Then Ike moves into the political arena with a
skin as yet untoughened to the vulgarities of political be-
havior. He has been disturbed by the black propaganda
campaign waged against him. He wasn’t prepared for
being called Communist-lover, lecher, “Swedish Jew,”
and husband of a dipsomaniac. He didn’t know that this
sort of thing is normal in American political life and that
its purpose is as much to rattle him as to influence people
against him. It got under his skin and he still can’t talk
about these abuses without a touch of visible pain. The
question is whether he will develop towards a Roose-
veltian delight in collecting specimens or towards a
_ Hoover-like persecution complex, or find a solution
June 7, 1952
ca)
bar on a en: current issues.
“peculiar to himself which will be sufficient, Basically an
extrovert, the chances are that he will evolve some form
of defense. But before ke does he may be rattled and
thrown off pace several times.
ROBABLY Ike’s greatest liability is his sense of be-
ing slightly apart and different from even the best of
the politicians who built his candidacy. The one person
he really trusts in the whole movement is his old personal
friend and army associate, General Lucius Clay. So
close is the natural sympathy and understanding between
them that General Clay was actually used during the pre-
declaration period as a sort of alter ego for Ike. The poli- |
ticians, forbidden to ask Ike direct political questions, put
them to Clay and Clay gave the answers he assumed Ike
would give were he free to give them. And apparently
they were almost always the right ones. That same iden-
tity of thinking process does not exist with such men as
Paul Hoffman and Senator Lodge. They and Ike talk
“to” each other rather than “with” each other. They are
separated by that delicate but ever present difference be-
tween “we” and “they.”” They are also separated by the
persisting assumption that Ike is more important to them
than they to him. It will be some time, if ever, before
Ike can feel as comfortable among his political asso-
ciates as he does among his old military friends. This
could become an asset by protecting him from a narrowly
interested advocacy of special causes. As candidate and/
or President, he would be better off not to trust his ad-
visers as completely as he has become accustomed to trust
his army friends.
The sum of it all is that Ike is not as complex as same
people are apparently trying to make him, or as “placed”
as others assume him to be. Using “good”’ in its best
sense, Ike is a good man with strong urges to lead the
country out of twenty years of internal strife along what
he regards as the middle of the road. He approaches the
task with an unusual personality and a real earnestness.
He can contribute a fresh sense of direction just because
his political roots are in the Middle West of 1910.
Can Ike locate that middle of the road in sufficient
time to meet his problems? It won’t be the easiest thing
he ever tried to do, And of course there is some ques-
tion whether the middle he finds will accord with the
public’s sense of where it lies. It would be a grave
mistake to assume that Ike is already placed to right,
left, or center. If the Republicans take him as their
candidate, and the voters as their President, they will be.
taking a man who knows where he wants to find himself
but whose present ideas of where it will be are going to
sound quaint, if nostalgically charming, to our sophisti-
cated moderns. Perhaps a touch of quaintness is what a
lot of Americans really want after Roosevelt's sophisti-
cation and Truman’s mixture of good decision in big
things and Pendergastian cynicism in small things.
543
Se pee eset ee
Se eepin—enigemstegeaien
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ade SB
France's Fal Tidecn
Paris
HILE at Bonn the Foreign Ministers were sign-
Vf ing the Contractual Agreements with Germany
and the European Army treaty, the French political par-
ties were in a state that is hard to describe. The domi-
nant feeling was one of anxiety; but it wasn't the kind
of anxiety that produces energetic action. It was mixed
up with almost everything under the sun: a spot of black
fatalism; a pinch of sheepish optimism; a few idiotic
illusions about the “land of Schiller and Goethe” and,
at the same time, a distrust of Germany; an even greater
distrust of Russia (or vice versa, according to the
speaker), and a dread of American “irresponsibility.”
In the end everybody subscribed to some vague half-
measures, half-warnings, and half-promises which meant
little or nothing.
The general indecision in France can, in the end, only
encourage those people in the United States who are
‘pushing hardest for the rearmament of Germany, and
those in Germany who are playing an equally dangerous
game. Of course, on paper, Germany will not be able to
go ahead with its rearmament; of cowrse, in theory, the
road is still open for agreement with Russia, which is ex-
pected to look upon the signing of the Bonn agreements
only as a salutary warning to come to its senses, But that
isn’t how things are likely to work out; for the indeci-
sion shown by France, and especially by the French So-
cialists (or, at any rate, by most of them) is not going
to create an international detente—far from it.
That was the feeling of the Socialist minority, which
for two days had struggled gallantly at the party con-
gress at Montrouge to postpone any decision on Ger-
any. That is, to postpone it in actuality, and not merely
on paper; for they knew that the kind of resolutions
passed at French political congresses, though calculated
to make evetybody pat himself—and everyone else—on
the back, are not the sort of thing that scare the State
Department, the Pentagon, or Dr. Adenauer.
Thete was one curious thing about the congress. Tom
Driberg, on behalf of the British Labor Party, read out
to the delegates the famous resolution of April 30 of the
National Executive on German rearmament. He was
loudly cheered and later treated to drinks; but there the
matter ended. For the question of the Labor Party’s Ger-
man policy had already been thrashed out on the two
previous days. Marceau Pivert, of the left wing of the
Socialists, had spoken at length, saying that here was at
ALEXANDER WERTH is the Nation’s Paris correspondent.
544
er ‘3 or be oo n *
’ Bon ie : -
so ue - ; nm ep p ¢ i. hPa « .
\ rt ae 7 ree B
fon ASS
BY ALEXANDER WERTH =
least a serious attempt to call a halt—at least temporary
hait—to this deadly course down the slippery slope.
Depreux also had spoken about it; he had said that he
“preferred talks with Russia about a world armistice,
talks which might be difficult but would be better than a - a
third world war, even if they lasted a year, two yeats,
three years. . .
light. And he added that he was not prepared to rearm
Germany just in order
to get Taft defeated.
But no, Felix Gouin
wouldn't have it. What
was the good, he asked,
of taking any notice of
the British? They had
let France down in
1940. Britain, he sug-
gested, didn’t really
come into it at all. To
him Russia was enemy
No. 1, and the integra-
tion of Germany in the
West was the only hope
of saving Germany—
and France—from being swallowed up by Uncle Joe.
Gouin’s speech was the most extreme thing heard at
the Congress. But the much more moderate speech by
André Philip, wrapped up in a mystical cdloud of Stras-
bourg Europeanism, was not really very different in sub-
stance. And, in the scales of French socialism, all the
speeches in favor of German integration as a “lesser
evil” finally outweighed the impassioned speeches of the
other school, including that of Naegelon, who said that
not a single one of the five conditions laid down by the
National Assembly before Schuman went to Lisben had
been fulfilled—no genuine British support, no gradual
incorporation of the French army into the European De-
fense Community, no exclusion of Germany from the
Atlantic Pact, no guaranty that the German forces would
never grow gteater than the French, no guaranty of the
size of the German units; and those of Daniel Mayer,
Grumback, Pivert; or Jules Moch.
Moch’s political line over the last few years has zig-
(Dolbin)
Robert S Re
zagged fantastically; yet one must take his speech at the a
Socialist Congress with the utmost seriousness, For Moch —
had come to Montrouge from the United Nations where :
he had represented France on the Disarmament Commis- |
sion. He at least had a real understanding: of the inter-
national atmosphere—and of the prevailing atmos- ? ’
The ay ss
” The British Labor Party had seen the ~
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q
.
<a
2
Since returning to France a few days ago, he said,
many Socialist comrades had laughed at him, saying he
had been “wasting his time in New York.”
ie
Yet I maintain, [he continued] that we have no right
to ignore the Disarmament Commission—even though
it has not produced any tangible results yet. . . . Things
have gone more smoothly than at the Palais Rose, and,
without revealing any secrets, I maintain that the French
delegation has good hope of bringing the Russian and
American standpoints more closely together. All prob-
lems in the world are linked. What is German rearma-
ment but the terrifying antithesis of general disarma-
ment? If German rearmament is to be agreed on, all
hope of disarmament will have to be abandoned. The
Socialist Congress must either take the plunge, or else
postpone any decision. . . . As I see it the European
Army, as at present envisaged, contains none of the
guaranties we demanded before Lisbon, and the present
plan is an act of sabotage by the experts against the
original Pleven Plan.
The impression he gave was that, on disarmament, the
Russians were Jess difficult than the U. S. A. And after
OPEN HOUSE AT BONN ie, ccronsonont ik Bally Hera
June 7, 1952
saying that Adenauer, with American encouragement,
was becoming more and mote insolent; that the present
EDC plan would place France in a position of hopeless
inferiority vis-a-vis Germany; that the German army
would have all the dangerous features which the Pleven
Plan had tried to exclude, Moch went on:
The greatest danger to Europe is the revival of the
Wehrmacht. For what if the Russians, who are already
on the road of big concessions to Germany, were to
offer her territorial revision in the East? The German
army would pass, lock, stock, and barrel, to the other
side... 5.4
And then came his most important conclusion:
All problems today are linked. . . . If the Bonn treaty
is ratified, it will be a fait accompli which once and
for all will ruin every chance of a general settlement.
The important thing is to wait—to wait at least for the
election of a representative German parliament and for
the American Presidential election. Both of them can
change everything.
Moch remarked that there was an idea widely current
in the United States—the policy of Ultimatums. “This
Coil
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slamming, the
door on you”
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Is a policy that we as Socialists and Frenchmen caneink. a W
accept. We rearm, but not for that. We rearm in order
to negotiate; and we are already strong enough for that.
Let us pursue our efforts for a general peace settlement.”
And, alluding to President Auriol’s speech at the open-
ing session of the last U. N. Assembly, he concluded:
“Let there be a statesman who will call a conference of
the Big Four. This cannot be done now. But it must be
done after the United States election. And meantime, let
there be no German rearmament, which can only ruin
the last chances of world peace.” On the same day,
eighty-year-old Edouard Herriot was saying at the Radi-
cal Party congress: “Americans, I must appeal to you.
Do not repeat the mistakes you made between the two
Germany, Germany!
ee
icans and Nekabcrie ae as human beings, you | hay ve no >
right to expose our country to this mortal danger.” a a
Yet the man representing France at Bonn is not Her.
riot, with his old-fashioned common-sense and histone
understanding, or hard, “mathematical” Jules Moch, but —
flabby, uninspiring Robert Schuman, with his idée fixe —
of “Europe,” a non-existent Europe, yet one in whose — i
existence well-meaning provincial Socialists still like to
believe in their sloppy way. And hence all the woolly _
compromises and resolutions, which can only confirm
Adenauer in his view that France doesn’t know its own ~
mind. ,. . Oh Land of Descartes! |
OR five years I have been repeating that peace or
war would be decided on the issue of Germany.
When momentous events like Korea.diverted attention
toward Asia, I urged a return to the main point on which
East and West could either agree or finally break. The
events of the past week have unfortunately justified this
preoccupation. Secretary Acheson was right in describing
the signing of the contractual agreements in Bonn and of
the European Army Pact in Paris as a “big event.’’ It
was also a personal victory for him if one takes into con-
sideration the fact that these documents were signed in
face of the bitter hostility of a large part of European
public opinion, with the French government, in particu-
Jar, fully aware that their acceptance, marking a sharp
defeat for France, had been accomplished only-under the
heaviest pressure of American diplomacy. The threat that
if the French refused to sign American military aid
would be cut, this time proved totally effective so far as
the French people were concerned.
But as in the case of every victory, especially one fol-
lowed by a period between signature and ratification
when the entire controversy will be re-fought, an objec-
tive analysis of its consequences is due. I am not think-
_ ing so much of the problem of Berlin. Measures already
taken and others that may be adopted in the course of
a retaliatory campaign against West Germany and the
- "Three Western Powers will certainly capture the head-
lines, but these will not be the most serious develop-
ments, The parallel with the 1948-49 blockade of Berlin
is inaccurate. For now that the Potsdam agreement has
been tossed out of the window by the ceremony at Bonn,
the Russians consider themselves as having regained full
jurisdiction over the city. It is not likely that they will
546
BY J. ALVAREZ DEL VAYO
ask the Western powers to quit Berlin, but without 3
doubt they believe themselves fully entitled to do so.
East German measures adopted immediately after the
signing at Bonn—including the partial blocking of tele-
phone communications as well as transport between the
Soviet and Western areas—were designed, at least in
part, as a demonstration of strength. ,
No, the most serious consequence of last week's acts 4
is that the natural area of eventual agreement between —
East and West has been blown to pieces. Once de- —
termined upon, the policy of making Germany the “hard |
core” of the European military alliance against Russia —
will impose more and more concessions, greater and
greater aid, increasing dependence upon West German —
armed might. The fact that only twenty-four hours after
the signatures were blotted, it was announced that the
Bonn Republic would be allowed to fabricate tanks and —
artillery of all sizes, indicates all too clearly what is —
going to happen. It might even come about in the end ©
that the overwhelming opposition of the Western Euro-
pean peoples to war would leave only two real instru- —
ments of anti-Russian strength available for a shooting —
war: the West German army and the industrial, financial, |
and atomic power that the United States is in a position |
to master. a"
_ In any case the developments at Bonn and Paris have”
made a return to diplomacy more difficult than ever.
The moment of his triumph may also have marked Sec-
retary Acheson’s swan song as a negotiator for peace :
The way is now open for the generals and the mar-
shals—including the many hungry, out-of-work Na a
officers for whom this represents the long-awaited day of
resurrection. 7
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Rome (by cable)
FTER nearly three months of furious campaigning
the second round of Italian local administrative
elections is over and clerical democracy has won a pre-
carious victory. The elections, which affected some 2400
municipalities mainly in southern Italy, were considered
important primarily as an indication of which way the
political wind is blowing; Italy’s first nationwide general
election since 1948 is scheduled to be held next year.
_If the indications are to be relied upon, 1953 will be the
year of crisis for Italian democracy. These relatively un-
important elections of a purely local nature have em-
phasized one major trend: an upsurge of the neo-fascist
Italian Social Movement. Everyone expected the Com-
munists and their Socialist allies to gain in strength as
they have in every previous election since the war’s end,
but no one was prepared to see entire city administrations
pass into.the hands of the fascists and their monarchist
allies. The Demo-Christians and their allies kept control
over’ ten provincial capitals including Rome but the
fascists have taken over political control of at least six
key southern cities: Naples, Foggia, Bari, Benevento,
Salerno, and Avellino. The extreme Left, although piling
up the largest single vote, has managed to win only five
of the provincial capitals and none as important as either
Bari or Naples where the Right is in full and arrogant
control. In Rome itself the Socialist-Communist coali-
tion outvoted the Demo-Christians by over twenty
thousand Votes but the neo-fascist block was appealing
enough to gain the vote of one out of every four Romans.
In Naples the Right picked up over 208,000 votes, some
fifty thousand more than the Demo-Christians and about
~ seventy-five thousand more than the Left.
: The question then arises who are the voters who are
getting behind the ‘‘Missini’’? Actually one. can break
down the party into three component parts. First there
is the hard core of nostalgic and belligerent ex-Fascists.
In the old days under Mussolini they were mainly
lesser functionaries and obscure party members holding
some minor local post. With them are the ex-soldiers,
* the fanatics who still claim that Italy could have won the
war if she had not been betrayed by her own country-
men. Secondly there are the students and the young men
and women who have been trying unsuccessfully to find
employment. Many of them are in*their middle twenties
and are still unemployed. They are the ones that have
WILLIAM MURRAY has been a correspondent in Italy for
several important American periodicals,
June 7, 1952
Ca nere
ae st “a eee r
BY WILLIAM MURRAY
suffered most from the scarcity of work in large urban
areas. Their memories of fascism are vague but pleasant.
Most of them did not fight in the last war, but they can
remember that until the early nineteen-forties life in
Italy was kinder at least to college graduates. Thirdly
there is that‘large mass of underpaid white-collar work-
ers, state employees, and all those people who are having
a hard time making ends meet, but who can find no com-
fort in the Communist appeal to the proletariat. To-
gether the “Missini’’ dream of a return to the “good old
days” when Italy was a world power and the laboring
classes knew their place and had better manners.
Strong as they are the neo-fascists have two serious
weaknesses: they have no political program and they have
no popular a no man on horseback to lead them
into power. The high party func-
tionaries are either ammestied
criminals like Valerio Borghese or
® unsuccessful traveling salesmen like .
= Giorgio Almirante. The only man
with the stature to lead the party is
Rodolfo Graziani the discredited old
marshal who has already served six years in jail.
But he is too old to provide the kind of virile lead-
ership that could fill the Piazza Venezia with scream-
ing fanatics. Even more serious is the absence of any
program but nostalgia. In the gallery of the Piazza
Colonna in Rome where political agitators have been
haranguing crowds of passersby as well as each other,
the fascists were always stopped by the question “What
is your progam?” If the fascists fail to come up with
either a man on horseback or a program, there is no ques-
tion that eventually they will collapse of their own in-
adequacy just as the once powerful “Uomo Qualunque’”’.
(Everyman’s Party) collapsed five years ago. One can”
already detect signs that this decay is taking place: there
are several diverging currents of thought within the party
and two splinter groups have already broken away to
form their own parties, although they have remained
allied to the ‘‘Missini.”
The political campaign itself here was long and bitter.
It began several months before the ‘election amd each
of Rome’s sixteen political parties held at least one rally
in every section of the city. The Communists campaigned
behind another one of their political fronts; this one call-
ing itself the ‘‘citizens list.’’ As the figurehead of their
campaign they chose eighty-four-year-old Francesco Sa-
verio Nitti, until yesterday an opponent of communism
and now the butt of many an Italian political quip. The
547
a / hay” <4
selection of Nitti to head the Caer list was a real.
surprise. Nitti’s one claim to fame is that he was head of
a short-lived democratic government immediately after
World War I. Since then his time has been spent in a
futile attempt to get back into power apparently on any
ticket which could promise him victory. The enlarged
photograph of him which the Communists plastered all
over the walls of Rome bears an unfortunate resemblance
to all those well known Communist cartoons of pig-
faced capitalists wallowing in barrels of dollar bills and
hundred-thousand-lire bank notes. The Communist-
sponsored political rallies were also strangely apathetic
and badly attended. Nevertheless their new political issue
—the corruption of the Demo-Christian government—
was sufficient to gain them an increase of nearly one
hundred thousand votes in Rome alone.
The Demo-Christians lavished fantastic sums on an
American-style campaign with parades, loudspeaker
trucks, and marching bands. The police cooperated ably
in keeping order while the Demo-Christians held their
rallies and staged their parades. No other political parties
were allowed the luxury of a parade. The smaller demo-
cratic parties allied to the government were unable to
Jim Cron, M.D.
- +
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; ES ar ae as ae oS
Ww kind o effective a
= fo oS ; Sere \ 2 “
ceats are suffering from th ses: lac
money and internal dissension. The Republicans £2
to come up with a program. The Liberals at least “ide is
money to spend on their campaign, but on the issue o fo
freedom for business interests they had a platform with 4
no voter appeal at all. Both Communists and fascists
were able to wage a most effective campaign against the i
Christian Democrats mainly on the issue of corruption —
and its dependent evils: lack of housing; the exorbitant —
rates charged by public services; the unfair taxation; the
administration of necessities such as gas and electric *
current by companies charging outrageous rates, and so
on, Unless the Demo-Christians clean house before next —
year the 1953 elections can only worsen the already
serious plight of Italian democracy. The tone of the
campaign can best be grasped through the following
story: All over Rome the Demo-Christians erected huge
campaign posters. In one poor section the Commu-
nists erected much smaller posters in the shape of a
hand pointing at the mammoth Demo-Christian posters.
On each hand was written “It cost the Demo-Christians
thirty thousand lire to erect this poster. Who paid?”
BY ROBERT M. CUNNINGHAM, JR.
Chicago
T IS easy to demonstrate that there is discrimination
against racial minorities in medical education, medi-
" cal practice, and medical institutions in the United States,
but it is not always easy to find and understand the
causes. To some extent, certainly, discrimination in medi-
cine is a result of discrimination in society generally. It
is important to remember that the doctor and hospital
engaging in discriminatory selection are often victims as
well as culprits.
It is by no means true, however, that the medical
profession is helpless to do anything toward eliminating
discrimination, Indeed there is heartening and increasing
evidence to the contrary. Before considering this evi-
dence, however, we should make some attempt to meas-
ure the problem.
The basic facts of medical discrimination against
Negroes ate apparent in a few simple statistics: With
10 per cent of the nation’s population, Negroes have
only a little more than 2 per cent of the nation’s
physicians and occupy only 2¥, per cent of the nation’s
ROBERT M. CUNNINGHAM, JR,
Modern Hospital magazine.
548
ts the editor of
hospital beds. The physician-population ratio for the
whole population is 1 to 750; for the Negro population
the ratio is 1 to 3500, substantially below the 1 to 1560
ratio commonly accepted in our country as the minimum
necessary for adequate medical service. Of 26,000 stu-
dents enrolled in medical schools, 660—less than 3 per
cent—are Negroes; of these, three-fourths are enrolled
in the two all-Negro institutions, Meharry Medical Col-
lege in Nashville and Howard University in Washing-
ton, D. C. Negro graduates are eligible for appointment
to fewer than 200 internships of which more thaf half
are in segregated Negro hospitals. (There are about ~
10,000 internships available altogether.) Of some —
12,000 residency appointments on hospital staffs, a Lit-
tle more than 100 are available to Negro physicians and
three-fourths of these are in segregated hoSpitals.
‘It is neither necessary nor desirable that the Negro ~
population should look oniy to Negro physicians for ia
needed medical care, or that Negro physicians should —
limit their practices to members of their own race, yetthe
exi8tence of racial barriers in hospital staff appointments _
makes it difficult to break this pattern of segregated medi- —
cal care in most communities. A current report of the a
Provident Medical Associates of Chicago states:
The Nat
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take their patients to Negro hospitals or turn them over
to the care of white physicians in the hospitals to which
they themselves do not have access. In all the United
States opportunities for internships and residences are
limited, and hospital and clinical facilities are segregated
or denied. And in most of the South, membership in
county medical and other professional and scientific
societies is refused. To a greater degree than in the case
of his white confreres, the average Negro physician be-
comes a general practitioner, isolated professionally and
serving a low-income group.
Many of the difficulties faced by the Negro physician
are interrelated. The bylaws of most hospitals provide
that staff appointments shall be made only from among
members in good standing of the local county medical
society; with society membership denied him, the Negro
physician is thus effectively barred from hospital prac-
tice. In fairness, it must be emphasized that the American
Medical Association, often a target for abuse by liberal
groups, is not responsible for such exclusions. The
A. M. A. is made up of constituent local and county med-
ical societies which lay down their own qualifications for
membership. Where Negro doctors are denied admission,
it is the local society and not the A. M. A. that is at
fault. Many societies, of course, do have Negro mem-
bers who are also members of the A. M. A., and a num-
ber of county societies have opened membership to
Negro physicians in recent months, Several of these are
in the South.
Inevitably, discrimination in the admission of hospital
patients emerges from these discriminatory aspects of
medical education and practice. Ordinarily it is doctors,
and not their patients, who initiate the demand for
hospital service and make the request for admission.
Where segregation exists in education and housing and
employment it exists inevitably also in the private prac-
, tice of medicine. Where segregation exists in the private
practice of medicine and the Negro physician has no hos-
pital staff appointment, there aren’t many Negro hospital
3 patients.
Unfortunately, hospitals are businesses as well as
“medical institutions; voluntary hospitals must earn most
or all of their operating expenses. The accident victim
whose condition is perilous is commonly cared for with-
out question about payment, but it is necessary and, in a
business sense, prudent, for the hospital to raise the
question of payment in the case of a patient who could
be removed to a public institution without danger. This is
done right along in some emergency cases. When the
patient is a Negro it is often concluded that rejection
has been for racial rather than economic reasons. Fre-
quently this is an injustice to the hospital. On the other
hand, in some cases the economic circumstance is a screen
June 7, 1952
be
_
behind ‘which discriminatory practices a are hidden, The
same act is involved in either case; it is the motive which
is in doubt.
In Illinois and elsewhere, hospitals have opposed
licensure laws with provisions which would jeopardize
the license of any hospital turning a patient away be-
cause of race, creed, or color. Such opposition does not
mean, as some observers have concluded, that hospitals
generally favor racial discrimination. It means simply
that they are fearful that failure to admit any patient for
any reason—including the professional and economic
reasons that have been described’
here—could be interpreted as dis«
criminatory, Until the law can be
written in such a way that dis-
criminatory practices can be elimi-
nated without forcing the hospital
to relinquish control of its own
medical and financial policies, hospitals will probably
continue to oppose it.
Two other aspects of discrimination in medical insti-
tutions should be mentioned here. One is the placement
in the hospital of Negro patients who do gain admis-
sion, and the other is in the employment of Negro
nurses, technicians, and other personnel. Common hos-
pital practice leaves a great deal to be desired in both
areas today. Many hospitals, in the Chicago area and
elsewhere, admit some Negro patients but insist on plac-
ing them in single rooms, or in semi-private or ward ac-
commodations occupied by other Negro patients. Only in
the large wards of public hospitals and a few of the
medical teaching centers is it common to see Negro and
white patients occupying adjacent beds. When chal-
lenged about this practice, most hospital people reply that
it is done, not because the hospital or the doctors wish it
so, but because white patients object when they have
to share hospital accommodations with Negro patients.
Time after time, it has been demonstrated that such
excuses are fictitious.
It has also been demonstrated beyond any doubt that
nothing happens when white and Negro nurses work
together on hospital floors, or when Negro nurses care
for white patients and white nurses care for Negro
patients—another of the situations that many hospital,
nursing, and medical people fear. As a matter of fact,
discrimination against Negro nurses and other hospital
personnel is breaking down rapidly today. This is a
case of arriving at the right answer for the wrong rea-
son: the shortage of nurses and other personnel has be-
come so severe that many hospitals which formerly barred
Negroes from all except menial positions have been
forced to accept them.
These few facts and relationships may suggest the
extent to which discrimination exists in medicine. The
causes of discrimination reach back into the segregated
549
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pattern of our whole social structure, While some dis-
crimination is certainly chargeable to the management
of hospitals, it seems plain that a much larger share
emerges from the failure of hospital governing boards to
appoint Negro physicians to attending staff positions.
In any given situation, of course, this may be because the
‘board frankly discriminates against the Negro physician,
or because the staff itself discriminates by failing to
recommend its Negro colleagues for such appointments.
UT it may also be due to other causes, In a particu-
Jar hospital or community it may be because there
are no Negro physicians who can qualify for such an
_ appointment. Many hospital staffs, for example, limit
attending appointments to qualified specialists. As we
have seen, the opportunities for residency training for
Negro physicians are so limited that comparatively few
can qualify themselves as specialists. Of 29,000 certi-
fied medical specialists listed two years ago by the
National Advisory Board for Medical Specialties, 101
were Negroes, The Provident Medical Associates of
Chicago has been devoting its resources for several years
to financing graduate medical education for qualified
Negto physicians in an effort to improve this situation.
This group has also been providing scholarship aid for
undergraduate medical education for qualified students,
and plans to increase this phase of its activities during the
coming years. The problem is a perplexing one, how-
ever, not only because of the limited number of Negro
students who are financially able to meet the heavy costs
of professional education, but because of the limited
number of Negro students who are educationally quali-
fied. The roots of medical discrimination are buried
deep in our segregated educational system.
If inequalities resulting from segregation in medical
and hospital care are not always their fault, doctors
and hospital people can often eliminate the inequalities
when they have the will to do so. As part of a com-
munity-wide program in betterment of race relations,
the medical staff of one of the hospitals in Gary, In-
diana, four years ago invited applications for ap-
pointment from qualified Negro physicians in the com-
munity. Up to that time, the practice of Negro physicians
had been limited to a totally inadequate hospital located
in the segregated district. Two Negro physicians quali-
fied at once, and five more have accepted appointments
since then, with the result that more than 20 per cent
of the patients in the hospital today are Negroes. This
has been accomplished without any unpleasant incidents.
In the Phoenix, Arizona, Memorial Hospital, Negro and
white patients, doctors, nurses, and other hospital work-
ets are treated as complete equals. This is also the
case at New York City’s Sydenham Hospital, one of the
first truly interracial institutions to be established in this ©
country.
550
ON At, ie ees
ra’ ts Sra
how the economic problems that result from disc stash |
tion in housing and employment are reflected in medical
care. Established as a voluntary hospital in the Negro —
section of New York City several years ago, Sydenham
went broke in three years and had to be taken over by the _
city department of hospitals. Other cities have had the —
same experience: The Provident Hospital in Chicago
engages in heroic fund-raising efforts, year after year,
to meet mounting deficits. With 20 per cent of its a
patients Negroes, the Methodist Hospital at Gary reports
that 50 per cent of its unpaid bills are in the Negro
group. The University of Chicago Clinics has had a —
comparable experience in the last two years.
Nevertheless, the number of hospitals around the
country accepting Negro physicians as interns, residents’
and attending staff members is steadily growing: In
Chicago, Negro doctors are on the staff at Cook County,
Children’s Memorial, and Michael Reese hospitals.
Elsewhere, Negro physicians have been appointed at
such representative institutions as Philadelphia General,
Newark City in Newark, N. J., Queens General in New
York, Allegheny General in Pittsburgh, and Los Angeles
County. Especially noteworthy are developments in the
South: the Emory University medical school at Atlanta,
Georgia, has established a post-graduate clinic for Negro
physicians; the Johns Hopkins school of medicine at
Baltimore has admitted Negro physicians for post-
graduate education; community hospitals in Virginia and
Arkansas have admitted Negro physicians. (
ESS important but surely significant of changing at-
Manin in the profession are several recent events:
The American Medical Association switched its forth-
coming December meeting from Houston to Los Angeles
when it became known that the headquarters hotel in
Houston would not accept Negro delegates as guests.
At the American Hospital Association convention in St.
Louis last month the association found, to its embarrass-
ment, that Negro members were not accepted at down-
town hotels. It was too late to act this year, but the as-
sociation immediately made a public announcement to
the effect that its meeting would not return to St. Louis
until all members could expect equal treatment in living
and eating accommodations. When several Southern J i
nurses walked out of a Catholic hospital in West Vir- -— ‘
ginia a few months ago because the Sister Superior re- k
fused to discharge three Negro nurses who had been 4
added to the staff, the hospital stood its ground and b
received full support from the community, the news- —
papers, the Mother Superior of the Order running the — :
hospital, and the Bishop of the Diocese. When the ~
professional magazine with which I am associated pub- |]
lished a portfolio of articles a few months ago urgingan =}
end to discrimination in hospitals and medicine, we re-
e spibiedasiy Gitte
Of course, there are less encouraging indications, too.
Negro hospitals are still being built throughout the
_ South, and federal funds are being used to build hos-
pitals which evade the anti-discrimination clause in the
federal law by using the false doctrine of “separate but
. q equa!” facilities. A huge, all-Negro hospital is being
i built in Philadelphia; another is projected for Washing-
| ton, D. C. A hospital is being built in the Negro sec-
| tion of Evanston, Illinois. Sponsors of the project claim
it will be “interracial” in character, but many observers
think it will be segregated, in fact if not in name.
____ Except where positive action is taken by physicians, as
in Gary, Indiana, and in the case of Provident Medi-
cal Associates in Chicago, elimination of discrimination
in medicine generally is likely to come about only as
discrimination comes to be abolished in other phases of
life. The physician does not practice in a vacuum. More
than he as ever had to do in the past, the physician today
must integrate his activities with those of other groups in
society in order to be effective. The organization of the
_ modern hospital is morte than anything else an out-
f growth of the practicing physician’s ever-increasing
o - dependence on the judgments and skills of his ptofes-
sional associates.
As his scientific problems have grown constantly more
complex, the physician has also had to lean increasingly
on the staff of technically trained assistants that is or-
ganized for him at the hospital or clinic, and on the
elaborate plant and equipment facilities that only the
hospital or clinic organizations can purchase and main-
tain for him. Finally, as medical science in recent years —
has revealed the relationship of illness and health to the
individual’s entire life circumstance, as opposed to spe-
cific disease processes only, the physician finds himself in
closer and closer contact with groups entirely outside the
medical profession—with public and private welfare
agencies and their staffs of administrators, social workers
and psychologists; with schools, churches and others con-
cerned with various aspects of the human being and his
environment. The lone doctor and his little black bag
are a fond memory, perhaps, but they are only a memory
today. Laissez faire medicine, like laissez faire govern-
ment and laissez faire capitalism, is gone for good.
When society eliminates racial and religious discrimina-
tion, medicine will eliminate it, To expect otherwise is
to expect the impossible
| Battling the Private Power Lobby
Washington, D.C.
HE propaganda machine which private power utili-
ties have built in the last several years at a cost of
millions of dollars has begun to backfire. Last week
some 500 representatives of farm, labor, and consumer
organizations met in Washington, D. C., in a fighting
.mood. The mood was sharpened by some of the most
‘skilful oratory heard for sometime—even in Washing-
| ton—and the delegates went to work at once on their
‘representatives in Congress.
_ The objective of the delegates was not merely to de-
feat the assault which utility companies are making with
telling effect upon all forms of publicly-generated, trans-
_. mitted and distributed electrical energy; they used the
conference as a counter-attack to extend the benefits of
ee
public power systems.
Labor leaders saw in the conference an opportunity to
build a sounder alliance with farm leaders, particularly
eee
BARROW LYONS, a former New York financial writer,
_ went to Washington fourteen years ago as financial econo-
| ~=mist for the Securities and Exchange Commission. He was
| for several years Chief Information Officer of the Bureau of
3 Reclamation, and is now a free-lance writer.
Jane 7, 1952
: ama ys: 5
BY BARROW LYONS
in view of the coming political campaign, and sent some
of their most persuasive speakers. At the banquet session
Walter Reuther, president of the United Automobile
Workers (C. I. O.) spoke on one of his favorite themes,
The Road to Abundance, and Paul L. Phillips, president
of the International Brotherhood of Paper Makers,
(A. F. of L.) enlarged upon The Wage-Earners’ Stake
in Public Power. Non-labor speakers included Senator
Wayne Morse, who emphasized the interest of all
gtoups in the problem of preserving and enlarging our
public power plant; Senator Lister Hill, who directly
attacked the power lobby of 1952, and Secretary of the
Interior Oscar L. Chapman, who pledged support of the
conference objectives.
The initiative in calling the conference came from
leaders of public-power groups in the Northwest, where
they are attempting to develop a public-power grid that
will more adequately serve the region. In this area there
is as much underdeveloped hydro-power as in all of the
presently-developed power in the nation. Leaders of the
public utility districts, R. E. A. cooperatives, and munici-
palities want to tap more of it. Private companies have
Operating costs, which the ultimate consumer must pay
in his monthly billing.
S51
"The public-power agencies of the region have been
blocked in Washington, D. C., and in Washington state.
They have been told that they could not build new
lines because of the scarcity of materials required for the
defense effort. They have been told that to construct
their own projects through borrowing would be infla-
tionary. But they have seen the private utilities, un-
checked by such restrictions, build plants requiring at
Jeast as much material and which will produce consider-
ably more costly energy. They became angry; and when
their desire to call a national conference in Washington
was communicated to public agencies and cooperatives
elsewhere, they found other people were angry for simi-
lar reasons. In comparing grievances and talking over
the best way to carry the war to the enemy, wise counsel
suggested that the effort be made to bring in representa-
tives of the consumer. And thus labor groups joined the
effort.
COMMITTEE of sponsors was formed in which
the following groups were represented: American
Public Power Association, Brotherhood of Railway
Trainmen, Communications Workers of America, Con-
gress of Industrial Organizations, Cooperative League of
the United States of America, National Farmers Union,
Northwest Public Power Association, International As-
sociation of Machinists (A. F. of L.), International
Union of Electrical, Radio, and Machine Workers
(C. I. O.), Judson King Foundation, Inc., National
Rural Electric Cooperatives, Public Affairs Institute,
Tennessee Valley Public Power Association, Textile
Workers Union of America (C. I. O.), United Auto
Workers (C. I. O.), United Steel Workers of America
nel, O.).
It was calculated that the distributing agencies among
the sponsors served about 6,000,000 electric meters in
every state, and, represented possibly three times that
many persons.
President Truman addressed the opening session
and made it obvious that he recognized the political
importance of this gathering of grass-roots consumer
and cooperative groups. He charmed with a speech that
was partly read, partly extemporaneous. He promised
cooperation. He said he was thinking of asking his new
Attorney General, James P. McGranery, to investigate
whether power companies are violating the Corrupt
Practices Act in charging their propaganda expenses to
power consumers and at the same time using them to re-
duce their taxes by accounting for them as necessary
costs of operation.
The President alluded to the “millions and millions”
_ of dollars that the utility lobby and individual companies
throughout the country are spending to bend the public-
power program to their own purposes and check the.
growth of municipal and cooperative enterprises. He
552
nated development of river basins. Its preamble asserted:
a we
J eo ;
ties in “Mr. Claire Boothe Lats s nia ee y
$17,000 each, and one in “the big aoc peiieale CO = 2
trolled Saturday Evening Post” costing $12,000.
But what seemed to irritate him most was the strategy
advised by the utility-advertising agencies. He had been —
studying their “literature” and its effects. One agency —
boasted, he said, that its technique was so successful that —
ministers included its propaganda in their church notices x
and obtained its posting on bulletin boards of the Boy |
Scouts. The President declared:
Their own manuals say their purpose is to influence
the mass mind in this country by playing on people's
emotions. The mass mind—what a horrible phrase. I
think it is one of the most horrible phrases in the lan-
guage. They think of the individual human being in
this country as part of a mass mind. They set out to play
upon the emotions of churchgoers, boy scouts, and
school children. They try to control people’s thoughts
by using slogans and scare words, taking a leaf out of
the books of Karl Marx and Adolph Hitler. They are
following the Soviet and fascist line.
Mr. Truman’s audience appeared to feel as he did. Re-
peatedly the desire was expressed by scheduled speakers
and from the floor that the Federal Power Commission
enforce the law which prohibits propaganda and money
used to influence legislatures from being charged to
operating costs, which the ultimate consumer must pay.
Murray D. Lincoln, President of the Cooperative
League, CARE and Farm Bureau Insurance Companies,
under whose name the call for the conference went out, —
urged the delegates to make certain that the message
developed by this conference reaches the people.
A committee chaired by Dr. Dewey Anderson, Execu-
tive Director of the Public Affairs Institute, drafted a
statement of policy and plan of action, which was
adopted at the end. It placed emphasis upon preservation
of the preference clause in power contracts which gives —
cooperatives and public bodies first call upon power
generated at federally-owned plants; it defended govern-
ment-built transmission lines, and advocated the coordi-
“The American people’s heritage of power resources is
threatened today by unreformed private power monopo-
lists, defending their high-cost, scarcity-supply policies
by the immoral use of rate-payers’ funds to corrupt |“
sources of information, educational institutions and dem-
ocratic processes themselves.”
To implement the program the sponsors of the con-
ference were named to a continuing committee author-
ized to visit the President and to maintain contact with
Congress. The committce is headed by Clyde Ellis, ex- _
ecutive secretary of the National Rural Electric Coopera-—
tives Association, one of the dynamic er at the .
conference.
The NATION -
fies, i a
|
|
|
Se PEN Se
, 4
= a
_ Four hundred delegates coming from forty-four cities
in ten states, among them representatives of thirty-six
national organizations, took part in the all-day conference
of The Nation Associates on Freedom's Stake in North
Africa and the Middle East, held on Sunday, May 25,
at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York. Seven hun-
dred persons attended the closing session that evening,
a dinner-forum on Arab-Israel Peace—Key to Stability
in the Middle East.
A distinguished group of speakers participated in the
conference. They included Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt; Sena-
tor Estes Kekauver;* Ambassador L. N. Palar of Indone-
sia; David Goitein, Minister Plenipotentiary of Israel;
Senator S. R. Shafaq of Iran; Jean Louis Mandereau,
director of the Missions Division of the U. N. Technical
Assistance Administation; Dr. Clarence E, Pickett, hon-
orary secretary of the American Friends Service Commit-
tee; Professor E. A. Speiser, chairman of the Department
of Oriental Studies of the University of Pennsylvania;
Roger Baldwin, chairman of the International League for
the Rights of Man; Kingsley Martin, editor of the New
Statesman and Nation of London; Dr. Dewey Anderson,
executive director of the Public Affairs Institute; and
Freda Kirchwey, editor of The Nation and president of
The Nation Associates. Arthur Garfield Hays presided at
the dosing dinner forum.
From the addresses by the speakers and the discussion
“Senator Kefauver was detained in California and his speech was
_ read by his New York campaign manager, Borig Kostelanetz.
DAY SESSIONS
PS STAKE IN NORTH AFRICA
AND THE MIDDLE EAST
from the floor there emerged as the consensus of the
sessions the following points respecting the policies of
the Western democratic world in the highly strategic
atea under discussion:
1. That there is need for a revision of those policies
in terms of an understanding that security cannot be
achieved through military arrangements alone.
2. That security is indivisible: for the Middle East,
and consequently for the world, security lies in winning
the loyalty of the people.
3. That the loyalty of the people cannot be won with-
out a recognition of the profound revolution against
feudalism and colonialism which is taking place in that
area.
4, That the dynamics of democracy should be applied
through an over-all plan of assistance to countries of the
Middle East, based on recognition of the meaning of
that revolution,
5. That the stability of the area, indispensable to
security, cannot be achieved unless there is a settlement
of the Arab-Israel war.
6. That the Western world, while recognizing that
Arab-Israel peace can come about only as the result of
direct negotiations between the interested parties, should
encourage such negotiations by offering assistance in the
development of the area.
In the pages which follow we publish condensations
of the principal addresses,
_ Imperialism, Nationalism, and Feudalism
yer Sy .
‘Friendly Nationalism
By L. N. PALAR
Permanent Representative of Indonesia
in the United Nations
It is my contention that the struggle
of any country whatsoever to free itself
_ from foreign domination—with the par-
amount purpose in mind of giving its
own people every possible opportunity
for political, economic and cultural de-
_ velopment—can certainly not be quali-
fied as being hostile to democracy.
Let us consider the matter of Egyp-
tian nationalism, but let.us first establish
that Egypt is presently being ruled in
‘accordance with current procedures of
_ parliamentary democracy. Concerning
; S Jone 7, 1952
ae at
the question of the Sudan, the Egyptian
nationalists contend that the majority of
the Sudanese wish to belong to the
Egyptian kingdom. If this is so indeed,
and I personally have no reason to
doubt that, then Egyptian nationalism
coincides with Sudanese nationalism and
there is no violation of democracy. If it
should be proven, however, by plebiscite
or by whatsoever other procedure might
be chosen, that the majority of the
Sudanese people do not want to be
included in the Egyptian kingdom, then
it would have to be said that Egyptian
nationalism is an imperialistic current
and would have to be branded as the
foe of democracy.
The Egyptian demand for the evacua-
tion of the strategic Suez Canal Zone is
certainly not anti-democratic. To the
contrary! But this endeavor is directed
against those countries which have
dominating positions in the Middle East,
The tragedy of the whole affair lies in
the fact that these countries form the
nucleus of West European democracy.
This struggle, necessary to the proper
development of democracy in the Mid-
die East, is undoubtedly weakening the
position of the Western democracies in
the present raging cold war. However,
the situation need not be perpetuated,
If the democracies are prepared to
abandon their politically obsolete, domi-
nating positions in the Middle East—if
they are prepared to abandon their
5953
Imperialistic, nationalistic policy, an
anti-democratic element in these great
democracies—they can rest assured that
they will no longer be troubled by
Middle East nationalism. Rather, they
will find there support and friends in
the defense of democracy.
- Hostility to the West
By ROGER N. BALDWIN
President, International League for the
Rights of Man
If the United States had invested as
much in pro-democracy as in anti-
communism, we would not be con-
fronted as a nation with the unpopularity
of our foreign policy. To Arabs the
struggle between communism and de-
mocracy seems wholly secondary to their
struggle against colonialism. They feel
that if we really mean to stand by de-
mocracy we must stand by national
independence.
Everywhere in the Middle East this
issue of national independence has
gained unprecedented strength. And
everywhere in the Arab states I found
hostility not only to the great colonial
powers but also to the United States as
the backer of French rule in North
Africa and of British intervention in
Egypt. It is a startling fact that while
the Arab states have outlawed the Com-
munist parties and regard communism
as an enemy of the Moslem religion,
they tend to turn toward Russia as their
ultimate hope if the West fails them.
Human rights for the Middle East,
where religious intolerance makes life
dificult for minorities, cannot be
achieved until foreign influences are re-
moved and the road thus cleared for
internal reforms of feudal oligarchies.
Popular forces for those reforms are now
weak. Human rights will be able to de-
velop only under independence and
_ with the aid of the United Nations.
~ Moroccan Bases
By DR. BENJAMIN RIVLIN
Professor of Political Science, -
Brooklyn College
In their feverish haste to establish
American air bases in Morocco, United
States military planners have neglected
to take into account one very important
factor—the loyalty of the native popu-
lation. The United States negotiated the
554
TNS Ree ae a oe
agreement for the
France as if it were Beeson the
establishment of bases in Brittany,
Normandy, or any other part of France.
No recognition was taken of the fact
that Morocco was a Protectorate of
France, possessing a sovereignty entirely
separate and distinct from that of
France.
The United States should have found
it wiser to consult with the Sultan, the
legitimate sovereign of Morocco, so as
to get his accord for this unprecedented
and very special request. Instead the
Sultan heard about the decision to con-
struct United States air bases in his
country through the press. The under-
mining effect that these developments
had on United States prestige among
native populations and their leaders
throughout French North Africa cannot
be overestimated.
The American act has been justified
as a matter of expediency and as part of
a policy of “first things first.” Time
magazine, writing of the American bases
in Morocco, rationalized the situation
with an analogy: “After some mis-
givings, Americans on the scene have
now pretty well convinced themselves
that to be distracted by colonial prob-
lems in the present emergency would
be like a fire engine’s crew on the way
to a fire noticing that the streets are
dirty, and stopping to clean up the lit-
er.” As an American who was on the
scene, I want to register my most em-
phatic disagreement with this conclusion.
Colonialism is not litter on the street—
it is part of the fire.
The only way in which the United
States can win is by identifying itself
with the struggle of colonial peoples all
over the world for a better life, and for
self-government. This is the tradition
of American policy of long standing
which is being disregarded. It is the
distinct impression that was left with
me, and which I daresay is shared by
many others who have been in North
Africa recently, that the Arab national-
ists are taking a cue from the French -
neutralists and are biding their time.
When the chips will be down, they
will hardly rally to the side of the
United States, for nothing has been
done to make them like us. Under
these circumstances, will not the ef-
fectiveness of our bases in Morocco be
undermined?
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Beobteed® To
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By DR. SR at
Member of the Iranian Senate * of
Iran's freedom is at stake primarily ©
because of economic reasons. Due to |
various factors—power politics, impe-
rialism from without and a sort of —
feudalism from within, and two world
wars—tIran is seriously hit by poverty.
need religious insight, faith, and real
appreciation of human values with the
moral support of the free world. But
also we are in urgent need of economic
help.
Once the economic problem of the
country begins to approach solution,
a series of radical reforms is bound to
come. Let us not forget that Iran and
the rest of the Middle East countries
have not had much time for improve-
ment; the movement toward moderniza-
tion and democratization in the Middle
East is hardly half a century old. The
Orient is backward and under-devel-
oped, but it is no longer slumbering.
Among the reforms urgently needed
and bound to come is the land reform.
Distribution of extensive property hold-
ings among small proprietors is one
method. His Majesty, the Shah of Iran,
has personally initiated this idea in Iran
by actually distributing his own royal
lands. But there are enormous. social,
psychological, and economic obstacles in
the way which time alone can solve.
To those of Iran’s friends in great
countries like the United States, who
sometimes ask somewhat petulantly
what else and what more can they do to
help the Middle East get on its feet, I
would answer, “Use perseverance and
patience, help with all means, for there
is no ‘I’ and ‘you’ in the world any
more, but there is only ‘we.’
The Way to Strength
By KINGSLEY MARTIN
Editor, The New Statesman and Nation ©
One great underlying difference be- —
tween America and Western Europe is
that war seems to you a great evil that §
you would survive, while to us it would —
be a final catastrophe. In short, Great —
Britain is a base for United -States —
bombers and, as such, expendable. If Hf «
such considerations apply to Britain, —
The NATION §
The most important fact of our
of history is the revolution in Asia and
_ the revolution that is shaping all over.
Africa and among colored peoples all
over the world. In the Middle Eastern
countries, which I’ve visited recently,
arms-giving does not produce “‘positions
of strength.” I asked one dictator, who
complained that the West did not arm
him more thoroughly, why he wanted
arms; he replied that he needed them
to secure himself against the Jews, and
it took little more inquiry to discover
_that he also needed an army to guard
against possible revolt among his sub-
jects and that the Moslem movement
which is now sweeping over all the ter-
ritory from Morocco to Pakistan, would
ultimately use the arms to turn the
Western powers out of the Middle East.
The idea of using them against Russia
has not remotely occurred to these peo-
ple. Why should it? Russia has not
harmed them and to them our “defense
of the Middle East” means merely dom-
ination and occupation by Western im-
perialists.
The world situation is not simply a
sharp division between two great blocs.
This is illusion. The truth is that a very
large part of the world is only anxious
not to be involved, not to be conquered
by Russia and liberated by America or
conquered by America and liberated by
Russia! They want no part of it. In
some circumstances of course they
would fight; the circumstances are their
own liberty. And here comes a compli-
cation. Liberty to the mass of colored
people of the world means first owning
tthe land they themselves cultivate and,
secondly, not being dominated by a for-
eign power. Our job then is to accept
‘this revolution and see how far we can
cooperate with it and perhaps influence
it into democratic channels.
How do you make “positions of
: strength” ? First, you aid, if you can,
governments which genuinely represent
popular feeling and which have a
chance of creating progressive econo-
mies which will improve the standard
of living of the people and make them
believe in their own future. Then there
is a chance of that internal strength
_ which is the real strength—the differ-
ayes *
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ence between France and Britain in
1940! That means less arms and more
_ June 7, 1952
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h less dictatorial
and more modest effort to understand
and help. It means cooperation with the
popular and sometimes actually revolu-
tionary forces which are nationalist and
Socialist and anti-Communist. There
have been such instances in Asia, and I
should add as the most spectacular ex-
amples of recent policy the two new free
countries which are coming to birth
in West Africa where communism is
nothing because the hope of economic
and social freedom is before the people.
This is the only sound anti-communism
because it offers a better alternative
hope.
Technical Assistance
By JEAN LOUIS MANDEREAU
Director of Missions Division of U. N.
Technical Assistance Administration
It was after World War II that tech-
nical assistance took the shape we know
today—one of the major developments
of the centuries, and I should say a turn-
ing point in the history of relations be-
tween countries. The new approach is
international instead of national or
private. It is a decision of most of the
nations of the world to get together
and to bring into a common pool ex-
pert knowledge, what each of them can
contribute, with the idea that each coun-
try could draw from this pool all the
technical help it needed. It becomes a
world-wide enterprise, a chain of good
will, where each country gives what it
can and expects to receive what it
needs, It is the United Nations Tech-
nical Assistance program.
In this expression the word “united”
takes its real meaning. They are united
not to meet in a General Assembly once
a year, or in Commission or committee,
to quarrel or argue, but they are united
in a common fight against poverty, il-
literacy, disease, to build together a
better world to live in.
The United Nations, at the time they
launched the program, set down a cer-
tain number of guiding principles. I
want to draw your attention to two or
three of them.
Technical assistance shall be rendered
by the participating organizations only
in agreement with the governments con-
cerned and on the basis of requests
received from them. United Nations
does not try to impose some type of help
to governments, and full responsibility
for requesting the help lies with the
government alone.
An important principle of the tech-
nical assistance program is that the
technical assistance furnished shall not
be a means of foreign economic and
political interference in the internal
affairs of the country concerned and
not be accompanied by any considera-
tions of a political nature, I want to
draw your attention especially to that
principle because that makes all the dif-
ference between the United Nations
Technical Assistance program and the
other bilateral programs. Our experts
are sent as technicians only, not as
ambassadors. During their mission they
forget as much as possible their na-
tionality, to be exclusively at the service
of the country which has requested their
help.
Technical assistance cannot solve all
problems confronting underdeveloped
areas, but it is a mecessary element in
the solution.
Healthy Nationalism
By DAVID GOITEIN
Minister Plenipotentiary of Israel
For four centuries all the Middle
East countries were part of the Turkish
Empire, and national movements in the
true sense scarcely existed. Any signs
of nationalism in the twentieth century
were ruthlessly crushed. In the First
World War English romanticism on the
one hand, and the collapse of the Turk-
ish Empire on the other, did much to
make possible the rise of Arab na-
tionalism.
The Sword and Ibn Saud, with the
Koran, made Arabia free, and the dis-
covery of oil in that country and its
exploitation by United States companies
made it rich. But the wealth is very
largely in the hands of a handful. Na-
tionalism today means the throwing off
of foreign interference. It is more con-
cerned with flag-flying than with the
raising of the standard of living. It has
not yet shown that broadness of outlook
which would allow it to recognize the
validity of a national movement other
than its own. This explains the Arab
countries’ failure to recognize Israel. _
Israel has shown that democracy can
flourish in the Middle East. There is
hope from the example of Israel for a
healthy nationalism in the Middle East.
355
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Arab-Israel Peace—Key to Middle East Stability
Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt was given a standing ovation
by the audience which filled the Starlight Roof of the
Waldorf-Astoria Hotel for the closing dinner session
of The Nation Associates conference. Prompted by at-
tacks against The Nation prior to the dinner, Mrs.
Roosevelt prefaced her address with a challenge to
those who are undermining American democratic prac-
tices and with a reaffirmation of her own belief that
American freedoms must be preserved. Her prefatory
remarks follow:
“I thought that 1 could not be with you tonight be-
cause I had so many things that 1 had set out to do
today. But I decided that it would be wise to come
Since I understood that there had been some attacks
made. And I believe that it is a great mistake not to
stand up for people, even when you differ with them,
if you feel that they are trying to do things that will
help in our country. -
"I think we have become a little too much afraid of
what certain groups may say. It is true that sometimes
we may make mistakes; sometimes people nowadays
have to think more carefully than they used to. I can
remember a time when you didn’t really have to worry
very much about the people you happened to meet. ¥ ou
do now, apparently. But I don't like that.
"I think we should try not to make mistakes, Having
tried to avoid mistakes, if we decide to do something
which certain groups may attack us for, the attack
should not be accepted without proof. This is one of the
things that I think we are suffering from in these days
—accusations which do their harm before they can be
disproved.
“One of the things we must be concerned about to-
day is to preserve our own freedom. I think that it is
essential to learn that while we have to fight against
things that we consider wrong, we should not de it
through fear. We should do it through intelligent
education.”
First Need: Resettlement
By MRS. ELEANOR ROOSEVELT
The subject of the evening is one in
which I am very much interested be-
cause I have just been briefly in three
Arab states and in Israel. I could not
possibly know a great deal after the
short time that I was there, but I have
had considerable contact with people
from those eountries in the United
Nations and through that contact I have
learned some things.
Reason no longer really operates when
you arrive at a point of emotion such
as has been reached between the Arab
States and Israel. Israel, strangely, is
more objective—though perhaps it is
not really so strange, because it is always
easier for persons to remain objective
when they have the edge in their favor.
And I think that, in the war between
the Afabs and Israel, probably Israel
had the edge in its favor.
I sit in a United Nations committee,
the Humanitarian, Educational and Cul-
tural Committee, where I think we
should behave as charitably as possible
and at least preserve the amenities. The
U. S. S. R. and the U. S. A. represen-
tatives manage to say good morning to
each other, even though as a rule, be-
556
tween times, we attack each other quite
vigorously, The Israeli delegate sits be-
tween two Arab delegates and I have
never known the Arab representatives to
say good morning, or apparently to ~
recognize that the Israeli delegate exists.
That is not exactly conducive to the best
sort of cooperation!
But once you have been in the Near
Eastern countries, the impression you
come away with is that if the United
Nations succeeds in resettling those
poor, wretched Arab refugees, who are
in worse camps than almost any I have
ever seen, then there would be a chance
of getting somewhere. And there is
nothing to be done by# to resettle them.
They have been trained both by Com-
munists who have come in and by the
Arab leaders to get hold of you wher-
ever you meet them and to tell you:
“We want to go home.” You know it is
a slogan, because they say it in unison.
Most of them do not talk English, but
you walk into a school room and all the
little boys get up together and say “We
want to go home.” And you know quite
well there is no home for them to go
to in most cases.
If finally they are resettled, I think the
logic of the situation will gradually
bring about Arab-Israel cooperation.
And nothing is more desirable, because
Isracl has a great deal of administrative
and organizing ability, and would be
in a position to help.
In the Arab states there is a stir-
ting. Here are countries that bave just
recently become free; they are very
nationalistic because their freedom is a
new thing. The leaders have not had
much training as yet in administration
and organization. Their people as a
whole want not just to exist any longer;
they want to live. Their governments
know that, but they do not quite know
how to meet these desires for an im-
proved standard of living. I think if one
could just transfer a little of the“abifity
to administer and organize into the
Arab governments, their business circles,
their agriculture, one would find the
problems of the Arab countries solving
themselves very rapidly.
Israel at present probably has the ©
. greatest capacity in the area for using
any aid that comes to it, and if the
Israelis could help in the development
of other countries, I think it would be
the way to remove the fear that the ©
Arabs have. The Arabs are mot very
logical because in one breath they tell —
you, “We are impressed by the fact —
that Israel is receiving all this immigra-
The Nation —
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vded and they are poling to Fike’ us
- over.” Then in the next breath they
“Ah, but the Arabs have long
memories and some day we will drive
the Israeli people into the sea.” Well,
the two just do not go together. It is
not logical.
So you are left with the feeling that
you have to live through the present
petiod, you have to put everything you
can into trying to clear up the refugee
situation, and then perhaps, with help
from the rest of the world, you may get
the cooperation which will make of the
Near East a stabilizing element which is
badly needed in that area. Once you have
cooperation, I believe Israel can make
its best contribution and the Arab States
can develop and be a real factor for
peace in the world.
Need for Boldness
By ESTES KEFAUVER
U. S. Senator from Tennessee
Peace, like the world, is no longer
divisible. That is why unrest in any part
of the world carries with it the seeds of
_ danger to all of us. Today, in an area of
over one million square miles, there are
seeds of unrest which profoundly en-
danger our own peace and security.
An armistice exists between Israel and
the Arab states, but it is significant
that although that armistice has been in
existence for four years, no formal set-
tlement of the Palestine war has taken
place.
It is clear that the democratic world,
r especially the United States, has a role
Batch tS
;
to play in this situation—a role which
it has not yet played with either bold-
ness or imagination. That role is to cre-
ate a policy which makes it clear that
the democratic world is deeply con-
cerned with the Middle East and with
the settlement of the Palestine war. Ob-
viously, that settlement can come about
" only by direct negotiations between the
parties in interest. But the democratic
world can make it clear why it wishes
that settlement to take place and thus
_ to influence, in a constructive way, the
approach to a settlement by both sides.
The Western world needs both
Israel and the Arab world. If there is a
price on peace in the Middle East, that
price must be no less than security,
June 7, 1952
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Estes Kefauver
The power of resistance is in the
minds of men and not primarily in their
weapons, Until we have captured the
loyalty of the Arab peoples, we have not
arranged for our security or theirs,
simply through the acquisition of mili-
tary bases. The way to capture the loy-
alty of the Arab peoples is through a
demonstration to them of the vitality,
resiliency, adaptability, and dynamics of
democracy at work for their benefit.
A bold, imaginative program, initiated
by the United States, based on the
concepts of democracy and adapted to
the needs of the backward peoples,
could, at one and the same time, fufill
the needs of the peoples, develop one of
the richest areas of the world, and satisfy
our strategic needs.
Because this can be undertaken, two
things are necessary: (1) That the con-
cept of the democratic world should be
geared to security, not alone in terms
of military bases, but in terms of the
loyalty of peoples. (2) That stability be
established in the area itself to make
such a plan possible.
A first requirernent for stability is
the settlement of the Arab-Israel war.
The time has come for both sides to
recognize that each exists and is there
to stay.
With respect to Israel, it seems more
than foolish to me to think that a coun-
try four years old, still struggling to
maintain its economic balance, occupy-
ing a tiny quarter of the world of some
8,500 square miles, and with a popula-
tion of less than 2,000,000, could be a
threat to seven Arab states occupying an
area of more than 1,000,000 square
miles, with a population of some 36,-
000,000. If the fears are real, then
there is one way of assuring that the so-
called expansionist aims of Israel shall
not be realized. It is to settle the Arab-
Israel war by formal agreement.
Arab-Israel peace is indispensable to
the Western world if only on the nar-
row grounds that the Western world
cannot depend upon military arrange-
ments which do not include both the
Arabs and the Israelis. And it is clear
that the Arab world will not, assuming
there are no other reasons, be a party to
a regional pact including Israel as long
as it believes that a state of belligerency
exists.
Up until now the Western world,
wishing for peace, has done little to
promote that peace. It can no longer
delay taking sides for peace, not by way
of favor to Israel or the Arab world,
It can take sides for peace in the inter-
ests of the people of the whole area—
and the relevant security of the rest of
us. It can place a price on peace—the
offer of helping the Middle East to
emerge into the twentieth century by
the road of democracy.
Steps to Stability
By Dr. E. A, SPEISER, Chairman,
Department of Oriental Studies,
University of Pennsylvania
The Near East is the world’s tradi-
tional center of gravity. Freedom and
sanity have the greatest possible stake
in the global center of gravity. The
precarious balance between an uneasy
truce and a total war can be upset most
readily in that sensitive region. Con-
tinued tension between Israel and the
Arab states is an irritant that should
not be underestimated. Peace in the
Near East is not just a dutiful slogan but
a doubly urgent need.
A patient may be cured when his
illness has been diagnosed correctly,
This has not been done by and large so
far as the ailing Near East is concerned.
The situation is made to order for politi-
cal medicine men, They may be inspired
557,
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by ulterior motives, ignorance, or hon-
est conviction. In any case, the re-
sults are doomed to be negative. In
1947 these healers knew but ane theme:
Palestine. Cure that sore and all your
troubles in the Near East will vanish!
When the Anglo-Iranian dispute reached
its climax last year, the label on the
cure-all was changed to promise relief
from oil troubles. And a little later,
when the scene had shifted to Egypt,
the old Suez formula was dusted off.
It should be amply clear by now that
none of these three diagnoses could be
the exclusive answer to the problems
of the Near East. Common to all the
Arab states is the stark proverty of the
- vast majority of the people.
In the world of today stagnation can
only mean steady retrogression. With
conditions growing progressively worse
instead of better, even docile and apa-
thetic populations cannot always be
counted upon to remain in check.
The stability of the Near East is vital
to the stability of the world; any help
towards the goal is no more than a ques-
tion of enlightened self-interest. We
must face the problems of the Near
East in the order of their importance.
The Arab-Israel issue has knocked
things badly out of focus. Responsible
magazines in this country still sound as
though little else mattered. Millions of
their readers have been given the im-
ptession that Israel won the war only
because of the active help of the United
States and Britain. They have forgotten
that diplomatic recognition alone does
not win wars; that Britain backed the
Arabs to the bitter end; and that in the
last analysis it was internal Arab weak-
ness more than any other factor that
caused the Arab defeat. For the same
reason it is the Arab states rather than
Israel that can now be seen gravitating
toward communism in spite of the con-
fident predictions to the contrary which
we all heard five years ago. Nor is the
frequent claim justified that our in-
fluence in the Near East suffered an ir-
reparable blow as a result of the Pales-
tine war. Britain's die-hard pro-Arab
policy utterly failed to produce the ex-
pected dividends, The prevailing hostil-
ity to the West cannot be ascribed to
any single factor.
In terms of foreign policy, two ex-
treme moves have recently been pro-
posed in regard to the Near East. One
558
‘
looks to arming the Arabs to the teeth
in a desperate move to stop the spread
of communism, Nothing is less likely to
have the desired effect. Even if the Arabs
could be made ten times as strong as
they now are, their combined armies
could not hold up Russia for many days
if it came to a show of arms. The
only ones to benefit, although no more
than temporarily, would be the forces
now in power. A good method, in short, -
to make the Near East ripe, if not safe
for communism.
The other policy has found a persua-
sive advocate in Justice William O.
Douglas. Mr. Douglas wants us to de-
clare ourselves openly in favor of a
revolution against feudalism and to
promote such a revolution actively. But
by completely repudiating the existing
ruling elements we cam only precipi-
tate chaos, and with it the very kind
of power vacuum that beckons to the
‘isms which we wish to contain.
It follows that a constructive policy
for the Near East must envisage two
stages. The first would be a transitional
one, designed to stop the existing im-
balance from getting worse. The cry of
interference is certain to be raised but
could safely be discounted in advance.
The next stage would involve a long-term
scheme calculated to aid and develop
liberal forces—accompanied by the hope
that the lid will stay on Jong enough.
But neither plan can succeed unless
based on a full and resolute agreement
among the major Western powers. The
real change, of course, must come from
within, preferably through gradual evo-
lution. Only then could the Near East
and the West meet on a basis of mutual
respect and understanding, as partners
in a common enterprise.
Peace Program
By CLARENCE PICKETT
Honorary Secretary, American Friends
Service Committee, 1947 Co-Winner
of the Nobel Peace Prize
In the eyes of the Arabs we have sur-
rendered the position of neutrality. But
this is no excuse for our not doing
everything we can to bring péace to the
Middle East. For it is quite true that
there will be no stability in that part of
the world until there is peace there.
And so long as there is no stability in
the Middle East, this cannot but disturb
the peace of the entire world.
Clarence Pickett
It is my judgment that peace will
come between these two contending
parties by piecemeal, and the most im-
portant first step I should consider to be
a settlement of claims to property
owned by Arab refugees now remaining
in the state of Israel.
I have talked with an Arab merchant
who lived in Jaffa who told me that he
left behind a dry goods store with a
stock valued at $100,000. He was told ©
by the Arab radio that the Jewish-Arab
war would only last a short time, per-
haps two weeks, that the Arabs would
drive the Jews out of Palestine, when —
he could return and continue in his
business, but he has never heard any-
thing of that business since that time. —
He ought to have compensation for his
loss. I am fully conscious that a much ©
larger number of Jews who left Europe
are in a similar position. The move now
under way to determine compensation
to Jews for property loss, especially in.
Germany and Austria, must not be al-
~ lowed to fail. I know that Jews have
left Iraq with no adjustment thus far —
for their possessions left behind. This —
whole question of compensation is one —
of international significance.
Closely allied to this is the question
of boundaries. A permanent settlement —
of this question will no doubt be diffi-
The NATION ©]
~I
‘
‘
Fa
\
I.
Ba
f.
li
will be ae to ae ne oni:
ties outward, under the claim of /ebens-
raum. I am not saying that they are
justified in this belief, but the convic-
tion is there; it will not be allayed until
boundaries are settled.
Equally important is the resettlement
of the Arab refugee. He is now starting
his fourth year as a pauper and a wan-
derer. At the sixth assembly of the
United Nations, authorization was
given to expend $250,000,000 over the
next three years, not only in providing
relief for those refugees but in enabling
-
.
the United Nations agency caring for
them to resettle them. But the resistance
of the Arab states to such resettlement
continues. It is not only because of lack
of facilities. Iraq and Syria could to
their national advantage absorb most of
these families on land most of which is
now unproductive, But Arab states have
continued their propaganda that the
refugee must be permitted to return to
his home in Israel. I do not myself see
how it is possible for any considerable
number to return because of the heavy
“population already settled there. I sug-
gest that a commission made up of refu-
gees themselves, selected by the United
Nations, should be permitted to visit
Israel to see what is going on, de-
termining for themselves whether it
would be feasible, wise, or possible for
Arab refugees to resettle inside the state’
of Israel. It is my expectation that it
would further the willingness of the
Arab states to permit resettlement else-
where of those who say that they have
concluded they do not want to return to
Israel, but wish to establish themselves
in one or the other of the Arab states.
It seems to me that the suggestion of
Charles Malik of Lebanon might well
be taken seriously by both government
and private groups in the United States,
in thinking in terms of a very great ex-
’ pansion of modern education.
FY
:
¥
y
E
a
-
iG
it
c
Closely allied to this is the impor-
tance of missions of religion of various
kinds in this part of the world. It is my
conviction that there will not be peace
in the Middle East as long as we think
purely in terms of economic and politi-
cal development and secular education.
The development of what we usually
know as technical assistance or Point
act? B, 4952
8 hey a
—— technical skills | i die Middle
East without a recognition of the sensi-
tivity of those to whom the representa-
tives of technical skills go, it is likely to
be resisted. Certainly it will be resisted,
and in my judgment appropriately so, if
it is put in terms of purchasing their
allegiance as allies in a power struggle.
United Nations Role
By FREDA KIRCHWEY.
Editor of The Nation
Peace between Israel and the Arab
states would be a bulwark against inter-
national intrigue, against the attempt of
various partisan interests to use the
miseries and wrongs of the peoples as
cards in the game of Cold War. Se-
curity in that region is not to be found
in bases, by themselves, nor in deals
and pacts, nor in the control of oil re-
sources or sea routes. These may look
substantial and reassuring to the nations
that control them, but they are in fact
no stronger than the human situation
that surrounds them: the political sta-
bility of the countries themselves, the
relations among them, and the health
and well-being and prospects of the peo-
ples in them.
External activities looking toward
peace or toward social and economic
improvement should be centered in the
United Nations—including those fi-
nanced by the United States, The United
Nations is still the only viable instru-
ment for mediation, conciliation, and
also for the technical and financial as-
sistance so desperately required by the
countries around the Eastern Mediter-
ranean.
I do not excuse the stubborn and un-
reasonable attitude of the Arab states
when I say that their intransigence on
the issue of peace with Israel is partly
grounded in justified resentment at the
reluctance of the great Western nations
to accept the meaning of the revolution
that today threatens colonialism and
imperialism in all their forms.
Only the Western powers themselves
can end that resentment and, in the
effort to do so, the United States must
inevitably take the lead. What we need
is a new foreign policy in that whole
turbulent and sensitive area, one which
backs the struggle against colonial con-
trol and foreign financial domination
and at the same time encourages, within
that process, the even more funda-
mental revolt against ancient and evi
practices of land ownership and human
exploitation.
The tragic aspect of the Arab attitude
is that in the matter of Israel it tends to
defeat its own quite legitimate end. For
peace with Israel would bring to the
Arab states many benefits and few sac-
rifices. Once peace was achieved, these
states would find that they had no
stronger support anywhere for their
proper national ambitions than in Israel
itself, while the stimulus to trade and
to other sorts of economic progress
would be beyond computation. Today
these facts are obscured by the fog
of resentment and hostility that hangs
over Arab-Israel relations.
How is this fog to be dispelled? The
first and most important step would be
the opening of direct negotiations on
specific issues between Israel and its
neighbors, The last two years have sure-
ly proved that no real agreements can -
be achieved until Arabs and Israelis sit
down together, whether in the presence
of a mediator or alone. Through direct
diplomatic interchange, I am convinced,
common interests would emerge, produc-
ing workable compromises on the main
points dividing Israel and its neighbors.
A settlement of the refugee problem
can be arrived at only on the basis of
recognition by the Arabs that no con-
siderable number of Arab refugees can
be repatriated in Israel.
A most earnest effort must be made
by the Israelis to convince their Arab
neighbors of what, to be sure, they long
ago officially promised, namely, that a
generous program of compensation for
properties lost by refugees—a reciprocal
program, of course, since Jewish refu-
gees from Arab countries must obvi-
ously be included—will promptly be
formulated and carried out.
The Israelis must remove any honest
fears that may still exist among the
Arab states that Israel intends to try to
expand by force its present uncomfort-
ably narrow boundaries.
Admission that Israel does and will
continue to exist, combined with willing-
ness to meet and to talk, would provide
the first bit of convincing proof that
the Arab world does want peace rather
than a state of suspended war.
559
cee
BOOKS and
The British Case
THE STRUGGLE FOR EUROPE.
By Chester Wilmot. Harper and
Brothers. $5.
E HAVE now reached the reverse-
lend-lease stage in the matter of
military criticism. Until recently ac-
-counts of the war in Western Europe
such as those of Ingersoll, Eisenhower,
and Bradley presented it largely from an
American point of view. Two of these
authors, Ingersoll and Bradley, were
sharply critical of British strategy, tac-
tics, and military leadership. In the five
published volumes of Churchill’s monu-
mental “History of the Second World
War,” he has been critical of American
political and military leadership only in
the fifth volume. The Prime Minister has
been careful, however, to make his criti-
cisms of military operations sole/y on
military grounds. Thus it remained for
Mr. Wilmot, an Australian war corre-
spondent, to make the first presentation
of what has been called “the British
case.”
Reduced to its simplest terms, this
case holds that while we Americans were
excellent producers of military machines,
we lacked military sophistication in the
matter of their employment. In plain
language we did not know where to op-
erate the planes, tanks, ships, and divi-
sions we produced during the war in
order to gain the greatest political ad-
vantage and military security after the
war. The Marshall-Eisenhower strategy
of a cross-channel attack and a broad-
front advance into Germany made it
impossible for the Allies to defeat Hit-
ler in 1944. Our northern route into
Germany allowed the Red Army to oc-
cupy every capital in Eastern and South-
eastern Europe except Athens. The de-
struction visited upon Western Europe
in the course of our campaigns pre-
vented the emergence of any balance
against Russia after the war. We de-
feated Hitler in such a way as to ensure
the triumph of Stalin. In the Far East
(which is not properly within the sphere
of Mr. Wilmot’s volume) our determi-
nation to prevent a revival of colonial-
ism hampered the British. Thus, in one
560
‘the:
way or another, most of the evils of the
present-day world are traceable to the
strategical blindness and military inept-
ness of Roosevelt’s war-time advisers:
Marshall, Arnold, King, and Eisenhower.
In dealing with a book as massive, as
thoroughly documénted, and as clearly
written as that of Mr. Wilmot, three
warnings may be in order. First, one
should remember that the size of a book
has nothing to do with the soundness of
its message. Secondly, the fact that an
author has read all the printed litera-
ture in a given field does not automati-
cally make him a dependable guide to
that literature. And finally, it is help-
ful to recall that “clearness is so pre-
eminently a characteristic of truth that
it often passes for truth itself.”
Mr. Wilmot has given us one of the
finest accounts available of operations
in Western Europe, but he has at-
tempted to use this splendid operational
history as a scaffolding to hold up the
superstructure of an untenable political
thesis.
The Wilmot thesis that the triumph
of communism in Eastern and Southeast-
ern Europe was primarily due to the
refusal of Roosevelt and his military
advisers to follow British strategical ad-
vice simply will not bear examination.
He criticizes the action which men took
in 1941-45 on the basis of the knowl-
edge they possessed at that time but he
makes his criticism in the light of fuller
knowledge in 1951. Mr. Churchill, a
writer with considerably greater experi-
ence in the field of military history, long
ago adopted a policy of never criticizing
any politico-military decision after the
event unless he had submitted a warning
against it in writing before the decision
was taken.
What man in Britain or America
knew enough about Russian capacities
and intentions in 1941-43 to justify bas-
ing our fundamental strategy for 1944-
45 on the assumption that Communist
Russia would present an immediate post-
war threat to Western Europe? Did
Mr. Churchill, who helped Tito to at-
tain control of Yugoslavia, know that
communism was going to be a more
dangerous menace’ than fascism? Did
eee yee
‘for themselves that to strive for victory
"spurned. 2° 3",
ok
| 1a 2
eB “e ey
a — - e
MDT Ga
cook a
La 2c ;
the journalists, the men of Mr. wil”
mot's profession, warn us at that time —
against the Communist threat to come? —
Some, I am sorty to say, of those who —
screamed for a second front in 1942-43
out of fear that Russia might succumb
to the German attack, now complain that ~
Marshall and Eisenhower should have
conducted the war primarily to check
Russia.
Mr. Wilmot’s book stops with the
end of hostilities in Europe in 1945. He
therefore does not cover the period of
Allied demobilization which contributed
much more to the triumph of commu-
nism in Eastern and Southeastern
Europe than the matter of where our
armies fought during the war. The fate
of Czechoslovakia in 1948 plainly shows
that unless Britain and the United
States were willing to maintain armies
large enough to offset the effect of the
Red Army, and unless we were pre-
pared to keep large bodies of troops in
long-term occupation of these areas, it
would not have helped much to have
liberated the countries concerned. It
was the power vacuum created by the
demobilization of the Allied armies that
permitted Soviet Russia to dominate
Eastern and Southeastern Eurepe.
Mr. Wilmot really knows this. For,
after writing seven hundred pages of
special pleading to make a case against
Roosevelt’s administration of the war, he
admits that there was ‘an element of the
inevitable” about the Soviet triumph
after the war. He is forced to conclude
that neither the British nor the Ameri-
can governments could have won-public
support for a policy of conducting the
war against Hitler with the secondary
objective of checking Stalin. In the last
few pages of his book, Mr. Wilmot ac-
tually draws some comfort from the
American blunders during the war. For,
he says, “the Americans had to find out
’ >
—— an a FO
alone is not enough and that the bal-
ance of power must be the basis of
peace. They had to Jearn from their
own experience the difficulty of dealing
with the Russians. They had to extend
the hand of friendship and have it
In the years following
The NATION —
. i
a fe 6s
te ees
;
ES OT TE ST
r
A,
as
*
c ness—and ous eco-
would hardly have commanded such
| wide public support in the United
States, if Roosevelt had not so diligently
and sincerely sought to win the trust and
cooperation of the Soviet Union.”
If Mr. Wilmot had said this at the
beginning of his book and then devoted
his unmistakable talents to writing a
strictly operational narrative, all students
of military affairs would have been in-
debted to him. They would even have
forgiven him for his marked bias in
favor of Field Marshal Montgomery.
H, A, DE WEERD
Men and History
HISTORY AND HUMAN RELA-
TIONS. By Herbert Butterfield. The
Macmillan Company. $3.50.
HE comments of an urbane and cul-
tured man upon his craft almost
always make for good reading, and this
latest volume by the eminent historian
Herbert Butterfield is no exception.
“History and Human Relations’ con-
tains eight essays, each of them dealing
with a particular preblem in historiogra-
phy or the philosophy of history. It is a
very professional book, not in the sense
that the layman cannot profit by it, but
in the sense that it presents reflections
drawn from long experience in a par-
ticular endeavor.
The title implies the unifying theme.
The author continuaily calls attention to
the fact that individuals, with all their
different emotions and prejudices, are
after all the source of history. They are
neither completely the products of their
past nor the autonomous makers of their
future, but the worst mistake a historian
can make, says Butterfield, is to forget
that human beings are emotionally com-
plex. Man, if not the measure of all
things, is at least the measure of history,
' and in the light of this belief Butter-
field examines such questions as the
Marxist approach to history, “official”
histories issued by governments, and the
extent to which the historian can make
moral judgments in his writing. He al-
ways points out the limitations of his
craft, showing that histories, and not a
history, can be produced,
Pethaps the book is best described by
i June 7, 1952
omic and military support for Europe
par ae a sentence Foti % a Rk
teaching or reading or writing history
the richest wisdom and the finest educa-
tional nourishment come from . . . the
comments that are made in asides, the
places where private views and the re-
sults of personal experience leak out,
the things, shrewd and intimate, that a
teacher throws in just for love.”
CARL F. HOVDE
Faithful Disciple?
THIS CROOKED WAY. By Elizabeth
Spencer. Dodd, Mead and Company.
$3.
ISS SPENCER’S second novel is in-
teresting for several reasons; while
she is in her own right a talented and
skilful member of the Southern regional
group who have attracted so much at-
tention during the last decade, she seems
perfectly content to work within the
confines of a strictly Faulknerian scene,
a faithful disciple of the master.
Her protagonist, Amos Dudley, who
wrests a fortune from the rich Delta cot-
ton country, is seen at successive stages
of liis compulsive career through the
eyes of his boyhood friend, his wife's
sister's child, his wife, and finally
through his own eyes. This is a difficult
technique to handle, and Miss Spencer
carries it off with verve, giving us a series
of oblique views of the central figure
from the varied perspectives of those
who thought they understood him best.
But the relations between people are
so much akin to those which bind the
members of Faulkner's society that there
are times when the reader may be for-
given for suspecting that this novel is an
extended parody, Everyone is profound-
ly concerned with motives, even though
the motivations are never fully revealed,
and even the most illiterate and inco-
herent hint darkly to one another of
motives that are marvelously subtle and
intellectually intricate.
This technique is carried over into the
texture of the prose itself. There are
pages when it is Miss Spencer's own, and
very effective too, but there are also para-
graphs which seem to have come straight
from Faulkner without pause for indi-
vidual identification. Amos says: “One
[desire] was to see Ary’s face again like
I saw it that first day above the horse's
mane, like a face not in the world,
though it had been in the world all
right, but was by her own will and
nothing else whipped up clean above the
world and outside, knowing she ought
not to be out there with just men show-
ing off that mare and in her own pride
not caring, and in her own pride being
proud of the mare, and of herself too,
so that not even my pride in her which
got so out of hand could quite manage
to unsettle her.”
The question which has not been an-
swered in “This Crooked Way,” but
which may possibly be clarified in Miss
Spencer's future writing, is whether real-
ly fruitful creative work can be done by
novelists who appropriate whole the
seductive but highly individual cosmol-
ogy of William Faulkner.
HARVEY SWADOS
BOOKS AND
FERIODICALS
Just Arrived!
from the
USSR
VADIM SOBKO’'S
GUARANTEE QF PEACE
Highost Literary Prize Winner — 1952
| In English — 542 pp. — $1.25
Latest Soviet Records and gt
1952 SUBSCRIPTIONS OPEN FOR ALL
SOVIET NEWSPAPERS AND PERIODICALS
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FOUR CONLINENT BOOK COR
1 55 Ww. 56 Street. N. Y. 19
P.
MUrray Hill 8-2660
WISE MEN
Indeavor to obtain the evidence on all
sides of such important subjects as
religion. For the evidence against re-
ligion, which is not readily obtainable
in the daily press or on radio and tele-
vision, read the summary in the 192-
page, card-covered little book,
SUPERIOR MEN
By
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Buy Your Books
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our offer to send them any book at
the regular publisher's price post-iree
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or at the publisher's price plus postage
if the book is sent C.O.D. No C.O.D.'s
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Please address your orders to
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561
Mey Poe eres
.
“
S. LANE
FAISON, JR.
Art
ASSILY KANDINSKY (1866-
1944) is on view at Knoedler’s
(through June 6) in twenty-six paint-
ings lent by his widow and never before
exhibited in New York. Although this
exhibition is only half of what was re-
cently shown in Boston at the Institute
of Contemporary Art, twenty-four of the
other canvases are accessible to New
Yorkers, since they have returned to
their permanent home in the Museum of
Non-Objective Art.
Despite these losses, the current ex-
hibition affords a nearly adequate cov-
erage of Kandinsky’s work in its major
phases. The earliest examples, L’air clair
and La vielle ville, date from 1902;
the latest, from two years before his
death. The Fauve period, which for
Kandinsky was about 1908, is well rep-
resented, as is the work of the final
twenty years. There ate good examples
from 1910, the year of his first Im-
provisations (and the year of his book,
“On the Spiritual in Art’). But there
is nothing between 1910 and 1915, and
only two examples between 1916 and
1920; and as only two others from the
withdrawn canvases came from this
decade, there was in Boston and there
is here a decided gap, all the more un-
fortunate because this was Kandinsky’s
most daringly original period and prob-
ably his most creative. In the twenties,
however, he continued in the same rich
vein of freely moving forms exploding
against strong diagonal braces and en-
livened with textural interest. After
1930, or thereabouts, Kandinsky’s de-
signs hardened. The ruled line replaced
the freely brushed contour; the flat,
blond tone, the ‘resonantly pigmented
area. In addition, the scale came down
from something broadly mural to some-
thing diminutive and fussy. Despite the
grand synthesis claimed for these late
works by the faithful, they are, in my
opinion, merely pretty abstractions, with-
out poetic content, and with more
mechanical than formal interest. Some
of them fetched up recollections of scen-
ety for the Chauve Souris (Parade of
the Wooden Soldiers might almost be
substituted as a title for Transparent,
562
a Tee
1942). And all
phases of work at the Bauhaus, where
Kandinsky taught from the early ‘twen-
ties until 1934.
In a recent biography of her late
husband, Sibyl Moholy-Nagy accentu-
ates the fact that Kandinsky belonged to
the older generation of the Bauhaus
faculty. She quotes a student of the
time: “So Moholy came to Weimar as
naan ey eR
‘the champion of youth’, as we labeled
him in contrast to the old faculty
members Kandinsky, Feininger, and
Klee who were between forty and fifty-
five.” Unlike Feininger and Klee, how-
ever, Kandinsky appears to have been
strongly affected by the idiom of the
younger Bauhaus artists in his own late
work, even after political events had
forced the Bauhaus to suspend opera-
tions. This late phase of his art, what-
ever its source, had little connection
with the positive forces of his own
previous work. It seems to have been
grafted on, quite arbitrarily.
That Kandinsky developed slowly out
of prevailing manners of painting is
nothing against him. If he did not reach
artistic maturity until he was past forty,
neither did Goya nor Cézanne. But the
early works are surprisingly unoriginal
for so original a painter, and even the
vaunted Fauve works of 1908 depend
so heavily on French precedent, plus an
admixture of Russian folk colorations,
like juxtaposed magentas, tangerines,
and violets, that it is not unjust to call
them Folk Fauves. Apparently, the
elimination of subject matter was indis-
pensable for Kandinsky’s art to evolve.
Recent unpublished studies of his work
have contrived to show a development
of motives and habits of design, and so
give a sense of momentum to the career.
But the break which came around 1910
was nevertheless very sudden, and, in
my opinion, its motivation was not suf-
ficiently a pictorial one. Kandinsky’s
elimination of subject was, in its way,
as literary as the discovery of a new sub-
ject, or of the discovery of Byron by
Delacroix. The point I am arriving at so
laboriously is that Kandinsky launched
his new art on an idea, and that this is
dangerous procedure for a painter.
Simultaneously, he expounded the idea
in a book, “On the Spiritual in Art.”
After 1910, his paintings depend on
communion with mystical essences. For
me, always skeptical of cosmic attempts
ae ee oe
i oN eee
ULL eStea QTie
der that they as ‘so often good pa
ings, freighted as they are with
much transcendental cargo.
It is important to distinguish between
Kandinsky’s ideas and his art. The
former,
fluenced the course of modetn painting,
for better and for worse, are at the.
root of the Kandinsky legend. The art,
clouded by the legend, is too much |
worshipped and too little understood.
Moholy-Nagy was right, I think, when
he found Kandinsky’s art in funda-—
mental contrast to his own, because
Kandinsky'’s “reminded me of ah un-
dersea world.” One of the most beauti-
ful of these sub-marines is a gray one
(En gris, 1919), in poetically muted
tones. Like the sea, Kandinsky is most
intelligible on a vast scale: his small
canvases are not only crowded but
stunted in effect. He must have the
liberation of vast space, but having it,
he is in constant danger of going
amorphous, like the sea’s counter-cur-
rents. Personality easily drowns in them.
The visitor will not miss in Kandin-
sky's work numerous contemporaty Ov-
ertones. It is extraordinary how mid-
twentieth century the best of these can-
vases seem, But it would be a bad mis-
take to conclude that the similarities are
more than superficial, and’ that the
younger abstract expressionists are mere- ~
Several of them sur-
ly his imitators.
pass him in physical sensuousness, or in
mural force, or in the ability to weave
space with pigment. Emily Genauer
pointed out in a recent review that
Trente (six times five black and white —
squares) is compartmented like an Adolf
Gottlieb. But this is a late Kandinsky
(1937), and Gottlieb has never shown
signs of committing his soul to a check-
erboard of any such rigidity.
CONTRIBUTORS
H. A. DE WEERD, preofesser of his-
tory at the University of Missouri, was ~
formerly associate editor of the In-
‘fantry Journal and, in 1945-46, a mem-
ber of the Historian Operations Divi-
sion, War Department General Staif.
CARL F. HOVDE
writer.
is a free-lance
HARVEY SWADOS has published —
stories and reviews in various magazines.
\
The NATION —
which have enormously in-
TING about the listener's ex-
perience of music—and writing
here as diffusely and obscurely as else-
where in his book “The Musical Ex-
perience’—Roger Sessions distinguishes
four stages in its development: first,
hearing (“following . . . the music in
its continuity”), then enjoyment, thea
understanding (“He needs to be aware
of the progression of the bass as well
as the treble line; of a return to the prin-
cipal key or to a subsidiary key; of a far-
flung tonai span . . . as events which his
ear witnesses and appreciates as a com-
position unfolds’), and finally dis-
crimination. And with discrimination
the listener becomes a critic: “The
critic is, in fact, the listener who has
become articulate, who has learned to
put his judgments and his values into
words,”
This statement about the critic is
correct as far as it goes, but incomplete.
One thing to add is the assumption
underlying the critic’s public articulate-
ness—that he can give his readers the
benefit of powers as a listener greater
than their own; another is the fact that
these are greater powers not only of dis-
crimination but of hearing and under-
standing. That is, to the listener who
must witness and appreciate the course
of events in a piece of music the critic
is able to point out the ‘‘progression of
the bass line,” the “far-flung tonal
span,” and other details which the Lis-
tener might otherwise not be aware of.
(The primary and important aim of
criticism, E. M. Forster has said, is to
“consider the object in itself, as an en-
tity, and tell us what it can about its
life.”’)
* But here we come to an interesting
fact about Mr. Sessions’s book. Writing
_ about the musical experience of the com-
poser, the performer, the listener, he
has described the activity of each in re-
lation to the course of events in a piece
of music; and if this scheme of the
book were continued with the critic Mr.
Sessions would say that the course of
events—which has been created by the
composer and recreated by the per-
aM Fy: 1952
n Cd hich alee preci ded
the listener—is pointed out to the lis-
tener by the critic. Actually, however,
Mr. Sessions, when he comes to discuss
the critic, departs from the scheme of the
book and says nothing about any activity
of the critic in relation to the course of
events in the piece of music, or even to
its value. For Mr. Sessions the critic's
“true function” is the exercise of pow-
ers of discrimination developed “‘to the
point where he becomes conscious of
values in a generalized sense” and can
“contribute strongly to musical life
through illumination of the real issues
which are vital in any particular time
and place.’ And in a state of hoarse
moral fervor he summons the critic to
his high duty. Formerly, he says, when
our music was the imported product of
a tradition developed elsewhere and
the critic’s task was to interpret that
tradition to the American public, he had
merely to “take due note of judgments
and values that had already reached
maturity elsewhere. Today, with the
ever-increasing development of a rich
musical life of our own, he is forced to
swim in more perilous waters and to
discover values of his own. It is small
wonder that he often shows a certain
reluctance to do this and takes refuge
in writing long columns on the season's
sixth performance of ‘Tristan,’ or in-
dulging, to cite a ghastly example I shall
never forget, in vituperation of Critic
B because the latter had written an
unfavorable review of a book by Critic
C, of whom Critic A (the author of the
review in question) approved because he
(Critic C) had written disparagingly of
Critic D’s book on Mozart. A veritable
tangle of critics, with poor Mozart, in
this case representing the only actual
music involved in the whole matter,
four steps away!”
I was about to say that Mr. Sessions’s
idea of the situation fifty years ago—that
the score of a European symphony was
imported for the conductor together with
a little box of European values for the
critic—hadn’t the sightest relation to
reality, when I realized that there prob-
ably were critics who accepted any Euro-
pean work unthinkingly. But there were
others who operated as a critic should
—who listened for what life they could
themselves discover in the symphony
and made their own evaluations of it,
i
That is what the critic does today when.
he is confronted with a new symphony
by an American. And today when he
writes a long column on the season’s
sixth “Tristan” it isn’t because he
shrinks from the task of discovering the
life in that symphony, but because a new
singer named Flagstad is singing in
“Tristan’’ for the first time and this too
is something which calls for critical
evaluation. So does a book about music,
and it wasn’t because I shrank from the
task of dealing with Mozart’s music (I
had, only a couple of months earlier,
dealt with the unfamiliar Concerto
K.503 which Schnabel had played in
New York for the first time) that I
wrote the review of Einstein’s ‘‘Mozart’’
in which I began with the observation
that reviews of books sometimes were
amusing performances to watch; cited
the example of Virgil Thomson’s “The
Musical Scene’ being condescended to in
the Times by Mark Schubart; explained
that I wasn’t condescending to Mr.
Schubart’s youth but thinking of the
quality of his own critical writing; went
on to say that the performances on Ein-
stein’s book had been staggering, but
that Thomson, whose reviews of books
were usually poor, had made the only
perceptive comment I had seen on this
one; quoted his comment; and then took
off from it with my own comments on
the book. An untangled progression of
thought; the “veritable tangle of crit-
ics’’ being what Mr. Sessions made of it
(in a lecture a few years later at the
Juilliard School of which Mr. Schubact
was now Dean).
Which brings me to my last point.
GERTRUDE LAWRENCE
Whe King and I
with YUL BRYNNER
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‘
2 a.
“Taking the critic’s primary task to be the
illumination not of issues but of the
object—the piece of music, the book,
the review of a book—that he has be-
fore him, I would say that this task
imposes on him a duty: the duty of
describing this object accurately, which
means the duty of looking at it with an
eye unaffected by friendship, by ani-
mosity, by appreciation or anticipation of
a favor, or by anything else of this sort. -
Criticism, in other words, is one of the
forms of human behavior, in which the
critic has the duty, simply, of behaving
honorably, and which does, then, in-
volve moral issues. Not the issues Mr.
Sessions is concerned with, but others
which he seems to be unaware of.
Letters to the Editors
Daniel De Leon
Dear Sirs: Daniel De Leon, the great
American Marxist, and the man who
conceived the principles and program
of Socialist Industrial Unionism, was
born on December 14, 1952. This year,
accordingly, is the centennial anniver-
sary of his birth.
The Socialist Labor Party, of which
Daniel De Leon was the _intellec-
tual founder, opened the De Leon
Centennial celebration with a banquet in
the Henry Hudson Hotel in New York
on May 3. Among the speakers who
paid deserved homage to De Leon at this
celebration were Arnold Petersen, Na-
tional Secretary of the Socialist Labor
Party of America, and Leonard Cotton,
distinguished British De Leonist and
National Secretary of the S. L. P. of
Great Britain.
Your readers, who are certainly more
than ordinarily interested in De Leon
and his achievements, should be espe-
cially interested in his great contribu-
tions to the Socialist cause. We will
gladly send them a free copy of the
De Leon Centennial issue of the Week-
ly People upon request.
The De Leon centennial celebration
coincided with the Socialist Labor Party’s
twenty-third national convention, at
which it launched its sixteenth Presi-
dential campaign, nominating the un-
dersigned for President and Stephen
Emery for Vice President.
ERIC HASS,
Editor, Weekly People
New York
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The NATION
Crossword Puzzle No. 468
BY FRANK W. LEWIS
5
ACROSS
1 Chief obstacle to the vision of April?
(4-2-3-4)
19 No feeling, perhaps. (7)
11 Is the Thin Man’s dog able to find
a (7)
oncerniag relations with some
Frenchmen, for example, a dec-
ade ago. (9)
13 ~ responsible for a rebellion.
14 Such a policy shouldn’t lead to an
immediate engagement. (6)
16 Put a different coat on in the Irish
fen! ¢8)
19 ri in exygen’s concentration.
8)
20 Silver spike? It might make your
finger hurt. (6)
22 This sort of log is found in Con-
naught. (5)
23 Are such loans never obtained? (9)
25 Mr, Baba in repose sees things as
they are! (7)
26 The revolutionary seems to hurry
' up to heaven, (7)
-27 A suggestion of drink might be
associated with the head of it.
(5, 9)
DOWN
2 “O thou weed!
Whe are so lovely fair and smell’st
So sweet
That the sense at thee,
would thou hadst ne’er been
born.”—(Othello) (5)
seing this sort of collector is most
amusing toH. (15)
o2
Readers are invited to send for a free copy of Mr. Lewis's
The Nation, 20 Vesey Street,
requests to Puzzle Dept.,
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or - place in Central America?
5, 4)
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uite a hit. (8, 5)
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kind one! (4)
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sole punishment! (9)
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To sport would be as tedious as to
work.”— (Henry IV) (8)
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stucco! (8)
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end of 16 to Jack. (6)
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but free! (4)
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= after—otherwise bow silently.
5)
SOLUTION TO PUZZLE No, 401
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NECESSARY EVIL:
The Life of Jane Welsh Carlyle
By Lawrence and Elisabeth Hanson
Reviewed by Helen M. Lynd
THE PRICE OF REVOLUTION
By D. W. Brogan
Reviewed by Philip E. Mosely
THE SPENDTHRIFTS
By Benito Pérez Galdés
Reviewed by Ernest Jones
ECONOMY IN THE
NATIONAL GOVERNMENT
By Paul H. Douglas
Reviewed by Willard Shelton
THE NECESSARY ANGEL
By Wallace Stevens
Reviewed by Hayden Carruth
THE IRONY OF AMERICAN HISTORY
By Reinhold Niebuhr
Reviewed by Francis Biddle
BACK DOOR TO WAR:
The Roosevelt Foreign Policy
1933-1941
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Reviewed by Charles C. Griffin
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Reviewed by Joseph Wood Krutch
THE GOD OF GALAXIES
A Poem by Mark Van Doren
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June 14, 1952 i
What Labor Wants
A Symposium on the Campaign
The German Peril—An Editorial |)
|
Pa
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BY ANDREW ROTH
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MmIMBRICA’S LEADING LIBERAL WEEKLY SINCE I18635
VOLUME 174
NEW YORK + SATURDAY * JUNE 14, 1952
NUMBER 24
The Shape of Things
Lost Weekend
It’s really a shame that an unfortunate “break” in the
mews compelled the President to postpone a weekend
visit to the farm of J. Howard McGrath at Great Salt
Pond in Rhode Island. The visit had been widely re-
is not his strong point. Under his first regime, genuine
liberals, including Galo Plaza, whom he now succeeds,
were able to introduce a new tone in Ecuadorian politics.
But each time Velasco Ibarra insisted on playing the dic-
tator and was forced from office by military coups d’ état
carried through in behalf of decency and civil liberties.
Even worse than Velasco Ibarra are some of the groups
that helped him win last week’s decisive victory over
ported as presaging the appointment of McGrath to
some high post (not requiring Senate confirmation) and
of giving public expression to Truman’s unshaken con-
| fidence in his former Attorney General. But the testi-
his main opponent, the conservative Dr. Ruperto Alarcén
Falconi, The “Concentration of Popular Forces” Party,
his main support, is distinctively falangist in nature. Cu-
riously enough, the leader of the People’s Force, Mayor
mony of a representative of the General Accounting
Office that Clark Clifford, the President’s former legal
counsel, had received $25,000 for representing a Michi-
gan firm in a civil-fraud suit while McGrath was Attor-
ney General, served to remind the President that
Margaret was leaving for Europe on the weekend of his
scheduled visit.
The incident will deepen public confusion about the
President’s relations with McGrath. Is he trying to say
that he considers McGrath the innocent victim of a
“smear” campaign? Is he sorry that he removed him
from the Cabinet? Does he feel that there are acceptable
excuses for the failure of the Justice Department to re-
cover more than a pittance of the $500,000,000 or so
} . which the government was overcharged on Korean War
contracts? Does he believe that McGrath was vigilant in
recovering only $300,000 of more than $21,000,000
which the General Accounting Office contends is owed
the government in actual fraud cases, some of which in-
. volved the bribery of army officers?
The planned visit suggested that the answer to all
these questions is “Yes.” In any case, what greater loy-
| .alty could the ex-Attorney General have demonstrated
than his gallant support of the President in the political
crisis of 1948? Let McGrath not despair: the President
will probably turn up at Great Salt Pond in due time.
=
Peronism in Ecuador
Democracy in Latin America met a new defeat in the
| election of José Maria Velasco Ibarra for the third time
as President of Ecuador. Paradoxically, as the star of
| Peron declines in his own country, Peronism gains ground
ss outside Argentina. In his own right the new President
' can hardly be tagged with any political label; ideology
Carlos Guevara Moreno, of Guayaquil, fought in the
Spanish War on the Loyalist side and made that exploit
the springboard of his political career. Being an oppor-
tunist, however, he promptly changed sides when the cur-
rent in Latin America turned in the direction of fascism.
President Velasco Ibarra denies any tie with Peronism,
but the incident which occurred in Quito, when César
Salvador Mazetti, Perén’s Ambassador, appeared at a
rally to welcome Velasco on his return from exile in
Argentina, was an indication of where his present
sympathies lie.
The Toronto Six
Will Senators McCarran and McCarthy, having done
so much to shut the doors of this country to the Bast and
West, now slam the portals to the North? Recently six
members of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, one a
minor, were barred from crossing the border. Only stated
reason: “detrimental to the best interests of the United
States.” Confronted with the alternative of retaining the
six players or of canceling scheduled engagements here,
the Toronto orchestra dropped the men, The local union
supported the orchestra’s decision and the sole recourse
of the six victims is an appeal to the executive board of
the international union.
This seems to us about the most shameful in the grow-
ing list of indignities occasioned by the McCarran act
and the paranoid policies of the State Department. It
is bad enough that six men have been done a grave
personal injustice; it is worse that no practical remedy is
available. Canadians, apparently, feel the same way: the
Toronto Globe-Mail (Conservative) and Daily Star
(Liberal) have published strong editorial condemnation
of the injustice done the six musicians. The Globe-Mail
© IN THIS ISSUE *
EDITORIALS
The Shape of Things 565
Who Likes Ike Now? 567
The German Peril 567
Confusion on the Coast 7 569
ARTICLES
Sober Realism at the U. N.
by J. Alvarez del Vayo 570
What Labor Wants: A Symposium
The Economic Royalists Are Paving the Way
to Fascism by George M. Harrison 572
The Planks Labor Wants in the 1952 Platforms 573
Britain Balks on Korea by Andrew Roth 575
The Case of Bob Connolly: A Page of Cartoons 577
The Challenge of Morocco by Rom Landau 578
The Mutual Fund Rainbow by William G. Ferris 579
BOOKS AND THE ARTS
Not Unblessed Pilgrimage by Helen M. Lynd 581
Financial Editor: Keith Hutchison
Drama: Joseph Wood Krutch Music: B. H. Haggin
Copy Editor: Gladys Whiteside
Assistant Literary Editor: Caroliae Whiting
Staff Contributors
Andrew Roth, Alexander Werth, Howard K. Smith, Carolus
fo hoe
.
Se pac pe
Business Manager: Hugo Van Arx
Advertising Manager: Mary Simon
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The God of Galaxies by Mark Van Doren 582
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Income and Welfare by Robert Lekachman 583
Stevens As Essayist by Hayden Carruth 584
An American in Istanbul by Thomas J. Hamilton 585
Wiring the Farms by Richard L. Neuberger 586
A Guide to Gogol by Hubert Creekmore 587
Man Alone by Harvey Swados 587
An Educator’s Philosophy by Frances Keene 588
pete Verse Chronicle by Rolfe Humphries 589
Apc) Outstanding Books of 1952 590
Pers Records by B. H. Haggin 591
res ~ CROSSWORD PUZZLE No. 469
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t eS
4 EDITORIAL BOARD
ea Editor and Publisher: Freda Kicchwey
Diy ts Editorial Director Director, Nation Associates
8275 Carey McWilliams Lillie Shultz
Pity; Managing Editor: Victor H. Bernstein
ae Foreign Editor Literary Editor
Bsr J. Alvarez del Vayo Margaret Marshall
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has, in fact, demanded that the Ottawa “rnment not
to Periodical Literature, Book Review Digest, Index to Labor ~
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‘9p Box See
only clear their names but assert the right of entry as
essential to the “right to work” and as a right implicit in
the passports issued by the Canadian government. _
For more than a century the Rush-Bagot Convention _
has committed the United States and Canada to an ~
“open-door” policy of friendship and amity. Incidents
such as that of the Toronto six make it increasingly em-
barrassing for Americans to speak sneeringly of other —
Dad
countries’ “iron curtains.”
“a
Civil War in South Africa?
In South Africa today there are the makings of two
irrepressible conflicts. On the one hand a vast gulf be-
tween the European minority and the native majority has
been made almost unbridgeable by discriminatory legis-
lation and repressive administration. And now Dr.
Malan’s Nationalist Government, reopening old wounds
suffered in the long struggle between Boer and Briton,
has split the white population in two. It is not racial pol-
icy that divides them: both factions believe in white
supremacy although they differ about methods for main-
taining it. What really disturbs the opposition is the evi-
dence that Dr. Malan, who won the last election on a
minority vote, is aiming at one-party rule. His bill to
segregate the “colored” vote in Cape Province, held by
the Supreme Court to contravene the “entrenched
clauses” of the Constitution, is not just an exercise in
racial discrimination but a blatant example of gerty-
mandering which is expected to give the Nationalists six
or more Parliamentary seats now held by the opposition.
Determined to secure this advantage before the 1953
elections, the Nationalists have pushed through the High
Court of Parliament Act which allows Parliament itself
to overrule the Supreme Court in constitutional cases. |
The legality of this act is to be tested in the courts but —
it is also being met by a political challenge. Natal, most
British of the Union’s four provinces, is already talking
of secession on the grounds that the Malanites have de-
stroyed the compact on which the Union was founded.
If this threat materializes, civil war may easily follow.
The Plight of Sterling
Sterling remains sick despite the medicines pre-
scribed by the Conservative government after it took —
office last fall. In the first three months of this year the _
drain of gold and dollars from the sterling-area reserve
was slowed down but even so the total was reduced —
to $1,700,000,000 by March 31 compared to nearly | bio
$4,000,000,000 on June 30, 1950. April figures have —
not yet been published but trade returns for that month J jp,
indicate a rise in the visible deficit and it is also known |
that Britain has lost more gold to the European Pay- m™
ments Union. Be ae
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oa cellor of the Exchequer, suggested in a recent speech in
Chicago, that gold reserves of the sterling area will soon
begin to increase, if they have not already done so, partly
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because of cuts in dollar imports and partly because de-
jayed payments of United States economic aid are now
being made. On the other hand, Britain is clearly finding
increased difficulty in expanding exports to the extent
necessary if its goal of a favorable balance of payments by
the end of this year is to be achieved. It is experiencing
growing German and Japanese competition at a time
when world demand, at least for consumer goods, is de-
clining. In addition, the sharp fall in prices of such com-
modities as rubber and tin have seriously reduced the
sterling area’s dollar-earning capacity.
It is not altogether surprising, therefore, that fears of
a new devaluation of the pound should have caused some
weakness in both spot and future quotations for sterling.
Perhaps these fears are premature, but it begins to look
as if new and drastic measures will be necessary to pre-
vent further depletion of the sterling area’s reserves in
the next few months and to keep the pound at its current
ratio to the dollar.
Who Likes Ike Now?
ENERAL EISENHOWER’S political debut at
(| Abilene may have increased his chances of secur-
ing the Republican nomination while diminishing his
prospects for victory in November. For he revealed a
streak of conservatism that can hardly fail both to win
over uncommitted right-wingers at Chicago and to repel
millions of, independent voters whose liking for him has
been based on the hope that he would prove to be at
least moderately progressive.
Such hopes have been dashed by the mammoth Abi- _
lene press conference. On that occasion the General
showed once again that he not only had an attractive
personality but the ability to project it. He also exhibited
marked skill in dodging pertinacious efforts to pin him
down on specific issues, without seeming to be evasive.
But while a tendency to balance every affirmative state-
ment with a considered “however” appeared to keep him
safely in the middle of the road on specific questions,
_the total effect was to reinforce the growing impression
that on domestic matters he is quite as far to the Right as
Senator Taft.
Indeed he almost went out of his way to disown the
liberal wing of the G. O. P. by declaring, without any
prodding, that he was in accord with the general prin-
ciples of the Republican Declaration of February 6,
1950, which he assumed would be the basis of the 1952
Republican platform. This declaration, drafted by the
die-hard Clarence Budington Kelland, was a far more
conservative document than the Republican platform of
June 14, 1952
eee | st
1948 and was sharply criticized on this ground by liberal
Republicans who are today Eisenhowet’s most enthusi-
astic supporters. Senator Lodge, for example, con-
demned it for failing to express determination to enact a
civil-rights program and for “extravagance "in describing
the issue between the parties as “liberty vs. socialism.”
By indorsing this 1950 declaration, the General
aligned himself with the conservative wing of the party
which he further reassured by reiterating his opposition
to “centralization” of power whether in the field of civil
rights, medical care, education, conservation, or eco- —
nomic controls. And simultaneously he contrived to dis-
may many liberal Republicans and independents who
know that over-reliance on state responsibility enables
the backward states to slow down progress of the whole
country and who realize that civil rights have become a
burning issue precisely because, by and large, they have
been left to the tender mercies of local authorities.
The moral for the Democrats is plain, Whether Eisen-
hower or Taft is chosen at Chicago, they will be in a
position to make the Presidential campaign a clear-cut
fight between liberalism and conservatism. This is a fight
that can be won provided always that the Democrats
select a strong, progressive candidate and give him an
unequivocally progressive platform on which to stand—
a point made adequately clear in the labor symposium
which appears on page 572 of this issue.
The German Peril
NREPORTED in the American press as far as we
know, a little episode in Bonn symbolized the situ-
ation created by the new Big Three peace contract with
West Germany. The episode occurred just before Ache-
son, Eden, Schuman, and Adenauer signed the agree-
ment. It was the German chief of protocol who noticed
the design on the tapestries hanging in the Upper
Chamber of Bonn’s parliament. He quickly had them
removed because he feared they might cause comment:
the scene shown was the Rape of Europa.
The quasi peace treaty with Germany is now before
the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. The hearings
were being sped to conclusion this week. Already over-
laden with unfinished business, the Senate is being asked
to ratify the contractual agreement before Congress dis-
perses, presumably before the Republican convention
opens in Chicago on July 7. No serious opposition, in-
deed hardly any pertinent criticism, is expected.
The papers which the Administration sent to the Sen-
ate make quite a bundle. They include the general agree-
ment with the Bonn Republic, its three subsidiary
conventions, President Trum’n’s accompanying message
to Congress, the Three Power declaration issued in Paris
after the signing of the European-army treaty on May
27, and a protocol extending the Atlantic Alliance’s
567
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guaranties reciprocally to the European aeflse com-
munity—in fact to Western Germany.
How many Americans are aware of the contents, to
say nothing of the implications, of these documents?
For that matter, how many of the Senators who will
approve them have read and mastered them?
Yet the two agreements, of which the European-army
treaty is the other, may take their place in history as a
watershed between the second and third world wars.
The haste with which the peace contract with the Ger-
mans is being railroaded toward ratification contrasts
with the great responsibilities it imposes on the Ameri-
can people. For there is little doubt that these commit-
ments perpetuate the partition of Germany and diminish
almost to zero the chance of a peaceful understanding
with Russia about that country.
In our present political climate a majority of Ameri-
cans would support the peace contract with Germany
even if they were aware of its dangers. After all, the
West Germans are now allies against communism, al-
though one may question their dependability. It is likely,
however, that if Americans had been informed of all its
implications, a much larger and more vocal opposition
would have developed. The Defense and State Depart-
ments have sold a bill of goods to Congress and to the
people. The Administration has presented a wholly one-
sided view of its policy.
A few predictions can safely be made:
1. From month to month West Germany will in-
tensify pressure to remove the few remaining restric-
tions placed on it. In the early period of its rearmament,
the German Republic as an “exposed area” will refrain
from manufacturing certain heavy weapons like bombers
and submarines. Nor will it engage in producing atomic
explosives, But the Pentagon intends that within a year
after the peace contract and European-army treaty come
into force West Germany shall join the Atlantic Alli-
ance. As the Bonn Republic settles into its position as
our ally, it will become harder and harder to say “no”
to German production of all types of armament.
2. As soon as West Germany has regained its military
strength, it will move to end German partition. If that
_ proves impossible by peaceable means, as succeeding
_ German governments grow more nationalistic, an inci-
dent near the frontier between East and West Germany
may precipitate military action.
3. As long as the bulk and élite of the French army
are shackled in Indo-China, it will be difficult to retard
the emergence of Germany as the Continent’s dominant
power.
4, When the Germans form their first divisions, they
will contain an important sprinkling of professional
soldiers, Despite the two-year conscription system to be
introduced, German ex-officers and non-coms will be
able to enlist voluntarily. As a result the German armed
(568
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cost I be readily expandable—as they were in the
ells and thirties. NS ata
ay.
a Germany will have a military machine that is $ dose
to being a national army. The original French concept of
German troops interlarded with those of five other na- ‘ :
tions has evaporated. Divisions in the European army —
will be almost independent. The Germans will have —
their own War Department, bearing a less nostalgic _ i
name. German general staff officers will be trained for
larger commands. Bonn will have its own supply and eo
maintenance organization. West Germany is no longer — :
playing the reluctant bride; its heart is increasingly back nS
in the military business. According to former French —
Defense Minister Jules Moch, 175 training centers are
already being created in West Germany.
6. We can assume that at least one East German divi-
sion will be raised to match every division the West
Germans put in the field. al
7. No one now believes that the condemned German —
war criminals will serve out their sentences. f
On all these aspects of the agreements before the Sen- ~~
ate, our State and Defense Departments have remained _
silent. If they had brought them to the notice of the
American people, many would have asked, “Is there no
alternative?” The answer is: “There was.” ‘aia.
Russia bears a large share of responsibility for the
failure to attempt to find a different solution. But we
bear a share too. g
In 1946 Secretary of State Byrnes proposed a United
States-British-French-Soviet pact to disarm and neutral- ,
ize all Germany for twenty-five or forty years. Moscow
was unresponsive, At that time Russian policy was to
keep Germany divided. Today Moscow regards a unified
Germany as the lesser evil. But the Byrnes offer is dead. |
Many European students of Soviet policy believe that —
until lately Russia was ready to withdraw from Eastern
Germany and allow a restoration of capitalism there in
return for neutralization of the whole country. As soon
as the peace contract and European-army treaty becomes
operative, however, Germany’s neutralization is ruled
out. When that happens, the Russians will no longer-be
interested in offering concessions on Germany.
Today it is we who have frozen the position by put-
ting West Germany’s inclusion in the anti-Soviet alliance | i
ahead of German unification. Where, short of Russia’s -
unconditional surrender, is there now a basis for accord . ”
on Germany? y
This is the background to the Senate's impending —
ratification of the German settlement. Few Americans —
are conscious of the meaning of this act. Fewer still have J de,
weighed the liabilities against the assets. But Europea
while murmuring “We do” at the shotgun wedding, are ~
alive to all these perils. That explains why the master of
ceremonies at Bonn quietly whisked away the Bee i
displaying the Rape of Europa. ti
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ITH the voting in South Dakota and California,
the first act of the Presidential campaign is over
and the scene now shifts to Chicago. Of the South
Dakota primary little more need be said than that the
German vote in the rural counties—isolationist and
opposed to Eisenhower as the occupier of Germany—
gave Senator Taft the slight margin which he appeared
to hold at this writing.
The California primary, however, ranks as one of the
best political stories of the pre-convention campaign.
Inquiries which we have made in California amply con-
firm Governor Warren's contention that more than
$500,000—most of which came from independent oil
interests—was poured into the campaign to elect the
. Republican slate of delegates headed by Representative
Thomas H. Werdel of Bakersfield. Backed by certain
groups that have developed a morose hatred of Warren,
the Werdel delegation received important support from
party “regulars” who have long resented the Governor's
habit of ignoring them on patronage matters. But the
mass base for this strange grudge revolt consisted of a
fairly large, rapidly growing, and angry Right: a herd of
frenzied, embittered folk, including elements of Vivien
Kellems’s “Liberty Belles,” Associated Farmers, anti-
Semites, paranoid haters of the United Nations, tax-
resisters, tax-refusers, and Partisan Republicans. This
neurotic movement has been growing in California for
the last five years and is a phenomenon that warrants
close and constant scrutiny. Powerful leadership was pro-
vided by John Francis Neylan, a regent of the University
of California, who has never forgiven Governor Warren
for his stand on the loyalty oath. (“Jack is never so
happy, the Governor said, “as when he is spraying
|. venom on somebody. This just happens to be my time
to get sprayed.”) The delegation pledged to Werdel
" sponsored meetings at which Taft and MacArthur were
loudly applauded and there can be little doubt that the
Taftites supported the movement. At one meeting, state
Senator Edward H. Tickle, serving as chairman, intro-
duced Jack Smith, a wealthy Southern California oil-
* man, with the remark: ‘He’s a grand guy. He foots the
bills for all of us.” Throughout the campaign, Governor
Warren was denounced as a “New Deal Trumanite” and
‘at one meeting a speaker charged that California was
“getting creeping communism under the brand of War-
ren’s socialism.” Leaders of the Werdel delegation,
which polled more than half a million votes, made it
| clear that they were against Warren but for Senator
| William F. Knowland.
\
| On the Democratic side, Senator Kefauver picked up
| sixty-eight delegates with a minimum investment of
energy and funds. The better than 2-to-1 margin by
which the so-called “free” delegation was defeated was
Rane
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is 8
not unexpected. The day following the Minnesota -
ptimaty, in which General Eisenhower received an im-
Ptessive write-in vote, President Truman instructed
Attorney General Edmund G, Brown to disband the “offi-
cial” Democratic delegation. Stunned by this move, the
“official” Democrats lost the initiative and for a time it
seemed likely that the Kefauver delegation would win
by default. Although Mr. Brown was able to reorganize
the delegation, little enthusiasm could be generated for
a ticket without a candidate. At the last moment, Presi-
dent Truman gave the “free” delegation his informal
benediction and dispatched Governor Adlai Stevenson to
California to do what he could to save the “official’”’
Democrats, but by then it was too late.
The Kefauver delegates, who will name the next Dem-
ocratic National Committeeman and Committeewoman,
are a highly miscellaneous group. The two most promi-
nent names—they are really the only well-known ones
—on the delegation are those of State Senator George
Miller, Jr., of Alameda, and John Anson Ford of Los
Angeles, long a member of the Board of Supervisors.
Both men, incidentally, have fine liberal records. On the
other hand, the “free’’ delegation included nearly every
“official” Democratic leader of any prominence, At
the last moment, James Roosevelt, National Committee-
man, made what a California political observer referred
to as “a Roman tandem leap’ from the “free’’ to the
Kefauver delegation—as an alternate!
HE most interesting result of the primary was
Knowland’s sweep of both party nominations. The
Senator's backers placed great emphasis in the primary
on the theory that if Knowland could win the Demo-
cratic nomination he might, with Governor Warren’s
backing, be an ideal running mate for General Eisen-
hower. As a Formosa-Firster, which Governor Warren is
not, Knowland might be able to win support from
Taft delegates. Should Knowland win the vice-presi-
dency, Warren would probably resign and then accept
appointment to Knowland’s six-year unexpired term
from Goodwin J. Knight, who would become Governor.
Representative Clinton McKinnon, who opposed Know-
land for the Democratic nomination, had almost no
campaign funds, received little support from the Na-
tional Committee, and would appear to have been the
sacrificial victim of an off-stage understanding. An analy-
sis of Knowland’s Democratic vote indicates that he
must have had the support of elements of the Malone
machine in San Francisco.
The California primary Mmdicates four things pris
clearly: that the collapse of the New Deal coalition,
which began in California in 1944, is now nearly com-
plete; that rank-and-file Democrats have revolted against
a system under which the National Committee makes
heavy financial levies in a state and then walks off with
569
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zation and candidates (a system described by Gifford
colonialism’); that the state cross-filing system has
wrought ever-greater havoc with political parties in
California (this fall the voters will finally have a chance
to modify the system) ; and that elements of the Malone
machine in San Francisco, seriously embarrassed by in-
vestigations of the local office of the Bureau of Internal
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United Nations, New York City
4HE Economic and Social Council now meeting in
New York does not offer so exciting a performance
as the General Assembly during a hot debate or the
Security Council when dealing with a “threat to the
peace.” The ECOSOC handles a long and heavy agenda,
covering the work of the United Nations in such fields
as economic development and human rights and review-
ing the annual reports of the many technical and re-
gional commissions and specialized agencies, some of
which have made a remarkable record. But the division
of opinion regarding such vital issues as a correct appre-
ciation of the present world economic situation or the
dramatic appeals for help from areas where millions
suffer utter want, give to these discussions a high politi-
cal and human value and a key to the many conflicts
within the United Nations itself.
Often there is confusion between the U. N. program
of technical assistance and the various programs launched
by individual nations or groups of nations. But of course
_ these national and international efforts are intimately
connected. The announcement by President Truman, in
January, 1949, of his grandiose ‘‘Point Four’’ plan acted
as a powerful incentive to the Economic and Social
Council and the General Assembly to work out an exten-
sive U. N. program of technical assistance. In Decem-
ber of the same year the Assembly fully endorsed such
@ program, based on a study made by the Economic and
Social Council during the summer. Its main idea was to
help the backward countries to strengthen their econo-
‘mies by developing their own resources, their agricul-
ture, and their industries, and to reach a higher standard
of living within the framework of economic and _politi-
cal independence.
The last point was strongly emphasized. Under no
citcumstances should economic aid be permitted to be-
come an instrument for establishing a new sort of im-
perialism or foreign domination, especially in an éra
570
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the funds, got caring what happeas to the local organi-
Phillips, publisher of Frontier, as a form of “‘political-
Sober Realism at the UN.
be put into underdeveloped countries, Congress preferred
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Revenue, have decided t way to have friends in
Washington i in 1953 is to support Republic n can andida > a
in 1952. es
It is pleasant to record, as a footnote, that state shart
tor Jack B. Tenney was soundly defeated for the Repub- —
lican nomination in the new 22nd Congressional District.
Tenney's defeat would seem to be about the only result _
of the primary to which California liberals might lift
their glasses in salute, se
BY J. ALVAREZ DEL VAYO
when the entire colonial system was in process of
crumbling to pieces. The most progressive voices in the
U.N. insisted that what people in the underdeveloped
countries wanted was “to be helped to help themselves”
and that the problem called for immense tact, a profound
understanding of the mind of the peoples involved, and
a determination not to play the role of benefactor in
order to bring a recipient country within any given
political or strategic area of influence. The long and
fascinating controversy in the press and among politi-
cal parties and groups in India over the issue of eco-
nomic aid from abroad illustrated better than anything
else the dilemma facing all underdeveloped areas: On
the one hand, there was a desperate need for assistance; oe
on the other, suspicion and fear lest behind any proffered — 7
aid might lurk the intention to influence India’s foreign
policy, undermine its neutrality, and menace its cher-
ished, newly won freedom.
N Geneva last September I heard much criticism
Ter American opposition to the establishment of an
international development fund. Over this opposition,
the majority in the ECOSOC stressed the necessity for
this fund. Summarizing the debate in the closing session,
even so circumspect a diplomat as the Council’s Presi- —
dent, Hernan Santa Cruz of Chile, found the courage to
declare that the Council had failed to carry out the wish
of the General Assembly that it should propose ‘‘practi- -
cal methods to obtain an increased flow of capital for —
financing the development programs of the underde- -
veloped countries.” It was evident then that the United —
States delegate, Isidor Lubin, in opposing the develop- —
ment fund, expressed prevailing trends in Washington:
first to concentrate all possible effort on financing the re- —
armament program and, second, to avoid commitments
for technical assistance which would be administered
through the United Nations. If American money was to bt
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oa that it be done, not under the label of United Nations
“technical assistance” but under the label of “Point
Four,” so that the United States would have the final
word as to how the aid should be used and could also
reap whatever moral and political advantages might
come from it. Naturally this attitude was an unpopular
one especially among the Asian members of the ECOSOC
who complained, on the one hand, about the concentra-
tion of aid in Western Europe, mainly for military pur-
poses, to the detriment of the countries of Asia, and on
the other, about the reluctance of the United States to act
through international imstrumentalities. The struggle
over the development fund has been resumed in the
present session of ECOSOC with the United States still
in opposition. But the attitude of the other members has
obliged Mr. Lubin to try to correct the bad impression
created at Geneva.
AST Wednesday he assured his colleagues that the
fear of economic collapse resulting from rearmament
lacked any substantial foundation; the United States, for
_ instance, is doing so well that readjustment would prove
far less difficult than at the close of World War II. Sec-
ond, he argued that a wide variety of plans projected by
many agencies with much money behind them assured a
great expansion of economic help for underdeveloped
areas. The year 1951, he said, had shown an increasing
volume of grants and loans, with everybody trying to
help: the Colombo plan, formulated by the British
Commonwealth countries, offering aid to Southeast Asia;
“the generous Norwegian people establishing a public
fund for aiding underdeveloped countries’; and the
United States continuing its assistance on “an increasing
scale.” It was a comprehensive and able speech which,
though carefully geared to the policy of containment and
of “peace through strength,” remained sensitively aware
of the spirit of revolt and dissatisfaction that character-
‘izes this fourteenth session of the Economic and Social
Council. Of course with a Congress busy cutting funds
for foreign aid, Mr. Lubin could only deal in generalities
as far as future American contributions were concerned;
in fact, at the moment he was speaking, $7,500,000
had just been cut from the $24,000,000 appropria-
tion asked by President Truman for the International
' Children’s Fund, one of the best ECOSOC agencies.
Mr. Lubin’s optimism was not shared by some of the
other speakers. For example, the delegate of Pakistan
explained how the prosperity that had smiled on his part
of the world as the result of the armaments boom had
given way to a grave economic crisis. His views were
supported by Pakistan’s Foreign Minister, Zafrulla Khan,
who said on June 2: “Occasionally policies may be wrong
but the world is going through a series of upheavals and
- trials and unless the attitude is one of cooperation and
| sympathy, help and assistance, none of us will pull
June 14, 1952
s -
through.” Speakers fer France, Sweden, and the Philip< —
pines also sounded an ominous note.
In general the spirit prevailing in the Council re-
flects the courageous realism with which Gunnar Myrdal,
one of the outstanding personalities in the United Na-
tions and executive secretary of the Economic Commis- —
sion for Europe, visualizes the world situation and the
duties of the organization. Speaking at the closing meet-
ing of the seventh session of the ECE in Match of this
year at Geneva, Mr. Myrdal bluntly stated that “our com-
mititees are gradually being transformed into purely
Western bodies—perhaps I should more adequately say
non-Eastern-European bodies.” His speech implied strong
disapproval of the sabotage of attempts to put an end to”
the present world tension by trying to penetrate the wall
between East and West. It is clear that he is not one of
those bureaucrats so abundant in the United Nations who
easily confound the initials U. N. and U. S., and that if
his services are still wanted some positive accomplish-
ment will have to be shown, not by the end of the cen-
tury but in this year of 1952. As he said in the speech
quoted above: ‘The next months will give the practical
answer to the question whether this commission as a
working organ of the United Nations will again become
the all-European body it was intended to be when it
was founded.”
YRDAL has been working hard to find an answer
M to the basic problem of reaching agreement with
Russia in ways which will avoid a general collapse of the
Western economy, including that of the United States
which is tied so closely to the rearmament program. He
believes this can be accomplished only through a great
expansion of East-West trade and of development pro-
grams all over the world. A man talking and acting as
Gunnar Myrdal does, is bound to find obstacles in a
United Nations bureaucracy which, as times goes on,
shows a spirit closer to that of NATO than of the
United Nations. But the ECE and its dynamic Secretary
General do not easily give up. They may find some en-
coufagement in the new bid to the Western countries
to resume trade with Russia offered by the Soviet dele-
gate Georgi P. Arkadyev, in his speech of last Thursday.
Over the present discussions of the Economic and
Social Council hangs the shadow of the worsening world
situation. The economists are aware that all the talk
about achieving a balance of strength by 1954 which will
end tension, encourage East-West trade, permit a shift
from arms production to a peace economy and social
progress, with more aid to the underdeveloped countries
and all the rest, is only a fairy tale to ease the anxiety
of average citizens everywhere. Knowing better, the ex-
perts do not look for an early return to prosperity under
a peace economy. In a time of self-delusion like the
present, their sober opinions are worth listening to.
571
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T HAS become axiomatic that labor—provided it can
I organize itself for the polls as well as it has in the
shops—can swing any Presidential election. This year's
will be no exception. In a recent survey, Elmo Roper
points out that the trade unionists, together with such
of their families as are qualified to vote, represent 28 per
cent of the electorate. He emphasizes one further im-
portant fact: two of every three labor votes are likely to
be cast for the Democratic candidate “unless Republican
candidate popularity or the issues themselves upset this
tendency.” (Italics ours.)
BY GEORGE M. HARRISON
7 ere
. aS hes oe! X ,
KE Sutra AAA 5
Ry” od ony (oe
s
What are the issues as labor sees them? In The Na-
tion of May 10 Hugo Ernst, general president of the
Hotel and Restaurant Employees and Bartenders In-
ternational Union (A. F. of L.), set forth his views
in an article which was widely reprinted in the labor
press. In the two comments below, The Nation extends
its sampling of labor opinion. The first is by the
president of one of the great A. F. of L. railroad unions;
the second is a digest of opinion solicited by The Nation
from labor spokesmen (both A. F, of L. and C, I. O.)
representing nearly all sections of the country.
Ibe Economic Royalists Are Paving the Way to Fascism
HE issue, as I see it, is to check the economic royal-
ists before they bring the world down around our
ears. Since Franklin D. Roosevelt's death the money-
changers have been coming back. It's time to stop them.
First these economic royalists killed price control, then
each year after 1946 they put up their prices—and their
profits. In 1949 they took a breather, but in 1950, even
before the Korean shooting, they began to build up
toward another profits spree. In “peace time” 1951 net
corporation profits were double the high-water level of
World War 1.
The arrogance of the profiteers has known no bounds.
Their handymen in Congress wrote a Defense Produc-
tion Act which put the federal government into the
business of buying plants with the people’s money and
turning them over as a gift to private corporations.
What else does the DPA’s “fast write-off” of de-
fense facilities mean? The government has been issuing
“certificates of necessity” to one giant corporation after
another—allowing them to retain profits, which would
otherwise be taxed, to be applied against their capital in-
vestment. Where normally a company recovers its invest-
ment in twenty to thirty years, under the Defense Pro-
duction Act many companies can now get their money
back in five as “defense essential.” ,
No one questions that a steel mill is a defense essen-
tial. So, however, is a steel worker, or a railroad worker
who runs the train which carts away the steel, or a clerk
who does the bookkeeping, or a restaurant worker who
feeds them. But no one gives the worker a free house or
caf, as the government gives away free plants.
GEORGE M. HARRISON, grand president of the Brother~
hood of Railway and Steamship Clerks, is one of the most
influential leaders of the A. F. of L.
372
Big business has become so arrogant that the steel in-
dustry was ready to provoke a strike to browbeat the
government into allowing it five times the price increase
it needed to absorb the wage increases recommended by
the Wage Stabilization Board.
The issue, as I see it, is to check the economic royalists
before their top-heavy profits pile collapses our eco-
nomic underpinnings. Inflation is already building up
toward deflation and a depression. If this is allowed to
happen, the result will be disastrous.
Beyond this, big business profiteering is causing our
European allies to distrust our motives in calling for re-
armament. Our own profiteers have made it possible for
the Russians to argue, with increasing effect, that our
paramount interest is profits at the expense of the world.
Abroad there is growing mistrust. At home, there is
Redfield in the Dispa
_ “Fortunately, while our workers’ wages are frozen,
our profits are fluid.”
3 The N, T
, San Francisco
oN
|
_ viding for “thought control’
=, WER, ft | Ci
a ioe ae At eo
- growing ai that big-business control of our rearma-
_ ment program may produce a degree of counter-arma-
ment that can only end up in wat.
The economic royalists need to 5 be curbed because they
are driving us toward the totalitarian state. The tremen-
dous economic concentrations brought about by the
armaments program can be maintained only through
forms of political power which are inconsistent with
normal American political life. There must be concentra-
tions of power in the state to match the concentrations of
economic power. In other words, the state will take ona
fascist form, pretending to serve all the people but actu-
ally protecting only the concentrated wealth of the few.
The trend toward the totalitarian state is only too ap-
parent. That this is the way we may be headed is becom-
ing increasingly clear by the restraints being placed on
labor. It is in the very nature of organized labor to resist
concentrations of economic power. It is in the nature of
A_SYMPOSIUM
labor to criticize and to dissent trom policies which run
counter to the welfare of the people. But criticism, dis-
sent, and the ordinary forms of labor activity will not be
tolerated in the totalitarian state. Thus the virulent op-
position of big business to the union shop on the rail-
roads and in steel is not at all surprising. Cutting down
the strength of labor is one very important step in the
direction of controlling it. It is also not surprising to
note the restraints being placed on ordinary constitu-
tional liberties because it is within the framework of
such liberties alone that free labor can exist.
The economic royalists will, if not restrained, destroy
the basis of economic democracy, undermine constitu-
tional liberties, and in so doing give aid and comfort to
the forces driving toward war and annihilation.
The issue, as I see it, is to curb the economic royalists
and give the country back to the people. And to do so
before it is too late!
The Planks Labor Wants in the 1952 Platforms
[The Nation sent a questionnaire to A. F. of L. and
C. I, O. leaders in ten states, representing nearly all sec-
tions of the country, asking among other things: (1)
From labor's point of view, what are the planks indis-
pensable to a winning platform? (2) Can the Democrats
win if they retreat from the party's 1948 platform on
civil rights or key labor issues, such as the Taft-Hartley
Act? Digests of the answers received from each of the
labor leaders questioned appear below.)
FRANK ROSENBLUM, general secretary-treasurer of
the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America
(C. I. O.), New York.
Labor wants effective price controls, including rents;
expanded social security, including unemployment com-
pensation based on uniformity of payments among the
states; equitable taxation, with more relief for low-in-
come groups and with proper excess-profit taxes; repeal
of the Taft-Hariley Act and restoration of provisions of
| . the Wagner Act; adequate housing for low and mod-
| erate-income families; national health insurance; federal
aid to education; civil-rights legislation to implement
constitutional guaranties for all minorities (anti-poll-
tax, anti-lynching, and permanent. FEPC legislation) ;
repeal of the McCarran and Smith acts and other regu-
lations curtailing the basic rights of individuals and pro-
"; positive efforts toward a
resolution of the basic issues involved in international
tensions so that the threat of a world war and its con-
} sequences will be eliminated.
| June 14, 1952
I believe the Democratic Party’s only hope for vic-
tory is in a straightforward platform based on these is-
sues. Generally speaking, all American groups except the
“special-interest” groups fear the return to power of
the Republicans with their present leadership. This was
the major reason for the Democratic victory in 1948; it
could be the decisive factor again, provided the party
platform is forthright and constructive.
BARNEY HOPKINS, secretary-treasurer of the Michi-
gan State C. 1. O. Council.
The chief issues are restrictive labor laws, civil rights,
monopolistic practices of giant corporations, anti-infla-
tionary measures, farm subsidies and conservation, flood
control and public power projects, the Great Lakes sea-
way, support of the free nations against Communist and
fascist aggression, and federal aid to education.
The Democrats have no hope of victory if they retreat
from their 1948 platform on civil rights or key labor
issues.
JOHN M. EKLUND, American Federation of Teach-
ers (A. F. of L.), Colorado.
Labor is demanding legislation to protect the workers’
right to organize, including that of public workers; a
foreign policy based on continuation and expansion of
Point Four and the full functioning of the United Na-—
tions and its agencies; social security, including medical
insurance; stable economic policies based on the estab-
573
a
—
'
ane) ewe
patity program for farmers; government reorganization
along the lines of the Hoover commission plan, and fed-
eral aid for schools.
There is no question but that a strong position against
the Taft-Hartley law and for civil rights will enhance
Democratic chances for victory.
PAUL C. SPARKS, executive secretary, Texas State Fed-
eration of Labor (A. F. of L.).
Labor, I believe, will want planks supporting Point
Four, social security, public housing, labor legislation,
: - fair taxation, inflation control, the United Nations, the
mutual-security program, and a plank requiring the pay-
ment of prevailing wages to contract labor from Mexico,
In my opinion, any retreat from liberal principles
might break up the Democratic Party. As for the Taft-
Hartley Act, it won't attain full stature as a political
issue until there is slack employment and wider use of
the law.
ELIZABETH NORD, Textile Workers Union of Amer-
ica (C. I. O.), Rhode Island.
I see the major issues as repeal of the Taft-Hartley
‘at, full employment with adequate unemployment com-
pensation, price controls, regional development, civil
rights, equitable tax policies, and aid to friendly coun-
tries. I believe that the national Political Action Com- —
mittee will submit planks to this effect to the Democratic
| es convention. I think it unlikely that the Democrats can
win if they weaken their 1948 platform on civil rights
and labor issues.
JAMES F. CHRISTIE, Vermont State C. 1. O. Council.
The chief issues are the Taft-Hartley law, a national
health-insurance law, public power, FEPC, and civil
rights. It is perfectly clear that any backtracking by the
- Democrats from their 1948 position on civil rights and
labor issues will lose them all hope of victory in 1952.
__ S. B. HOFFMAN and ARTHUR G. McDOWELL,
general president and divector, respectively, of the
Upholsterers’ International Union of North America
et A. F. of L.), Philadelphia.
To win labor support, a candidate must have the ability
to unite the couniry and to command respect. He must
_ be willing to accept realistically the great changes in so-
cial legislation and distribution of national income which
have resulted from the Roosevelt reforms; he must com-
574
i re ae ae
lishment of a fair parity between prices and wages; a bine this pais. with a fresh approach to cus
Y ie | é r
bi pat WA
problems of domestic economy and the problem of
defeating Communist aggression by measures sup ble
mentary to military action in order to avoid World |
War III.
One thing is clear: the Democrats, if they want labor
support, must not include in their platform such reac- —
tionary planks as Senator Russell's conception of civil —
rights or the Dixiecrat stand on labor legislation. F
RAY W. ATKINSON, Washington State C. 1, oO.
Council.
Among the important issues is the extension of eco- ‘d
nomic as well as military aid to under-privileged peo- —
ples. On the domestic front, labor favors low-cost —
housing; extension of the social-security, program to in-
clude among other things, disability insurance; the Tru- "
man civil-rights program (and, by the same token, labor
opposes the destruction of civil liberties by investigating -
bodies); repeal or drastic modification of the Taft- —
Hartley Act; and development of natural resources and
flood control along the lines of the TVA. We are op- ©
posed to universal military training and to military
control of atomic energy, and we support full coopera-
tion with the United Nations,
The Democrats cannot afford this year to weaken in i
any way their 1948 stand on civil rights and on labor —
issues. oa
HUGH BRYSON, National Union of Marine Cooks and —
Stewards (Independent), San Francisco.
The key issues, as we see them, are repeal of the Taft- _
Hartley, McCarran, Smith, and other repressive acts; 4
negotiations among China, Great Britain, France, the
Soviet Union, and the United States for a lasting peace
and permanent disarmament; abolition of the poll tax,
anti-lynch legislation, and a permanent FEPC; low-cost —
housing, socialized medicine, full employment, and other q
economic-security legislation. 4
The Democratic Party fell through some of these very 4
planks after nailing them into their 1948 platform. Lip _
service is not enough. Our members supported the |
Progressive Party in 1948; the two old parties do not’
represent the working people of this country. . #
George Brown of the Oregon State C. I. O. Cnugates a
and James A. Suffridge, secretary-treasurer of the Retail - |
Clerks International Association (A. F. of L.) in Indi- a
ana, indicated in their answers that their organizations |
expected the Democratic Party to hold fast to the liberal —
planks of its 1948 oe ee
_ ES OV !,.,lU
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Balks on Reven
London
HEN Richard Stokes recently attacked the Par-
liamentary secretary to the Ministry of Defense
on the use of napalm bombs in Korea, veteran news-
papermen in the press gallery began to take notice. The
journalists generally ignore criticism of the United
States-United Nations campaign in Korea when it comes
from members on the left-pacifist fringe of the Labor
Party such as Emrys Hughes or Sidney Silverman. They
expect sharp attacks on American policy in Korea from
Bevanites such as Barbara Castle or Tom Driberg. But
they know well that British politics is like an iceberg,
with most of its solid bulk below the surface; new surface
contours are produced only by thrusts from below.
When Stokes asked for steps to stop napalm bombs
from “falling on areas which are predominantly civil-
ian,” speculation started as to whether the former Cabi-
net minister was speaking primarily for the Labor Party
or for the Catholic church, of which he is a leading polit-
ical voice, Interest was further whetted when Viscount
Hinchingbrooke, a true-blue Conservative, asked whether
it was wise to continue the use “of these weapons, the
propaganda counterblast of which greatly exceeds their
initial military effect . . .” Conservative Brigadier Frank
Medlicott asked: “How can we possibly justify being
the first to use a weapon which is repellant to many
right-thinking people?”
The use of the napalm bomb has been a public issue
here since last March when the Manchester Gwardian,
Britain's most distinguished Liberal newspaper, quoted
a shocking description of a napalm victim from the book
“Korea Reporter,’ by Rene Cutforth, B. B. C.’s Korean
correspondent
In front of us a curious figure was standing, a
- little crouchedylegs straddled, arms held out from his
_ sides. He had no eyes, and the whole of his body, nearly
all of which was visible through tatters of burnt rags,
was covered with a hard black crust speckled with yel-
low pus. A Korean woman by his side began to speak,
and the interpreter said: ‘‘He has to stand, sir, he can-
not sit or lie.’” He had to stand because he was no longer
covered with a skin, but a crust like crackling which
broke easily . . . I thought of the hundreds of villages
reduced to ashes which I persomally had seen and
realized the sort of casualty list which must be mount-
ing up along the Korean front.
Commented the Guardian: ‘We must think of what
ANDREW ROTH is a staff contributor.
June 14, 1952
BY ANDREW ROTH
would happen in Europe if there were to be a war.
Napalm is now said to be a standard weapon for air
bombing, especially in close support of ground troops.
Are our field ambulances ready to cope with the con-
sequences?”
When the British Defense Ministry’s Parliamentary
secretary, Nigel Birch, replied to a series of questions on
the napalm bomb on May 14, he pointed out delicately
that “the napalm bomb has not been used by United
Kingdom forces in Korea,” thereby carefully labeling it
an American weapon.
URING the lively debate on the day Mr. Stokes at-
tacked the napalm bomb, Chistopher Mayhew pur-
sued the question of North Korean and Chinese prisoners
of war. Mr. Mayhew, a right-wing Laborite, was Under-
Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs under Ernest Bevin
and is considered one of the most pro-American of Labor
members. He attacked the handling of prisoners as “‘ex-
tremely disturbing and unsatisfactory,” suggesting that
by proper use of “administration and psychology” a great
many prisoners could be persuaded to accept repatriation
without jeopardizing those “who have genuine grounds
for fearing reprisals when they return home.”
Two days later the Times used unusually strong lan-
guage in attacking the handling of the prisoners: “Un-
fortunately the chaos in the prisoner-of-war camps and
the incompetence of some of the American officers in
charge of them has inevitably thrown doubt on the
efficiency with which the prisoners were ‘screened,’ It
is difficult to believe that all of the 60,000-odd prisoners
who refused repatriation are really in danger of persecu-
tion if they go back. .. . It does. suggest that the screen-
ing should be done again more carefully by an impartial
commission.”
On one aspect of the prisoners’ issue, virtually all
Britons except the miniscule Communist minority are
united. As the socialist New Statesman and Nation puts
it: “There is an arguable case for giving asylum to
prisoners who are in real danger if they go home...”
The right of political asylum is ingrained in the fabric
of British life, as Karl Marx and others have found.
But even the most pro-American organs have serious
doubts as to the fairness of the screening procedure. The
Economist (May 24) admits that “it may be that screen-
ing officers and propagandists have been too zealous.” A ~
correspondent of the passionately pro-American Ob-
server, recently returned from Korea, wrote (May 18):
“The introduction last year of about forty Chinese-lan-
375
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the effect of shifting the power in some of the Chinese
compounds towards Nationalist elements and away from
the Communists.” The Church Times recently said:
The reason why so many Chinese refuse to go home
is that they have had it drilled into them by their
American captors that, if they return, they will be
punished and probably executed. In the last few
weeks, the American authorities in Korea have re-
versed their propaganda policy towards prisoners. They
have been told of the assurance given by the Chinese
negotiators that there will be no victimization of return-
ing prisoners of war. But the American reversal of pol-
icy has come too late. The prisoners will not change
their minds again.
Many Britons are afraid that by insisting on repatria-
tion, the United States may destroy the fabric of the
Geneva Convention so painfully renegotiated in a four-
month session in 1949, As the International Committee
of the Red Cross wrote in introducing the agreement:
“The principle of the immediate liberation of prisoners
at the close of hostilities had. . . to be reaffirmed .. .”
This was underlined in Article 118: ‘Prisoners of war
shall be released and repatriated without delay after the
cessation of active hostilities.’’ Article 7 said that pris-
onets “may in no circumstances renounce in part or in
entirety the rights secured by them .. .”
Both the Communist and the anti-Communist states
were very anxious in 1949 to adopt this obligatory word-
ing. In fact, according to diplomats who participated
in the discussions, the British and Canadian delegates at
Geneva argued strongly against giving prisoners of war
any tight to resist repatriation. Speaking scornfully of
Beyond Comment
He gave it as his further opinion that “perhaps a
good war is the way to world peace.”—Dr. V. O.
Watts, former economist for the Los Angeles Chamber
of Commerce, as quoted in the Los Angeles Daily
News.
By way of explanation to Elizabeth’s many friends
for not being united in her home church in Alabama
. neither our daughter nor we could compromise our
Christian conscience by acquiescing to the anti-Chris-
tian and communistic “‘blood-test’”’ requirements of
Alabama. Our hats are off to the superior spiritual in-
telligence of Mississippi—From special announcement
Section of the Birmingham, Alabama, News.
Good talk with keen minds is essential to the devel-
opment of an orderly set of opinions, and that is a
working tool that is rather hard to come by in business.
—Clarence B. Randall, president of the Inland Steel
Company, in the New York Herald Tribune. ;
~ such occasion occurred in December, 1950, when Mr. j
“Their motives will be various. There <i ae =
viduals who rightly expect that if they return to their
own countries they will be prosecuted for crimes for
which, if they are guilty, they ought to be punished.
There will be individuals who want to remain in the —
Detaining Power's country because conditions such i.
as food and treatment, etc., are better than in their —
own country. There will be individuals, and this is
ptobably the largest category of all, who will want to:
remain because of liaisons with women. .
.
a
oh,
:
oa
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UNG
The fact seems to be that Britain in 1949 was thinking ‘"
in terms of possible war with Russia and the importance —
of securing the rapid repatriation of Western pian 4
on the cessation of conflict. a
These voices reflect Britain's growing anxiety to reduc }
Western commitments in Korea in favor of Europe, he
the Middle East, and Southeast Asia, i
ET the Forcign Secretary and his associates are .
touchy about any public suggestion that they pres-
sure the United States on Korea. In public the British
government is full of praise for everything the United — a
States does there. But privately Britain actively tries to iB:
restrain the Americans wherever this is thought neces- 4
sary. Thus, in early May, while Anthony Eden was |
staunchly defending the United States in Commons, his |
diplomatic envoys in Washington and the United Nations —
were trying to modify American policy on prisoners in |
Korea. The Economist some months ago described the
Foreign Office as feeling that on Korea “silence is |
golden” and that “any unsealing of ministerial lips —
would only disclose and thereby exacerbate basic differ- |
ences of policy between London and Washington.” |
Except when there is a serious crisis brewing over —
Korea, this distinctively British self-discipline char -
acterizes the “responsible” press as well. The Times —
“covers” Korea through its New York office. Two for- |
eign correspondents and an editor have lost their jobs in —
Fleet Street for excessive frankness on Korea. Now-only —
the Daily Worker's reporter exhibits any active desire
to embarrass the Foreign Office spokesman on Korea dure i
ing the daily press conference. ie
- It is only when leading Britons believe a vital issue
is at stake do they toss aside their normal restraint. One
Attlee flew to Washington to throw his weight into the |
balance against extending the Korean war to the Se
mainland, A minor tempest flared briefly in Novembe: he
brewing. Many Britons feel unless peace is achieved
in Korea, it may be lost forever.
a” ®
ree Pe ee ~ #
PT he Che of Bob Connolly ‘|
HE artist for the Rand Daily Mail of Johannes- ten The Nation as follows: “The consul has said that
burg, South Africa, is Bob Connolly, formerly of | I would not lose the protection of the United States.
Paterson, New Jersey, who still retains his American However, the regulations they read to me still say that
citizenship. Mr. Connolly has no use for “Natism’’—-the ‘no American citizen is permitted to pattake in politics
racist and nationalist philosophy of the Malan regime— _in a foreign country in any way.’ My cartoons have been |
and has attacked it so sharply that Eric Louw, South _ political for fifteen years during the Smuts-Hertzog, the |
African Minister of Economic Affairs, recently told Smuts, and the present Malan regimes. The consul has ,
Parliament that if Mr. Connolly was an American “it sent a report on my status to Washington. Next comes |
was disgraceful that he should publish such cartoons in Washington’s ruling.”
South Africa.” Mr. Louw’s speech led the American Below are three of the cartoons which brought Mr, i
consul to investigate Mr. Connolly, who has since writ- | Connolly into trouble. |
pyc)
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G4
| , 8 WK
Ue Re bis
et aa
only
| TAM St
4 - . : Th)
} Se ae 3 <i
| it ; The Grim Ripper
4 {Published after hooligans had attacked
}. an anti-Malanist with a sickle.}
“0) L : une 14; 1952
Why Didn't Someone Tell Him? |
\
[C. R. Swart is Ministers of Justice ia i
Dr. Malan’s Nationalist cabinet.} }
i
377
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oT be Challenge of Mi
UTURE relations between the almost 400 million
Moslems and the West may well depend upon the
handling of the Moroccan question in the course of the
present year. If it is mishandled, we may find ourselves
facing a new “Indo-Chinese struggle” on the doorstep of
Europe and the concerted enmity of Morocco, Algeria,
and Tunisia toward all nations committed by alliance to
~ France. In order to save its colonial rule in Morocco,
France is mow speaking of “integration” rather than
“colonization.” But there is no magic in that vague term
to out-balance the shortcomings of France's Protectorate
policy.
Much of the French record in Morocco is highly
estimable: a medieval land, on the verge of disruption,
has become peaceful, prosperous, and comparatively mod-
-ern. But the Moroccans’ share in the prosperity has been
only incidental, for the chief aim of French reforms has
been to transform Morocco into an adjunct to the econ-
omy of France and to provide French emigrés with jobs
or sources of enrichment. Settlers’ interests have in-
variably prevailed over native needs.
While in the forty years of the French Protectorate
enough money has been found to build magnificent
government buildings, post offices, railway stations, resi-
dences for French officials, the welfare of the natives
has been outrageously neglected. 5 7.5 per cent
of the native children have schools;
for a native population of nine a
million there are fewer than 250
state-employed doctors; the death
rate of children below one year is ©
283.6 per thousand, the highest in
the world; the first school for na-
‘tive administrators was not founded until 1950—even
then it provided for fewer than sixty pupils. After forty
years of the Protectorate there are still no genuine demo-
cratic elections, no legislative assembly, no freedom of
expression, of assembly, or of travel. Moroccans are still
. forbidden to form their own trade unions, Imprison-
ment without trial has become a commonplace, and in
the rural areas a Moroccan has not eyen the right to be
defended by an attorney.
In view of the Protectorate’s political record it is
hardly surprising that nationalism should have become
the second religion of the Moroccan people. In order
to discredit it, the French have been claiming for years
ROM LANDAU, a British expert on Islamic affairs, is the
author of many books and articles on Morocco.
p53 18
wi ae
orocco
ei
‘%
;
oy
a
’
BY ROM LANDAU |
that close collaboration exists between the nationalists _ 4
and the Communists. Together with French allegations 4
that the nationalists are “religious fanatics” such charges |
belong to the realm of fiction. I have known Alal el
Fassi, founder and head of the Istiqlal Party, and Si
Ahmed Balafredj, its secretary, for several years, Both .
men, and the minor nationalist leaders as well, abhor —
communism. Most of them are pious Moslems and view
the future independence of their country in terms of tra-
ditional Islam. They are, for all that, strongly opposed
to the influence of the religious fraternities among which
superstition and a reactionary spirit are rampant, and
which the French are supporting for their own political —
ends. Even the youth of the Karaouine University at Fez, .
the largest and oldest educational institution in Morocco, |
is passionately nationalist and deeply religious, but —
opposed to both communism and the “fraternities.” i
N THE fall of this year the Arab League will |
t.. insist that the United Nations Assembly discuss
the question of Moroccan independence, Last December
the demand of the league was defeated by three votes. if
It is not impossible that this time the vote will be re-— i
versed, The question arises, therefore: are the Moroc-
cans ready to govern themselves, or is their country likely —
to become another liability of the United Nations?
The Moroccans know very well that they have no
reserve of native executives, experts, and administrators
to form a skeleton ahd sinews. Genuine and intensive |
training for self-administration will be their very first -]
demand. French offers to provide such training will no d D
longer. be accepted by the Moroccans; the pattern of —
resident-generals, permanent officials, and privileged |
French experts—all of whom are the willing tools of the —
French settlers on the spot—is too well known to in-
spire confidence. Assuming that the Moroccans would —
agree to an interim period before complete independence f,
is granted, they would insist that the tutelage years be J.
spent under the supervision of a United Nations com~
of
i
Om
Lip
~ mission or a neutral controller. q
Morocco already has a number of men capable of as~
suming responsibility, and the Moroccans are an intelli- |
gent and highly adaptable people. Their ancient tradi .
tions of independence and self-government are still very bs
much alive, and it would not take them long to produce },
the needed experts. No one can possibly foretell how },
long the period of training must be. My guess would be
about ten years. Anyhow, neither the Sultan not the |,
ea! Rei
Be erate cman rams et et me
_setvices of such French experts as may be willing to
_ work loyally in an independent Morocco. But such ex-
_ perts must not expect to keep their present monopoly of
“plum” posts, For the Moroccans hope to have Ameri-
can, British, and other technicians and advisers as well,
and they wish to revive the policy of the “Open Door,”
as laid down by the Act of Algeciras of 1906, according
to which all nations would enjoy equal trade rights in
Morocco. The Moroccans are prepared to sign a treaty of
alliance with France, and to guarantee all legitimate
| French interests in their country. But they will sign such
| a treaty only after having gained their freedom.
| _ Under the projected Moroccan constitution, the
_ equality and status of minorities is guaranteed. Such
| Frenchmen, Jews, or other minorities as accept Moroccan
citizenship will enjoy exactly the same rights as Moroc-
cans of the Moslem faith.
In their present mood of frustration and disillusion,
- the Moroccans are not likely to accept any French or
United Nations proposal that falls short of complete
independence. Thus, the chief task of the Western de- —
mocracies, and of American diplomacy in particular, will
be to persuade the Moroccans to see the value of an
interim period of, say, five to fifteen years. They
might accept such a proposal provided a definite date for
independence were underwritten by the United Nations.
Equally important will be the task of persuading the
French that the continuation of a regime that is ob-
noxious not only to nine million Moroccans, but also to
forty times as many Moslems spread throughout the
world, is dangerous for future relations between Islam
and the West. The good will of the Moslem world must
surely count for more than the selfish interests of the
few thousand French settlers on Moroccan soil,
| The Mutual Fund Beahon
OU too can own a share of American industry.
You too can employ top financial minds to invest
} your money. Why worry? Let the bright boys of the
stock-and-bond tables do your worrying while you cash
# the dividend checks. With such happy thoughts Wall
} Street has found the pot of gold at the end of the rain-
| | bow. In the past decade mutual funds have become Wall
| Street's most promising source of income. When noth-
f ing else can be sold, mutual funds find ready buyers.
| Today assets of these funds total around three and a
half billion dollars compared with one billion dollars
©] ten yeats ago.
st Mutual funds used to be called investment trusts.
© “During the stock-market boom of the 1920's, the in-
_—lCU
iW véstment-trust idea sprouted with the vigor characteristic’
#19) of that whoop-de-doo era. Then as now it was argued
eH that the “little investor” needed the protection which
im} expert trust managements could give them. At the height
dif<of the boom Tri-Continental Corporation, Adams Ex-
ae press Company, Blue Ridge Corporation, General Amer-
5%] ican Investors Company,-and Lehman Corporation were
om formed. They were, and are, “closed-end” trusts, differ-
| ing from the currently more popular “open-end” type.
if A closed-end fund is one which has issued a stated
yal] amount of securities and, generally, plans to issue no
git] more. The open-end funds issue stock each day if they
jeg can find a buyer. They grow and grow as more buyers
pitjare found. Shares in closed-end funds are bought and
jwi}psold at market prices. Many are listed on the New York
sia |
gf @PWILLIAM G. FERRIS is market editor in the Chicago
fh bureau of the Associated Press.
June 14,1952
BY WILLIAM G. FERRIS
Stock Exchange. Open-end-fund shares are bought
through securities salesmen from the fund. The price is
based on the market price of the securities in the fund's
portfolio, Open-end funds will buy back what they have
sold you. The purchase price, like the sales price, de-
pends on the market price of the securities in the fund’s
portfolio,
However, the price at which you can buy on any given
day is always higher than the price at which you can sell.
This price differential is the “load.” It usually averages
from 6 to 8 per cent of the value of the stocks in the
fund’s portfolio. The charge is split between the fund
and the investment house which sells the fund’s shares.
Presumably, it is a legitimate charge for the high-priced
management which directs the fund’s buying and selling
of securities.
Obviously it takes a lot of dividends to make up for
this load. A return of 6 per cent a year on invested
money is very handsome, but even that might not equal-
ize the load. Ordinarily you would have to hold shares
for more than a year to come out even, assuming no rise
in their price. The load can be compared with commis-
sions and taxes which must be paid when you buy and
sell stock through a brokerage house. These also mount
up. On odd. lots—tless than 100 shares—you pay % or
Y% point more than the market price when buying and
receive ¥% or % point under the market price when
selling.
Because closed-end funds were in existence in 1929, it
is possible to test their performance during a depression.
Their performance was rotten. Lehman Corporation
originally was offered to the public at $104 a share. In
S79:
Pot penne
11932 it brought $30.50. Heve is the record of aes
1929 highs and 1932 lows of closed-end funds (source:
Moody’s Investment Trusts) :
1929 High
PMGMNS EXDtEss. «i eaves vee
DMO. 2 v5 Grd ¥r.n tes sa's
General American Investors....
Railway and Light Securities...
Tri-Continental Corporation... ..
1932 Low
110
20%
Let’s put this another way. Suppose you were one of
those naive investors who wanted experienced, compe-
tent financial management to handle your money in
1929. To give yourself this protection you put $2,000 in
- Blue Ridge Corporation, At the low point in 1932 this
investment, guided by the sophisticated men of finance,
was worth a princely $50.
It can be said for the funds that at least they are still
operating. Investments in some of the wilder offerings of
the 1920's were completely wiped out. And the funds do
share in the boom times. The Lehman stock bought at
$104 in 1929 would be worth around $140 today, giv-
ing effect to a three-for-one split in 1937. Dividends
have been paid each year. Chrysler Corporation, which
sold at a high of $135 in 1929, also would be worth
around $140 today, after giving effect to a two-for-one
split in 1947.
In the post-war years the open-end funds have out-
stripped the closed-end variety in popular favor. They
have at least one great advantage: since not many of
them were around in ’29 and ’30, how they fared in the
depression cannot be checked. An exception is Massa-
chusetts Investors Trust, biggest of all the mutual funds.
Founded in Boston in March, 1929, it has had on its
board of directors over the years such honored Back Bay
mames as Lowell, Cabot, and Adams. It sold as high as
64% in 1929 and as low as 107% in 1932.
While there has been no steep decline in stock prices
since the 1929-32 period, a fairly severe shake-out de-
veloped late in 1937. How did the open-end mutual
funds weather this squall? Did their managements see it
coming and get out in time?
Here is the record of seven large, highly respected,
representative funds for 1937 (source: Moody’s Invest-
ment Trusts) :
High Low
$ 3.99
1.18
15:37,
15.24
18.83
65.87
12.40
PAGHIATed “FUNG. a/0 v o6 ov oe eee
Wiividesd: Shares... 0005 cece
Fundamental Investors..........
Incorporated Investors..........
Massachusetts Investors Trust... .
State Street Investment Corp.....
Wellington Fund..............
2.36
Clearly, the wisdom of mutual-fund managements did
not enable the funds to escape this shake-out.
oy i
$5, - <
eS
ae eat sole a rersification Gort
little investor. Instead of putting all b his aan in one
basket, he lets a mutual fund put it in many. There ,
is some protective feature in this, since over a short term
stocks of companies in different industries have varying —
market movements. However, in any general market de-.
cline, such as was experienced in 1937, most stocks move 4
in one direction.
The little fellow who places his money in a mutual «
fund is doubtless better off than he who takes a flyer in ’
some wild-cat stock-promotion scheme. He can be as-—
sured that, even if the funds have not had much success ©
in judging the market, they at least are trying to be wary. |
Furthermore, in the past ten years of war and inflation the —
mutual funds have provided a better place to put money j i
than have government bonds or the bank, But, then, so !
have the vast majority of stocks; and so have commodity "
futures. Unfortunately, some mutual funds imply that‘
their shares can be bought without risk, They are offered
as solid, safe investments. This they are not. They can ~
lose value quickly and substantially. ;
By re bm
UTUAL funds help to boom a rising market. {
M When the public is in a stock-buying mood, when;
it is flush, when it is chasing rainbows, mutual-fund —
shares sell briskly. And the funds, with the money thus
acquired, buy stocks. Their buying helps to send the]
market higher.
But what happens when the market is falling? ‘Thend
the public will be needing money and will be selling |
stocks and mutual-fund shares. As the number of shares [
the funds must redeem starts to exceed the number of %
their shares they sell, they will have to look around for
money. At first they may have some extra cash available, |
Perhaps they will have some government bonds they canly
sell. But if the excess of redemptions over new sales.)
continues for any length of time, as it would in a real
depression, the funds will have to start liquidating the |’
stocks in their portfolios—and in a declining market. J
Technically, the Securities and Exchange Commission
has control over mutual-fund advertising. A “Statement
of Policy” determines how far the funds can go in their
claims. Actually, the implementation of this policy rests fis
with the National Association of Securities Dealers, fix
which is not a disinterested party. The asseciation re- fx
views advertising for mutual funds and presumably tries J! t
to keep it under control. How far it succeeds may be jf
judged by this advertising gem from the New York bh
Times: “Professional. managers devote their full time -
and experience to administering the Fund, buying andj, |
selling, bookkeeping and collecting. You are relieved of,
all details except cashing dividend checks.” And except fe
of course, the additional little detail of worrying abou
your capital if the funds guess the market tendh 3
rons. ED len
i}
bi
“BOOKS and the ARTS
_ NECESSARY EVIL; THE LIFE OF
| JANE WELSH CARLYLE. By Law-
"rence and Elisabeth Hanson. The
~ Macmillan Company. $7.50.
TT IS usually a graceless review that
. discusses not the book the author has
' written but the one the reviewer would
have preferred. But in the case of the
| biography of a well-known figure, the
S subject of several earlier biographies, the
_ question inevitably arises what new dis-
| IZ coveries or what deeper insights call
i forth the fresh attempt.
§ Jane Carlyle’s great gift lay in her let-
i ter-writing. The Hansons have shown
| are and competence in going over all
_ the Carlyle manuscript material, discov-
} ering new letters and correcting former
4} Omissions; but I am sorry that they did
\ mot carry out their original intent to
|) publish a complete edition of Jane
_ Carlyle’s letters. A number of the most
i interesting letters now out of print are
_ not included here, and their place is
M1} taken by such flat statements as ‘‘For-
$} ster... stimulated her to write some of
4} her brightest letters.’” Only a biography
if], itself a work of genius can compare in
oo) value with such collections as Leonard
lf Huxley's “Letters of T. H. Huxley,”
-F. O. Matthiessen’s edition of the writ-
ings of “The James Family,” and, on a
more limited scale, F. A. Hayek’s cor-
respondence of John Stuart Mill and
| Harriet Taylor.
st. | But, if we are not to have the com-
00 | plete letters of Jane Carlyle, we look to
yat} a new biography for ie understand-
he of this brilliant, paradoxical, self-
orn person. This desire for in-
| sight comes not only from partisans of
| Jane or of Thomas, or from historians
of the period, but from all of us con-
a cerned with the springs of action in in-
[dividuals and with the relationship be-
itween them. Such terms as “‘mis-mated”’
Ae
|
\
vd
7 at) hich beg the question. We want to
<i know more of the relation between the
ctf )Carlyles, as between the Tolstoys, be-
i Heween Macbeth and Lady Macbeth, be-
ol “ween Dorothea and Casaubon, in order
fo learn more of the human dilemma
, hor “symbiotic relation” are careless labels .
of individual difference and isolation
combined with the need for closeness
between human beings.
Instead we find once again the
familiar incidents of Jane defying her
mother by learning Latin and proving
her courage with the Haddington boys
by crawling over the high bridge and
seizing the gobbling turkey-cock; the
endless debates over whete the at-long-
last-engaged Carlyles should live (f-
nally decided by Jane’s mother); the
lonely days ‘“‘companionless ‘like owl in
desert’ at Craigenputtock; the canary
atop the luggage on the final move to
London; the illustrious visitors who
frequented 5 Cheyne Row.
But how did the high-spirited girl,
“a fleein’, dancin’, lightheartit thing that
noething would hae dauntit,” become
transformed into the older Jane, a neu-
rotic invalid with querulous insistence
on always being the center of the stage?
It is not enough to say that she was a
spoiled only child with insatiable de-
mands for praise and affection, and that
Carlyle was a dour Calvinist, insatiable
in his need to drive himself to work,
“an even more difficult man without a
book than with one.” After all, Jane,
the gay flirt, the natural hostess, did
marry the uncouth, wry-tempered scholar
against the counsel of family and
friends; she did sustain with abundance
of grace six years of solitude at Craigen-
puttock—where mail came once a week,
Carlyle worked unceasingly, and months
passed with no sight of the face of a
friend. If it was belief in Carlyle’s gen-
ius that upheld her then, why did this
fail her later after he had gained recog-
nition ?
What happened to her earlier delight
in her own keen intelligence so that it
never led her to the creative work that
Carlyle and others urged upon her?
Why was her sympathy so lavishly ex-
pressed in a human situation directly
under her eyes while she lacked imagina-
tion for those at a distance, so that she
failed to understand, for example, why
Mazzini was more interested in the
liberation of Italy than in spending time
with her?. Did she feel acute deprivation
over not having children? The ex-
travagance of her fondness for Lady
Ashburton’s daughter and for her dog
and other pets suggests that such frus-
tration may have contributed to her
neurotic illness. If Carlyle had ever
given her a gift before her forty-first
birthday, or more openly expressed his
tenderness for her in earlier years, would
this have altered their relationship? And
why, with all the friction between them,
did they remain together for nearly forty
years until Jane’s death?
Such questions as these cannot be an-
swered simply in terms of nineteenth-
century marriage or the lot of women in
the Victorian Age. Jane Carlyle’s time
was, also, the time of the Brontés, of
Mrs. Gaskell, of George Eliot.
The Hansons lean over backward in
their attempt to be simply factual and
unspeculative. Their page-and-a-half ap-
pendix saying that, in their view, the
Carlyles simply found sex relations un-
satisfactory and so discounted them is
admirably cautious but hardly enlighten-
ing on the meaning of this for either of
them. Surely it is not necessary to go to
extremes of psychoanalytic biography in
order to offer some hypotheses on the
nature of the mixed elements that en-
tered into these two lives. How much of
their attraction for each other and their
unending conflict was the inevitable
problem of two people—one of whom
drew strength from within himself and
from the breadth of the abstractions
with which he found himself at home;
the other who found herself dependent
for renewal precisely upon the multi-
tude of outside daily events and people,
which to her husband were appealing
but essentially alien? It will be inter-
esting to see whether the Hansons go
any further into such questions with the
very different relationship of Marian
Evans and George Henry Lewes in their
forthcoming life of George Eliot.
One thing does emerge through the
Hansons’ carefully measured presenta-
tion of facts: they do not like Jane
Carlyle. They go to some pains to un-
derscore her spiteful and mean-spirited
acts and the way flattery, especially as
she grew older, always revived her fail-
ing health. These things were un-
doubtedly no small part of her per-
sonality; but were they all? What does
not come out in this book is the source
of her endless attraction for other peo-
ple, including her husband. Suggestions
on this appear in Carlyle’s ‘Reminis-
cences” and in his letters to ‘‘my poor,
dear Jeannie,’ some of which the Han-
sons give. Revealing, too, is Carlyle’s
inscription in the pamphlet edition of
“Sartor Resartus,”’ which they do not
quote:
To Jane W. Carlyle. This little
book, little Milestone in a desolate,
confused, yet not (as we hope) un-
blessed Pilgrimage we make in com-
mon, is with heart’s gratitude in-
scribed by her affectionate T. C.
HELEN M. LYND
A Most Amusing Novel
THE. SPENDTHRIFTS. By Benito
Pérez Galdds. Farrar, Straus and
Young. $3.50.
ENITO PEREZ GALDOS (1843-
1920), very popular in Spain, is
also a major European novelist. In
England and America, however, he is al-
most unknown. Some plays and a few
minor novels have been translated, most
of them over fifty years ago. Yet he
wrote the “National Episodes,” a his-
torical survey of nineteenth-century
Spain forty-five volumes long, and seven
or eight important novels. Among them
is “The Spendthrifts’” (“La De Brin-
gas,’ 1884) which now appears in
English for the first time.
It is the best and the most amusing
novel I have read in months. The
“schools” of naturalism and realism are
not clearly distinguishable in it, one
‘from another. Galdds sees that society
determines the lives of his characters; he
convinces us that they are free to con-
duct themselves almost as they please.
The most obvious influences on “The
Spendthrifts,’” as they were among his
major literary enthusiasms, are Balzac
and Dickens, though his sensibility is
entirely original.
The action occurs in Madrid during
the spring and summer of 1868, the last
months of the reign of Isabella II; it is
resolved by the revolution which sent
‘that amiable royal hoyden into exile.
Almost every event—one of the merits
of “The Spendthrifts’” is the serse it
conveys that much is always happening
582
Sa Aa ee ‘oe
- , Cees
we oho Mt S . f
Bis 2 Aint oe <2 ene ee Oe _
Pa
The god of galaxies has more to govern
Than the first men imagined, when one mountain
Trumpeted his anger, and one rainbow,
Red in the east, restored them to his love.
One earth it was, with big and lesser torches,
And stars by night for candles. And he spoke
To single persons, sitting in their tents.
Now streams of worlds, now powdery great whirlwinds
Of universes far enough away
To seem but fog-wisps in a bank of night
So measureless the mind can sicken, trying—
Now seas of darkness, shoreless, on and on
Encircled by themselves, yet washing farther
Than the last triple sun, revolving, shows.
The god of galaxies—how shall we praise him?
For so we must, or wither. Yet what word
Of words? And where to send it, on which night
Of winter stars, of summer, or by autumn
In the first evening of the Pleiades?
The god of galaxies, of burning gases,
May have forgotten Leo and the Bull.
But God remembers, and is everywhere.
He even is the void, where nothing shines.
He is the absence of his own reflection
In the deep gulf; he is the dusky cinder
Of pure fire in its prime; he is the place
Prepared for hugest planets: black idea,
Brooding between fierce poles he keeps apart.
Those altitudes and oceans, though, with islands
Drifting, blown immense as by a wind,
And yet no wind; and not one blazing coast
Where thought could live, could listen—oh, what word
Of words? Let us consider it in terror,
And say it without voice. Praise universes
Numberless. Praise all of them. Praise Him,
MARK VAN DOREN
—takes place on the upper floors of the
Royal Palace. Here exists, almost com-
pletely separated by poverty from the
royal debauchery, a complex society, the
“Palace-city”; it is inhabited by minor
court functionaries, charwomen, hang-
ers-on of the royal household, and petty
bureaucrats. Some of these people be-
lieve in the offices they hold. They are
pleasant, well-mannered, and ordinary.
Galdés never creates the grotesques so
common in Balzac and Dickens.
The plot centers on the financial diffi-
culties of Rosalia Bringas, married to an
unimportant and diligent bureaucrat, and
on the beginnings of the moral down- Ji
fall of this clever and corruptible Emma J}
Bovary of the palace. On this middle:
aged couple the dead hand of the Wim
“ruling passion” lies heavy. But the mis- Pp,
Ieading and easy formula for explain- Jim
ing human behavior grows increasingly
less important as the novel progresses. JY
The Bringas are poor. Rosalia has a
passion for finery. She is. “full of
ile,
Be peal ese hres
| bl ‘6 every phe except ‘the passion
for dress.” As for Bringas, he is a petty
| “miser; by exercising the most stringent
_ domestic economy he has saved a few
_ thousand reals.
In Balzac or in Dickens such char-
acters are moral monsters: a Grandet, a
Miss Murdstone, a Jonas Chuzzlewit.
Exactly here Galdos’s sensibility saves
_ him. He knows that ruling passions do
' exist and that they propel human beings
into catastrophes. He knows more.
Rosalia has motives deeper than her
_ passion for dress. She may despise hee
_ husband for the shifts his niggardliness
_ puts her to: pawning the silver candle-
} sticks when he is temporarily blind and
_ unable to keep an eye on the household
| gods; unpleasant dealings with money-
7 lenders; seduction by a finely-drawn
bureaucrat, Pez (Fish), who will, she
vainly hopes, pay her debts. She is also
‘more than her ruling passion. The finest
scene in “The Spendthrifts” is her re-
turn from her one sorry assignation to
_ her unfashionable and exasperating hus-
| band and the noisy children whom she
“loves. For the moment she values
Bringas as he would like to be valued,
_ a paragon of the domestic virtues. In the
| same fashion Galdés shows us a Bringas
| who is more than a stupid official and a
| preposterous miser. He is a man of
: honor, despite his old nankeen suit,
} which, he deceives himself into believ-
| wi always looks like new. He loves his
wife, though’ with a family passion.
_ After the queen goes into exile he in-
: sists, half-blind and approaching nerv-
ous collapse, on leaving his beloved
Palace-city, so profound is his moral
cantempt for the revolution.
" ‘Everywhere in “The Spendthrifts” is
_a feeling for the beauty of life, even in
| the most dreary circumstances, even in
| the Royal Palace in Madrid in 1868.
Light and shade, gaiety and joy infuse
j |
om writing which might easily be no more
i | than a careful history of ruinous con-
| duct, dull court intrigue, and common-
i place worries about money. A sense of
We . onder is never absent from the ac-
ef count of daily life: a walk in the royal
3 ‘ | park, children bathing in the -Man-
| zanares, the preparation of a simple
eal, the cutting-out of a dress, the
|| weather of a Madrid summer—all as-
. 4) sume a reality and convey a sense of
* | life going on which is never to be ques-
af tioned. ERNEST JONES
Bs
|
Income and Welfare
THE ETHICS OF REDISTRIBU-
TION. By Bertrand de Jouvenel.
Cambridge University Press, $1.75.
tremendous increase in the
scope of central government ac-
tivities in the last generation -has
sometimes deliberately, sometimes inad-
vertently, altered the distribution of per-
sonal incomes. In part the increased
impact of government finance is a con-
sequence of war and defense efforts.
But much public spending, especially
for social security, reflects a changing
concept of social responsibility, a sub-
stantial consensus that such personal
emergencies as illness, old age, and un-
employment can be met successfully only
by collective action. Although important
questions of extent and method remain
unresolved, there are few who entirely
reject the social functions of the modern
state and deny the necessity of some in-
come redistribution to accomplish them,
M. de Jouvenel cannot be fairly in-
cluded in this minority: He does not re-
lieve the state of a Christian duty to
succor the unfortunate and the handi-
capped. What he does question, partly
on economic, but largely on moral
grounds, is the modern liberal view of
the state as an agency of social improve-
ment, cultural diffusion, and economic
justice. In his opinion, government is
inefficient, blundering, unperceptive,
and, in the end, tyrannical. It stifles
original thought and prohibits that free
market in ideas, that willingness to ac-
cept risk, which have marked our so-
ciety’s past cultural progress. Inevitably
income redistribution fosters the large,
powerful, and ever oppressive state,
since there is needed—here the author
cites J. E. Meade—“an exceedingly
complex machinery’ to collect the in-
comes of the richer and redistribute
them among the poorer,
The strategy of M. de Jouvenel’s
economic campaign against income re-
distribution or income equality (it is
not always clear which concept he is
attacking) is somewhat novel. He does
not rely on the commonest argument
against income redistribution, that it
has adverse effects on incentives and,
consequently, on the rate of economic
progress. His principal economic point,
rather, is that redistribution is financial-
ly impossible. A fairly lengthy compu-
tation purports to demonstrate that at
least in England the lowest incomes can-
not be raised to a desired minimum
without reducing higher incomes to a
level which endangers the living stand-
ards of the lower middle class and so
attacks incomes which the most ardent
redistributionists do not wish to molest.
As the author’s figures are hypothetical,
it may well be that any actual redis-
tributionist would react to them with a
startled “Who, me? You've got the
wrong guy.’ Neither does the logic,
much less the arithmetic, of his argu-
ment apply to societies whose produc-
tion regularly increases; in an expand-
ing economy more may be given to
some without giving less to others. At
this point M. de Jouvenel seems to need
the support of the usual case against
redistribution.
The crucial elements in his case are
moral, They center on the still unre-
solved controversies set off by the nine-
teenth-century English utilitarians. Like
J. S. Mill in his later writings, M. de
Jouvenel believes that there is a
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hierarchy of goals and pleasures and
that individuals are more or less valu-
able as their capacities minister to aims
higher or lower in this hierarchy, In
recent history the fthiddle class has
harbored the largest number of valuable
Therefore,
and requires amenities, even luxuries,
beyond the ordinary. Its cultural exist-
ence depends above all on a wide range
of personal choices. These choices the
redistributionist state progressively nar-
rows. By reducing the individual's in-
come the state restricts his control of
his children’s his
purchases of books and paintings, and
limits his ability to subsidize political
and cultural objectives of his own selec-
tion. More and
privately supported move into the orbit
of state control as individuals become
less and less able to finance them.
Throughout this persistently provoca-
tive book, M. de Jouvenel makes evi-
dent his belief that the ‘‘good society”
and the welfare state are incompatible,
without so much as sketching his own
citizens. this class deserves
education, curtails
more activities once
‘version of a good society. Speculation
suggests that he approves the indi-
vidualistic arrangements beloved of
laissez-faire economists. The risks for
the poor would be minimized by the
largesse of the state and the social
conscience of the rich, in whom M. de
Jouvenel possesses touching faith. Most
important of all, his good society is
united in the pursuit of non-material,
and vaguely theological, aims.
We are left with a question: Have we
in the Western world taken a wrong
political turning which threatens to de-
stroy our freedoms, or is the welfare
state, firmly guided and carefully
watched, potentially a force for social
improvement and cultural diversity?
Certainly the pressures toward cultural
uniformity have not come entirely from
the state; various private groups, busi-
ness, religious, and fraternal, have been
equally potent. But M. de Jouvenel is
relatively untroubled by the growth of
ptivate power and uninterested in the
case that can be made for its public
control.
This reviewer's disagreement with
the author is obvious. None the less,
M. de Jouvenel has in brief space suc-
cinctly expressed doubts of great
importance even to those of us who find
584
government more benevolent and re-
distribution more desirable than he does.
Undeniably there are dangers in a pow-
erful government; surely the limits of
redistribution remain unclear; and in-
evitably the outlines of the good society
are mysterious, All this and more M. de
Jouvenel gracefully advances in prose
whose style is as neat and concise as its
contents are potent.
ROBERT LEKACHMAN
Stevens As Essayist
THE NECESSARY-ANGEL, Essays on
Reality and the Imagination. By Wal-
lace Stevens. Alfred A. Knopf. $3.
eet casual readers of poetry,
sometimes hears: “Ah, yes,
Wallace Stevens. A very fine poet, no
doubt, but how can you account for a
man who persists in writing about such
silly subjects?” On the one hand, this.
On the other, the incredible injustices
Stevens has suffered from those who
take him seriously, from critics who have
written admirably about Chaucer and
Keats and Hart Crane and have had
nothing but twaddle to say about Stevens.
In this predicament—between the devil-
ishly uninformed and the deep blue con-
noisseurs—it has been up to Mr. Stevens
to save himself, and he has made a long
stride in that direction by collecting in
one volume, where they will be in-
eluctably accessible to even the laziest
of us, seven of his important essays in
prose.
Stevens is a poet who still believes
that poetry is the supreme activity. Un-
like many of his colleagues, who have
turned to traditional dogmas or posi-
tivisms, Stevens refuses the opinion that
art is a game, a propaganda, or a cere-
mony. For him, poetry—he can say this
unabashedly—is a means toward truth.
It is man’s best means, for its instrument
is man’s greatest faculty, the imagina-
tion, which surpasses indubitably the
philosopher’s reason and the scientist’s
inductive technique. And poetry, if it
succeeds, possesses also the power to
bestow upon its participants an auto-
matic by-product—ennoblement.
Yet the poet’s imagination is useless
unless he brings it to bear squarely upon
reality, and for Stevens reality is the
vastly differentiated, sometimes dis-
couraging reality of our own world, a
one
_ Pre
aes
world Sikineeuee by in intimations y
supernal intelligence. It is a pert of « al~
most unlimited beauty for those who
deal with it imaginatively and in its own
terms. The poet who can enhance,. or-
ganize, and make comprehensible an
aspect of reality participates in the dis-
covery of a truth. He ennobles himself -
and his readers; to him belong the moral |
and intellectual rewards of nobility, |
Reality is for the poet, as for all men, *
“the necessary angel,” without a high
regard for whom the poet would be |
only another radio announcer, howling |
in the wind.
As a poet, Stevens's primary duty has_
been to write poetry, to explore reality.”
He has written many poems, most of, |
them admirable, some of them truly
great. But as a poet who feels the.
poet’s position in the modern world’
insecure—not economically or socially,
but intellectually—Stevens has givei
himself the secondary duty to write
about poetry. He has made a definition
of poetry; he has studied the way poetry
works. He has given us several theories’
of the processes of imagination, theories
which elucidate the properties of meta- |
phor, analogy, and resemblance. He
has been especially concerned with the
way poets look at reality, the way each
man sees a tree differently, for these
various views comprise what we can ap-
prehend of truth, and they are our raison
d’étre as sensible beings.
How different are these ideas from
those we usually hear of Stevens!
Among his admirers, he is a high roman-
tic, a direct descendent of French im-’
pressionism, a mage of the poetic ritual.
Among his critics, he is a funambulist,
an élégant, a hedonist, a decadent, even
a dude. Both parties have beep tog-much ff
impressed by the externalities of
Stevens’s poetic style, his very precise
thetoric and his occasionally rococo vo-
cabulary. They have seized upon and
exaggerated those poems in which
Stevens has presented an exotic view ‘of
the world, poems of Florida and
Tehuantepec, and they have neglected
the poems which extol the august and
even austere beauty of mundane things.
They have forgotten, in other words, fF
what has always been true: a poet’s ob- f!
servations, if they are valid, must be [
his own, and his style, if it is effective,
must be original.
i
i)
The Natio N-
f 7A ‘ae oe soa ]
fact ‘ the ideas Stevens ex-
sses in these essays and has always
ressed in his poems bear a much
ser affinity to Wordsworth, to Sidney,
or to the men of the ancient world than
they do to the decadents of the late
nineteenth century. In so far as our
world is decadent in comparison with
the ancient or any other world, Stevens
is too, though I should prefer to use
some such word as “refined” or
“elaborate.” The nobility that Stevens
has sought is not Homer's; it is a mod-
etn nobility, intellectual and subtle; it is
heroic only in its spiritual or aesthetic
Ԥ staunchness. Perhaps it is not nobility
‘at all, but a kind of very good intel-
ligence or very intelligent goodness that
we in our moral sedentariness can still
‘aspire to. But whatever it is, it is not
foolishness or frippery. It is earnest,
though not deadly earnest, and its prod-
‘ucts—Stevens’s poems—are serious
works, constructed to a measure which
would allow no extraneous or super-
cilious ornament. It is inconceivable that
4 poet whose concept of poetry is the
one enunciated in these essays could be
vulnerable to affectation or preciosity.
‘Stevens has created a theory of the value
of poetry which surpasses in seriousness
the more insistent dicta of all his con-
. _grapplings with reality, out in the open,
away from the culs-de-sac of spiritual
remoteness that have trapped so many of
the rest.
| has been, if one hesitates to say logical,
4 at least consistent and true to its own
| latest essays go back directly to his early
, sunday Morning,” ‘Sea Sur-
pointed out by J. V. Cunningham—but
\'they have been rigorously tested by all
he‘ poetic conditions of modernity. Nor
‘Stevens tried to write criticism or
aesthetic theory. His essays are more
early an operating program for poets,
one poet particularly—Stevens him-
elf. As such their greatest importance
—they are indispensable.
_ I do not want to turn from noticing
\these essays without saying a word about
s 7 une 14, 1952
their extraordinary qualities as litera-
tare. Like his poems, Stevens’s prose
contains many prodigious remarks; “The
centuries have a way of being male.”
“The supreme example of analogy in
English is ‘Pilgrim’s Progress’.” “When
we look back at the period of French
classicism . . . , we have no difficulty
in seeing it as a whole.” These will
probably scare small scholars half out of
their wits. So much the better. A little
area must be reserved. But we know that
Stevens likes to shock us, and we laugh
and look for the most outrageous and
exotic surmises, until, all at once, they
are no longer outrageous and exotic but
the astute and respectable thoughts of a
man who lives in Hartford, Connecticut.
These are rich essays, simply constructed
yet richly and elegantly written. They
contain many references, an anthology-
full of quotations from the most vari-
ous and delightful authors, all very
much to Stevens's purpose, but all excit-
ing and pleasant to come across for their
own sake. I do not mean to be alto-
gether frivolous when I suggest that the
best way to read this book is to invest
in a bottle of the best sherry one can
afford and a twenty-five-cent cigar. At
least I found them the appropriate ac-
cessories and not at all antagonistic to
the seriousness. I have spoken of,
HAYDEN CARRUTH
An American in Istanbul
LET’S TALK TURKEY, By Willie
Snow Ethridge. The Vanguard Press.
$3.
E WHO would bring home the
wealth of the Indies, said Dr.
Johnson, must carry the wealth of the
Indies with him. Mrs. Ethridge demon-
strates, in the latest and probably most
successful of her travel books, that. she
has done just that. However, ‘‘Let’s Talk
Turkey,” like its predecessors, “It’s
Greek to Me” and “Going to Jeru-
salem,” does not usurp the role of either
Baedeker or the encyclopedia. Less
gifted travelers have taken care to arm
themselves with such knowledge, but
Mrs. Ethridge relies instead upon the
‘eminently American qualities of curi-
osity, a sense of humor, and the un-
forced ability to like people and under-
stand them, These constitute a wealth
of the Indies that good travelers must
have, and the great thing is that Mrs,
Ethridge so clearly enjoys her travels,
All three books, in fact, emphasize the
reaction of Americans to the ancient
lands at the eastern end of the Mediter-
ranean, rather than matters of geopoli-
tics. This time Mrs. Ethridge and her
distinguished husband were accompa-
nied by their twelve-year-old son, Mr.
Big, whose strong antipathy to even the
finest mosques will be appreciated by
anyone who has been exposed to them.
The Ethridge’s visit to Turkey, and
the book, were the result of an accident,
After a return visit to Greece as the
guests of the Greek government (Mr.
Ethridge, as a member of the United
Nations Balkans Commission, had
helped persuade the Truman Adminis-
tration to provide help against the
Greek Communists before it was too
late), they decided to spend a few
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MAKES SUPERIOR MEN
Intelligence depends upon reason and
knowledge. For the knowledge of evyl-
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read the 192-page, card-cover book.
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By soe at
days in Istanbul while waiting for the
freighter on which they were to return
home to discharge its cargo. As a re-
sult of complications in unloading the
freighter the days stretched into weeks,
and the Ethridges, while lamenting the
delay, made the most of their oppor-
tunity to see what modern Turkey is
like.
Some of the stories, in particular the
time Mr. Big was caught driving a
Turkish taxi, and the troubles that de-
veloped when Mrs. Ethridge appeared
with a camera in what turned out to be
a prohibited zone, are hilarious; Mrs.
Ethridge is an excellent raconteuse.
At a time when the general outlook,
which is bad enough, is made even
worse by quantities of direful viewings-
with-alarm, Mrs. Ethridge’s gaiety and
good humor are particularly welcome.
However, she is also a shrewd report-
er, and although she pretends to be not
quite sure where Jason sought the golden
fleece, or Xenophon reached the sea, her
anecdotes always make a definite point.
Few writers have captured so well the
spirit of present-day Turkey, a country
which, despite the constant threat of
Soviet invasion, is still concentrating
its energies on the creation of an indus-
trialized and relatively democratic state;
even with the impetus supplied by
Ataturk, it has taken a strenuous effort
for the Turks to make the leap within
a single lifetime from the era of harems
and weighted sacks dropped in the
Bosphorus after midnight.
The American-style go-getter is a
prominent if unexpected part of Turkish
life. The presence of such a booster
helps give a special shading and pro-
portion to Where the Saints Have
Trod, the account of a visit to Antioch
and the church where Paul preached—
“the disciples were called Christians first
in Antioch”—which may yet find a
place in an anthology of modern essays.
Mrs. Ethridge is to be congratulated on
a very good book.
THOMAS J. HAMILTON
Wiring the Farms
THE FARMER TAKES A HAND. By
Marquis Childs. Doubleday and Com-
pany. $3.50.
OW thoroughly we now take for
granted many reforms of the New
Deal which once were, bitterly fought
586
A) A? C6 =e Se ) : ne
‘ + 5 os 2 me) ry . 4 — % ay
and resisted! Senator Robert A. Taft,
Mr. Republican himself, campaigned for
votes in the recent Wisconsin primary
by boasting that the Eightieth Congress
had appropriated generously for rural
electrification. Of course, there was once
a time when generosity in this respect
seemed, to Mr. Taft, a peril to the
nation.
In an excellent chronicle of the cru-
sade to electrify America’s farms,
Marquis Childs has gone back far be-
yond that time, to the period when
TVA and backwoods power lines were
just a glint in the eye of a great public
servant, the late Senator George Norris.
Two decades ago rural electrification
served only one farm in every ten. Today
it serves nine farms in every ten. This
may be just another statistic to city
folks, more numbers on a printed page.
But it means virtually life itself to mil-
lions of Americans in hinterland val-
leys and along dirt roads.
My wife's farming family in the State
of Washington has not enjoyed elec-
tricity so long but that the touch of the
light switch and the reassuring drone
of the automatic refrigerator are full of
significance. These people talk about the
time when they cooled butter in the
creek and stumbled to a sickbed with
a kerosene lamp. The 230,000-volt
Bonneville line, which bisects their
fields, is a sign to them that government
can undertake programs to make life
better.
Marquis Childs, brought up in Iowa
in the heart of the tall-corn realm, writes
feelingly of the great mass movement
which created the Rural Electrification
Administration and brought comforts
and machinery to the farm. He has pre-
pared a history of REA and of the
National Rural Electric Cooperative As-
sociation, which is the organization that
lobbies for REA appropriations and de-
fends its policies in the field of poli-
tics. The author has high praise for the
first director of REA, Morris L. Cooke.
He believes Cooke was tight when he
advised President Roosevelt that loans
both to co-ops and private utilities
should be on a basis that would result in
ultimate return of the government’s
money. Competition between the com-
panies and the co-ops worked to the
eventual benefit of the farmer. It also
helped some of the very companies
which had cried “socialism” when REA
originally was proposed. In this el
year Mr. Childs’s eleventh chapter, TI he
Politics of Power, is particularly om
mended to those millions of conservative
Republicans who expect a Tory oultell
nium if the G. O. P. returns to the
White House.
REA was a joint product of those two
arch-New Dealers; FDR and Uncle
George Norris. It was denounced in the
beginning as another waste of the peo
ple’s funds, a hand-out feature of the
dangerous Welfare’ State. Would the
rampant Republicans abolish it, or even”
impair its operation? Listen to Senator
Taft: “It is true that in the case of the;
REA the money to establish these facili-,
ties, which in the power field are very
expensive, has been loaned by the gov-
ernment. But that should not change.
the cooperative character of REA. So the
government also subsidized the first
transcontinental railroads and other en-
terprises where, for one reason or an-
other, private capital could not under-;
take the complete support of new and,
risky development.” Mr. Childs inserts
this significant sentence, “Very few
members of Congress criticize REA di-
rectly.” And he calls attention to the
fact that Governor Dewey told a St. #
Paul audience in 1948 that the Eightieth
Congress had ‘‘voted by far the largest
amount ever provided by any Congress
to speed electricity to our farms—
$800,000,000.”
So although Republicans assail subsi-
dies in general, Mr. Republican justifies
subsidies to electrify farms. And al-
though the Republicans lambast govern- |
ment spending in the abstract, the last
Presidential nominee of the Republican
Party heralds the many millions in-
vested by a Republican Congress in a
program begun by that favorite target
of Republican orators, the New Deal.
No man avid for America’s highest
office is going to have anything except
kind words for an agency which has
made it possible for farmers to have
deep freezes, milking machines, and
automatic coffee-makers. Louis Bromfield
has said that farm production is drop-
ping per acre, and, in Mr. Childs’s }
words, “electricity made the greatest aid
in increasing farm production since the |
introduction of Eli Whitney's cotton
gin.” 3
This useful book, which opens with |“
a challenging introduction by sae my
The Nation |)’
i cg had included an index. re
imit a book’s survival powers by deny-
ng it the compass on which so many
searches rely?
RICHARD L, NEUBERGER
Guide to Gogol
WIKOLAI GOGOL (1809-1852). A
, Survey. By Janko Lavein.
-. Distributed by the Macmillan Com-
Le “pany. $2.50,
A S A tribute to the genius of Gogol,
sm +4 a hundred years after his death,
§ Professor Lavrin’s brief survey of his
ife 2nd work is welcome since it is al-
| Most the only notice anyone has taken
the event. It is welcome also in that
raises the number of books in English
.B about Gogol to almost half a dozen.
The most available of the earlier studies
is by Vladimir Nabokov (issued by New
B Directions in 1944) and should be read
#) 2s a supplement to Professor Lavrin's
.§ book which will be the one most likely
|to lead a reader to Gogol’s work. After
Gogol one should perhaps turn to
th abokov to prepare for a reconsidera-
f tion.
ci The aurrent study, pursuing a rather
cautious academic path, offers sketches
; | of biographical data, of all the stories
and plays, and of psychological inter-
pretations. Professor Lavrin follows gen-
je ally accepted criteria; whereas Nabo-
Kov, in a breezy style of his own,
analyzes Gogol’s artistry and intentions
in ways which, if sometimes open to
‘question, are fresh and individual, and
Fin sdoing so he dismisses some widely
ccepted theories. (He is wrong, I think,
hi rejecting the symbolism of impotence
which Professor Lavrin points up as
| suffusing much of Gogol’s work.)
fF Since this study is useful as a hand-
| ib 00k or an introduction and was so in-
ended, it would hardly be just to com-
‘T Blain that it does not go deep enough.
@ At the same time, more attention could
thave been devoted to Gogol’s artistry,
pethaps, by reducing the length of the
full accounts of Gogol’s early life and
s pathetic last years when the drive
of his Messiah complex destroyed his
talent and revealed to him at last its
: nate shallowness.
_ Between these two unhappy periods
2 14, 1952
~. pat :
nN oa i nov 4
of inner conflict came the great fiction
“Dead Souls,” the caustic play “The
Inspector General,” two fine stories, and
many others of less merit. As the im-
portant work of a lifetime, such a list
seems meager unless one knows the
quality of the writing; then one is
aware that it presents a rich mine for
critics. Professor Lavrin’s survey indi-
cates the diversity of-wealth to be found
in Gogol. HUBERT CREEKMORE
Man Alone
THE WORKS OF LOVE. By Wright
Morris. Alfred A. Knopf. $3.
RIGHT MORRIS’S new novel is
about loneliness. He understands
profoundly how comical it can be in
the busiest country in the world, and
how touching too. I should say that he
has demonstrated by now that he is un-
rivaled as an interpreter of those tan-
gents of the American scene where the
funny and the pathetic collide, and that
there is wanting only the warm nar-
rative flow that has been mastered by
lesser novelists, to make his writing
transcendently powerful and important.
Will Jennings Brady, the man in
search of love, the only “actual” person
in the book, is born in a sod house on
the Western frontier to a lonely silent
father and a mother who has been or-
dered through the mails. Both of them
die before Will is very old. He is suc-
cessively assistant stationmaster, night
clerk in a small-town hotel, chicken-and-
egg merchant, sorter of way bills in the
Chicago freight yards, and finally Santa
Claus at Montgomery Ward’s. This
“man who was more or less by himself’
acquires several wives, mostly prosti-
tutes, along the way, and a son to boot,
although the son is not really his; but in
the end he is left quite alone, reading a
soiled old letter from his ‘‘son” to
anyone who will listen.
In each incarnation Will Brady is seen
in a kind of classic pose of that loneli-
ness that is nowadays classified as aliena-
tion, groping blindly for a love that will
not reveal itself to him. It is a pose that
synopses. There are, however, rather. we recognize at once, not alone from
our own experience, but from our les-
sons in Sherwood Anderson and, less
obviously, in William Faulkner, in those
pages where Faulkner rages at the fate
of men corrupted and despoiled of their
basic human attributes as they are sepa-
*
rated from nature and overwhelmed by
an inhuman technology.
But Morris does not rage. Neither
does he weep. His compassionate gaze
is more like that of Charlie Chaplin,
and Will Jennings Brady, seated amid
the hotel lobby’s potted palms, waiting
for a miracle like so many of his fellow-
citizens, is a close relative of the Charlie
who summons up a sweet and sickly
grin as he nerves himself to approach
the blind flower girl.
Mr. Morris’s technique, however—he
is a distinguished photographer as well
as a novelist—is just the reverse of that
of Chaplin, who leads us from the gen-
eral to the particular, as his symbolic
Se ee
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ee eee
and nameless types become identified to
us through their universally recogniz-
able behavior. Mr. Morris moves re-
lentlessly from the particular to the gen-
eral, naming everything that the eye can
see, superficially in the manner of the
naturalistic novelists but actually in the
service of a wider frame of reference,
of a brilliantly defined reality that gradu-
ally takes on the characteristics of a
singular myth akin to Chaplin’s. Will
Brady's boy does not merely chew
gum: “A wad of Black Jack chewing
gum was being saved on the bridge of
his nose,”-and the brand name has a
significance beyond its use as label, re-
minding us specifically of a time when
Black Jack had a peculiarly valued place
in the small boy’s vocabulary.
In Will Brady's final room, at 218
Menomonee Street in Chicago, on the
other hand: “On the mantelpiece was a
shaving mug with the word SWEET-
HEART in silver, blue, chipped red,
and gold. In the mug were three but-
tons, a rollerskate key, a needle with a
burned point for opening pimples, an
Omaha streetcar token, and a medal for
buying Buster Brown shoes.” Here the
cataloguing leads us back through a life-
time of desolation and forward to Will
Brady’s final effort to find something
more real than buttons, keys, and medals.
The individual tableaux through which
Will Brady proceeds in a series of
trance-like movements oddly similar to
Charlie’s jerky encounters with brutes,
fat men, millionaires, beautiful girls,
and so on, are masterfully executed
as true comedy and as the products of an
original vision of American life. But
they are discrete scenes, without the flow ~
of life from episode to episode that
makes Chaplin’s films such completely
resolved works of art. It is as if we were
given a series of separate stills and asked
to make the essential connections.
This is a serious criticism to make of a
writer who is demonstrating with each
new book that he belongs in the small
company of creative men who see the
world through their own eyes as it has
never quite been seen before. But it is
one that cannot be avoided, and there
is surely hope that Mr. Morris will be
able to couple his unique vision with
that quality of movement which enables
the reader not only to find himself, as he
does in Mr. Morris’s novels, but to lose
himself as well, | HARVEY SWADOS
388
* ‘ eo Ree
An Educator’s Philosophy
JOHN DEWEY: THE RECON:
STRUCTION OF THE DEMO-
CRATIC LIFE. By Jerome Nathan-
son. Charles Scribner's Sons. $2.
OW that John Dewey’s satisfying
and enormously rich life has
closed, there will be a plethora of arti-
cles about him in an attempt to assess
his impact, the imprint he left on so
many fundamental aspects of our cul-
ture.
Jerome Nathanson’s book should take
its place, among the handful of works
about Dewey, as a summing-up, a
final accounting. Written with Dewey's
approval and encouragement, it treats in
succinct fashion the major problems the
philosopher and educator posed himself
through a long and unfailingly produc-
tive life. Not only is Nathanson’s book
the latest to appear about his subject, it
is the most direct, the least abstruse.
And its limitations are caused by the
conscious exclusion of topics which lead
away from a discussion of Dewey as a
political and social thinker.
As the title implies, Nathanson con-
ceives Dewey's greatest role, among the
many he played with admirable effect,
as a proponent of functioning industrial
democracy, as opposed to that society in
which business control of the political
machine spells, sooner or later, the de-
cline of the very democracy which un-
trammeled business “freedom’’ lauds
while seeking to abuse it.
Dewey’s early training is sketched in:
his first contacts with the thought and
theories of William James, his encour-
agement to make a profession of philos-
ophy by W. T. Harris (eventually
United States Commissioner of Educa-
tion), his early acceptance of Hegel and
eventual rejection of much that is en-
demic to Hegelian thought, the emer-
gence of his own pragmatic philosophy
in which he drew sustenance from such
native thinkers as Peirce, Emerson, and
James.
Among the main contributions of
Dewey’s thought, which will affect liter-
ally millions of people who may never
know his name, is surely his concept
that education has as its aim to create
on the broadest possible scale “man
thinking,” to encourage the individual
not to ape in his thinking the attitudes
and prejudices of a civilization other
ee nrc ee
of the critical and speculative ac Ities
with the practical, common-sense quali-
ties by which the individual copes with
the problem of his own survival. Along
these lines, Dewey, in his work as head
of the Department of Education at
lumbia University, fostered the Progres-
sive-school movement which, though
recently meeting with some blindly bite
ter and partially justified rebuke, hag
been the great liberating force in Amer
ican education. The aim of Dewey's
educative process was to help the in-
dividual to learn by doing, to respect
the day's work (or study or play),
rather than to regard the entire educa
tional span as a preparatory period, a
waiting for the future when all the mis-
cellaneous “learning” would be put to:
work, 4
He has been criticized on the grounds |
that his empirical method limits the edu-
cational horizon to those strictly practi-
cal fields in which, at each age level, the
student can function with competence
by himself, and does not include enough —
challenge, enough encouragement for —
the unusual or gifted. The answer |
Dewey gave to concerted attacks against
his work by leading educators in 1944 |
—that the system whereby those who |
could were to study “higher subjects”
while the mass, by implication of infe- —
rior stripe, were to be relegated to the
study of practical subjects—was that
“liberal education for a small elite group —
and vocational education for the masses
{was} completely reactionary and...
fatal to the whole democratic outlook.” ”
Aside from Dewey’s educational re- 9}
forms which took concrete shape in the $i
New York school system from 1941 on,
his political thinking embraced. the fun- ©
damental issues of our day and his point #}
of view—consistently progressive, anti- J
totalitarian and liberal—found expres-
sion in his work for a third party. He |
believed, as Nathanson tells us, that. |
“the answer to our central dilemma, hy
both economically and democratically,
lies in responsible participation in coop- —
erative enterprise.” This is intervention- [ty
ist thinking at its best: don’t leave the fj
political machine in the hands of a few —
maneuverers who will see to it that the ff
ball falls in their chosen slot. In line |},
with this, Dewey voiced the axiomatic |!
slogan, “Vote for the man and not the —
machine.”
| system, in this short book, so that
. even moderately familiar with
swey finds links which complete the
e. For those who know his name
ind little of his work beyond the titles
f his best known books, Nathanson
9 can be an invaluable, modest guide.
1 The book is completed by a chronol-
Ogy of major events in Dewey's life and
by a short bibliography of works about
Dewey to which the present must be
ad ped as the most unassuming and gen-
ally useful yet on record.
FRANCES KEENE
erse Chronicle
r jacket says that “The Suburb by
the Sea’’ by Robert Hillyer (Knopf,
$3) is “very different from the sustained
magnificence of Mr. Hillyer’s preceding
ef volume, “The Death of Captain Nemo.”
h | “Sustained magnificence” is not exactly
the way I recollect it, but “very differ-
¢ |ent” is dead right. And a good thing too.
«| How pleasant it would be if we could
| temember Mr, ‘Hillyer for only such
2 work as this, free from anxiety, free
| from rancor, easy, good-natured, skilful,
@4 almost courtly, alive to and with the
mw} good things of life! Among other ex-
r » Hillyer is to be com-
» | mended for his knack with the five-beat
5 “ ouplet form, whose return it is cheer-
| ing to find.
" , Also pleasant, in somewhat the same
genre, more ambitious some ways, less
ja dfcit in others, are the poems in “The
i: inchanted Grindstone” by Henry Mog-
fon Robinson (Simon & Schuster,
$2.50). It is, if mot surprising, en-
i | cousaging, to have this great rich house
I publishing verse; and now may we look
forward to the time when Essandess will
e books of equal merit whose authors
have not achieved best-selling novels?
That will be the day.
f In humbler vein, “Waters Over Linn
Creek Town” by Ralph Alan McCanse
£3
dh
ion : tse, unpretentious in craftsmanship,
simple, and good, in the emotion that
iD
prompts and pervades it, The narrative -
é \e what happens to people when
o TP srogress happens to them, in this par-
Hticul ar case, who the people were and
I
(B ookman Associates, $2.50) is folksy ~
what became of them when a power
company saw fit to’build a big dam in a
county of the Ozarks. There is little
crying about it, though there is some
sadness; this is what happened.
Both Peter Viereck- and Dylan
Thomas say they think “Impatient
Lover” by Lillian Rockwell (Dial,
$2.50) is very interesting. I do too, and
I guess my favorite line is that one that
exclaims “O quiver of duck-wings in
my gelatinous pond!” That the author
can sustain such heights és hardly to be
expected, but she gives it a mighty good
try. “Foamed with spray of floating
breasts / (alike, confetti-spun!) / He
sought his oneness with them all, /
With all the breasts.” Wow.
Shame on my ignorance! Until The
Muses’ Library sent his complete works,
edited by Dorothy Broughton ($3), I
had never heard of William Diaper, or
at least had paid no attention to Swift’s
five references to him in the Journal of
Stella. Those readers of The Nation
who are better informed about his
poems Brent, The Sea Eclogues, and
Dryades, or The Nymph’s Prophecy, as
well as his translations and imitations,
will find this, like most of the volumes
in this series,-a handy, interesting, and
scholarly item.
Some books about poetry and poets
might be mentioned this time, ‘The
Background of Modern Poetry’ by J.
Isaacs (Dutton, $2.50) expands on te-
marks previously addressed, through the
BBC’s Third Program, to an audience
capable of having its prejudices removed
and its misconceptions corrected. Pro-
fessor Isaacs is mot overly sympathetic
with those who profess and call them-
selves moderns; not exactly light, his
study is fairly quick reading. Much more
thoroughgoing is the study by an Ameri-
can professor, Harold Watts of Purdue,
“Ezra Pound and the Cantos” (Regnery,
$2.75). This firm appears to be seriously
interested in bringing out worthwhile
books of criticism. Putting the best pos-
sible face (though in an annoyingly
parenthetical style) on the integrity and
integration of the Cantos, Professor
Watts, in his final chapter of reckoning,
concedes that they are probably not quite
all the author cracked them up to be.
Hardly a week goes by, now, without
something about Rilke rolling off the
presses; this time it is “Rainer Maria
Rilke: His Life and Work” by a Dutch
‘ scholar, F. W. Van Heerikhuizen (Phil-
osophical Library, $6). Interesting in
its early chapters, the book thereafter
is most pedestrian; too many long
quotations from Rilke’s more solemn-
choly letters. M. Van Heerikhuizen is at
times, justifiably, a little impatient with
Rilke’s insistence on dedication, and,
less justifiably, it seems to me, inclined
to overvalue some of the earlier poems.
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6/14/52
“The Metaphysical Passion” by Sona
Raiziss (University of Pennsylvania
Press, $5) purports to be a study of
seven modern poets—Eliot, Tate, War-
ren, Ransom, MacLeish, Wylie, Crane—
and the seventeenth-century tradition.
Miss Raiziss’s prose style is all but un-
readable; nevertheless, her book must
have taken an awful lot of work.
ROLFE HUMPHRIES
Coming Soon in The Nation
**Back Door to War: The Roosevelt
Foreign Policy, 1933-1941"
_ By Charles Callan Tansill
Reviewed by Charles C. Griffin
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OUTSTANDING BOOKS OF 1952 ~y
JANUARY 1 TO JUNE 14
This Modern Music. By Gerald Abraham.
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Notebooks of Matthew Arnold. Edited
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In Place of Fear. By Aneurin Bevan.
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The Anatomy of Revolution. By Crane
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Glory Road: The Bloody Route from
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Witness. By Whitaker Chambers. Random
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Rome and a Villa. By Eleanor Clark.
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Mao’s China. Party Reform Documents,
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The Great Centuries of Painting. Eight-
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Conquest by Terror: The Story of Satel-
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ugo Wolf, A Biography by Frank
Walker. Knopf. $6.50.
How to Co-Exist Without Playing the
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me he Struggle for Europe. By Chester Wil-
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|Emile Zola: An Introductory Study of
; His Novels. By Angus Wilson. Mor-
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i Nell Gwyn, Royal Mistress. By John Hatr-
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Life Is With People. The Jewish Little-
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ternational Universities Press. $5.
| Records HAGGIN
AYDN’S Quartets Opus 77, two
I of the finest of the series, which
| wore recently issued by the Haydn So-
| ciety as played by the Schneider Quartet,
‘ate now issued by EMS as played by the
‘Heifetz Quartet. This is a group of
§ bighty competent and experienced en-
ag musicians (1 do not, as a state-
ment on the envelope might lead one to
‘think, consider them ‘the finest cham-
i | Ber music artists available today’); and
their performances are good. The
‘Schneider performances, however, bring
out and point up more of the rich detail
of the progressions,
y paced. The recorded sound of the Hei-
} fetz performances, like that of the
Schneider, requires reduction of treble,
"7 to minimum in No. 1. Unlike the
| Schneider performances they are on two
| sides of one record.
.
ONE IE e 14, 1952
0.
ef
“i
By
with the Blue Guitar. By Wal
and are betters.
Elman’s. playing in Mozart’s Violin
Sonata K.454, on an RCA Victor rec-
otd, is simple but stolid and a little
shrilltoned; Rose’s piano-playing is
wooden. Menuhin’s playing in the en-
gaging Schubert Duo Opus 162, on an-
other Victor record, is more straightfor-
ward than in the past, and his tone
more compact though still coarse; Bal-
ler’s piano-playing is very good. Bee-
thoven’s Sonatas Opus 12 No. 3 and
Opus 23, which I find uninteresting, are
well played by Francescatti and Casade-
sus on a Columbia record; the violin
sound is a little sharp.
Weber's Grand Duo Concertante
Opus 48 for clarinet and piano, issued
by WCFM, has his characteristic grace
and charm; the Variations Opus 33 are
mostly less interesting. The perform-
ances by Sidney Forrest and Leonid
Hambro are excellent; bass needs to be
stepped up.
Rehearing Schubert's Impromptus
after a long interval I have been newly
impressed by what fine pieces of music
most of them are. But Firkusny’s play-
ing on the Columbia record has again
impressed me with its lack of cohesive
tension and consequently of sharpness
of outline and organic coherence and
power, Bass needs stepping up.
Haydn's Symphony No. 103 (“Drum
Roll’), one of the best of the London
group, is played well by Miinch with
the Boston Symphony (but an uncus-
tomary and, I believe, questionable treat-
ment of an appoggiatura note strikes
the ear several times in the first move-
ment). On the same Victor record is
Beethoven’s First Symphony, also well
played. The sound isn’t always clean.
The Dittersdorf Symphony in A
minor on a Lyrichord record I find unin-
teresting; the performance by Erich
Kloss with the Frankenland State Sym-
phony is good.
The Suite from Rimsky-Korsakov’s
“Le Coq d'or’ played by Golovanov
with the State Radio Orchestra of the
U.S. S. R. on a Nangeacs record is de-
scribed as “uncut”; but I can discover
nothing in it that isn't on the recent
Capitol record of Desormiére’s per-
formance. What the Vanguard record
does offer is innovations in tempo and
accentuation which make me _ prefer
the Capitol performance even though it
is reproduced with less than the re-
markable clarity and distinctness of the
Vanguard. Golovanoy also conducts a
noisy-sounding performance of Musorg-
sky’s “Night on Bald Mountain.”
Vanguard has issued the first re-
corded performance of Bloch’s “Israel”
Symphony. The work is characteristic in
idiom and in its whipping up of
climaxes that subside into brooding
quiet; but its substance and develop-
ment don’t add up, for me, to one of
the more impressive Bloch achievements,
The performance by Litschauer with
Sai GBOyDy
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A pleasantly informal vacation in friendly atmosphere.
Books, records, sports, ping-pong, a two-mile lake
for boating, fishing, swimming. Food of excellent
quality in generous qnantity
© NOW OPEN @
Pre-Season $45.00 Weekly; $7.00 Dally
65 Miles from New York City
JANE C. ARENZ « R.D. No. | «© WALDEN, N.Y,
Phone: Newburgh 15 Ww2
Informal, charm-
ing colonial estate. Beauti-
ful Gardens & Spacious Lawns,
Private lake, Sports. Golf near-
by. TV. Dancing. Excellent Amer. -
J Jewish culsine. Accom, f0 adults.
Now Windsor, N. Y. Newburgh 4477
KENOZA LAKE « NEW YORK
A delightful, peaceful resort for adults and
children. Private lake, fishing, boating,
sports. Children’s counselor. Informal—
square dancing—camp fires—unusual rec-
ord collection. Weekly $45 adults, $30 chil-
dren. JUNE $35. SPECIAL RATES FOR
FAMILIES AND EXTENDED VACA-
TIONS. Write for Booklket B.
Luxurious Adult Vacationing
Fleshaway Lodge
Relax and enjoy the ultimate in gracious living in a setting
of rare mountain beauty on this palatial 582-acre estate.
Well-appointed rooms, many with open fireplaces. Superb
American-Jewish food. Private swimming pool, tennis,
handball, badminton, riding.. Recordings, library, ping-
pong. informal dancing, Easy transportation.
For booklet or reservations
HATHAWAY LODGE, Haines Falls, N. Y¥.
Phone: Tannersville 299
Beautiful HARBOR HILL
COLD SPRING-ON-HUDSON, NEW YORK
The country Inn you’ve dreamed of finding.
Beauty. Peace. Good Food. Good Talk.
30 Guests * 30 Acres * Swimming « Golf
4 Stone Cottages. Open Fires. tce Box Raids.
50 miles N. Y. Circulars. Tel. Cold Spring 5-2174
HARRITON’S FOREST & STREAM
LODGE—90-acre estate. An ultra-modern,
small but individual resort for complete re-
Jaxation, private baths, swimming . . . fish-
ing .. . golf practice on our spacious lawns
- .. continental cuisine. Write for booklet—
R. D. No. 1, Cresco, Penn. Phone: Mt.
Pocono 6511.
SUMMER AT MUSIC INN...swimming,
tennis, boating, riding, Tanglewood con-
certs; write for 52 Berkshire Almanac,
MUSIC INN, Lenox 4, Mass.
SEVEN HILLS, a new resort dedicated to
the adult ideal of a perfect vacation. 5 min-
utes from Tanglewood. Lenox 4, Mass.
592
age
he ae a
the Vienna State Opera Orchestra and
soloists of the Akademiechor (includ-
ing a superb contralto) is excellent.
Several songs by Haydn, ranging from
pleasant to the fine “She Never Told
Her Love,” are sung well on a WCFM
record by Tii Niemela, soprano, with
pallid accompaniments by Pentti Kos-
kimies. In some songs of Schubert
one is occasionally aware of the voice’s
insufficient sensuous beauty. Texts are
provided.
On a Victor record Erna Berger em-
ploys her cool, clear soprano voice in a
few charming songs by Mozart and
Schubert's “‘Haidenrdslein,” with deli-
cate accompaniments by George Schick.
Texts are provided.
Beethoven's “An die ferne Geliebte”
is sung very beautifully by Mack Har-
rell, baritone, with discreet accompani-
ments by Coenraad Bos, on two Victor
45's. Only English translations this
time.
And all of Chopin’s songs—early
pieces, some of them _ engagingly
melodious, and with no resemblance that
I can hear to the works of his maturity
for piano—are sung beautifully by Maria
Kurenko in Polish, with good accompa-
niments by Robert Hufstader, on a
Lyrichord record. English summaries.
C ABT
SMILING PINES CAMP
For Boys & Girls * 4 to 12 years
Happy days from July 1st to August 26th
Careful supervision Small group.
Non-sectarian. Write for Booklet.
James & Nellie Dick
MODERN SCHOOL, 115 Oarey St., Lakewood, N. J.
Phone: 6-1007
SUMMER RENTALS
RURAL seclusion near Berkshire cultural,
recreational centers; airy housekeeping
rooms, furnished, all conveniences, accom-
modate 4. Fireplace, garage; week, month.
P. Eaton,.Old Chatham, N. Y.
SUMMER COTTAGE, furnished, 3 rooms,
bath, modern, 10 acres, river, view. Children
welcomed. Owner seeking congenial neigh-
bor. $300 summer. Dr. Fried, GR 3-2307;
weekends WAIIkill 3-1359.
Attention Please!
Train leaving on Track 31 for
eco5ee eeoeoeeeoee eoee
Are they calling out the location
of your resort?
Those vacationers are heading for
two weeks of rest and fun. Do they
know what good times they can have
at your place?
Tell them about it through the
resort advertising pages of The
Nation, 20 Vesey St., New York 7.
r}
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€ ~ haa
F ? , «
y 9 :
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FINANCING
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| Large Industrial
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| L. N. ROSENBAUM & SON
| 565 Fifth Avenue, New York 17
}
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JESSE GORDON & ASSOCIATES
Public Relations
REAL ESTZAZAT=S ‘im
FOR LEASE—Commercial Building 7,000
sq. ft., now under construction, at Journ
Square, Jersey City. Owner, L. N. Rosen<
baum & Son, 565 Fifth Avenue, N. Y. 17s
pebintee dalle PE oe! ce keto
FARMS @ ACREAGE
VILLAGE-EDGE ‘5-room remadeled bale
50-foot studio; bath; electricity; artesian well;
barn; garage; 9 acres; view. $3750. Berk-
= Farm Agency, East Chatham, New
York.
+
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ne eee ne
CLOCK RADIO—all-wood cabinet. Regu-
larly $34.95—SPECIAL $25.95. Standard
Brand Dist., 143 Fourth Avenue (13th &
14th Sts.), N. Y. C. GR 3-7819.
YOUNG college instructor welcomes inter-
esting feminine correspondence from the
Middle West. Box 278, c/o The Nation.
WIDOWER, only son shottly going into
Navy, unwilling to live alone, desires to
share lovely 4-room apartment with couple
or congenial single man; Riverside Drive,
overlooking river, 3% minutes’ ride from
Columbia. Box 274, ¢/o The Nation.
DESIRE correspondence with young lady
21 to 35, also exchange recorded tape con-
versations world wide all topics. Box 275,
c/o The Nation. 3
“THE CHILD’S CHANCE in the Broken
Home—” alive, attractive, busy woman wel-
comes correspondence from interested man
on this, other subjects. Box 276, c/o The
Nation.
WHO WOULD? Would you,-write to a |
maiden in the midwest and enliven her
mailbox?! Box 277, e/o The Nation.
WOULD YOU like to meet someone who
might like to meet you? Write for free copys |
righted pamphlet. Address: Personal Intro-
duction Service, 2112 Broadway, N. Y. 23.
exit loneliness
v0)
f Mit
=
aoe
oo
—
Bag es
oS SS
BPSSSFEeS
Somewhere there is someone
you would like to know,
Somewhere there is someone,
who would like to know you,
We can help you find a richer,
bappier life through discreet,
dignified ‘social introductions.”
Write for booklet, or phone
MAY RICHARDSON
Dept. TN, bt! West 72 Street
New York City EN 2-2033
BUY
UNITED STATES
SAVINGS BONDS
The N
4
a
Reg
i
i
H ce | Be | E fo ys
———— — ;
el
x wn —<—
= 3}
ee
5
ACROSS
al It might be that it’s too hot! (6, 9)
*] nded, Very precisely? (7)
10 Photo-finish? (Most agree this band
| __ shouldn’t be too loud.) (7)
‘11 Just the bean to fool a marshal!
1 - (6
412 What some people go through to get
a ticket! (3, 5)
“1 14 The eee of reference to a sluggard
ds filled with it! (6, 4)
“y | 15 Is the boudoir a queer place to look
' | for land? (4)
a At oy vehicle of the uninspired writer?
af. 19 Blast them! A phony fight! (4, 33
122 Is a G. I. driven to reasoning? (8)
123 Stone the Northern army used to
| snare Johnny Reb? (6)
‘725 All is not well fetes the head of
iu iy ros army and a tropical climber.
he
| 26 — that introduces a condition.
Mormons made it stand last
year. (6, 3, 6)
DOWN
How to raise the Dickens?
(5, 2, 8, 5)
Iand my girl wander = te hata but
without aspiration. (7)
iE 14, 1962
es
Readers are invited to send for a free copy of Mr. Lewis's “ground rules.” Address
requests to Puzzle Dept., The Nation, 20 Vesey Street, New York 7, New York.
BY FRANK W. LEWIS
&£ - as ; = Pe —s SS if negro’ <3 gee is
mo
Characterized by love of beauty in
its simpler form. (8)
The one of Hammurabi isn’t top
secret. (4)
Do they imply an eccentric bearing?
(10)
The place for other than an express
letter of efficiency. (6)
A number might be associated with
Latin lives, if you’re fond of college
songs. (7)
8 Who? What? When? Why? Where?
(Repeat three times!) (6, 9)
13 What the palmist requires is usual-
ly an asset! (4, 2, 4)
16 The curve of a Gaucho weapon made
of rubber? (8)
18 “Kind aie are more than
s’—(Tennyson) (7)
20 If you recognize the strain, it’s writ-
ten in notes you can see, (7)
21 Lithe. (6)
24 Fat, but active? (4)
SOLUTION TO PUZZLE No, 468
ACROSS :—1 RAIN-IN-THH-FACE; 10 IN-
HUMAN; 11 CANASTA; 12 RESISTHRS; A
SHAYS; 14 FABIAN; 16 REFINISH;
WNSCONCH; 20 AGN AIL; 22 SLIGO 23 ‘UN
SECURED; 25 RE ALIST; 26 TROTSKY; 27
NORTH CAROLINA,
DOWN :—2 ACHES ; 3 NUMISMATOLOGIST;
4 NANTES ; 5 HUCKSTER; 6 FINISHING
SCHOOL; 7 COSTA RICA; 8 AIR eon
9 BATS; 15 BASTINADO; 17 HOLIDAYS;
ISHTAR; 22 SURF; 24 ROSIN.
aI an » ©
Printed in the U. 8. A. by Srsinpuee Perss, INo,, Morgan & Johnson Ayes., Brooklyn 6, N. ¥. GB ims
RESORTS
MERRIEWOODE
AMP FOR ADULTS
HIGHLAND TAKE — STODDARD, N. H.
Where Interesting People Meet for the Perfect Vacation ¢@
Enjoy beautiful 10-mile lake, ail Land & Water Sporte,
featuring Water Skiing & Excellent Tennis « Interesting
hiking objectives through woodland trails * Horseback
riding available «© Arts & Crafts ©* Square & Volk
Dancing Instruction.
OLIVE "‘HATTIE"' BARON, Director
Write Dept. N for Literature « Phone: Hancock 98, Ring (3
a a
; SC
SO Me
new V
a RIDGEFIELD, CONN.
Fhone 6-7000
A resort of distinction offering
relaxation and recreation in the
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A
RATES MODERATR,
CARISBROOKE INN
The Adirondacks Schroon Lake, N. Y,
¢ Ideal for Family
A Children’s Paradise
Outdoor Sports
Moderate Rates
Booklet on Request
C.A.&L.R. Hargreaves Telephone: 140 J1
y/, or ert aunt CF a
informal Adult Resort in the ‘Adirondacks
Charming Estate * Limited to 90 © Pollen free
BWolk-Square Dances * Concert Trio * Dance Band
Motorboating * 14-Mile Lake e¢ All Sports
Special Bachelor Ciub Rate * Fine Food
N. Y. Office: 250 W. 57th St. Circle §-6386
Reduced Rates to July 12th Loule A. Roth, Dir,
— ~ : — ——__.- - —
50 Miles to FOREST HOUSE
Near enough for easy travel, far enough for an
unforgettable vacation, Forest House achieves
new levels of gay relaxation in inspiring sur-
roundings. Superb food, fine accommodations,
cordial hospitality. Two grand lakes, All sports,
FOREST House
Lake Mahopac, N.Y. * Tel. Mahopac 8-3449
Eeho Lake Ledge
In the Green Mts. Brandon, Vermont
A Delightful Adult Vacation Resort
On lovely Wcho Lake—all water sports
New canoes, boats, bicycles
Tennis, ping-pong, shuffleboard
Music, square dancing, camp-fires
Deluxe cottages with private bath
Meals Buropean plan
Write Diana &P Abe Berman, Brandon, Vt.
ne ae rem NN
A “Forest-Warm-Lake-Mountain Paradise”
For ALL Faiths, Races, Colors, Convictions
Very GOOD FOOD, Room, Bath, $4 to $7 daily
Evening FORUM, July-August, SPEAKERS
WORLD FELLOWSHIP, Inc.
(Near) CONWAY, NEW HAMPSHIRE
274 Acres, 2 Lakes, Trout Stroam, 6 Bulidings
Swimming, Boating, Music, Gamos, Excursions
Friendly, Informal HOME ATMOSPHERE
FREE FOLDER—Photos, Rates, Transportation
Informal
Adult
resort
that fs
“different”
On Schroon Lake
Pottersville, NW, Y.
Season-Long Festival of MUSIC & DANO
Arthur Sherman, Dir., Jules & Anita Adolphe, Adriene
Angel, Pat Brooks, Bob Witzgerald, Howard Fried,
Allegro Kane. Guest Artists for Special Events,
Lee Pvans & Band »* Cosy Bar ¢ Wxcellent Food
All Sports—Private Beach, Boating, Canoaing
5 Championship Clay Tennis Courts
Low june Rates * Honeymoon Cottajes
N. Y, Office: 142 Montague Street, Brooklyn 2, N. Y.
Phones: MAin 4-8570 or MAin 4-1230
LEAH OKUN, Director
a
—
ee
a
1B}
“eZ
dances Sates as
=
Vee
A Message to Readers of The Natio
Nine months ago, without fanfare, a new pub-
lication was born.
It was an unusual publication for these times.
It promised to print the many stories and arti-
cles that most newspapers and magazines dare
not publish because they might bring forth pres-
sure-group reprisals or advertising cancellations,
In short, it promised to dig out and publish
“inside stories” which would have no other pos-
pible way to reach the American people.
The name of the publication is
EXPOSE
Said our statement of policy:
“ .. Exposé will do battle with frauds, whether
they be people or products. Exposé will fight big-
otry. It will spotlight all who would destroy our
freedoms — whether they be Communists or the
*1000% Americans’ who would adopt Communist
methods in their pretended fight against Com-
munism.
“And yet, Exposé will have no axe to grind.
We will print only the honest factual material
which is exclusive because no one else dares to
print it.” =
Exposé is independent and liberal, as the great
SUBSCRIPTION COUPON
EXPOSE, Dept. N
55 West 42 Street, New York 36, N. Y.
I want to subscribe to Exposé. Please send me the
next 21 issues for which I enclose $3.00.
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Also send me the back issue I have checked below. I enclose
an extra 25¢ for each one checked.
OO issue #1 “Plot a the Schools”
OD issue #2 “The Truth About Winchell”
LD issue #3 ‘‘The Mysterious Mr. Matthews”
0 issue #4 “The Anna Rosenberg Smear”
{) issue #5 “Sokolsky & a a 7
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Check here [] if you want all 9 issues and a copy of Sidney
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Sa ee a a a Ce er ST PS TG CO OT ET PT Ce
REE TET SEUY NSA) A AT PS ATS CS Se A Ta NS FE a SS SR eS
majority of the American people are inden :
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Nine issues have appeared.
They have met with tremendous enthusiasm ae!
Exposé is daring..
. during these times whiel
call for daring.
q
i
It is in the tradition of a free and fearless '
press which dares to probe everywhere. Exposé
accomplishes things. i
9
The current issue of Exposé turns the
spotlight on the American Medical Asso
ciation. It also contains an exciting eolu
by Dr. Leon Birkhead of Friends ef Democ
racy. And one by Sidney Margolius, former
shopping editor of the newspaper P.M.
|
|
|
|
|
The last issue exposes the spy network of the
Anti-Defamation League. It also contains The,
Chiropractic Story; Jim Peck’s report on stock
holders’ meetings; and the inside story of im |
morality in South America told by a priest who
has left the church.
The issue before that contains George Seldes
exciting report on his interviews with Tito. The
Boston Catholic Heresy case is explored in detail
The Herald Tribune is exposed for its whitewash
of the du Ponts.
Robert Scott’s petition for the right of a Free-
thinker to radio time is reported in detail. —
|
|
q
Other issues have exposed the March of Dime 4
Walter Winchell, George Sokolsky, Allen Zoll’s plot}
against the schools, the Anna Rosenberg smear,
. there have been articles by noted attorney
Shur Garfield Hays; by Billy Rose; by Associate
Editor of The Catholic Worker, Robert Ludlow;|
by Rep. Adam Clayton Powell. xg d
.extracts from Thomas Paine and Robert G.
Engereoll.
}
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ot
4
Exposé is a monthly. If you act now you may
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The coupon to the left is for your convenienc ey Pc
Morals on Your TV—By Frank Orme
| eae FB |
@ : as LIB hRD)
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| t
———————— EEE |
June 21, 1952
A German View
| Rearmament: |
1 The Road toWar |
| BY CAROLUS
| “ :
| Europe Votes for Eisenhower |
: BY MARK GAYN
| Big Steel and the Little Man |
BY MARY HEATON VORSE
Aes
|
|
|
i ne es? a : J
5 all
0 CENTS A COPY EVERY WEEK SINCE 1865 <© 7 DOLLARS A YEAR
x" i
_ s wt
*
AROUND THE |
Who's Your Wife?
Jeffersonville, Indiana
NEW extension of the “guilt-by-
association” technique was de-
veloped in a loyalty-security case at an
army installation near Louisville. A
draftsman at the Jeffersonville, Indiana,
Quartermaster Depot was dismissed be-
cause of his association with his wife.
The army's charges were not put so
baldly, of course, but in the web of
hearsay presented as evidence that re-
mained the chief indisputable fact.
In notifying the employee, Frank
Grzelak, 60, of his dismissal, the screen-
ing board which had conducted a hear-
ing into his case in March assured him
there was no question of his loyalty to
the United States. But because of the
activities of his wife, Josephine, 51, a
membet of the Progressive Party, the
board felt that Grzelak constituted a
security risk. So was ended his seventeen
years as a federal employee.
The board seemed principally dis-
turbed by Mrs. Grzelak’s support of vari-
ous Left-wing peace movements. These
included helping to organize the Louis-
ville Committee of the American Peace
Crusade, seeking signatures to the
Stockholm Peace Petition, and serving as
a delegate to the Peace Pilgrimage in
Washington, D. C., in 1951. The board
was also disturbed by Mrs. Grzelak's
taste in reading. It disapproved of her
recommendations of ‘‘Betrayal,” by
(Albert D. Kahn, and various other less-
known books such as “The Bible Un-
masked,” “Bases and Empire,” and “‘Is
Peace a Crime?”
These facts led the board to believe
that Mrs. Grzelak “evidenced a sym-
pathy with communism.” No accusation
was made that Grzelak himself partici-
pated in any of the activities attributed
to his wife except that he once at-
tended with her a public meeting of
the Louisville Committee of the Ameri-
can Peace Crusade at the Louisville
Y. W. C. A.; a somewhat nebulous
charge that he had recommended to a
fellow employee some of the books the
board found so distressing was cate-
gorically denied by the defendant.
The hearing itself was described by
Grzelak’s attorneys, Robert Zollinger
and Grover G. Sales, as “a kangaroo
hearing based on kangaroo charges.” Of
the various charges leveled against his
wife, none was aired at the hearing
except those involving the books and
the peace petitions. Government wit-
nesses were briefed immediately before
their appearance by an “advisory’’ at-
torney who sat with the three-member
hearing board. Rules of evidence were
set aside and defense objections to lead-
ing questions were ignored, Grzelak was
queried, for instance, on his attitude
toward municipal ownership of public
utilities. Only one of the defense attor-
neys was allowed to participate actively
in the hearing.
Six witnesses had been subpoenaed
by the defense. Not one of the six ap-
peared. Grzelak's attorneys reported
those subpoenaed seemed to be in the
grip of “an undercurrent of fear.” One
of those who did not show up admitted
privately to a newspaper reporter that
some time before the hearing he had
been informed by an FBI agent that
there was “more to the case than ap-
peared in the charges.” In questioning
Grzelak, the board pointedly asked why
none of his witnesses had appeared.
Government witnesses, for their part,
showed an appalling lack of informa-
tion on the world about them. One ad-
mitted she did not know the difference
between the American Peace Crusade
and the Crusade for Freedom. She did
know the former was subversive, how-
ever, because it was so tagged by the
Business and Professional Women’s As-
sociation of which she is a member,
The same woman testified that she knew
the book “The Bible Unmasked” was
communistic because the American Le-
gion had so informed her husband.
Another witness described a book given
to him by Mrs. Grzelak as communistic
because it “looked” that way as he
glanced through it.
Another witness added a new defini-
tion of subversive. “It is,” he declared,
“anything contrary to the general
belief.” Under ~ cross-questioning he
amended this to the extent of except-
ing Mohammedanism. On such testi-
mony Frank Grzelak was discharged.
The board’s decision was received
April 17. A few days later Grzelak’s
attorneys filed for an appeal hearing.
The hearing was quickly set for June 6
at the Pentagon—and two additional
charges were leveled against the hapless
ie
Grzelak. He was accused of having
attended with his wife two Progressive
Party meetings in Louisville, Kentucky,
in 1951 at which “persons identified ag
Communists or Communist sympa.
thizers” took part, and it was charged
that a New Year's Eve party held by th
Grzelaks on the last day of 1951 © :
attended by persons “reported” to be
Communists or sympathizers. Grzelak’s
attorneys immediately asked for the T
identity of the alleged Communists and
information on the manner in which
they were identified. The government
board remained mum.
Neither was any explanation offered
for the fact that these “new’’ charges
had not been aired at the first hearing,
which was held some months after the
offenses were said to have taken place.
Had the FBI just come into the pos-
session of the “new” facts or had they ¥
been held back deliberately for use i
the event of an appeal?
Both the Cowrier-Journal and the
Times, Louisville’s two daily papers,
took a strong editorial stand against the
dismissal of Grzelak. The Times de
clared: “‘We hate to think that a man’
right to work—as distinguished from. Cast
his right to a given job—must hinge on
his or his wife’s political beliefs.” It
found the discharge “deeply disturbing.”
One result of the case has been the
formation by Sales, who is Kentucky |
counsel for the American Civil Liberties 9.
Union, of the Greater Louisville Com- 9.“
mittee to Defend Civil Liberties, Its
members include trade unionists, min-
isters, and radio and television personali-
ties. Its first task will be to secure jus-
tice for Frank Grzelak. Of the hearing,
Sales said. “For the first time in my
forty years experience as a lawyer I
was terribly frightened, frightened of
what might happen to any citizen if
the government chooses to attack him.”
Already public contributions have
been received by the committee in i
fight in behalf of Grzelak. Sales
announced his intention of taking the
case directly to President Truman if the
appeals board refuses to reinstate
Grzelak in some capacity, q
GEORGE H. YATER _
h dup
My ¥
this: ¥
He Re
Befy
Ale Uni
[George H. Yater is in charge of tl tha Mt)
Louisville Times Bureau in 0 efer 4
ville, Indiana.] be
| VoLuME 174
_ The Shape of Things
| The Real Republican Riddle
With the pre-convention campaign nearly over, the
battle for the Republican nomination remains essentially
_ unchanged. Discounting excessive claims by both camps,
| Taft and Eisenhower should enter the convention with
| approximately the same number of delegates (assuming
_ that Warren and Stassen delegates will eventually swing
, to Eisenhower). The decisive votes, therefore, are to be
| found in the Maryland, Michigan, and Pennsylvania
contingents, and also, of course, in the outcome of the
i contests over certain Southern delegations.
One or two recent developments, however, merit at-
_ tention. General Eisenhower has noticeably failed to
_ arouse any frenzied popular response to his candidacy.
‘}) The public’s attitude might be described as “friendly but
i cool.” Attendance at meetings and receptions has, in
44) nearly every case, failed to measure up to hopeful fore-
o§ casts. A coast-to-coast survey conducted by the Wall
gq Street Journal indicates that while “Mr.” Eisenhower has
I | not hurt himself much with his speeches, he hasn’t
. helped himself either. Here and there a delegate may
Bave switched but there has been no major trend toward
1§ Eisenhower. Of definite interest and some possible sig-
| “nificance is a recent Chicago Tribune editorial complain-
_ ing bitterly that the “big money of Wall Street” is on
) Eisenhower, and appealing to the people with “the little
4 dollars”—the salary and wage earners—to ante up for
+ | Taft. ~
0% I More and more it is becoming clear that the struggle
| between the Senator and the General is not a popularity
a contest but a struggle for power between two major
‘ | groupings within the Republican Party which have
1 sharply divergent interests on certain key issues, The real
®% question about the Republican convention, therefore, is
| this: Where does the center of power nowadays rest in
_the Republican Party?
“ Fars eee
f
0
1
1
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we
4d Steel Strike Cree
x] Before negotiations between the steel companies and
the union collapsed, the two sides appeared to be fairly
| mear an agreement on wages (see Big Steel and the Lit-
yu, tle Man in this issue). However, according to Philip
ye | Murray, a number of other important questions remained
unresolved, such as seniority rights and incentive pay,
ir
A
| ie
Mie.
| AMERICA’S LEADING LIBERAL WEEKLY SINCE 1865
NEW YORK + SATURDAY « JUNE 21, 1952
NUMBER 25
as well as the issue of the union shop. Management has
attempted to give the impression that fundamental dis-
agreement on this last item was the real cause of the
breakdown and has declared that it will never be a party
to enforced enrolment of employees in the union. What
the steel companies have failed to explain, however, is
why they must “on principle” deny to the steelworkers
something that they long ago conceded through their
subsidiaries to the United Mine Workers.
Thus the strike continues while President and Con-
gress wrangle about how to end it. Congress lost no
time in refusing Mr. Truman’s request for a special
seizure law, not for the right reason—the fact that
such ad hoc legislation would set a dangerous precedent
—but because it wanted to force the President to resort
to a Taft-Hartley injunction. So far Mr. Truman has
hesitated to take this step: obviously, if he does eventu-
ally order the Attorney General to seek an injunction, he
wants it to be clear that responsibility lies with Congress.
Of course, use of Taft-Hartley would not necessarily
put the steel-mills back into production, for the courts
might reasonably take the view that the union had al-
ready met the provisions of the law by postponing the
strike for 93 days. And if, nevertheless, another waiting
period of eighty days were imposed, the strikers, feeling
the scales of justice weighted against them, would return
to work in a mood of bitterness that would bode ill for
any final settlement. To us, continuance of the strike .
seems preferable, particularly since the workers have
promised to produce enough steel to meet urgent mili-
tary needs,
He Should Know
In a farewell talk to the United Nations Correspond-
ents Association, Porter McKeever, who resigned on
June 1 after six years as press officer of the United
States Delegation, delivered several hearty blows right
and left—blows he had evidently been saving up for
some time. If his words provided considerable comfort
to those who think the United Nations should be used
more energetically to combat the Russians, they were
equally critical of the American attitude toward the inter-
national organization. He cited several of the many oc-
casions on which the United States had deliberately by-
passed the U, N. in carrying out its policies abroad
and deplored in particular the anti-United Nations move-
ee
Sas
° IN THIS ISSUE °
it EDITORIALS
e The Shape of Things . 593
i Korean Kaleidoscope 595
ARTICLES
Disarmament Interlude by J. Alvarez del Vayo 596
German Rearmament: Road to War by Carolus 597
Europe Votes for Eisenhower by Mark Gayn 599
Morals on Your TV by Frank Orme 601
Big Steel and. the Little Man
by Mary Heaton Vorse 603
Engineers Turn to Unionism
by Herbert M. Orrell 605
BOOKS AND THE ARTS
What Liberties and Whose? by George Soule 606
An Englishman on Zola by Jacob Korg 607
Full of Plums by Joseph Wood Krutch 608
Books in Brief 608
Films by Manny Farber 609
Records by B. H. Haggin 610
LETTERS TO THE EDITORS 611
CROSSWORD PUZZLE No. 470
by Frank W. Lewis opposite 612
EDITORIAL BOARD
Editor and Publisher + Freda Kirchwey
Editorial Director Director, Nation Associates
Carey McWilliams Lillie Shultz
Managing Editor: Victor H. Bernstein
Foreign Editor Literary Editor
J. Alvarez del Vayo Margaret Marshall
Financial Editor: Keith Hutchison
Drama: Joseph Wood Krutch Music: B. H. Haggin
Copy Editor: Gladys Whiteside
Assistant Literary Editor: Caroline Whiting
Staff Contributors
Andrew Roth, Alexander Werth, Howard K. Smith, Carolus
Business Manager: Hugo Van Arx
Advertising Manager: Maty Simon
The Nation, published weekly and copyright, 1952, in the U, S
by The Nation Associates, Inc,, 20 Vesey Street, New York 7, N. $
Entered as second-class matter, December 13, 1879, at the Post Office
of New York, N. Y., under the act of March 3, 1879. Advertising
and Circulation Representative for Continental Europe: Publicitas,
_' © Subscription Prices: Domestic—One year $7; Two years $12; Three |
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Information to Libraries: The Nation is indexed in Readers’ Guide
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Articles, Public Affairs Information Service, Dramatic Index,
ae ‘ Sy pt ei ore
a}. &, pe, RES . te
ment now gaining ground in thi
pace. He specifically mentioned a “false and sct rilous at-
tack” on UNESCO educational materials, printed in the
Congressional Record and airmailed all over the United
States. a
This movement has culminated in the so-called.
“Bricker resolution” —sponsored, however, by fifty-nine—
members—proposing a constitutional amendment which, —
in Mr. McKeever’s words, would make “‘our continued —
participation in-the United Nations, and virtually every
other international organization, a practical impossibil-_
ity.” It was no apologist for Russia but an American offi-"
cial with years of experience and work behind him who.
concluded bluntly: “The United Nations is no longer a
dominant element in the conduct of American foreign
policy.” To those of our readers who sometimes find us
unduly critical of that policy, we commend his words.
a
Canadian Socialism Gains
Two provincial elections in Canada last week pro-
duced encouraging results for the Cooperative Common-
wealth Federation. In Saskatchewan, where it has been :
in power ever since 1944, it gained a sweeping victory,
taking 42 out of the 53 seats in the legislature. Final
results in British Columbia will not be known until
July 3, owing to the operation there of an alternative-
vote system. But on the first count the C. C. F., which
had only eight members in the last legislature, was ahead J !
in 21 constituencies, i, ai
The Liberals, Canada’s dominant party, suffered a Ma
serious setback in both provinces. In British Columbia,
where they had held a majority, they were leading in
only nine constituencies at this writing, and in Saskatche- |
wan they suffered a net loss of eight members. The |
Social Credit Party, which has been trying to spread its
influence from its Alberta stronghold, appears to have —
made important gains in British Columbia. By contrast, —
in Saskatchewan its total vote was halved compared to
1948 and all its 24 candidates were defeated,
Eaepet eft Ss See oe elle
\
;
Friction within the Liberal Party together with dis- F
satisfaction with the federal government's farm policies, si
contributed to the C. C. F.’s Saskatchewan victory. But
the main reason for its gains is undoubtedly its record
of achievement in the past eight years, It has been a true
people’s government bringing real benefits to farmers
and workers. It has, for example, instituted a health
program providing free hospitalization in return for ¢
family contribution of $30 a year and set up a govern- J
ment insurance office that has reduced the cost of fire}
and automobile insurance. It has also launched ambitious ’
plans for the development of resources, In short, within | he
the rather narrow limits permitted by the provincial con-]}
stitution, it has followed a socialist policy. Evidently the }
voters approve. a
Ond, I
t sn
World;
of Und
iy
Asi
in
Sond
i)
|
ASS def
| to substitute a padlock for the Statue of Liberty, is now
_ in the hands of the President for his signature. In a bril-
_ liant analysis of the pernicious measure, Felix Cohen,
_ former solicitor for the Department of the Interior,
_ urges a Presidential veto on the grounds that the bill:
| (1) puts the foreign-born among us under increased
jeopardy of deportation, with or without hearings, for
_ acts reaching decades back which may even have been
perfectly lawful and proper when they occurred; (2)
puts American citizens abroad in jeopardy of loss of
citizenship and exclusion from the United States without
- motice or hearings; (3) gives large new powers to various
_ government officials by making their “opinion” a basis
for exclusion or deportation; (4) lays down statutory dis-
crimination against colonial peoples as well as all other
people whose family tree includes 50 per cent of ‘‘Asia-
_ Pacific ancestors’; (5) surrenders American sovereignty
_ by delegating to foreign governments the power to decide
which of their citizens or former citizens the United
States may admit; (6) provides for the deportation of
political and religious refugees for a wide variety of
} teasons; (7) stultifies America’s moral leadership by
reafirming in 1952 illiberal racial judgments and iso-
Iationist attitudes which were written into our statutes
three decades ago. —
To this plethora of cogent reasons for a veto, we can
_ add nearly 50,000,000 more, That many in the United
_ States are either foreign born, have at least one foreign-
— born parent, or are colored. The McCarran bill strikes,
‘i either directly or through their parents, at the normal
Ef | American rights of one-third of our people.
2
Korean Kaleidoscope
>
e. E ENTERED Korea with the announced objec-
W tives of returning that unhappy land to unity
and to democracy. If our enemy Mao effectively blocked
us from achieving the first, our friend Rhee has been
“no less valiant in preventing us from achieving the sec-
#@. ond. In this regard, there is much in the Korean picture
‘| that smacks of high comedy in the classic sense. But the
| world is in no mood to laugh, not even at the spectacle
f of Uncle Sam being bitten in the ankle by a wayward
iM) nephew. There is too much at stake for all of us.
#®)} Aside from the Rhee affair, there are two chief trouble
spots in Korea: the truce talks at Panmunjom, and the
| “second front” on Koje. an
089 Koje Front. News dispatches out of Korea have
i a} been misleading on a basic issue. For the most part,
they have implied that “kangaroo” courts, prisoner riots,
#) mass defiance, and executions of dissident prisoners by
Bithose in control, are the devilish inventions of the Com-
| June 21, 1952
i c
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7 oon
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The McCarran (anti-) immigration bill, which secks
A Brett ee ae ee iy) Ree
60 er) ee a com
munists. As thousands of our own veterans of World
War II can testify, nothing is farther from the truth.
We had similar trouble with our German and Japanese
prisoners all through the war, and Allied prisoners in
Nazi hands behaved the same way when sufficiently
aroused. The vengeance wreaked by the Maguis upon
collaborators—whether within or outside the prisoners’
enclosures—is an obvious case in point. And even in the
Koje compounds, as the New York Times’s George
Barrett pointed out in an especially interesting story last
Sunday, “the system of kangaroo control . . . was by
no means a special franchise for Communist fanatics;
bitter anti-Communists . , . took no lessons in cruelty
from the Red ‘czars.’ ”
HE bodies of seventeen garroted anti-Communists
found in a Koje compound reaffirmed an obvious
truth: human beings, when moved by fanatic adherence
to a cause, are capable of great cruelty. Our weakness in
Koje, as almost everywhere else in both the hot and the
cold war, is that we have never brought ourselves to
accept the possibility that the people in Communist coun-
tries may believe in Communism. We blandly assume
that no one in his right mind would wear a Communist
uniform unless there were a Communist pistol at his
back, and that all we had to do to turn him into an anti-
Communist is to take away the pistol and give him $54
worth of G.I. uniform and a can of C ration. Clearly we
have been looking in the wrong places for genuine Com-
munists; there are more of them in Communist countries,
and far fewer of them here at home than we think,
In any case, in view of our repeated official statements
that the Koje compounds were ruled by Communist
cliques, and that none of our people dared enter them -
for months at a time, the question remains. How did
we manage to screen the Koje prisoners? And how did
we arrive at our big anti-Communist majority if the
rank-and-file of prisoners were really under the thumbs
of the Communists?
The Panmunjom Front. During the prolonged debate
on the question of voluntary vs. forced repatriation of
prisoners, we have been wearing a mantle of nobility
which, in our hurry to buy, we grabbed from the over-
size rack. We have been asserting, for instance, that it
would be inhuman to return to the Communists some
100,000 prisoners whom we claim to be anti-Com-
munists. But the sincerity of our concern for them
must be judged in the light of the passage last week of
the McCarran act, which—unless vetoed by President
Truman—will effectively see to it that wherever these
poor prisoners go once they are freed, it won't be to this
country.
It can properly be argued, of course, that where na-
tional security is at stake, it is silly to talk of humanitar-
ianism. But that argument is equally valid for the
595
= a ae
Communists. As long ago as jeu 17, the Pacing :
radio charged that the United Nations was planning to
permit its anti-Communist prisoners to join the Nation-
alist forces on Formosa. Concerning this charge Admiral
Libby of our truce negotiating staff had this to say: “Just
as Korean soldiers have the right to choose which part of
Korea he wants to go, so the Chinese volunteers have
the right to choose whether they want to be repatriated
to the Republic of China [the Formosa government] or
to the China People’s Republic [Communist China].”
Can anyone deny that it is a threat to Communist China's
national security to permit the transfer of Chinese sol-
diers to the Nationalists in Formosa?
UT to say we have overstated our case on the war
B prisoners’ issue is not to say that we have no case at
all. There never was any reason for us to return to areas
north of the 38th Parallel prisoners whose origins are
south of that line. After some dilly-dallying, the Com-
munists themselves accepted the principle; since last
March, it has been clear to our negotiators that all South
Koreans could be resettled in South Korea. In addition
there are some thousands, perhaps tens of thousands, of
prisoners in our hands who were not technically “cap-
tured,” but who deseried as a result of our propaganda,
including our promise to protect them, It is difficult to
see how we can evade the responsibility for their con-
tinued safety. And there is a final category of prisoners
to whom we owe a moral obligation: individuals who,
according to available specific and concrete evidence,
have been of service to our side and have thereby in-
curred the enmity of the Communists. The rest, it would
appear, should be repatriated. This is in accordance with
the Geneva convention; it is in accordance with the tra-
ditions of war; and it is in accordance, one can be
certain, with the wishes of the 12,000 United Nations
prisoners, now in the hands of the Communists, who
would like to go home.
In our Korean policy we have failed properly to ap-
ptaise the psychology not only of the Communists, but
of our allies as well. The growing unrest of our Euro-
pean partners over Korean developments, particularly
the British, is the result. We are not doing ourselves a
service in insisting that General Mark Clark, and the
- Pentagon, shall be the sole arbiters of destiny in the
Orient. Let us share the next mistake—if there is to be
one!
As this is written, British Defense Minister Earl Alex-
ander is visiting in Korea. He should be told that a
British representative would be welcome to sit with the
Americans under the truce tent at Panmunjom. And a
representative of the French, who have their own trou-
bles in the Orient, should be invited too. After all, the
flag flying over the tent is that of the United Nations,
not the United States.
596
ae
yt
By J. ALVAREZ DEL VAYO ;
United Nations
tHE atmosphere here grew no brighter after General _
Clark's statements threatening to bomb Red China —
if the Communists should start a major offensive in
Korea. Together with the general dismay over the grim |
events on Koje Island, Syngman Rhee’s arrogant be- -
havior, and the truce deadlock, it increased the feeling
that we are entering a new period of the gravest war-
tension. All of this was inevitably reflected in the.
Disarmament Commission where Jacob A. Malik, Soviet —
Deputy Foreign Minister, turned down the new Western
plan for putting ceilings on armed forces, denouncing it
as “false and hypocritical.” But this stalemate should not —
be taken as a sign that negotiations are useless or are
likely to grind to a halt, The disarmament talks provide —
a continuing arena of discussion and it is rare that the —
Russians leave a conference table of their own accord.
Moreover, in the last few days there have been ©
several important off-the-record attempts—by men who —
are unwilling to remain passive while tension rises to
a dangerous pitch—in the direction both of reassuring —
the Russians and of encouraging the British and French ~
to express their desire for conciliation more firmly than
they have done so far. Foreign Minister Unden of Swe-—
den, in his typically quiet way, has been especially active —
behind the scenes, urging both sides to bring about a —
four-power conference on Germany before ratification of —
the Bonn and Paris treaties ends all chances of doing ©
anything. This view has now. been given official expres- _
sion in the French request of June 11 for a Big Four —
meeting. Responding to these pressures and to the
urgings of the British government—which is itself influ-
enced by popular clamor and the strong stand taken by | hl
the Parliamentary Labor Party—Washington has agreed —
in principle to talks with the Russians. |
But perhaps as effective as the demand for a confer- —
ence is the growing threat of non-ratification. I know ©
that the French have advised the Russians that ratification
of the fateful treaties will take more time than we ex- —
pected at the moment.of signing; that it will at least be
delayed until after the American elections. The purpose —
of this move is to counsel the Soviet leaders to avoid need- |
less provocations. In addition, certain influential French :
officials are urging postponement of action until the gen- _ meh
eral elections in Germany next year. .
The Russians probably regard all this with skepticism, — i
They must assume that if American pressure was able | “i
to force the signing of the treaties it will be equally q,
effective in regard to ratification. But meanwhile they J bs
lose nothing by remaining in the conference rooms where 7
discussion, no matter how negative, still goes on.
S$ iw Z SSB4AEBeE BB wee seco
Sf
Bonn
\EVEN years after his miserable death, Hitler is cele-
brating his greatest triumph: Germany is to be re-
armed by the same Western World which he had vowed
to destroy and which, despite the huge sacrifices de-
_manded of it, had risen to strike down the monster.
| Seven years after the unconditional surrender, what the
Fuhrer had hoped for in vain until the last minute be-
comes a reality: the West allies itself with the Wehr-
macht for a crusade against the East. And as in all
tragedies of Shakespearean scope, here too the satiric
subplot is present: for the second time, and this time
with the aid of the Western democracies, the Hitlerian
spirit becomes master of the German people, who
wanted to have no further truck with barracks, guns, and
war.
| There is no use in looking back casting up the ac-
count, figuring out on whom the blame for this develop-
ment falls. No doubt, whether wittingly or unwittingly,
those in power in the Kremlin started the train of events
by their policy of force, and took such a burden of guilt
upon themselves that may God and the Russian people
have mercy upon them. Not often in history has such a
working capital of sympathy been squandered and
turned into its opposite as Soviet Russian policy from
| May, 1945, to May, 1952, has succeeded in doing. But
_} anyone who travels through Germany and Europe with
“his eyes and’ ears open knows too
“that the former enthusiasm for the
United States has also dropped far
1} below the freezing point and that
“there is as much enmity for America
as there is hate for Russia. This is jf
also true of countries in which there sesse-7Sa0t-34
is almost no question of a Communist i or a Com-
munist movement. “Both are to blame,” you hear in
«Benn as in Paris, “the Americans are as guilty as the
Russians”; and if the great majority of Frenchmen and
Germans are today in agreement on one thing, it is in
their grievance against the United States for having
brought the Wehrmacht back into the world again. The
millions of Marshall aid, the improvement of living
standards, the preservation of democracy, the safeguard-
i} ing of peace—in the eyes of the Western European peo-
‘1 ples, and not least in those of the German Federal
ly} Republic—all that is undone by the contractual agree-
~~
ah
oe) ji ee ee ee
1) CAROLUS is the pseudonym of The Nation’s correspondent
in West Germany.
N} June 21, 1952
ey
yy
German Rearmament: Road to War
BY CAROLUS
ment and the military pact with the Adenauer regime and
the German generals.
The war on Bolshevism, Marshall aid for military pur-
poses only, the European army—these were echoed in the
words of a French deputy: “France sees herself forced
into a policy which she rejects from her soul. What
a parody that we are to extirpate the Russian evil by
the German evil!’’ What do the Germans say? Here
is a typical quotation from the nationalistic weekly, Der
Spiegel, which in format and significance corresponds to
Time magazine in the United States:
It is immoral to loosen a prisoner’s chains on condi-
tion that he bear arms for his former master. . ... That
this conglomeration of peoples [the European army}
could not protect German territory from a Soviet inva-
sion can be taken as demonstrated. That it could not
prevent world war is agreed. So long as the French
maintain a defensive alliance against Germany with the
Soviets, the Kremlin’s influence can make the German
contingent amount to no more than a psychological
sedative for the visionaries in Bonn and for the Ameri-
can taxpayer. . . . The consequence will be that the
Soviet zone of Germany, which is under ruthless com-
mand, will raise more troops than the Federal Republic.
The consequence will be that the Soviets will be able to
use the resentment against the “German peril’ in
Czechoslovakia and Poland and raise more troops there
too. Who is benefited by unwilling West German troops
if they still do not alter the balance of power between
East and West?
“Preservation of democracy”! The way in which these
agreements were brought into existence and signed
shamed democracy. The condition for the provisional
peace treaty with Bonn is the rearming of West Germany
and its military pact with the Western Powers. No peo-
ple, no West German parliament, was consulted in the
matter, because the regime knew that, in signing the two
agreements, it acted contrary to the will of the great
majority of the people, who want no more to do with re-
armament than with the provisional peace treaty. For
this treaty means that German unity now becomes im-
possible to attain by peaceful means. But since a people
of sixty-eight million cannot in the long run be kept
divided, its army, in the hands of eight thousand of Hit-
ler’s former officers, will present a danger not only to the
East but also to its immediate directors in the West.
Twelve German divisions remain twelve German divi-
sions, under whatever name and under whatever flag
they march. Called into existence against the will of the
597
oF ON Wee A ee ee” eee ee
eee hep
ed
people, and thus automatically against the people, and
put into motion without democratic controls, this army
will very soon lead a life of its own, independent of
parliament and people, with its own policy and its own
aims. No Dr. Adenauer and no American High Com-
mander can alter that. Without effective control by any
parliament of the six participating West European states,
this German army—and presumably the entire European
army likewise—will become a dictatorship of military
technocrats, who will be joined by economic technocrats
in accordance with the number and magnitude of the
armament industries which the army will require. There
will be a political dictatorship by the military hierarchy.
The cold war has not only its military aspect; eco-
nomic, social, and psychological factors are at least as
important. This European army, in the hands of the mil-
itary technocrats, will always see the Communist prob-
lem only from the military point of view. It will neglect
those other factors even more than they have been
neglected hitherto, and so make things easier for the
Communists and for Soviet Russia.
I will give an example to show how markedly the
spirit of military bureaucracy already appears in the
agreements signed at Paris and Bonn. In the West Ger-
man Federal Republic, which Dr. Adenauer obligated by
his signature, there are four and one-half million war
cripples, war widows, and war orphans. On the meager-
est of pensions, they live a life of starvation unworthy of
human beings. Hence they are a perpetual focus of dis-
satisfaction and unrest. Yet in the defense treaties just
concluded, only the pensions for the professional officers
and noncommissioned officers of the erstwhile Hitler
army and the Wehrmacht are recognized as legitimately
deductible defense charges for the Federal Republic.
What an encouragement to become a soldier for those
who do not want to choose the army as a career!
In this same West German state, the Minister of
Justice in the Adenauer Cabinet has been saying for
months, in public speeches, that a third of the pensions
of these four and a half million war victims has been
diverted to other purposes, presumably military. Thus
the regime is swindling the poorest of the poor in order
to finance the building of the army. What psychological
perspectives!
“What?” we hear. “No voice for people or parlia-
ment, a democracy which has already become a farce, no
national unity, but the permanent division of Germany,
the darkest social outlook? There’s going to be trouble
in the Federal Republic.” There will be trouble even
though the Germans are a patient people, trained by
twelve years of the Hitler dictatorship and the subsequent
occupation to even greater patience and obedience. Cer-
tainly something is stirring in Germany. Every new elec-
_ tion announces a victory for Schumacher’s opposition
_ party. During recent weeks workers in hundreds of thou-
598
‘ Pe: Darcy
os Sa ee
o-. §& Re BBSeae
. eM
Tagebuch, Vienna — ra
“These gentlemen seem familiar to me, Mr. Adenauer.” “Oh, ih wy
yes, General, you convicted them yourself a few years ago.”
sands and in every city, have obeyed the strike and dem-
onstration calls of the unions in protest against rearma-
ment and the contractual agreement. .
This agreement contains the riot clauses—the clauses '
for the protection of the occupying troops which gives
them the right to take the preservation of peace and
order into their own hands. And because the Germans —
are accustomed to obedience, there will soon be no more
strikes, and the handful af German Communists will not —
succeed in kindling a greater fire. The American civilian
officials of the High Commission, for the most part ex-—
traordinarily capable men, who have lived on good terms
with the population, will now be replaced, by officers #f°
who will take their orders from the American army au- @%!
thorities. The statute of occupation, which has obtained 9™
until now, terminates; the occupation and its special —
rights, codified in countless clauses, remains. Remains, @j“™
too, a provision, over which there has been intense discus- “# Mt
sion and which today is more or less concealed in an |
annex, which stipulates: If tomorrow or the next day @ Mt.
the two German zones come together again, if the ti:
unity of Germany is reestablished, the East zone shall 9% hi
enter into the same rights and duties as those which the ! att
Bonn regime has undertaken for West Germany. But it #te\
was precisely to prevent German rearmament that Soviet 9 Yet
Russia began its exchange of notes with the Western 4
Powers. How could Moscow return to its proposals for jit
German unity when it is already signed and sealed that ©
the East zone, freed from Russia’s clutches, is fo be” Det fee
armed by the West against its former occupier?
_France is trembling before the rearming of Germany.”
The proposed twelve West German divisions—eyen if it
stops at these twelve—will be the strongest military })
force in Western Europe, stronger than all the other #ii-/).
Western European states together. In the East zone the *
Russians will likewise raise twelve German divisions. |) |
Considering that the greater part of the French army Ply,
J Ah asl mes ei.
Por Sain ay
D
1 leeding Gy eth da
p front Russia with an equivalent force in Europe would
' - automatically drive all the Western European states into
an armaments race which could not but strain their econ-
5 omies to the breaking “point and create social conflicts
. , whose consequences could only benefit bolshevism. It is
| an iniquitous illusion to believe that American divisions
| could be withdrawn from a rearmed Germany and a re-
_ militarized Western Europe. On the contrary, more and
more American divisions will be needed vis-a-vis a Rus-
sia and its satellites who are determined not to lag
behind in the armaments race.
_ And the Germans? Will East and West plunge into a
_ civil war? Before they do that, the generals of the future
_ West and East zone armies, subject to no sort of demo-
_ cratic control, will try to come to an agreement. At
_ whose expense? At the expense of the Western Powers,
for only Soviet Russia can reestablish German unity.
In doChina, any aise to con-
ewe
Russia can even, if need be, return to Germany the terri-
tories beyond the Oder-Neisse line and open to the Ger-
mans the markets of the East, even unto China, for
which the Germans hanker.
Nothing final has happened yet. The Bonn and Paris
agreements are not yet ratified; Germany is not yet re-
armed; the great adventure has not yet begun. However
much justified hatred those in power in the Kremlin
have brought upon themselves, however unfortunate and
destructive their power policy has been, the West and its
democratic politicians must also beat their breasts; they,
too, have a great mea culpa to acknowledge. The divi-
sion of Germany is the division of Europe. The rearm-
ing of Germany is the road to the great adventure: to
chaos and war. German rearmament will make Hitler's
generals the arbiters between East and West, masters of
peace and war. In the consuming flames of a third world
war Hitler will enjoy his revenge, even in hell.
| Europe Votes for Eisenbower
\ Rome
HIS is June in Western Europe, a time of ripening
grain, of anxiety and war maneuvers. In France,
there are strikes, riots, and a debate on whether Jacques
Duclos’s two dead pigeons were the carrier or the stew-
]| ing kind. West Germany is going through the painful
, § Soviet reaction to the peace contract in Bonn, Here, in
ip Italy, the echoes of. last month’s local elections are
drowned out’only by the frenzy which attends the an-
i :
_ | nual eighteen-day bicycle race.
7 What with all these preoccupations, Europe seems to
have little mind left for the coming Presidential elec-
tions in America. Later on, popular interest will pick
y | up. But today, ask ten Italians what they think of Bob
. | Taft, and nine will look puzzled. For most Europeans
; | the Senator from Ohio is not even an identifiable name.
“t Yet, this is a misleading picture. American politics
i pare an integral part of the European scene, and anything
| that affects the making of American foreign policy
closely affects Western Europe. Thus, many observers
here feel that no American election in history has meant
so much for the destiny of Europe as will the next one.
In fact, the “American November” has for months been
one of the most powerful, if unsettling, elements in
European politics. This has been true“on all levels, from
anti-U. S. soap-box oratory to intricate diplomatic moves.
MARK GAYN, author of the widely read “Japan Diary,”
has spent the last fwe years in Europe.
oi | June 21, 1952
BY MARK GAYN
Not long ago, at a neo-Fascist meeting in a small town
in South Italy, I heard an orator forecast that the next,
“tough” occupant of the White House “will need our
young men, the only young men in Europe able and
willing to fight.” Conversely, a speaker at a huge Com-
munist meeting here in Rome explained that “Wall
Street imperialists are electing Eisenhower to the Presi-
dency so he can launch a new profitable world war.”
On a higher plateau, Chancellor Konrad Adenauer
has been charged by his Social-Democratic critics with
rushing through the various agreements with the West to
provide “Ike” with a solid campaign issue. It has not
been difficult to refute this charge. Yet, in a way, it has
truly reflected the German government's preference for
Eisenhower.
Similarly in France, the shadow of Taft, former
President Herbert Hoover, and the entire isolationist
camp has lain heavily on the making of foreign policy.
Le Monde undoubtedly mirrored official thinking when
it wrote recently: “One could say without any exaggera- -
tion that most of the concessions which the French
leaders made during recent [West. European rearma-
ment] negotiations have had but one aim: to assure the
success of Eisenhower's candidacy in the next elections—
a candidacy which carries for us a guaranty of non-
abandonment, And also an assurance against a preventive
war.”
Finally, here in Italy the “American November” is
already a part of the nation’s political fabric. It crops up
599
Mali et.
in the speeches of Communist dock bosses exhorting |
striking longshoremen; in Communist posters, neo-
Fascist appeals, government promises, It is the subject of
debate in political circles, disturbed every bit as much
by the possible outcome of the American elections as they
are by their own national elections next Spring. And
when Eisenhower comes to Italy for a farewell call, the
Left at once charges that he has come to bolster the
unsteady fortunes of Premier Alcide De Gasperi. The
widely-read, pro-Communist Paese Sera urges him not to
listen to De Gasperi but to those voices in the United
States which demand peace. “Then, should he win,
he will one day be able to say proudly he had assured
himself of the gratitude of the whole world.”
Not unnaturally, Western Europe views the American
election through a prism all its own..To most non-Com-
munists here, it is not a contest between the Republicans
and Democrats, or between isolationists and interna-
tionalists. To them the “American November”’ will de-
cide only one thing: whether the “pro-Europeans” or the
“anti-Europeans’” will shape American policy. Since the
candidates regarded as “‘pro-European” happen to be-
long to the relatively more progressive wing of their
parties, one finds here the curious sight of, say, a
Socialist and award heeler of Catholic Action cheering
for the same Americans. Neither the Right nor the
moderate Left is concerned about the candidate’s
domestic policy. The only touchstone is whether the man
has shown sympathy for Europe and its problems.
By this test, Eisenhower is the outstanding favorite.
The attitude is as uncritical as it often is in the United
States. Even the ‘‘neutralists,”” who assail the American
“military mind,” are willing to forget that Ike is a
general. And non-Communist trade-union men choose
_ Ike even when they learn his attitude towards organized
labor may not be excessively liberal.
What most Europeans seem to like about Eisenhower
is that he has demonstrated his
good-will for Europe, and that he
is a calm and unbombastic man. }
General Douglas MacArthur re (a
Western Europe the shudders; Ike,
by contrast, stands for political san- SAGA a
ity. Newspapers call him “an hon- aie
otary European.” A leading daily here says eas would
be happy to see him win in November, for he has “
sincere friendship for Italy.” (“If Eisenhower had re-
mained in command here,” it says rightly or wrongly,
“the Italian campaign would have been much shorter
and less destructive.”) And in London, the Times
joins “the chorus with: “He will always be remembered
as a great friend, under whom men of this country are
proud to have served. . .. General Eisenhower is the best
known and best loved American in Europe.” »
As for the Democrats, the only candidate who gets-an
600
‘fetta arg thie back Averell H
of course, known far less wide y on th
Ike, but what is known appeals to the non Coane n
He, too, is an “honorary European,” credited with ere
standing Europe's needs and having tried to meet them. —
Wishfully, some European observers see the “American —
November” as a contest between Eisenhower and Har- —
riman. Whoever wins, Western Europe cannot lose, As
for the Kefauvers, they seem to fascinate the editors of a
illustrated magazines more than the public. Unacquainted
with the brighter features of American political life,
the Europeans tend to regard Estes with his raccoon ha
as a one-man three-ring circus. ha
HE clection comes at a particularly sensitive season —
for Western Europe. There have been other such pe- -
riods before, with war alarms and economic worries, But, ,
somehow, there was usually the underlying conviction
that war was not yet, and that the generous American «
uncle would help if the money ran out. !
The feeling has not been unanimous. Here, the Com- |
munists call President Truman i padrone d'Italia, or*
the boss of Italy; in France, they call him “the butcher §
of Korean children.” With a boost from the Com-—
munists, and often without it, the anti-American feel-
ing has been steadily growing, and finding important |
political outlets. Yet, I am convinced that most Euro- ©
peans to this day are not hostile to the United States,
and President Truman is not universally disliked. The —
London Times probably reflects a widespread feeling |
when it says that Truman has risen “high above any |
assessment” that might have been made at the time of 4
Roosevelt’s death, and that he has pursued * ‘enlightened —
and far-seeing policies for the economic revival” of the
Western world.
Somehow, Western Europe has been adapting itsele 4
to the post-war climate of alarm and worry, and in this
adjustment American aid has been an element of
normality and stability. Today, the adjustment—psy- —
chological, political, and economic—is being threatened
by the uncertainties of November. Truman is going; the
economic aid, already curtailed, may be cut off; and-what —
will happen here if some “anti-European’’ moves into’
the White House? Two things are uppermost in the mind —
of Western Europe—bread and peace. Increasingly, both |
seem to depend on what the American voters will do”
next November. ay
This has produced a curious duality in European think: |
ing. Most Europeans fear war, and want to be left alone |
by the strategists of both Washington and Moscow.
Yet, they equally fear being “abandoned” by the United |
States—without credits or raw materials or food. In
other words, the Europeans want Uncle Sam to te- J »,,.
main here as a provider of needed funds, but to be an !
fen
ocean away when it comes to politics. fitiog
=>. & se te es ees oh
The Na
; | line:
T) OBERT E. FELLOWS, president of the National
: Association of Radio and Television Broadcasters,
speaking of Congressman Gathing’s forthcoming probe
‘into the moral standards of broadcasting programs,
declared that “we have arrived at a point where freedoms
_of press and speech indeed are seriously threatened in a
ation that has become the last great bulwark of those
liberties of the people.” He told Washington newsmen
that any contemplated legislation resulting from the in-
"vestigation “would appear to be censorship of the most
| obvious and deplorable sort.”
Mr. Fellows’s warning is probably valid; what is re-
| martkable about it is that it should have come from him.
| Forthe N. A. R. T. B. itself, on March 1, installed a sys-
| tem of censorship over TV which goes far beyond any-
| _ thing any group of law-makers has so far dared to
| _ suggest. This was accomplished through the adherence
|
|
:
of more than eighty of the 108 television stations in
_ America to the association’s television code,
The code is described by its proponents as a “volun-
tary system of self-regulation.” Actually, it is an attempt
_by atrade association to control a public medium of mass
‘communication. It presents the spectacle of top echelon
broadcasters sitting in judgment over each other’s morals,
and over those of lesser broadcasters, in secret sessions
which arbitrarily exclude'the most interested party in the
whole transaction—the public.
The document is ten pages in length, with two main
divisions. The first division includes a preamble and a
dozen or so sections which clearly state the television
industry’s responsibilities, but which only vaguely de-
fine the minimum acceptable standards for programs and
| advertising. The second part establishes regulations and
| procedures in definite terms.
| As a guide or creed for individual broadcasters, the
first part by itself might be acceptable to the industry
9} and to the public, even though past experience with
j}* similar codes gives little encouragement that it would
hq be effective. However, incorporation of “‘police’’ pro-
4 cédures into the regulations completely changes the char-
} acter of the document. It is no longer a creed or guide;
it is an instrument of censorship placed in the hands of
| @ jury which any court in any democratic country would
«| disqualify on the grounds of prejudice and self-interest.
| FRANK ORME, editor of TV Magazine, took part in the
| meeting of the Western Regional Radio and Television Con-
| ference early this year at which the N. A. R. T. B. tele-
vision code was launched.
June 21, 1952
="
ad
ee
eet
«=e
= ~ aoe Ow, | Seer, te. | w eee P iA
ry ae i <9 oe 5 i e
BY FRANK ORME
Broadcasting Standards
Here is a condensation of the principal broadcasting
standards established in the code of the National As-
sociation of Radio and Television Broadcasters:
' 1. News reporting should be factual and without
bias; commentary and political broadcasts should be
identified as such; freedom of expression in broad-
casts of a controversial nature should be maintained,
but the right should be reserved to refuse them for non-
compliance with laws such as those prohibiting defa-
mation and sedition.
2. Religious programs should be presented respect-
fully and accurately‘and without prejudice or ridicule,
3. Children’s programs should reflect respect for
parents, law and order, clean living, high morals, fair
play, and honorable behavior.
4. In crime and mystery programs, criminals should
be punished, specifically or by implication. Programs
should avoid detailed presentation of brutal killings and
torture—as well as the disrespectful portrayal of law
enforcement and characterization of officers of the law
as stupid or ridiculous.
5. Advertising is the life blood of the free, com-
petitive American system of broadcasting. . .. In ac-
cepting advertising the broadcaster should exercise
great care that he is not conveying to his audience in-
formation which is misleading, dangerous to health or
character, distasteful, or In violation of business and
professional ethics,
The right of a station to display the code’s so-called
“Seal of Good Practice” is dependent on the thirteen-
man television board of directors of the N. A. R. T. B.
This group by a two-thirds vote can suspend or revoke
a station’s subscription to the code for a “continuing,
wilful, or gross violation” of its provisions.
Administratively the code works this way: the supreme
body is the N. A. R. T. B. television boatd, described
by Justin Miller, board chairman of the association,
as the code’s “supreme court.” This group is assisted
by a five-man “‘police’” or review board which acts
solely in an advisory capacity. The code emphasizes that
all proceedings will be conducted in secrecy.
Four of the thirteen members of the “supreme court”
are executive employees of the four major TV networks;
six others operate stations in various localities; all thir-
teen are members of the N. A. R. T. B. Each of the six
station operators has from one to four contracts provid-
601
the networks. By code edict, the five review board mem-
ber are also N. A. R. T. B, members. They operate sta-
tions in Seattle, Kalamazoo, Milwaukee, Baltimore, and
Atlanta—all one-station outlets except Baltimore (three)
and Atlanta (two). The member living closest to the
Hollywood program-production center is Mrs. Scott Bul-
litt in Seattle. Not one of the five lives within viewing
distance of a major production center. Three of them can
view regularly only programs televised by their own sta-
tions. The group serves without pay on a part-time basis.
(This month, with a Congressional inquiry imminent,
the N. A. R. T. B. board added a full-time administrator
to the staff.) The five members have a total of seventeen
commercial contracts with the four major networks.
The review board is required by the code: (1) to main-
tain a continuing review of all television programming
(450,000 hours televised in 65 cities in 12 months at
current schedules); (2) to receive, screen, and clear
complaints on program content which come to the
ior
f N. A. R. T. B.; (3) to define and interpret the code; (4)
ij to develop and maintain appropriate liaison with gov-
fr, ernmental agencies and “accountable and responsible” in-
ain stitutions; (5) to inform, expeditiously and properly, all
Pr pat nt Meta em ee a
subscribers of the attitudes and desires of such organiza-
tions and institutions; (6) to review and monitor
programs; (7) to reach conclusions and to make recom-
mendations to the board of directors concerning amend-
ments to the code, These five persons, the code declares,
will do all these things; they will do them in their spare
time; they will do them without pay. It is obviously im-
possible that they will be able to carry out more than a
fraction of their responsibilities.
ee
a i’
: =
Sea vos
pea Sel.1 7-7, weed
Herblockh in the Washington Post
“Disgusting, Ain’t It?”
602
me te ey Ss a
ing for the televising of programs furnished to them by
Pease NIM 8 ad ay! Rip
‘Paradoxically, the code’s chief virtue lies in its unen-
forceability. Thus we are saved from some of the results
of stultifying controls over a new and occasionally prom-
ising medium of expression. On the other hand, we ate _
subjected to the hypocrisy spawned by unenforced and —
unenforceable laws and regulations. From first-hand —
viewing I can state that in Los Angeles, at least, not one
of the seven stations is free from code violations, and ©
several present continuous and flagrant violations,
its unen-
HE week of May 24-30, I personally supervised a
tudy of crime programs televised by the Los”
Angeles stations. During this period the six monitors
tabulated 852 major crimes, plus innumerable saloon ~
brawls, assaults, sluggings, and other “minor” acts of —
violence. The record included 167 murders, 112 “justi-
fiable” killings, and 356 attempted murders. There were _
many robberies, jailbreaks, false murder charges, murder —
conspiracies, dynamitings, attempted lynchings, and other
felonies. There was one attempted rape in a crime West-
etn for children. Seventy-eight per cent of the crime —
deluge was presented on programs for children; 85 per
cent was televised before 9 P. M. %
We had made a similar survey a year ago. Our latest —
statistics showed that during the past year, while thetele- |
vision code was being formulated and put into opera-
tion, the volume of crime programming in Los Angeles —
incteased by approximately 15 per cent. The over-all —
impression gained from the majority of television
programs for children is that life is cheap; death, suf-
fering, and brutality are subjects of callous indifference;
judges, lawyers, and law officers are dishonest, incom-
petent, and stupid. One station televised a feature-length
horror film about vampire bats at 5 P. M. Another, at —
5:30 each afternoon, presented a lottery-type “contest” —
for children. (This is explicitly forbidden in the code.)
One announcer, introducing a serialized crime film which _
ran for five days, told his audience that there was a strong
moral lesson, “Do unto others as you would be done
by,” in the film to be presented. The picture por-
trayed a quick-triggered criminal as a hero for the kids —
‘to emulate. After he had reformed he murdered four —
members of his own gang, then surrendered himself |
to the law—for stealing horses. He was in love.
Documented evidence indicates that the Los Angeles
stations ate televising literally hundreds of code viola- __
tions each week. What are the code administrators going
to do about this? What can they do? :
As long as the economic structure of the television J ix,
industry requires the presentation of five hundred or
more hours of programming per week in one city, fiin ,
television and mediocrity are going to be partners in
a common-law matriage; mass production of high-
standard programming is a physical impossibility. No —
trade-association code is going to create respectability; |
SS ——
The NATION |
by day our Seek stations are piling up a
scord of the failure of the N. A. R. T. B. code, They
fe also misleading—or attempting to mislead—the
American public. It is time for the broadcasters to admit
FB!
7
rt
4
|
oe
r AST FALL the rank and file of the steelworkers
4looked upon their union negotiations with manage-
nent as routine, They had had no wage boost since 1950,
while the Wage Stabilization Board had approved higher
‘wages for shipworkers, packers, and a number of other
"industries. But what started out as an ordinary overhaul-
ing of a contract between union and management grew
‘quickly into a cause célébre; the whole country was
caught up in a dispute of unprecedented intensity.
The emotional context was the Korean conflict and the
shutting down of an industry vital to this country’s
d ense.
_ The dispute involved the President, both houses of
Congress, the Pentagon, the Chiefs of Staff and their
spokesman, Secretary of Defense Robert A. Lovett, and
three federal courts—including the Supreme Court. It
drew in a reluctant Secretary of Commerce, caused the
resignation of Defense Mobilizer Charles E. Wilson,
and set in an uproar the National Production Authority,
the Office pf Defense Mobilization, and the Wage
Stabilization Board. At one stage no less than six dif-
ferent bodies were investigating various facets of the
dispute, With so much going on at such high levels, it
__ was not surprising that the ordinary steelworker became
the forgotten man.
| Meantime Congress, with the support of the National
| Association of Manufacturers and the national Chamber
| of Commerce, introduced a spate of proposals for puni-
_ tive labor legislation. Newspapers throughout the country
a jumped into the fight—almost without exception on the
| side of management. The heads of the steel industry told
their story through television, radio, and the press; they
| s spent millions of dollars on full-page advertisements try-
| ing to convince the public that the union and the Presi-
_ dent were in cahoots against democracy.
| By the time the Supreme Court made its famous deci-
sion, the W. S. B, had had its wings clipped and
| Congress was beginning to tamper briskly with the
| MARY HEATON VORSE has been one of this country’s
outstanding labor journalists for many years.
June 21, 1952
MS Pee eT bled
the cdeciings of their perations, to drop the subter«
fuge of the code, and to come up with a fair and open
effort, individually and collectively, to improve the
situation as far as possible. After all, television is not
a complete disgrace. Despite its faults, it is making many
vital contributions to our society.
ig Steel and the Little Man
BY MARY HEATON VORSE
Walsh-Healey Act which prescribes basic work and pay
standards for American labor.
To the steelworker, one fact in the dispute dominates
all others: his conviction that from the first the industry
had no intention of bargaining collectively with the
union at any time. Phil Murray, in his report to the
W. S. B. stated:
The decision to deny our wages and our economic
requests was indeed abundantly announced even be-
fore our negotiating conferences began. Before we made
our proposals Mr. Benjamin Fairless, president of the
United States Steel Corporation, had rejected them.
In a speech in Cincinnati on November 15 he an-
nounced that “whether our workers are to get a raise
and how much it will be if they do is a matter which
cannot be determined by collective bargaining, and
will apparently have to be decided in Washington.”
The steelworkers won a pay rise in 1950, but were
still working last fall under a 1947 contract with United
States Steel which was as irritating to them as a hair
shirt. Few steelworkers anywhere in the industry enjoyed
any such commonplaces as legal holidadys with pay; they
got no overtime for work on Saturdays, Sundays, and
holidays; severance pay was given only. by a few com-
panies. The 1947 contract had faulty provisions relating —
to seniority, severance pay, grievances, and arbitration
procedures. Hundreds of resolutions coming from every
local throughout the length and breadth of the land
demanded contract changes; the men were as full of
grievances as an egg is of meat. Not the least of their
grievances was that rising living costs made it more
difficult for a steelworker’s family to meet expenses,
The union submitted its proposals to the industry:
a wage boost of 18 cents, fringe benefits, the union shop,
and adjustments of the lagging non-economic provisions
of the old contract. To all its proposals it received a sim-
ple and reiterated ‘‘No.” United States Steel alone sub-
mitted counter-proposals on some of the non-economic
demands, of which Murray had this to say:
The corporation’s non-economic counter-proposals
were designed to turn the clock of labor relations in
603
? <i — i ss ——
a
——
F .
, ;
_ the steel industry back to the ‘aiasneedibe Mickany whee’
the jobs and working conditions of the employees were
at the sole and complete mercy of employers. It pro-
posed in effect to make the union disappear.
On December 20, Cyrus S. Ching, Director of the
Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service, tried
for a settlement. But in two days of conferences—from
which Mr. Fairless absented himself—he could get no
counter-proposals from industry. Shortly thereafter
United States Steel used full-page newspaper adver-
tisements throughout the country to announce that the
steel industry would not ask for increased steel prices
if the union would forgo wage increases. What most of
the public didn’t know was that the industry had al-
ready been refused price increases by the government
on the grounds that its profits were already high enough.
A strike seemed certain upon termination of the
union’s contract on December 31, 1951. At the last
moment, the President certified the case to the W. S. B.,
asking the union not to strike pending the findings and
publicly charging the steel companies with having re-
fused to bargain collectively, The union, reacting quickly,
met January 3 in Atlantic City and voted to postpone
the strike until March 23. On the latter date the Presi-
dent asked for, and received, another postponement.
The W. S. B. finally came forward with its proposals:
an increase of wages of 17% cents plus fringe benefits
amounting to an additional nine cents. The steel heads
expressed themselves as shocked by the findings. Having
spurned collective bargaining and insisted all along on
keeping the dispute in the hands of the governmient
bureaucracy, the “bureaucrats” had now played them
false.
Beyond Comment
By what authority do petty officers, chief petty
officers, and officers demand your obedience? . ... This
authority comes to them in a long, long chain a com-
mand that reaches back to God Himself. . . . Knowing
that all authority comes from the Supreme Being makes
your military obedience easier. Your superior is God’s
representative, even if he doesn’t know it nor believes
it—From Chaplain’s column in the Dolphin, publica-
tion of the United States Submarine Base at New
London, Conn.
C. T. Gillespie, Tazewell attorney, at first said he
was for Taft because the Ohio Senator’s father had
appointed his father a district attorney for western
Virginia when William Howard Taft was President.
—From Associated Press dispatch to the Cleveland
Tribune.
[The Nation will pay $2 for acceptable contributions
to Beyond Comment.}
604
— ou ———
precisely the thing he was trying to avoid.
ay }
B ; as
On March 28, "epg sees aa
ing with Mr. Wilson,” Mr. aay ony
steelworkers, a union meeting with the six coca
panies was arranged in New York City. This was the
first time that Big and Little Steel had sat down to-
gether to bargain with the union. Well-informed ob “4
servers believed that Little Steel was somewhat less
trustful of United States Steel and Bethlehem, whom |
they suspected of not
being above making
separate agreements
as they had before.
But the sessions
proved fruitless, the
President having re-
fused to permit a rise
in steel prices and in-
dustry refusing to
meet the union's de-
mands without such a
rise. There followed
the visit to President
Truman at Key West,
and Mr. Wilson's
famous resignation,
On April 3, 129 days after negotiations began, the —
industry made its first offer to the union: 12% cents an
hour and retroactive pay as allowed by W. S. B.,
coupled with a wage freeze for fifteen months. Nothing ~
was said of the union shop. It was at this point that
the union called its first strike which was quickly
brought to an end by the President’s seizure of the |
mills. After the seizure, the companies offered five cents
for fringe benefits conditioned on a price rise above the
$3 a ton permitted by the Capehart amendment. j
In seizing the mills, the President delivered a rebuke
unprecedented in history. Earlier Presidents had talked ©
of “malefactors of great wealth” or “economic royalists’; 9“
none had ever before directly rapped steel’s knuckles.
The outcry that followed was terrific. Shouts of
“smpeach the President” resounded in Congress. Tru-—
man was accused, among other things, of having de-
liberately side-stepped the Taft-Hartley Act. But in his
radio address announcing the seizure, the President
stressed that there was no way of applying the act
without a shutdown of the mills for a week or more—
Philip Murray
In the public and legal furore which followed
Secretary of Défense Lévett’s compelling statement be- 9!
fore the Senate committee concerning the national
emergency went almost unnoticed. So did the brilliant 7 4
analysis of steel profits made by the new Director of J
Price Stabilization, Ellis G. Arnall, before the Senate
Committee on Labor and Public Welfare. Mr. Arnall
pointed out that the steel industry could absorb the
The NATION |),
i}
0 he 18%, per cent return of the 1947-1949 period,
‘The Supreme Court’s decision nullifying the Presi-
dent’s seizure order finally precipitated the oft-postponed
ke. A last-minute attempt by government conciliators
to get union and management representatives to settle
their differences actoss the table failed for several rea-
sons, among them industry’s refusal to accept the union
shop. In this, steel is obdurately refusing to accept a
ptinciple which has long been recognized as a matter of
course by many industries, including the railroads. The
a ion did promise the government, however, that steel
would be kept flowing for arms needed in Korea.
_ Meanwhile the President, above all anxious to keep
the mills working, has been requesting Congress for spe-
cific legislation enabling him to seize the industry. His
‘requests have been repeatedly denied. Instead, at this
writing, he is under pressure from Congress to invoke
‘the Taft-Hartley act despite Senator Morse’s warning
that “Americans have been deluded into a conclusion
| that there is something about Taft-Hartley that would
keep steel production going. . , . It just ain’t so.”
| Engineers Turn to Unionism
BY HERBERT M. ORRELL
O LONGER timorous vis-a-vis management, the
WW engineering profession, long a defender of the
Status quo, is quietly turning to trade unionism. Of the
approximately 400,000 engineers in this country, at least
15,000 are already organized and making their weight
| felt. Last surhmer the unionized engineers of a Brooklyn
| electronics plant struck and picketed for a solid weck,
winning a strong contract without a scrap of help from
- the C. I. O. union which was already in the shop. Such
old firms in the field as Sperry, R. C. A., Western Elec-
tric, and Boeing have been compelled to negotiate with
these upstarts from the drafting boards.
The effectiveness of the new unions has been some-
@ what hampered by their lack of a strong national affili-
Bate. However, preliminary steps in this direction have
| been made. Twenty-one delegates representing 30,000
. | engineers met in Chicago some months ago to discuss
| plans for a national federation. While the question of
| structural form was left undecided, the delegates did
: pass two important resolutions. The first barred from
_ membership any except unions certified by the National
Labor Relations Board, which meant that company
‘unions were ineligible. The second was to admit so-
_aalled “non-professionals” to membership (non-profes-
ea
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_ HERBERT M. ORRELL is a technical writer for the armed
tl) services and a member of one of the new engineer unions.
1 2
une 21, 1952
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sionals it in a professional union are sanctioned by the
N. L. R. B. so long as there is a community of interest
and the professionals are the dominant element).
The resolutions indicated that the engineers really
meant business. It cost many of them a great deal of
soul-searching to throw away their traditional caste-con-
sciousness and to give up the nebulous benefits of simon-
pure professionalism for bargaining power through
strength of numbers, But in the end they saw the distinct
advantage of including technicians, such as testers, in
their union at a time when most shops employing en-
gineers are busy on defense orders. The government
won't accept the delivery of equipment unless it has been
thoroughly tested.
Delegates from the various independent unions met a
second time over the Memorial Day weekend. This time
the national organization found itself a name: The En-
gineers and Scientists of America. But the group proved
itself not yet clear about what it is and what it wants. It
was originally contemplated that the national body
would consist of a series of “regional” or “sub-national”
groupings of local unions. The creation of such region-
als, however, contained the threat of jurisdictional
clashes with engineering unions which had already
formed regions of their own. So the conference threw
out the regional plan and then turned around and de-
ptived the national executive of real power by limiting
dues to $4 annually per member. As things stand, in-
dividual unions can still assist others in various ways, but
only at their own expense—no money will be forth-
coming from the national treasury.
Despite its weaknesses, the Engineers and Scientists
of America represent a significantly new approach to his
job by the engineer, who heretofore had restricted his
interest to engineering societies concerned with loftier
ideas than wage scales and labor-management relations.
_ What has made the engineers union-conscious all of a
sudden? For one thing, whether he designs juke boxes or
electronic computors, an engineer is essentially like any
other white-collar personnel: he works for somebody
else for a salary. But the most important reason is that
with the tremendous increase in engineering staffs, which
have tripled—quadrupled in some cases—in recent
years, the paternalism which once protected engineers
has vanished and inequities and labor-management fric-
tion have developed.
To this must be added the fact that there is a shortage
of engineers, which makes this a particulatly favorable
moment for the profession to be organized.
The engineer isn’t satisfied any longer merely with the
accolades of professional status. Today he considers him-
self a worker and wants the same benefits that other
workers have been able to procure through collective
bargaining: a salary commensurate with his contribution,
better working conditions, and job security.
605
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BOOKS and the AR’
What Liberties and Whose?
HOW TO KEEP OUR LIBERTY. By
Raymond Moley. Alfred A. Knopf.
$4.
R. MOLEY, who was one of Frank-
lin D. Roosevelt's early brain-
trusters but left the New Deal in disgust,
now labels himself a “conservative and
advocates a political-action program to
save us from tyranny by the national
government. Although as a former pro-
fessor of political science he attempts a
balanced statement rather than a polemic
such as might be expected from a right-
wing candidate, he occupies much the
same position as Taft or even Bricker.
It is interesting to trace Mr. Moley’s
Opinions concerning what liberties and
whose are being violated. There is no
word in his book about the prevalent
assault on free opinion or education
which worries most liberals. He does not
discern any imminent danger to free-
dom of the press, though he does defend
large newspapers monopolizing local
territories as our best possible source of
objective information, and issues a vague
warning against the Newspaper Guild.
Freedom to vote as one pleases and to
join non-revolutionary political associa-
tions he takes for granted; it is the basis
of his action program. Freedom of wor-
ship he does not mention.
As a declared follower of Locke and
Jefferson he repeats the traditional doc-
trine of natural rights, but not in order
to sound any alarm about civil liberties.
Almost everything he has to say concerns
one right only—the right of property.
This, he argues, is in danger from an
entrenched and rapidly expanding
“statism.”
Locke’s doctrine that property origi-
nated as a right to the product of one’s
own labor in an imagined primitive
“state of nature’ requires some revi-
sion in an industrial civilization-where
division of labor is almost universal and
the wage system is prevalent. Jefferson’s
fear of governmental power assumed
the existence of an agrarian society of
independent farmers; he feared even
606
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more the development of a factory sys-
tem and the power that might result
from concentrated private ownership of
capital. What either Locke or Jefferson
would have thought of a society like
ours is a fertile subject for speculation,
but there is in Mr. Moley’s book no
recognition that the change in eco-
nomic institutions since their day might
have led to a different expression of
their philosophy. To him it is enough
that many now own houses, land, or cor-
porate securities, and that governmental
regulation, production, or taxation tres-
passes on the presumed natural rights of
prfoperty.
Since property, its uses and abuses, is
a subject that lies largely in-the realm
of economic discourse, it is a pity that
Mr. Moley is not better acquainted with
economic theory and history. Apparently
Ludwig von Mises, whom he cites, is
his favorite economist, while John May- -
nard Keynes plays the role of the great
adversary. Marx of course is out of the
running altogether, but the author looks
with grave suspicion even on such liberal
stalwarts as John Stuart Mill and A. C.
Pigou.
Mr. Moley’s main fear seems to be
that the ‘free market” will be corrupted
or abolished, but nowhere does he speci-
fy what a free market is or where it
exists. Apparently it involves compe-
tition, but competition, though men-
tioned, is another concept unanalyzed by
Mr. Moley. He does distinguish it from
monopoly but he regards competition in
the United States as safe from monopo-
listic encroachments because there are
still many little businesses, bigness as
such is not a danger, and there are anti-
trust laws. There is here no mention of
administered prices, price leadership, re-
sale price maintenance, oligopoly, or
monopolistic competition.
Consistently, Mr. Moley regrets that
tariff protection, subsidies, governmental
financing, and other privileges were ever
offered to business enterprises, but how
in the world canals, railroads, and even
large-scale machine manufacture could
ever have taken root without such en-
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couragement, and where in the world
they ever did so, he does not tell us.
Nor does he point out the reciprocal
relationship between governmentally
granted corporate privileges and govern-
mental regulation of corporate practices
—a relationship as old in America as
corporations themselves. 4
Few will disagree that government
can tax too much and regulate too much, |
that it can be inefficient or oppressive. ;
Few except doctrinaire state socialists |
would want government to undertake
any function that can be performed +
as well by private initiative. The differ-
ence arises in applying these admirable —
principles to specific cases. q
When Mr. Moley descends from his
high principles to practical affairs he §
admits that much of the intervention of |
the past was necessary, but he believes
that since 1933 we have gone too far
and must begin to retrace our course. —
Some of the problems that concern him
are worth anyone’s consideration—for —
example, the need for revamping old-
age-retirement provisions and the scarcity ©
of venture capital for small enter-
prises. But when it comes to major sug- |
gestions he wants nothing less than a
counter-revolution.
He proposes, for example, that fed- ©
etal income taxation be limited to a low
flat rate and taxation by the states per- '
haps to 25 per cent in the highest
brackets, that federal social security be
curbed in favor of local and private
philanthropy which should offer nothing —
without a means test, that regulation of
financial markets be turned back to vol-—
untary action by the markets themselves,
that government develop no more elec-
tric power and offer no more induce- |
ments to cooperatives, that regulatory
agencies be empowered only to forbid,
never to compel action. Above all, he:
wants no effort by the government to
maintain high employment and produc-
tion, no Council of Economic Advisers, %
no compensatory fiscal policy, no “‘plan-
ning.” The government ought, he be-
lieves, to balance its budget every year, Jy,
in depression as well as in prosperity. “Jj,
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The Nation” Hi
a party aimabectibe to enforce
private government by an industrial
ar aa financial oligarchy supported by the
“middle range’ of income-receivers, in
whom Mr. Moley places his faith. The
cture evoked is remarkably like that of
he “New Era” of the 1920's, but more
extreme. That Mr. Moley’s program
sould endure a collapse like that which
followed the 1920's is no more credible
than it was then.
Yet, after all, Mr. Moley does offer
“statists” and “planners” one generous
concession. Private and local initiative,
he contends, should abolish no existing
governmental activity unless it is ready to
serve the same needs better. This leaves
a wide field for use of his talents, not
only in organizing the party he proposes,
but in remedying without the aid of gov-
ernment those calamities which mainly
have led to the expansion of government
—waste of natural resources, slums,
disease, inadequate and costly medical
Services, monopolistic exactions, racial
and religious discrimination, speculative
booms and crashes, poverty, unemploy-
ment, depression, and war. All of us
would be glad to pay lower taxes, even
to live under a benevolent anarchism,
provided it could be demonstrated that
| a small and weak government is all
that is necessary. GEORGE SOULE
Englishman on Zola
EMILE ZOLA. An Introductory Study
of his Novels. By Angus Wilson.
William Morrow and Company. $3.
| R. WILSON’S book is the first
. sizable instalment on the debt of
_fecognition owed by English and Amer-
ican critics to Zola. When the great
“controversial novels were appearing to-
-watd the end of the nineteenth century,
; English opinion condemned them for
wo reasons: they violated Victorian
standards of taste and morality, and
ith ey attempted to effect what seemed
to be a false theoretical alliance between™
art and scientific thought of the day.
? s a result, they were left untranslated,
jor were poorly translated, Zola’s name
“y)was mentioned wrathfully in Parliament,
peed his English publisher was im-
' ee 21, 1952
eit will, the future would look bright
tries is mainly due to the fact that they
can be sold as salacious books, and
owes little to any recognition of their
artistic stature.
Although- he abandons the old na-
tional prejudices against Zola, Mr. Wil-
son writes as an Englishman, mindful
of the responsibilities he has accepted
in undertaking the first book-length
critical work on Zola in English. His
criticism is English in character as well
as language, and it points out both the
foreignness and universality of Zola’s
work.
Mr. Wilson has no objection, of
course, to what used to be called Zola’s
“shocking” realism, and he makes allow-
ances both for the scientific theories
which Zola used to prop up his fiction,
and the fanfares of sensationalism with
which he advertised himself. His view
of the novels, which were planned care-
fully according to scientific as well as
artistic principles, is that of a powerful
tide of creative energy, swirling against
the prepared dikes of Zola’s program
and theories, sometimes sweeping them
aside, sometimes accepting their guid-
ance. Mr. Wilson shows that Zola’s
celebrated gift of observation had two
aspects: he could observe accurately and
exhaustively in a scientific manner,
presenting the reader with a photo-
graphic reproduction of what he saw,
but his special power arose from his
ability to use details as eloquent sym-
bols which dramatized his themes. To
describe the effect of these impressions
which serve as epitomes of the horror
and despair of Zola’s vision of life, Mr.
Wilson borrows from another critic
the expressive term “black poetry.”’
Zola formed his novels by manipulat-
ing his profuse material into huge
masses like social groups or_ historical
phenomena. Under the stress of his con-
cern for wholes, individual characters
are simplified, and their main im-
portance lies in their relation to the
crowd of humanity which fills Zola’s
pages. Mr. Wilson points out that his
method of presenting a great social pan-
orama rich in details and given anima-
tion by dramatic treatment is essentially
pictorial, and may be compared with
impressionism. His sensitive compari-
sons have a way of being especially il-
luminating. He often succeeds brilliantly
" ages the Plan of
Zola’ s ieee i in English-speaking coun-
in bringing out some point about Zola
by referring to Dickens, Dostoyevsky,
Hardy, and,-in one startling instance,
to Wycherley.
It is a pity that in his otherwise
valuable study Mr. Wilson undertakes
to explain Zola’s work as the result of
his psychological characteristics. The
method, now grown familiar, of regard-
ing books as the projections of neuroses,
like ritual behavior or slips of the
tongue, is of ambiguous value. Although
it may often seem to make a work of
art more intelligible, it is actually a
vulgarization of psychoanalytic practice.
It has only a small chance of being
tight, for only the most general conclu-
sions about the psyche can be drawn
from observations of an individual's
overt behavior. Mr. Wilson’s procedure
of furnishing neurosis or fixation to ac-
count for every modulation of Zola’s art
is not really scientific; it is like solving
a jig-saw puzzle by trimming the pieces
to fit each other. Since Freud himself
offered these methods (in his essay on
Da Vinci and in “Moses and Mono-
theism’’) as purely speculative, it is
hardly appropriate for critics and biogra-
phers who are amateurs in psychology
to claim scientific validity for them.
JACOB KORG
BOOKS AND from the
PERIODICALS uS SR
Just Arrived! A, 8. MAKARENKO
THE ROAD TO LIFE
(An Bpte of Education) «© In 8 Vols.
Translated by Yvy and Tatiana Litvinov
1182 pp. — Illustrated — Set $3.00
Latest Soviet Records and Handicrafts
Woe ship an to all parts of the United
States, South America and Canada
1952 SUBSCRIPTIONS OPEN FOR ALL
SOVIET NEWSPAPERS ‘AND PERIODICALS
Bundle Orders for Newspaper Dealers Accopted
Ask for Complete Catalogue P-5
FOUR oa Te BOOK CORP.
55 W. 56 Street. N. Y. RM Ys 8 MM erRy Al Scere Hill 86-2660
Buy Your Books
through “Arion
Nation readers can avail themselves of
our offer to send them any book at
the regular publisher's price post-free
if payment is received with the order,
or at the publisher's price plus postage
if the book is sent C.O.D. No C.O.D.'s °
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ing, please give name and author and
publisher, if possible.
Please address your orders to
Miss Le Pach ,.
THE READERS' SERVICE DIVISION
20 Vesey Street New York 7, N. Y.
607
_ Ste ey, or MR ee Md a
ny. 7 _
Full of Plums
WINSTON CHURCHILL, ‘An Infor-
mal Study of Greatness. By Robert
Lewis Taylor. Doubleday and Com-
pany. $4.50.
LOT of people are going to want
to write books about Winston
Churchill and there are enough plums
to make many puddings. Perhaps it
is not quite fair to put them all in
one book, to make a pudding which is
all plums, but that is precisely what
Mr. Taylor has done. There are two
hilarious anecdotes in the first para-
graph and the pace is pretty well kept up
during the remaining 433 pages. Doubt-
less the other books will be written and
doubtless there are many more things
to be said, but it does not seem likely
that the purely entertaining aspects of
the subject will ever be better exploited.
The author has written “profiles” for
the New Yorker and learned much of
his method there, but he has also
shrewdly planned for the larger scale
so that what one half expects to be-
come tiresome after a time remains vast-
ly interesting to the very end.
As one skims lightly through Church-
ill’s tempestuous career what one realizes
most acutely is not so much that he is
unique as the fact that he represents the
perfect flowering of a type seldom so
completely—and never so attractively—
developed. As a young correspondent he
suggests Teddy Roosevelt or even
Richard Harding Davis. As novelist and
rising politician he suggests Disraeli.
And even in his most responsible mo-
ments durmg the war he probably never
entirely lost his thespian’s sense of play-
ing the leading role in a drama even
more theatrically exciting than terrible.
Like Dryden’s Zimri he was ‘‘a daring
pilot in extremity” and “pleased when
the waves ran high’; never, perhaps,
quite sure whether he was born to save
England or whether England was put in
peril in order to give him his chance.
But there is a vast difference be-
_ tween the adventurer who rises from
the ranks and the aristocrat who, from
the beginning, takes for granted the
advantages, the opportunities, and the
special privileges which are his by right
of birth. Churchill never for a moment
doubted that he was born among the
elect and that what he had to do was
not so much to make himself a place as
608
skfy plaim Ss plahasen assatveeeee ii
entitled. He would be introduced into
politics as inevitably as a well-born
young woman would be introduced into
society. Moreover, a certain amount of
arrogance, impudence, and even of rid-
ing roughshod would be taken for
granted. His was decidedly not the age
of the common man. Nobody wanted
him to behave as though he were one
and he certainly never did. But one of
the things which made him great was
the fact that, unlike nine-tenths of the
members of his class, he actually did
what the theory of the system implied
that they all should do—namely, take
his duties as seriously as the privileges
which went with them. He was physi-
cally as well as morally fearless. He
would risk his life or his career as reck-
lessly as a man who had nothing but
honor to lose and he was often on
the side of the underdog, not because
he was a democrat but because he ac-
tually did believe in moblesse oblige.
Churchill, praising the high qualities of
the enemy and shouting in a speech, “If
I were a Boer, I hope I should be fight-
ing in the field,” or Churchill, coming
out for the eight-hour day for miners
and remarking, ‘Mr. Chamberlain loves
the workingman, he loves to see him
work,’’ was, nevertheless, speaking as an
aristocrat not as a leveler.
Even Churchill would not have said
of the Germans what he said of the
Boers and that is one of the many signs
that his age has passed. At twenty-six
and with astonishing prescience he de-
clared in Parliament that war was enter-
ing upon a new stage because its chief
cause would no longer be the policy
of a minister or the passion of a king.
“When mighty populations are impelled
against each other a European war can
only end in the ruin of the vanquished
and exhaustion of the conquerors. De-
mocracy is more vindictive than Cab-
inets. The wars of peoples will be more
terrible than those of kings.” And be-
cause of what he foresaw it will be a
long time or never before government
can again be played as a game, gal-
lantry and fair play be regarded as in-
dispensable, or any legislative assembly
conducted as though it really were what
the House used to be called—the best
club in London.
But perhaps it is partly because we
know so well that we shall not see his
seems so attractive and th Shu 3 by m
one of the great “chakncters” of all his.
tory. It is almost as though the gods had —
decided to give him everything, even
the appropriate physical constitution, b
cause they knew that the species was
about to become extinct. As a hunting, ©
dining, dancing youth he “went at his
amusements as though he was attacking
Tories” and in later life, surrounded by, ©
statesmen crippled, dyspeptic, and tor-\
mented, he continued to chew cigars and -
consume whisky with Rabelaisian gusto.
In a sense he no doubt represented the
bad old days, but they come very easily
to seem the good old days instead. Even
Franklin Roosevelt was patrician rather i
than aristocratic and when one compares | My)
Churchill with the plebeian world lead-
ers one is tempted to risk the generaliza~'
tion that the megalomaniac who assumes
power rather than finds himself born
to it is usually more sanctimonious and
less attractive. Those born to power and |
privilege are less likely to feel the need
either to punish themselves or to invoke
too frequently the sanctity of Right,
Justice, God, and the rest. }
When, in 1908, Churchill was mar-
ried in a characteristically resplendent
ceremony at an ultra-exclusive church —
the wedding was attended by one of
the largest crowds which ever filled
St. Margaret’s churchyard. Of the occa-
sion Mr. Taylor remarks: “Then as now
the country was about equally divided
between those who favored Churchill
and those who opposed him, but every-
body has always been proud to have him
around.” The last clause of that sentence
pretty well sums the whole thing up.
JOSEPH WOOD KRUTCH —
Books in Brief
THE MAN OUTSIDE, The Prose
Works of Wolfgang Borchert. Trans-
lated by David Porter. New Directions.
$3.50. The imposing title of this volume.
embraces the collected stories and a brief
play by a gifted German boy who died
in a Swiss sanitarium in 1947 at the
age of twenty-six. Wolfgang Borchert Hin.
never had the chance to learn mck Sy 4
but fascism, war, and death: he was a py,
private on the eastern front, was sen-
tenced to death for subversion, was re-
leased to fight again, was rearrested,
The NATION
"
tentig
wenn 0
BUY |
ine
eraty recognition. As Stephen
ef says in his Introduction, this is
e life of a perfect victim of our
. of a man born and bred in a
cell.” The atmosphere of these
tories, one of almost unrelieved horror
and hideousness, is not unlike that of
mbrose Bierce’s Civil War sketches;
nd like Bierce, Borchert managed to im-
Ose upon some of his material a
oubling and tragic grandeur: such
stiches as The Kitchen Clock and The
ad are like sudden beams of light
luminating the hidden recesses of the
human soul.
7THE PILLAR. By David Walker.
Houghton Mifflin. $3. Mr. Walker's
a novel is a thoroughly competent
and occasionally moving account of five
"war years in a prisoner-of-war camp, as
th ey wete experienced by six English-
1en of widely varying backgrounds and
| temperaments. Despite a complicated
eries of flashbacks revealing the life
stories of the protagonists, this is some-
ow a modest and unambitious book;
pee it does achieve quite satisfactorily
ta it sets out to do.
4. iM. {ERICAN VANGUARD 1952. Ed-
ited by Don M. Wolfe. Greenberg.
1 $3.50. The editor's nine-page introduc-
jon (The Young Writer and the Na-
fure of Man) to this anthology of stu-
Ident work by’ members of the New
School’s writing classes is studded with
Ififty-odd references to great literary
WM) figures, The lamentable name-dropping
; arries over into the biographical notes,
wherein we are gravely assured by the
e ors oof the sixty-nine stories,
: etches, extracts from movels, and
Hpoems, that they have been influenced
iby Crane, Trollope, Huxley, Greene, etc.
Fortunately this deliberately encouraged
pomposity does not extend to the writ-
ang, which, if it is not “vanguard”
earwork, is for the most part forthright
: and literate. Sandwiched among the ap-
prentice writers’ variations on the staple
theme of childhood loss of innocence are
it g and are worthy of standing on their
own. ;
BUY U. S. SAVINGS BONDS
pJane 21, 1952
-
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7
a number of pieces that make good read- _
MANNY,
FARBER
HE fourth instalment of de Roche-
mont’s perusal of New England
character, ‘Walk East on Beacon,” plods
through a leisurely-paced action story
vaguely based on the Judy Coplon and
Klaus Fuchs espionage cases. The de
Rochemont film is always dedicated to
lauding a certain American type which
blends the qualities of a model Sunday-
school student with the talents of a
mad industrialist. The central character
is a refugee scientist (Finlay Currie)
revolutionizing everything from dinghies
to flying missiles with a theory he has
worked out on high-speed calculators.
Looking like a huge Edam cheese topped
by a flowing Jean Harlow hairdo, the
scientist fits the de Rochemont formula
for heroes in that he is pure and inno-
cent and spends his time lifting the lids
from high-powered machines and read-
ing numbers from them with a mys-
teriously joyous tone. Before the film
settles down to a series of chases on land
and sea, a Communist-spy ring tries to
blackmail the scientist with threats
against his son being held in Germany's
Soviet zone. The movie is against Com-
i — FROIN pore sae files eat onan nna re get
: for ieceae
Hr see a
eee but it pays a lot of respect to
the shrewd, tortoise-like craftsmanship
of the spies. Besides being so dedicated
to their jobs that they tap their fingers,
or sit down to lunch with a mechanical
and somewhat hypnotized air, they are
seldom seen doing anything except their
daily jobs as taxi-driver, florist, or photo
finisher. The idea is that they are too
clever to expose their devilish skills. Oc-
casionally the movie stops and hovers
happily over a tiny electric fixture for
blowing up a safe or a set of skeleton
keys to lockers in the air terminal or a
wristwatch that rings likes the chimes
in Moscow, all of which symbolize the
hard-plugging talents of the spies. By
the time the FBI smashes the gang with
a flurry of gadgets and techniques, the
movie has been turned into a crushing
bore by a producer who is so dryly
factual and absorbed with mechanical
wonders that his movies would ring like
an anvil if you bounced them.
Since the first March of Time short de
Rochemont produced for Luce, Inc., he
has placed a peculiar restraint on the
realistic skills of his movie crews, It
consists of locking his films halfway be-
tween the total naturalism of a newsrecl
and the well-scrubbed, obviously re-
enacted realism of the old March of
Time film which was almost methodical-
ly stripped of everything but dull facts,
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‘Here, as always, he uses an eye-level
camera shot that seldom moves in any
direction, so that his true story has to be
arranged rather stiffly in hundreds of
tiny shots accompanied by masses of
explanatory dialogue. For example, a
Russian agent on his first day in this
country is glimpsed on a stroll through
a Boston park; the camera catches him
briefly in a middle-distance shot but that
is all you get because the casual docu-
mentary quality would be destroyed if
the cameraman followed him around in
a normal movie fashion. The movie's
speed is dissipated everywhere in brief,
head-on shots of inconsequential stuff:
a blonde courier-getting out of a taxi, a
suave Russian dummy hurrying to a tele-
phone, a fat dowager carrying stolen
information on to a Pan-American
plane. It takes de Rochemont about
thirty leisurely minutes to get to his
plot (the blackmailing of the scientist)
and by that time the movie has settled
down to the crawl of a Hawaiian
travelogue.
De Rochemont’s helpers can set-up a
scene that bristles with excitement and
shows a sharp eye for the personali-
ties of headline figures tried as traitors.
The characterizations are never pure
mimicry, but it is obvious that Hiss, Cop-
‘lon, and Elizabeth Bentley are in the
film in slightly disguised performances
by little known actors. These actors are
at the top of their skill when de Roche-
mont is trying for stark realism (as in
the FBI film shots taken of suspects )
and at low tide on the sort of inav-
thentic reenactment he used on March
of Time. One of the actresses, Virginia
Gilmore, turns up on the FBI screen as
GERTRUDE LAWRENCE
In The Musical Play
The King and I
win YUL BRYNNER
Air-Cond. ST. JAMES THEA.,W.44 St.
Evenings at 8:25: $7.20 to 1.80, Matinees’
Wednesdey & Saturday at 2:25: $4.20to 1.80,
+ Politzer Prize & Critics’ Award Musical Pigy
MARTHA WRIGHT
GEORGE BRITTON
South Pacific
with MYRON , WILLIAM A
MCCORMICK | pee * WOLFSON
d JUANITA HALL
Air- Cond. MAJESTIC THEA, W. 44 St,’
Eves, at 8:30: $6.60 to 1.80. Wed. Mat, at
2:30: $3.60 to 1.20. Sat. Mat, $4.20 to 1.20.
) MONDAY. EVES. ONLY: CURTAIN.AT 7 SHARP,
"=a = 4 oo ees, ee
Y a ay. Care
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an efficient runner for the spies, with a
loping stride, a nervous headachey ap-
pearance, and a dedicated manner in
everything from snubbing out cigarettes
to kissing. .In these newsreel-type shots,
she is realistic in the manner of ‘neo-
naturalistic Italian actresses, with a
jerky, erratic vitality that seems to be-
long in the rough gray atmosphere that
is caught on location around Boston.
However, when she is not being watched
by a hidden FBI camera, Miss Gilmore
consciously oversimplifies and overstates
the mannerisms of a determined but
somewhat unhinged neurotic (in line
with de Rochemont’s theory that a semi-
documentary should be controlled and
manipulated by its artists, resulting in
a more expensive and studied-seeming
film than the pure newsreel). Through-
out the film the scenes that have an au-
thentic look and the tangled energy of
real life (the scientist’s midnight walk
to the church on Beacon Street, the Cop-
lon figure snapping at her FBI ques-
tioner), are balanced by shots in which
the movie crew deliberately plays to the
audience in thriller fashion. The com-
bination of styles gives the film its
peculiar fugue-type composition as well
as a certain kind of grotesque and
schizophrenic effectiveness.
Records\ waccn
we lovely Symphony K.543
lends itself to the quiet sensitive-
ness and grace of Krips’s performance
with the London Symphony on a Lon-
don record—the first good performance
of the work on LP to come my way.
In addition the violins, which have
sounded thin, dry, and lusterless in
previous London recordings, this time
have sufficient fullness and radiance—
the one flaw in the recorded sound being
the occasional excessive power of the
kettledrums. On the reverse side is a
similar quietly sensitive performance of
the Symphony K.297 (‘‘Paris’’), a work
which is more effective with the sharper
inflection of Beecham’s old performance
on 78, and with the prescribed Andan-
tino tempo rather than Krip’s Allegret-
to in the beautiful middle movement.
The violins don’t come through strongly
enough in the-tuttis of the finale; but
“ee
¥
Ys
As it happens, Columbia has issued a
new performance of K. 297 by Be
and his Royal Philharmonic—one wh ich
exaggerates the sharpness of the old per-
formance to the point of brutal violence
and distortion. To demonstrate the eade vi
dening deterioration in Beecham’s work
one need only play the old performance:
of the middle movement, with its ¢
flow and exquisite inflection, and then
the ponderous distorting new perform.
ance. The recorded sound is brashly
brilliant. On the reverse side is a good §*
performance of the first movement of #)
Schubert's “Unfinished” Symphony, re-
produced in B flat instead of B minor,
and with poor violin sound, and an ex#
cessively slow and stodgy performance
of the second movement, requiring step-
ping up of treble.
All three of Debussy’s Nocturnes are
on a London record performed by An-
sermet with his Orchestre de la Suisse
romande, providing an occasion for me
to find again that the infrequently heard
“Sirénes” is less interesting than the
others. The first part of ‘‘Nuages” is (it:
played beautifully (some low bass notes”
are weak or inaudible); the wn pe:
animé section seems to me too loud and
impassioned. ‘‘Fétes”’ is taken at a slow
pace in which it is not festive or joyous
the violins sound dry and veiled, and the
trumpets leap out at one in measure 23,
Ravel's Rhapsodie espagnole is on the Had
reverse side. , i
Debussy’s “L’Aprés-midi d’un faune!l
is played beautifully by Ansermet wi
the same orchestra on another London
record (the antique cymbals come in Phx
ahead of the beats in the Jast meas- §ii
ures); the violins again are dry. Stra-
vinsky’s Circus Polka, Ravel’s “Albo.
rado del gracioso,” and the March from #iuy
Prokofiev's “The Love for Three
Oranges” are also on the record.
Neither Szell’s performance of Men
delssohn’s “Italian” Symphony with the
Cleveland Orchestra nor his performance 1
of the “Midsummer Night’s Dream’
music with the New York Philharmonic
Symphony on a Columbia record has the
refinements of sonority and execution
that are to be heard in Koussevitzky’s} 0! h,
performance of the one with the Boston
Symphony and Toscanini’s performance
of the other with the N. B. C. Sym: Ec
phony (the LP reproduction of the lat-
The NATION
ie
. =... &. &
bine
Suite from Prokofiev
oo Oranges’ —of which I find only
e Scherzo and the music of the Prince
1d the Princess effective without the
ge action—is well performed on a
ania record by Rother with the Radio
tlin Symphony. Well performed also
y Steinkopf with the Berlin Phil-
aarmonic is Prokofiev's Russian Over-
ture Opus 72, a sprawling, raucous work
hat I find unattractive.
It is a pleasure, of course, to hear
the best of Chopin’s Waltzes played as
- Dinu Lipatti plays them; but what is
| amazing is to hear the duller pieces in
| the series come off the Columbia record
¥ with engaging melodic and rhythmic life
imparted to them by the subtle lyricism
| and grace of the playing. This make the
\ series of performances a tour de force
/ of a wholly legitimate kind.
| - Eight Scarlatti Sonatas—most of them
| characteristically charming, and one of
=them, Longo No. 382, very powerful—
f 2 re played by Kathleen Long on a Lon-
‘don record. The playing is merely flu-
ent and deft, without the sharpness and
sparkle the brilliant pieces should have
and the powerful tensions there should
be in No. 382. The recorded sound of
I the piano—presumably a Hamburg
Steinway—is remarkably beautiful.
| The fine Mozart Piano Sonata K.570
® is played sensitively by Jacqueline Blan-
card on another London record, together
| with the less consequential K.281, 283,
and 545.
Horowitz’s performances of Chopin’s
Wf Sonata Opus 35 and Ballade Opus 23
#) on an RCA Victor record are things to
9 ip. The performance of the Nocturne
1 Opus 15 No. 2 is more acceptable; the
passage-work of Liszt's ‘Au Bord d’une
i ource’”’ Horowitz plays exquisitely; the
Wa Hungarian Rhapsody No. 6 I didn’t
listen to.
I have no prejudice against transcrib-
ing’ piano pieces for orchestra; but I see
‘fo sense in transcribing them for or-
tra and piano; and I dislike the
s owy little concertos that Morton
Gould has made for himself of some of
Prchaikovsky's set of piano pieces, most
of them.charming, called ‘‘The Months,”
‘which includes the familiar Barcarolle
“June.” The orchestral sound produced
“by” 6 Columbia record is excessively
sharp,
June 21, 1952
J
‘0
Ou
ootave for }
That Nietzsche Book:
Fiction or Nonfiction?
Dear Sirs: In attempting to raise a ques-
tion concerning the authenticity of
Friedrich Nietzsche’s ‘‘My Sister and I,”
recently published by me, Alfred Wer-
ner alleges that it displays familiarity
with the main (post-Nietzschean) theo-
ries of Freud. Though there are passages
with “Freudian” implications in “My
Sister and I’ they are no more culpable
than similar passages in Goethe’s “Dich-
tung und Warheit”’. .
Werner is also suspicious of Nie-
tzsche’s prophecy that his concept of the
superman would be distorted by the
Germans into a tool for the destruction
of the Jews. Did not Nietzsche's sister,
Elisabeth, constantly supply him with
food for this belief, first by marrying the
pathological anti-Semite Foerster, and,
after her husband's death, by suppress-
ing ‘Ecce Homo” in which Nietzsche
demonstrated that his ideal man might
be almost anyone but a Prussian? . .
The most questionable aspect of the
book, says Werner, is the autobiographi-
cal material which displays Nietzsche's
alleged conquests of Cosima Wagner, a
sadistic countess, and some women of
lesser repute, when “according to Nie-
tzsche authorities and his contempo-
raries, the philosopher led a temperate,
modest life, except for a tragic experi-
LETTERS TO THE EDITORS
ence in his youth.” (The italics are
mine.) But who are Werner's authori-
ties for this? Nietzsche wrote such notes
s “Cosima, I love you,’ and confided
to one of the hospital physicians that
“Cosima, my wife, committed me here.”
Elisabeth reports constant quarrels with
her and their mother because of Fried-
rich’s attention to Lou Salome and other
women. In that last tragic phase of his
life, was there anything for Nietzsche to
brood about that was more important to
him than that “tragic experience in his
youth” that had poisoned his blood?
When Nietzsche reached that terrible
house in Jena, whether by force or his
own contriving, his life had reached a
climax that had to spill over into the
notes from which “My Sister and I’’ are
composed, Werner questions Nietzsche's
ability to think clearly at that time.
Doesn’t Werner know that madmen
have periods of lucidity as well as pe-
riods of confusion? And if he could
carry On conversations with visitors, as
has been attested over and over again,
why couldn't he write?
Werner asked for my help in writing
an article about ‘My Sister and I’ for
Commentary, . . . In two long inter-
views Werner raised all the questions
contained in his Nation article, and pro-
fessed himself satisfied with my answers
to them. I explained the “American-
isms’’ by telling him that where there is
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Lake Mahopac, N, Y. * Tel. Mahopac 8-3449
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GR 5-1445
SMILING PINES CAMP
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BUY
UNITED STATES
SAVINGS BONDS
612
Or ty =e er ye “TT
a choice between the British and the
American way of spelling a word I al-
ways use the American. He never asked
me any questions about Dr. Levy’s fam-
ily, and I certainly never volunteered the
information that Dr. Levy was a bach-
elor and died without progeny. Neither
did I ever tell him that the carbon
copies from which the book was set
were on Dr. Levy's typewriter... .
I did tell him about the censorial fire in
which the original manuscripts were de-
stroyed and of the mutilated vermin-
ridden carbon copies from which we re-
constructed ‘‘My Sister and I.”
Werner evidently took it on himself
to write to Dr. Levy’s surviving rela-
tives, with the result that Maud Levy
Rosenthal, his daughter, wrote Werner
that she knew nothing about her father
having translated “My Sister and I” and
written an introduction to it. I was a
little surprised at Mrs. Rosenthal’s out-
of-hand condemnation of the book, but
not by her lack of knowledge about it.
My agreement with Dr. Levy entailed
his not being mentioned in connection
with the book during the lifetime of
Elisabeth Foerster-Nietzsche, with whom
suing people was a zealous preoccupa-
tion. ...
New York SAMUEL ROTH
CORRECTION
For purposes of condensation, the
article Dam the Missouri Floods, which
appeared in The Nation of April 26,
was partially rewritten by us under cir-
cumstances which made it impossible to
submit the revised manuscript to the
author, Richard G. Baumhoff, for the
usual check before press time. Mr.
Baumhoff takes exception to certain of
the revisions, notably the sentence, ‘Of
committees, councils, and commissions,
the Missouri Basin has more than
enough; what it needs are more dams,
levees, run-off and irrigation systems,
and power plants.” The author declares
that this sentence “‘seriously misrepre-
sents” his point of view. Mr. Baumhoff
also calls attention to the fact that we in-
advertently omitted the Federal Power
Commission as a member of the Mis-
souri Basin Interagency Committee, and
referred to the recent floods as affecting
the “lower” instead of the ‘middle’
Missouri valley.
Naturally Mr. Baumhoff cannot be
held responsible for these or any other
changes in his original manuscript.
- EDITORS THE NATION
ey es
.
7 G fe Loa? The
PUBLIC
for labor groups, trade associations, civic
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tis, interests: music, literature, economics, al
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lectually attractive with physical defect,
same interests. Box 279, c/o The Nation.
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Middle West. Box 278, c/o The Nation.
WOULD YOU like to meet someone who
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righted pamphlet. Address: Personal Intro-
duction Service, 2112 Broadway, N. Y. 23.
exit loneliness
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you would like to know,
Somewhere there is someone,
who would like to know you,
We can help you find a richer,
bappier life through discreet, q
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Write for booklet, or phone a N
MAY RICHARDSON
Dept. TN, Ibi West 72 Street 10
New York City EN 2-2033 G
Attention Please! }
Train leaving on Track 31 for | if
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two weeks of rest and fun. Do they ff
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at your place? :
Tell them about it through the §
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or WRITE to
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THE NATION
20 Vesey Street, New York City 7
The NATION |in,
ui) Wielka all
EE
|
;
;
:
;
;
|
a
ACROSS
1 Thick and thin might, if you’re look-
ing for a cfiche. (6-7)
9 No water in the grog, alternatively
it’s proverbially idle, (5)
| 10 Gain flesh like a shark? (9)
} 21 ae part of the refrigerator flect.
(7)
12 Exemplified by %5 and V3? (7)
18 You might a 4 sere varually not for
"y
your own health. (
16 No, not, for example, produced by
Brownies. (9)
18 Train-man, perhaps, and I get to-
) 14° Reckless speed ol oven (9)
|
Hi gether. (5)
19 Acts like a postman, or repudiates
* ‘the act. (7)
} 21 It might be represented by three-
» |
}
¥
5 ei gold in the fire, perhaps.
22 Where there’s a will? Quite the op-
posite, in this condition. (9)
23 One to a thousand, since it’s an in-
24 rs. @) iod G
waiting a spent in Green-
wich? (2, 3,
DOWN
1 Adam’s apple? (9, 5)
2 Awkward profession? (9)
at Poe
=o a E ee
Crossword Puzzle No. 470
BY FRANK W. LEWIS
aT]
Cloak, or something for the rest of
the propeller. (7)
Suggests a scrape the bride gets
blamed for. (5)
This grit’s certainly not radically
different! (9)
Relax! (7)
Toussaint liberated it. (5)
Theme song of Bob, when down
with laryngitis? (10, 4)
14 The French political body saved up
waste! (9)
15 You can’t have a man talk a little
without seeing a counteragent. (9)
17 Passage read in the survey? (7)
18 A rather unusual touch. (7)
20 If this singer took cake, it would
sound childish. (5)
21 It might be superior to a letter, or
twice as long as the whole note, (5)
es
SOLUTION TO PUZZLE No. 469
ACROSS :—1 SUMMER COMPLAINT: 9 EX-
ACTED; 10 NECKTIE; 11 ee ai 12 RED
LIGHT; 14 FORMIC ACID; 15 IRAQ; 17
HACK; 19 SHAM BATTLE; 22 DBRIVING;
23 GARNET; 25 VANILLA; 26 PROVISO;
27 LATTHR DAY SAINTS.
DOWN:—1 SPEAK OF THH DEVIL; 2
MBANDHR; 3 DSTHETIC; 4 CODE; 5 MAN-
NBHRISMS ; 6 LOCALB; 7 INTEGER; 8
TWENTY QUESTIONS; 13 CASH ON HAND;
16 PARABOLA ; 18 CORONET; 20 THNSION;
21 SVELTE; 24 SPRY.
ONO oo fF WO
Readers are invited to send for a free copy of Mr. Lewis's “ground rules," Address
requests to Puzzle Dept.,
UNE 21, 1952
The Nation, 20 Vesey Street, New York 7, New York.
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CARISBROOKE INN
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- WINDY HILL
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Look for Next Week's Issue of The Nation! —
How free is free? }
@ A SPECIAL 64-PAGE NUMBER ® q
On June 28th The Nation will publish the most important special issue it has
brought out in recent years. In preparation for nearly a year, this 64-page number will
measure and describe the impact of the post-1945 witch hunt on the civil liberties of the
American people, with particular emphasis on the occupations and categories that have
been under direct attack. .
This issue is not concerned with civil liberties in the abstract, but with civil liberties
} as an aspect of the economic security and well-being of rank-and-file citizens, includ-
i ing 6,000,000 government employees—federal, state, and local; of scientists and research
workers; of authors, librarians, and the publishing industry; of the free professions of
-
law, medicine, and the ministry; of the generation of students now in colleges and uni-
versities; of teachers and the public-school system; of radio and television and those who
——
=
work in these industries; of actors, playwrights and the stage; of instructors in colleges
and universities, and academic freedom; of the labor movement; of workers in the mo-
a
mn
tion-picture industry and of motion pictures; of resident aliens and members of minority
=a SSeS eee
groups; and of other categories and occupations.
We are asking organizations and individ- >» CONTRIBUTORS INCLUDE: 4
uals to help us get this issue into the -
. KIRTLEY F. MATHER, Professor of Geology, Harvard Uni-
hands of as many readers as possible. Bulk versity; incumbent president of American Association for
orders should be placed now in order to Seemeement of Scicnce,
MATTHEW JOSEPHSON, author of “The Robber Barons,”
insure prompt delivery. Make use of the ae peal and a biography of Sidney Hillman, soon to
published.
convenient order form below. GOODWIN WATSON, Professor of Education, Teachers— ~
College, Columbia University.
H. H. WILSON, member of the Department of Politics,
Princeton University, and the author of ‘Congress: Corrup-
Use This Comuenuient Order Gorm tion and Compromise.”
ZECHARIAH CHAFEE, Jr., Professor of Law at Harvard
THE NATION © 20 Vesey Street © New York 7, N. Y. University, author of “Freedom of Speech.” ‘
For the enclosed remittance of $_______ please send me, MERLE MILLER, author of “The Judges and the Judged.” 4
a ee ee Nee ee GILBERT W. GABRIEL, President of the New York Drama
64-page Ctvil Li ies i es a ns
Se ; per ee aus Critics Circle, and drama critic of Cue.
C10 eee. c ~ 2 pcre ane Copenaee ALSO: Factual on-the-spot reports of the state of civil liberties
opies $60 [1] 1,000 Copies $100 in Chicago, Los Angeles, Baltimore, Boston, Cleveland, Pitts-
Please write for special rates on larger quantities. burgh, and other cities, prepared by local representatives of
the American Civil Liberties Union. The supplement will also
include a report—‘‘Hollywood Meets Frankenstein’’—on re-
NAMB cent witch-hunting activities in the motion picture industry.
As a special feature, the supplement will include a manu-
script by the late Louis Adamic,—"Confessions of a Thirty-
ADDRESS Third Degree Subversive.”
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THE RISE OF TOTALITARIAN DEMOCRACY
By J. L. Talmon $4.75
Says Historian A. J. P. Taylor: “Professor Talmon’s
work seeks to show how totalitarian ideas grew out
of Utopianism; how the extreme democrats of the
French Revolution turned into the most ruthless dic-
tators. This is a valid theme, admirably worked out.
... Robespierre started on the road which ended with
Stalin.”
Zhe author is described by The Times of London
as “a Jewish scholar who must be placed in the first
flight of modern European historians . . . a breadth
and vigor of historical imagination which recalls de
Tocqueville.”
ATTACK UPON THE AMERICAN SECULAR
SCHOOL By V. T. Thayer $3.50
American Journal of Sociology: “The secular public
school is currently under attack from two groups:
those who desire tax support for parochial schools
and those who wish some form or degree of religious
education to be promoted by the public school. Thay-
er’s handling of a controversial matter is moderate,
and his treatment of opponents is fair and dignified.”
WALL OF SEPARATION BETWEEN CHURCH
AND STATE By Conrad Moehiman $3.50
The New Leader: “This volume is a valuable addi-
tion to public understanding of the problem....He
has marshalled his evidence to leave no doubt of the
intent of the American people to want church and
state separated completely in a constitutional and
legal sense.”
STALIN'S SLAVE CAMPS:
An Indictment of Modern Slavery
By Charles A. Orr. Paper 75¢; cloth $1.75
International Institute of Social History Bulletin:
“It ig a vigorous indictment of those states that
maintain slave camps, such as Spain, and especially
Russia and the satellite countries.”
At your
from the editorial rooms of the BEACON PRESS
for 50 years atop Beacon Hill in Boston
Light on the World-Wide Problem
of CIVIL LIBERTIES
AMERICAN FREEDOM AND CATHOLIC
POWER By Paul Blanshard $3.50
Says John Dewey: “Mr. Blanshard has done a diffi-
cult and necessary piece of work with exemplary
scholarship, good judgment and tact.” 200,000 in print.
COMMUNISM, DEMOCRACY, AND CATH-
OLIC POWER By Paul Blanshard $3.50
Annals of the American Academy: “The power of
scholarly documentation, the restraint in presenta-
tion, the logic of analysis goes beyond anything yet
written of Communism.... This demands the atten-
tion and thorough examination of all those who are
basically concerned with the future of freedom.”
75,000 in print.
THE COUNTERFEIT REVOLUTION ‘
By Sidney Lens $3.75
Says Mr. Justice Douglas in The Progressive: “The
story of Soviet Imperialism is told in as vivid a
manner as I have read. The author of this book seeks
to discover .. . why Communism—as cruel and op-
pressive as anything Hitler ever foisted on a nation
—has such a hold on people who profess idealistic
aims.”
ONE GREAT PRISON:
The Story Behind Russia's Unreleased POW's
By Helmut M. Fehling $2.75
The New York Times Book Review: “During the
three decades of its existence, the Soviet regime has
developed a cynical system of lying, exploitation,
spiritual and physical mistreatment, complete disre-
gard for human life and worth. The system destroys
not only bodies but souls as well, and Mr. Fehling,
a Catholic journalist by profession, shows it con-
vincingly.”
AMERICAN TRADITION IN RELIGION AND
EDUCATION By R. Freeman Butts $3.50
New York Times Book Review: “A fully documented
survey of the relations between church, state, and
school from colonial times to the present.”
bookstore
THE UNION LABEL STANDS FOR
THE THINGS YOU STAND FOR—
@ For 35 years, the Amalgamated has been in the forefront of every battle for
a better life for America’s working men and women.
© We did our part in the great electoral victories of Presidents Roosevelt and
Truman, in the passage of the Wage-Hour Law, the Wagner Act; the Social
Security Law and many others.
@ Today we too are becoming increasingly alarmed at the hysteria that grips
so large a part of our population. We will continue to dedicate ourselves to
the maintenance of our traditional civil liberties—the cornerstone of our dem-
ocratic way of life.
@ The Amalgamated union label in men’s clothes, in every price range, means
skilled workmanship, quality production and a
guarantee against the return of the sweatshop.
@ In every organized shop, the Amalgamated union
label means decent wages and working conditions,
health and life insurance and non-contributory
pensions.
© Next time you buy a suit or overcoat, look for
your guarantee of fair value and of fair working
conditions,
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A union of master craftsmen in suits ¢ overcoats ¢ work clothes
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613
Equal Rights and Constitutional Freedoms
for all people was demanded ai our Eighth
Constitutional Convention which called for:
A PLAN FOR
1. The passage of Federal, state and
municipal Fair Employment Practices
acts.
2. The enactment of a Federal Anti-
Lynching Bill.
3. The passage of a Federal Civil Rights
Bill to outlaw poll tax and all forms of
segregation and discrimination in our na-
tional life.
4. Repeal of the Taft-Hartley Law.
5. Repeal of the Smith Act which out-
laws America’s traditional freedom of
thought and expression.
Action
6. Repeal of the McCarran Act under
which concentration camps are now being
built for political prisoners.
7. Defeat of the McCarran-Walter Omni-
bus Immigration Bill which impeses ex-
tremely rigid retroactive deportation
standards on immigrants and aliens and
provides to deprive American citizens of
citizenship.
8. Defeat the Cox Resolution which
would open the way for witch hunts among
educational and philanthropic organiza-
tions, especially those devoted to improv-
ing the status of Negro citizens.
WE ARE TIRED OF PROMISES AND EVASIONS
While the platforms of both
major political parties have given
lip-service to the need for civil-
rights legislation, nothing has been
done.
Instead, mob violence, lynchings,
witch hunts and intolerance of un-
popular opinion have increased,
making a bold hypocrisy of our na-
tion’s program to spread the graces
of democratic freedom to all sec-
tions of the world.
The Christmas night assassina-
tion of Mr. and Mrs, Harry T.
Moore in Mims, Florida; the cold-
blooded murder of a manacled
Negro prisoner, Samuel Sheppard;
UNITED PACKINGHOUSE WORKERS OF AMERICA, CLO. f-
608 S. DEARBORN STREET, CHICAGO 5, ILLINOIS
the mob riots in Illinois; the lynch-
ings and persecutions elsewhere in
the nation have not brought con-
victions from the law enforcement
agencies of government.
On the contrary, the government
is engaged in another direction—
further suppressing civil liberties.
New to the American scene is
the construction of concentration
camps for political prisoners, the
hounding of aliens who are being
denied the right to seek citizenship,
and the closing of our doors to
leading scientists, writers and
teachers from foreign lands.
Kangaroo courts are set up by
/
special committees of Congress,
which seek to smear men and wo-
men whose political thoughts do a Pad
not conform to the standards of Bic
Senator McCarran and Senator Mc-
Carthy.
This election year the people
have an opportunity to speak out
in defense of their vanishing civil
liberties. We believe in the ultimate
good sense of the American peo-
ple who will serve notice on the
major political parties that this is
no time for double talk on civil = hor
liberties.
From here on out, there can bo rea
no retreat.
“yn
less
LUME 174
[I ISN'T often that Te Nation devotes an entire issue
to a single problem. We have done so this time—
a format double the usual size—with am eye both
> th e overriding importance of the problem and to the
ritical need for an early solution. For we feel that
1 drift of the country has been such in the last few
ears that the question, How Free Is Free? cannot much
nger go unanswered lest we lose even the freedom to
sk it.
a the reports presented i in this special civil-liberties is-
> have a theme running through them, it is fear.
ike the nerve-tickling theme in “The Third Man,”
ear sets the tone that permeates all the events and
Onditions described in these pages. The other day Mrs.
posevelt displayed her unerring sense ‘of the dominant
good of a large part of post-war America—and_ her
ealthy response to it—when she said: “I am tired of
eing afraid.” Fear is as uncomfortable to live with as
M active infection, and a moment will come—soon, I
elieve, if general war does not come sooner—when
nis country, like any other strong organism, must throw
t out of its system.
‘This is not to say that no dangers. exist; that fear is
yholly irrational. The earth was never a more insecure
elling place than today, and the fear that rules our
ives springs in large part from a feeling of helplessness
in the presence of possibilities which seem too awful
ot:ordinary men to grapple with. But the only answer
) this can be found in a still greater effort to cling
0 reason, instead of forsaking reason for panic and the
mbecile acts that panic breeds. As Bertrand Russell
facidly remarked in his “New Hopes for a Changing
W Porld, ” “A captain who finds-his ship in danger of
Sinking is expected to avoid hysteria, but an American
esman in the same situation is thought to be a fellow-
tra avelet if he remains calm.” The dangers that face us
‘collectively are no greater and essentially no different
from those facing a soldier in battle; yet a soldier is ex-
ed to fight even if his survival seems problematical.
uld Pe uesjually expected that we meet our collective
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MERICA’S LEADING LIBERAL WEEKLY
NEW YORK + SATURDAY »
SINCE 1865
JUNE 28, 1952 NUMBER 26
How Free Is Free?
BY FREDA KIRCHWEY
dangers at least as well: at its worst, the collective fate
could be no more final than his.
But if fear is the motif, it is not the source of the
trouble. The source is, plainly enough, the world revolu-
tion of which fear and the repressions it has generated are
mere aspects.
To try to pin the trouble on Stalin is a temptation.
For the expanding power of Russia, whether it is a
major, imminent military threat or not, menaces a wide
range of established values and interests, some inde-
The Path of Fear
The hour is very late, but not so late that we must
ask the question whether we would be the weaker if we
were to maintain the right of men to differ and to make
their differences known without fear. We would be far
more likely to have an informed and participating peo-
ple believing in themselves and in their way of life,
drawing into the government the very best, and com-
mitted to ends which have always inspired men to fight
to the limit of their abilities. Why have we valued
our Bill of Rights if it has not been because, as Mr.
Justice Brandeis said, we know “that fear breeds re-
pression; that repression breeds hate; and that hate
menaces stable government’; because we believe that
the loyalty that gives strength is built on passionate be-
lief in goals worth fighting for—Laurence Sears, The
American Scholar, Spring, 1951.
Men live by their routines; when these are called into
question, they lose all power of normal judgment. .. .
Discussion becomes a challenge; new ideas seem to be a
threat. Men are gripped by fear, and fear, by its nature,
is the enemy of thought. So that when men are too
fearful to understand, they move to suppress, because
they dare not stay to examine. . . . Invited to experi-
ment, they act like children who are terrified of the
dark. . . . They will listen to nothing save the echo
of their own voices; all else becomes dangerous
thoughts—Harold Laski.
4ig Re f roe rn en Pe
i
© IN THIS*353u05:
EDITORIAL
How Free Is Free? by Freda Kirchwey 615
ARTICLES
Spies into Heroes by Zechariah Chafee, Jr. 618
The Battle of the Books by Matthew Josephson 619
Behind the Asbestos Curtain
by Gilbert W. Gabriel 625
Hollywood Meets Frankenstein by “X” 628
Trouble on Madison Avenue, N. Y.
by Merle Miller 631
Confessions. of a 33d-Degree Subversive
by Louis Adamic 637
Scientists in the Doghouse by Kirtley F. Mather 638
The Bigots and the Professionals
by Vern Countryman 641
6,000,000 Second-Class Citizens
by Ralph S. Brown, Jr. 644
Labor and Civil Liberties by Arthur Eggleston 647
The Witch Hunt and Civil Rights
by Carey McWilliams 651
The Public Schools Retreat from Freedom
by Goodwin Watson 653
Academic Freedom and American Society
by H. H. Wilson 658
Style Note: The Campus Strait-Jacket
by Kalman Seigel 661
Formula for Success 665
Civil Liberties Reading List 666
How Free Is Your Town? 667
~ CROSSWORD PUZZLE No. 471
by Frank W. Lewis 672
Cover designed by Ben Shahn
EDITORIAL BOARD
Editor and Publisher: Freda Kirchwey
Editorial Director Director, Nation Associates
Carey McWilliams Lillie Shultz
Managing Editor: Victor H. Bernstein
Foreign Editor Literary Editor
J. Alvarez del Vayo Margaret Marshall
Financial Editor: Keith Hutchison
Drama: Joseph Wood Krutch Music: B. H. Haggin
Copy Editor: Gladys Whiteside
Assistant Literary Editor: Caroline Whiting
Staff Contributors
Andrew Roth, Alexander Werth, Howard K. Smith, Carolus
Business Manager: Hugo Van Arx
Advertising Manager: Maty Simon
The Nation, published weekly and copyright, 1952, in th
by The Nation Associates, Inc., 20 Vesey Serzet, N New work 7 x ¥
Entered as second-class matter, December 18, 1879, at the Post Office
of New York, N. Y., under the act of March 8, 1879. Advertising
and Circulation Representative for Continental Europe: Publicitas.
Subscription Prices: Domestic—One year $7; Two years $12 ; Three
years $17. Additional postage per year: Foreign and Vanadian $1.
Change of Address: Three weeks’ notice is required for change of
address, which cannot be made without the old address as well as
_ the new.
Information to Librartes: The Nation is indexed in Readers’ Guide
to Periodical Literature, Book Review Digest, Index to Labor
Articles, Public Affairs Information Service, Dramatic Index.
a SR ES RR SE a NR A
616
' Woodrow Wilson had promised the world, but by the
OT aa a 4
; iu
fenible snd ethers worth ding it excu
policies and behavior which bear no true relala n
the danger and provides an escape from the necessity o!
facing the broader meaning of the world revolution as a
whole. Mg
Bolshevism, in fact, for all its momentous and s still
spreading consequences, was the by-product of a w i
war which was itself only an incident of that rev
tion. It was not even a decisive by-product. Though
spawned smaller rebellions, from Belfast to Budapesf,
the revolutionary process was checked, not by its ow mn
success or by the growth of those new freedoms that
decision of the victorious powers in 1919 to defend he
Old Order—even in those countries whose aggression
had precipitated the war—against the emerging forces of
popular revolt. The purpose of the’ victors was to re-
make the Western world as nearly as possible in its pre-
war political image. To accomplish this they not only
did their futile best to smash the October revolution,
but also vetoed those social and economic changes that
might have saved the post-war world from the despair
that bred counter-revolution. In Europe the old gang took
over, heavily backed by American money. And in Wash-
ington Mitchell Palmer took over, and “normalcy”—
which were America’s version of counter-revolution,
When fascism began to creep across the Continent,
the people in charge generally cane it as a bulwark
of the Old Order rather than the further crumbling o f
that order in a revolution of the right. Or, if they kney w ak
what it represented, they accepted it as a preferred form
of social upheaval. Even its worst excesses, in Germany
and in Spain, even the clear approach of World War u, 7
were looked upon as less dangerous than the risk of 2 -
shift toward the left in the balance of political pore r.
(“Better Abetz than Blum.” )
Hitler smashed the dream of security through reaction, mot
His war was another incident in the world revolution; §*
this time not even the heads of states could ignore its ot on
political meaning. And for a short while, out-of he fs
fighting alliance between Russia and the West, out of “Ot
the passion of the Resistance and the defeat of iret ry nth
cially the United States, were willing, this time, to reco,
nize and accept the nature of the problem they f
fe ‘
UNRRA, Se eeadaily for the same reason; ee col
with suspicion and distaste the demands of the “
ward” peoples for peace and independence and a
for a decent life. They are following this path to
Europe and Asia encouraged and partly justified this
erence is unarguable. But non-Communists who criti-
American-Western policy do so because it is, in its
‘ st sense, an abdication to Moscow, a refusal to
cept the imperatives of the world situation and direct
Mational policy, not toward a new attempt to freeze the
Old Order, which is now so obviously in dissolution, but
tov vard applying democratic principles to the process of
social and political change. The United States, leading
= Western world, has abandoned the revolution to Mos-
cow; and while the Russians are exploiting this oppor-
tu nity with a brutal energy which may defeat the very
purposes they proclaim, at least they have the initia-
tive, while we carry the thankless, hopeless job of sweep-
ing back the great tide of change. °
In fact, what has happened is that the United States,
eeether with its allies in so far as they can be held in
line, is engaged in heading up the new counter-revolu-
tion; and revolution, right or left, has its own logic and
its own consequences. It requires conformity—as Rus-
Sia demonstrates—and rejects freedom of thought and
speech and action because, obviously, these are the an-
titheses of conformity. It exaggerates the danger of its
enemies, or invents enemies. It cannot tolerate critical,
halfway adherents since they may undermine more ef-
ively than outright opponents the dogma on which it
relies.
On the other hand it accepts, if sometimes with
eluctance, those fanatic supporters—the McCarthys—
) who may diseredit it by their behavior but who must not
I be offended lest they turn nasty. Those who direct the
operation use fear as a weapon, and soon fear becomes a
| force itself, dominating both the leader and the led, the
| informer and his victim, the cautious liberal and the
"Y capse he quietly abandons. Soon it comes to seem reckless
| not only to criticize the government’s foreign policy but
| to speak in favor of socialism in Saskatchewan or French
1 reforms in Tunisia—or academic freedom at home.
| Everything tends to be drawn into a single framework
4 of what constitutes conformity—and the name of this
“@ Sort of conformity is fascism.
AS THIS discussion has tried to show, the American
: witch hunt is tied, too closely for comfort, to the
‘ I ourse of economic and political developments through-
pout the world. It would be naive to expect that as long
as the cold war grinds on there will be an end to re-
pression, official or otherwise, in America. But even the
alectics of world revolution permit periods of lessened
watension and shifts of direction. The process going on to-
ay y is infinitely complex; trends are mixed, in this coun-
atty as elsewhere. The course of events itself can change in
o "Tre resp onse to popular or official pressures; new political
hat the actual spread of Russian dominance in East-
Wind and Whirlwind
The unprecedented outburst of terror and terrorism
which at the moment is venting itself upon Socialists,
Communists, “Reds,” and agitators of all sorts in this
country grows in volume and intensity from day to
day. . . . Every radical thinker or reformer in the
' United States today who belongs to any organization
which the Department of Justice has put under the
ban, or who expresses sympathy with the men and
women who have been pounced upon, puts his per-
sonal liberty in danger if his sympathies be known. ....
What must happen if this sort of thing goes on,
every sober-minded citizens knows. . . . The belief,
startlingly confirmed only the other day by no less re-
spectable a body than the Carnegie Foundation, that
there is in this country one law for the rich and power-
ful and another for. the poor and weak, will be
strengthened; as will the conviction that free speech,
free debate, and free publication of opinion, whether
for the citizen or the alien, are rights to be enjoyed by
such only as say what the Department’ of Justice and
powerful business interests approve. . .. We shall not
safeguard liberty by repressing it; we shall not raise
American prestige abroad by sending overseas the dis-
illusioned and the unassimilated. The only way to end
dangerous discontent in the United States is to remove
its causes. Unless that is done, those who today are
sowing the wind will before long reap the whirlwind.
—The Nation, January 17, 1920.
leaders will emerge and new governments be elected,
and policies which themselves were responsible for en-
couraging the witch hunt may in turn be damaged by its
impact—this is demonstrably the case with some of the
foreign policies of the Truman Administration,
There is also the natural impulse of opposition which
is set in motion by the piling up of cruel and unjust
measures; if the rise of a new fascism generates fear,
it also creates the will to resist. At some stage, also, in-
fringements of people’s rights become so obviously out
of line with the supposed dangers they are intended to
guard against that even the most docile citizen grows
uneasy and ashamed and a natural reaction sets in. When
the smear reaches enough well-known persons of high
repute—Jessup, Acheson, even Eisenhower—doubt is
cast on the whole enterprise; and when the point is
reached at which other prominent individuals muster
enough courage and concern to fight back, one can as-
sume that abatement is. under way.
It would be premature to announce that this has yet
begun, though some hopeful omens can be spotted here
and there. Among the most important have been the
recent statements before Congressional committees of
Owen Lattimore, Sidney Buchman, and Lillian Hellman.
The successful faculty rebellion against the loyalty oath
617
at the University of California; the formation of groups
at the community level, as in Englewood, Scarsdale, and.
Berkeley, by citizens determined to fight for their rights;
and the campaign to unseat Senator McCarthy, rapidly
taking shape at this moment—all these can be set off
against ugly signs of revived grass-roots vigilantism, such
as the “Sixth Column” committees and various veteran
and bundist groups—the boys who picket and burn cars
and serve as self-appointed informers.
The elections offer a chance to focus and organize
the scattered movements of resistance. From the con-
ventions on through the campaign, people alerted to the
need of action can force the civil-liberties issue to the
front, demanding that candidates from the Presidential
nominees down take a clear stand for the restoration of
Spies into Heroes
HAT is constitutional may still be unwise. The
\ reluctance of the Supreme Court to let the Bill
of Rights block various activities meant to protect the
nation from foreign attack and revolution merely puts
constitutional objections out of the way. Other very seri-
ous objections to what is actually done under the law
still remain and urgently requiré consideration.
The time has come for the American people to look at
what is happening to us because of the numerous and
novel types of suppression that are now in operation.
Legal issues can desirably be laid aside while we engage
in the much more familiar activity of watching men and
women. What is being done to human beings in the
name of national safety? What kind of human beings are
doing it? Do they behave in ways we like or are they de-
parting from American habits of kindness, fairness, and
common sense? All this is the sort of thing we need to
look at.
-While trying to do some such observing, I find that a
good many aspects of what is going on now disturb a
man who loves the kind of country in which he grew up
and fears that it may disappear unless present trends are
checked. This is the place to speak of one matter which
calls for a good deal of watching and thinking on the
part of the regular run of American citizen.
I am disturbed by the growing inclination to turn
spies into heroes. One of the earliest lessons learned by
children is that tale-bearing is a dirty business. No doubt
ZECHARIAH CHAFEE, JR., has been on the faculty of
the Harvard Law School since 1916. The present article is
based in part on a recent lecture, Thirty-five Years with
Freedom of Speech
618
democratic feels and cesitae
of The Nation is designed for one peli
provide an arsenal of facts and ideas for all Amend cans
who are ready to take up this fight. The contributors
have been chosen by and large from those occupational
groups which have suffered most heavily from repres
measures, statutory and otherwise: science and education,
the civil service, the publishing industry, the varie |
world of entertainment, the legal profession, and the
broad field of organized labor. So in essence this issue is
a compilation of the reports of specialists. We hope at
their findings will be put to good use between now and
November, to the end that the question, How Free Is
Free? may be resolved in accordance with the traditions
of liberal America.
BY ZECHARIAH CHAFEE, »
there are several long-recognized crimes harmful to the’
community, like counterfeiting, where conviction would
often be hard to obtain without stool-pigeons and spies.
Here the need for the betrayer’s evidence is great enough :
to outweigh the evils of spies. But when one is consider- 7
ing a novel crime, it is a question whether the game is ft
worth the candle. The use by employers of spies in labor § 4,
unions shows what can happen. And when it comes to} g
political crimes, historians of the Popish Plot and sedi Mi
tion laws in England during the French Revolution hav
demonstrated that spies were a black blot on such afairs.
Spies sometimes become agents provocateurs who incite
the very crimes they are hired to report. Hence it is dis
quieting to read the evidence against the eleven Commu -_~
nists in New York two years ago by at least three spies
working under the direction of the FBI, who joined the
Communist Party and served on its recruiting commit-
tees. Thus these goverrinent employees were actively i "
ducing American citizens to become members of
conspiracy against the United States. A still more pervad
sive evil of spies is the breakdown of confidence in socia
and family life. Intercourse is poisoned if one never
knows whether his fellow guest at dinner is going te
report his casual statements to the secret police. One
would suppose we had heard enough of what went on in tay
Germany under the Nazis or what goes on in Russia ay it
today to abjure this kind of thing. mh
The worst spy of all is the renegade. He has already hae
double-crossed the community by engaging in wrong-} “*,
doing and then double-crossed his associates by deserting} —~
them and helping to punish them. After such an experi: ptt,
Md ng
ence, truth-telling does not come naturally. The renegade}
has to make a good story in order to obtain immunity fos
ek
wv: Pakoitied’ praniae ence there is a great
tation to exaggerate or falsify the behavior of his
‘ormer associates. And since it is often his word against
pea he has magnificent opportunities for gratifying
_ personal spites.
_ The latest phase in the current glorification of the po-
litical spy is to compare him with Major André or
_ Nathan Hale. There are sharp differences between the
_ military spy and the political spy. In the first place, a
man employed by an army to report on troop move-
' ments, fortifications, etc., is going to give facts. What
| ihe says can be verified. If he misleads those who employ
| him, his falsehood will soon be detected and he will
pay a fearful penalty. The political spy, on the other
hand, reports conversations and midnight contacts in
_ dark alleys. There is usually no way to check up on him,
and his opportunities for falsification are almost un-
limited. Another difference is that the military spy does
| not have the temptation to lie. He is not accusing per-
sons, but telling about things. The political spy can send
| human beings to prison or deprive them of a job, and so
| he may have strong motives to distort his story for per-
_ sonal reasons or to shield himself. The military spy has
no chance to poison human relationships.
This is not to say that spies as witnesses against men
| accused of political crimes will tell nothing in court ex-
| _ cept lies. Undoubtedly, some of them will try to tell the
| truth during their whole testimony while others will mix
| a good deal of truth with falsehoods. But there is a much
greater risk of false testimony from spies than from ordi-
| nary men. Every witness, no matter how honest, natu-
I ERE we are in the early years of the American
| Century, called to lead the world, as we are as-
sured, and this not only by the persuasive force of
hapalm bombs or A-bombs but by the power of ideas
“) and the example of our moral beauty as a nation. How-
“| «ever, many West Europeans, who are our allies in the
‘cold war against communism, have begun to express
doubt that we have the wisdom and self-command to
ul} §~Jead the whole world. The metropolitan press of West-
ern Europe has been reporting items touching on our
_ bizarre folkways, under the heading Americana and pre-
_ sented in the style of Mencken’s chronicles of the Amer-
Le
Fen
i | MATTHEW JOSEPHSON is the author of many books,
") §©6including “The Politicos,’ “The Robber Barons,’ and a
M oUife of Sidney Hillman which will be published later in the
mm year. ;
June 28, 1952
rally wants to make a good case for his own side. But
this desire is affected by several factors. Truthfulness is
a requisite of most normal occupations from bookkeep-
ing to the practice of medicine. An ingrained habit of
telling the truth is carried on to the witness stand, And
the ordinary witness knows that his lack of veracity may
be detected when he testifies, as he usually does, about —
matters which are capable of proof or on which he can
be contradicted by disinterested eyewitnesses.
But when spies appear in court, such checks operate
in a much weaker way. The very nature of a spy’s work
requires lying. He has to deceive his associates into
thinking him one of themselves. The longer he spies, the
greater the tendency for the boundary between truth and
falsehood to be blurred. One can never be sure that Dr.
Jekyll has not changed into Mr. Hyde. Readers of Con-
rad’s “Secret Agent” and “Under Western Eyes” will
have no doubt of this. And the subject matter of a spy’s
testimony in political cases may not be susceptible of
neutral verification, The only other possible eyewit-
nésses of the transactions he narrates are usually the sus-
pected person he is helping to punish and other mem-
bers of the alleged conspiracy. It is impossible to let in
the light of day upon these dusky happenings.
The trouble is not that you can be sure a spy is lying.
The trouble is you cannot be sure he is telling the truth.
The risk of false testimony is tremendously increased.
Therefore, the fact that it is hard to obtain convictions
for political crimes without the use of spies is not an
argument for using spies. It is an argument against
having political crimes.
The Battle of the Books
BY MATTHEW JOSEPHSON
ican “booboisie.”” Our political trials, our inquisitions
of Hollywood movie actors, our American Legionnaires
attacking schools and libraries, our mass hysteria over
internal Communist enemies—all this is duly noted by
our European friends and set beside our pretensions to
be the saviors of Western civilization. I say nothing of
what our ideological opponents in the East, whom we
are so eager to liberate, may make of lessons in democ-
facy such as the following (reported by the United
Press on February 12, 1952):
Sapulpa, Okla., Feb. 11 (UP)—Charles Hartman,
vice-president of the Sapulpa Board of Education, said -
today that some books in the Sapulpa School Library >
had been burned by the school after being criticized by a _
women’s civic group for the way they dealt with social- ~
ism and sex. :
He stated that only “five or six” books had been de- —
619
' stroyed and they were “volumes of no consequence.”
He added that he believed one was a history judged to
be too approving of socialism and the others fiction
which dealt too frankly with sex.
“They just weren't good reading for teen-age chil-
dren,” Mr. Hartman declared.
That “it” has happened here, in an Oklahoma town
of 13,000 inhabitants, and in several other small towns
as well, should not surprise us. For years we have been
told that we are in a state of crisis, though we are not
officially at war. Some of our most prominent “Ameri-
canist” shepherds, in Congress and in the press, have
been rousing up their flocks, A strange “battle of the
books” has been going on for about five years, since the
early stages of our political conflict with Russia, Of Jate
it has reached an intensity that has frightened reasonable
Americans who were disposed not to take alarm unduly
_at the occasional excesses of our small-town vigilantes.
OBER reports of the American Library Association
Bulletin indicate that there have been “hundreds”
of incidents throughout the United States in which self-
constituted guardians of the public safety have taken
action to remove, censor, suppress, or destroy teaching
material or books deemed by them “subversive” or “un-
American.” The curious thing is that these groups
are made up of people who have never been in-
terested in literature, or pedagogy, or scholarship,
or science. Yet they come armed with fixed notions
of loyalty or “Americanism” to which all other groups
in the community, our learned professions and institu-
tions, our publishers and writers, are asked to conform.
Thanks to their petitions, new investigative com-
mittees ate being set up in Congress, one of them vested
by the recently enacted Gathings resolution with ex-
tremely broad and vague powets to make inquiry into
_ radio and television productions, comic strips, pocket
books, and other media of public communication, for
“immoral” content or expressions “otherwise offensive.”
“The book trade today is up against a new develop-
ment, the threat of censorship on political grounds,”
according to a statement made by Donald Klopfer for
the Book Publishers’ Council a year ago. False informa-
tion about books now widely circulated, he added, might
lead to political censorship on the ground of national
security.
A nation-wide study of the censorship movement
made by Benjamin Fine, the education editor of the New
York Times, was a front-page story in that newspaper on
May 25, 1952. The country’s leading educators, Fine
wrote, ate filled with anxiety at the widespread and con-
certed character of the attacks directed in recent months
at schoolbooks and other reading material. “Self-
appointed committees” are being organized in many dif-
ferent areas to “screen” boaks used by colleges and
620
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ty . Sete + 5 vs
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lower schools and free libraries, in order to ha
circulation of books by authors suspected of “subversive” “
ideas. Books long in use, it was reported, are suddenly —
being denounced by groups “not accountable to any a
legal body.” Librarians are being intimidated. “A book- _
burning-such as took place in Sapulpa, Oklahoma, does ~
not often occur, but the end result is just as serious when
books . . . are removed from school or library shelves.”
Throughout the country organized groups are assum-
ing the initiative and leading the local patriots into
action against the alleged purveyors of “dangerous 4
thoughts.” The names of their organizations may be new |
or old, they may be Catholic or Protestant or Jewish, —
but their procedure is the same. The affair may bem tin q
as at Worcester or Grand Rapids, by the publication of
an anonymous letter in the local paper assailing the high- oy
school superintendent or town librarian for harboring os
“subversive” books. The object is to ban not only works
that seem to advocate social change but in-many cases
writings that are simply critical of our business morals, _
like James Rorty’s “Our Master’s Voice: Advertising,”
or Laura Z. Hobson’s “Gentleman’s Agreement,” a a
novel about anti-Semitism. Or even, as in Peoria, 9m
Illinois, works which urge support of the United |
Nations. ‘
At Bartlesville, Oklahoma, a group known as Pro-
America levels its guns on the town librarian for keep-
ing copies of The Nation and the New Republic on
file. The librarian is promptly fired by the mayor, and —
so are the library trustees, for having tried to defend —
her. In Cleveland, the Mothers of World War II, as- —
sembled in convention, vote to investigate libraries,
bookstores, schools, and newspapers in order to “purge —
them of all subversive material.” In Peoria, as in many |
other towns, the local American Legion post goes into a and |
action to the same end. In suburban Scarsdale, New 4 it
York,-there is only a Committee of Ten that fights to —
stop the town from reading Mr. Louis Untermeyet’s _
anthologies of modern American and British poetry. —
In Burbank, California, the library trustees themselves i.
vote to Jabel all books by placing stickers in the volumes i
of authors who belong to pipe on the Attorney — eth
General’s subversive list or ‘‘similar lists.” a
Amid the excitement of the “battle of books” that 4
gripped Burbank last autumn one notes that a team of J tip;
public-relations men from nearby Los Angeles quietly
offered to “check” on the authors of all books in the ,
Burbank public library for the modest fee of $200,
Their earnest intention was to extend this pioneering —
business to all the cities of California, while promoting qi
the sales of Alert, a newsletter resembling Counter. 4
attack, and offering “facts to combat communism” to i a
select list for $25 a year, These investigative and cen- —
sorial procedures were eventually blocked in Burbank i
as in other California towns by the responsible muni
S- as Ss =
=z 2s 9
L Geiers oF the American Library Association.
Jevertheless, a new Citizens’ Committee appeared i in
Li ao last May and was seported as calling for
sey han volunteers to examine books used in the
s Angeles County high schools, Alas, only twelve
citizens answered the call, and these were described by the
mewspapers as “elderly persons,” all but three of them
old ladies. They were much photographed by the press
s they donned their spectacles and made ready to
e some 600,000 volumes, including the spacious
works of Hegel, Marx, Nietzsche, John Dewey, and
| Bertrand Russell. No reflection is intended against the
ol d-age group in our population. On the contrary it is
| mot our youth but the older folks, with their re-
| membrance of times of full intellectual freedom, who
| have been putting up the stoutest resistance to the
8 penps of frightened patriots and the professional bigots
or “full-time complainers” who lead them. Mean-
while the climate of opinion, as reflected in these re-
ports from the field, has thrown our authors and book
| publishers, as well as our theater and film producers,
| into a deep funk.
OW does the hysteria in 1919, after World War I,
compare with that of today? I remember how
! the returned war veterans, the fervent patriots, and the
| eager vigilantes joined in a hunt for “criminal syn-
! dicalists’” who were credited with having perpetrated
| a series of bomb explosions. The FBI carried out a
| dragnet operation among masses of foreign-born resi-
| dents. Two Italian anarchists, Sacco and Vanzetti, were
picked up. Then as appetite for such business mounted,
| headquarters of many labor unions, both A. F. of L.
| and I. W. W.—for there were no Communists to speak
| of then—were raided by “volunteers” and not a few
@ lynching parties took place in the provinces. Socialist
@ leaders and pacifists were thrown into jail. Yet all
| this furor Americanus seems ill organized, spontaneous,
and full of hearty animal spirits compared with the
| Present movement. The people who were saving the
| | tepublic then were not interested in ideas, books, or
| even journals of opinion.
Today's breed of super-patriots is a good deal better
' organized, less given to physical violence, and pre-
| tends to be literate. These people do not beat up women
| marching in labor-union parades, as in 1919, Instead,
@ they go trooping into little Carnegie libraries or book-
L | shops or high schools to spy out “Red-slanted books”
|and administer the anti- Communist “treatment.” They
| know Karl Marx well and the “infiltration” methods
9} of his votaries. Even our red-blooded American Legion
Ht as become ideological in its way. Why You Buy Books
| That Sell Communism is the title of a leading article
L by Irene Corbally Kuhn in the American Legion Maga-
June 28, 1952
I can think of only one way in which the Kremlin
may still conquer us, and that without war. It is by so
frightening us (but it is we who allow ourselves to be
frightened) that for fear of the enemy within we
transform our own society imperceptibly into an ap-
paratus of totalitarianism indistinguishable from the
society af Soviet Russia—a system which may not be
criticized, whether the British parliamentary system or
the American way of life, for fear of damaging na-
tional unity, the unity of the grave; a system in which
the bully and the corrupt may not be denounced or the
underdog uplifted because nobody will dare risk being
called a Red.—Edward Crankshaw, “Cracks in the
Kremlin Wall” (The Viking Press).
zine for January, 1951. Here sensational charges were
made that “Commie-minded” bookshop clerks, editors,
and newspaper book-reviewers “manipulate the book
business to promote works written by their soul-mates
and kill off opposition books.” The author, as if citing
a typical incident, pictured a patriotic book-buyer in-
quiring in vain for some anti-Communist work which
is always reported to be out of stock. But when, cun-
ningly, he used the trick of calling for a volume by
Owen Lattimore, the salesclerk ‘fell over herself in her
eagerness to haul out a fresh copy.” Thus a stereotype
of “Red-slanted bookstores” at every street corner was
offered to the 3,000,000 readers of the American Legion
Magazine and was reproduced in syndicated newspaper
columns. Our leading newspapers, such as the New York
Times and Herald Tribune, were accused in this article
of employing chiefly “fellow-travelers” to write book
reviews for their Sunday supplements and steer the
innocent customers toward the party line. The most re-
spectable newspapers, book publishers, and textbook
houses were attacked in the same article for promoting
or circulating books that favored “‘collectivism,” while
discouraging the literary productions of writers who had
given their hearts to private enterprise. After Miss
Kuhn’s article had been hawked around the country,
hundreds of persons, in a well-organized demonstration,
telephoned or wrote letters to complain of the alleged
“subversive” doctrines promulgated by those prudent,
loyal, profit-seeking men who run the Times and the
Macmillan Company.
The textbook trade is a large and lucrative business
compared with that of publishers dealing in novels and
general books. The principal textbook publishers have
long cooperated closely with local politicians who in their
different states run education commissions or school
boards; indeed, no section of the publishing field is more
practical than this. Textbook authors, in order to sur-
vive, have become the timidest of all writers, diluting
their product so that the most bigoted reader need find
621
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nothing to ofiend him. New editions of well-known
textbooks have been constantly revised in the direction
of extreme political neutrality and dulness. One can
scarcely imagine any American boy or girl being im-
pressed or persuaded by anything found in such texts.
Yet as has been observed by Father James Keller of The
Christophers, who has written pamphlets of vocational
guidance urging young people to follow callings in which
they might fight against “godless” doctrines, the school,
and particularly the library, must be regarded as the
“arsenal of ideas” to be kept under the control of right-
thinking persons.
Another who has worked hard to alter our cultural
climate is Lucille Cardin Crain, editor of the Educa-
tional Reviewer, a quarterly journal which urges the
suppression of schoolbooks guilty of advocating change,
or even simply of recording such change as has taken
place in the past (under the New Deal). Miss Crain
has been called an educational bigot by school au-
thorities, and the new body that liberally finances her
activities, the Conference of Small Business Organiza-
tions, has been styled by the House of Representatives’
select committee on lobbying as a “pressure group” given
to devious methods in order to secure—paradoxically
enough—"“big-business support” for its projects. In this
same orbit we find also the familiar, undemocratic fig-
ures of Merwin K. Hart, of the National Economic
Council, Allen Zoll, now running something called the
National Council for American Education, and Zoll's
old friend, Upton Close. It is they who suddenly profess
acute alarm over a textbook like the late Frank
Magruder’s “American Government,” used for a gen-
eration by millions of high-school students,
HE agitation at the school and library level has
¢ ae helped to depress the whole field of educa-
tion and letters in America. Gradually the pattern under-
lying these seemingly spontaneous or sporadic incidents
_ is becoming distinct. At least ten Front Organizations
are trying to direct the course of our school system and
our universities toward their own standards of ‘“‘loy-
alty.” This statement is based on surveys made by the
National Education Association and by a special com-
mittee of the American Library Association. The at-
tention of these Front Organizations is being extended
more and more to the field of textbooks and literature,
as well as of education. They claim that they seek only
to defend the republic, but several of them distribute
ptopaganda attacking the United Nations and movements
for world peace and the reduction of armament.
A recent survey of these “professional bigots” pre-
pared by the Anti-Defamation League—“The Trouble-
Makers,” by Israel Epstein and Arnold Forster, published
last month by Doubleday—shows that they “work
together through the exchange of ‘sucker’ lists and,
622
_ test against public officials who aoe ‘aaa
Gas
oe
eee are usually Seer miahesee cet of the
type who regularly supported Zoll’s so-called patrio tic a4
projects during the 1930's. “The outstanding common
denominator of these professional propagandists is that ;
they make money from their efforts.” Seven such or
ganizations reported that their combined income recently
exceeded $1,000,000 annually. #,
‘ <u
HY is there such intense activity in peddling,
the propaganda of prejudice, fear and hate? —
Nothing comparable was experienced during World:
War II when the country was in actual danger from the |
Nazis and the Japanese. During the period of our police
action for the U. N. in Korea, federal and state loyalty.
boards, Congressional committees aiming at thought-con-
trol, and our big Drummer Boy Joe in the Senate haye —
created a veritable panic over the alleged internal danger
offered by a few Communists—a panic that has particu-
larly affected our less sophisticated citizenry. (It is possi-.
ble that the augmented power of suggestion or hypnosis —
now exercised by radio and television has not been fully ¥
estimated.) High-level officers of the Chamber of Com- |
merce, the N. A. M., and the American Legion regu: |
larly deny that they Eason movements for the censorship —
of opinion or the restriction of our civil liberties. Never-
theless, the editors of the American Legion Magazine, |
with a circulation of nearly 3,000,000, proceed mu uch
as they please. iam
Since 1946 the United States Chamber of Commerce,
from Washington, has issued a series of widely dis-
tributed pamphlets on the subject of Communist’ In-
filtration, one such pamphlet, entitled A Program _ for
Community Anti-Communist Action, published in 1948 y im
and reprinted since, has reached a circulation of 683, :
000. Its prescriptions, as careful students of the so-
called “Americanist” movement have noticed, have been
followed faithfully in widely separated compauisas 5
throughout the country. Here are a few: 4
1. Subscribe to a good newsletter or magazme-spe- —
cializing in Communist exposure. %
2. Read one or more books on communism each Dab ice
month. ‘
3. See that books and periodicals exposing commu- | lod.
nism are in schcol and public libraries. :
4. Ask newspapers, magazines, and radio stations to. ag
carry useful material on communism. Praise them when .
they do so. ee
5. Be sure that your local bookstore features ae Pt
books exposing communism.
The public is further exhorted to support | "pt i
ex-Communists who cooperate with the FBI’; to pr bol
ward radicals and demand of them “a more pat my,
ee vee e hk j ; ‘
| -” The new p em Be, ie to pe on guard
e enemies of free opinion, it would appear, pro-
ceed a the attack in four columns. One besieges the
schools and their textbooks; a second assails the con-
ers of reading matter in libraries and bookstores; a
thi ind denounces authors by means of anonymous letters
nd “smear” articles in publications that welcome such
material; a fourth has begun a drive against the pub-
lishers. There is a “fifth column” too, as we shall see.
PYHE “smearing” of book publishers began in earnest
with the January, 1951, issue of the American
Legion Magazine. Angus Cameron, for many years vice-
president and editor-in-chief of Little, Brown of Boston,
was singled out for “treatment” because he had con-
|) tinued to publish Howard Fast and had taken an active
|, part in the Progressive Party’s Presidential campaign for
) Henry Wallace in 1948. Last year there were rumors
that the book-publishing trade, like motion pictures and
f radio, would be investigated by the
Un-American Activities Committee.
Then, on August 31, 1951, Cownter-
Sine tack devoted an entire issue to
iN@H Little, Brown and Angus Cameron—
\4 who, according to Time, has some-
times been called “the foremost
United States book editor.”’ It was charged that thirty-one
authors on the Little, Brown list were either avowed or
| secret Communists. As “evidence” of guilt the fact was
) cited that some of their books, like James Aldridge’s
4) “The Diplomat,” had won favorable notices from a
| ommunist Party official in the Daily Worker. A number
of the authors and books mentioned as “objectionable”
ad only the slightest connection with Little, Brown;
some were not even handled by it.
[> The directors of Little, Brown seem to have been
4 h¢own into confusion by the attentions of Counterattack.
| After two wecks the firm replied by issuing a printed
statement that refuted many of the allegations made
Fagainst it. Moreover, the great preponderance of its
iepublications, it was explained, were those of popular-
b fiction writers like J. P. Marquand and Mazo de la
Roche, the works held “objectionable” by Counterattack
being estimated at only 4 per cent of its book volume, At
} the same time, though Little, Brown’s management said
nothing, it became known that Cameron had resigned,
fupon request, of course.
Other publishers were greatly imcensed at Little,
Brown's dropping of Cameron the moment the firm came
funder attack. Shortly after this incident, which received
a good deal of attention in the press, a meeting of
qa/fepresentatives of thirteen New York publishers was
called by Douglas Black, head of Doubleday and presi-
| ine 28, ee
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PP
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dent of se American Book Publishers’ Council. Black’s
aim was to persuade the other publishers to close their
ranks and reach agreement on the position they would
take in case of further attacks by professional propa-
gandists or by Congress. Instead of panicking like the
film producers and the radio broadcasting companies, the
publishers had hitherto maintained a dignified reserve
during the furor over “subversive” literature. The tradi-
tion of a free book press was strong in most of the
pabliencts. A member of the group was assigned to com-
pose a “Book Publishers’ Bill of Rights,” to be dis-
played in all bookshops. A similar directive, based on
the civil-rights clauses in the Constitution, had been
issued several years before by the American Library As-
sociation to its thousands of members and displayed by
them on their bulletin boards throughout the country,
with good effect'on the bigots. Here it was affirmed, as
the policy of the A. L. A., that ‘in no case should any
books be excluded because of the race or nationality, or
the political or religious views, of the writer”; nor should
sound reading matter be “proscribed or removed from
library shelves because of partisan or doctrinal disap-
proval”; or through the coercive action of “volunteer
arbiters of morals or political opinion.”
The publishers were also going to stand together for
the “free access to ideas and full freedom of expression
that are the tradition and heritage of Americans.” For
the group of publishers a subcommittee on censorship,
headed by Donald Klopfer, began to gather data on false
propaganda about the book trade and on current at-
tempts to suppress or “‘label’’ books.
INCE the autumn of 1951, however, a succession of
S unpleasant episodes have markedly lowered the
morale of the publishers and disposed them to bow to
what they call the “climate of opinion.” The organized
“smearing” of Max Lowenthal, author of a book on
the FBI, and of his publisher, William Sloane As-
sociates, as ‘‘pro-Communist,” in newspaper columns and
over the air, is one of the worst of these incidents. The
attempt—eventually frustrated—to remove the books of
Mark Van Doren from the library of a New Jersey
state junior college was another such affair. This was
provoked by a man who had never read them and
was unaware that they were entirely unpolitical. The
slandering of many of our kading writers in Congress
by Representative George Dondero, of Michigan, also
makes it possible for false, inaccurate, or exaggerated
statements to be quoted from the public records with
immunity.
Publishers, who are for the most part small business
men, have no more courage than others to face constant
slander or misrepresentation. Thus the “Book Pub-
lishers’ Bill of Rights” has been put away in a drawer.
No powerful effort st publicity—which the publishers
623
Nips plete TaD ae ae erat
know a good deal about—has been made to counteract
the “Americanist” propaganda. With a few noteworthy
exceptions the publishers have adopted a policy of
silence, to avert further attacks which may result in
their being cut down one by one, as the more far-
sighted have warned.
“We are doing things we never dreamed of five years
ago, or that we thought could happen only in Mussolini's
Italy,” a publisher said to me recently. One well-known
firm, after contracting to publish a manuscript by a
“controversial personality” and announcing it in its
spring, 1952, catalog, turned chicken-hearted and
wriggled out of its agreement because it suddenly re-
alized that the distribution of such a book would invite
attacks, Most publishers are turning to innocuous, non-
committal, or “right-thinking” books which, they hope,
will entertain the public and offend no one. Editors
do not admit that they reject manuscripts because they
might be branded “un-American” or stir up controversy,
but only that such books might not sell or “would not
appeal to women readers.”
UR book press is one of the last outposts of free
O inquiry and opinion. Newspapers, radio-television,
and slick-paper magazines are all affected by the ad-
vertisers and it is becoming increasingly difficult for
intelligent readers to find disinterested information in
the press or on the air. Our very business interests
would seem to require the publication of books on foreign
affairs that do not mislead us about what a fine job
Chiang Kai-shek or Syngman Rhee is doing. The sup-
pression er silencing of men like Edgar Snow and Owen
Lattimore, for example, who know a great deal about the
Far East, leaves us in danger of flying blind. Less and
less of a hearing is given to our “loyal opposition.”
Should a change in foreign policy become necessary,
we may find that we lack the knowledge needed to pre-
pare us for it.
In Nazi Germany a people who were among the best
read in the world were reduced to reading only what
Goebbels believed was good for them. Will American
publishers and their authors also wait patiently until
everyone is “coordinated,” that is, made to think the
_ same thoughts and read the same few books? What, then,
will become, even materially, of our once flourishing
book-publishing enterprises? For our poor bigots are
metely literate—‘‘mechanized peasants,”
reading few books and buying fewer. The solid core of
our reading public, a tiny proportion of the population
compared with Denmark or England, is composed of lib-
erals. The success of Paul Blanshard’s ‘‘American Free-
dom and Catholic Power” (190,000 copies sold) despite
its rejection by a score of publishers, and that of Thomas
Sugtue’s “A Catholic Speaks His Mind,” strongly-sup-
port such a view.
624
in a sense—_
ae oe rey ua eee
During a recent stay in aly I
make some illuminating observations about the s
literature under the Fascist regime. He was. 5 th
fledgling writer, but one of his first books was suppr
by order of Mussolini. The Italian authors, Moravi
said, were all trying to write “little still lifes” wh ick
would avoid offending the regime: trivia about dom _
life and love or tales of the past that shunned’ soci
questions. Literature, and publishing as well, sags
until the Allies arrived in 1943-44,
E MUST conclude that our writers, and their of
ficial organization, the Authors League of Ame:
ica, have been as meek and inoffensive during this crisis,
of censorship as their publishers, who, after all, are mer
of trade. One would have thought that some of ¢ our
writers who had attained great fame and age migh
have considered themselves, like Zola, Bedi ‘in
the true interests of civilization. Yet I can think ¢ ol
few who have lifted their voices effectively against th
self-appointed thought police. Up to date the pees: ‘
League, as the official writers’ organization, has not J
made an issue of freedom of thought versus censorship,
or strongly pleaded its own cause before the public. —
Whatever resistance there has been has a
among the 400,000 school principals and teachers of the
N. E. A. and, particularly, the members of the America
Library Association. Much credit is due to the natio nal
directors of both organizations, who have steadfas
applied their influence wherever danger has threatene d.
For the A. L. A. courageous leadership has been fur.
nished by David K. Berninghausen, librarian of Cooper
Union, who up to 1951 was secretary of the A. L. A,’ s
Committee for Cultural Freedom. By his reports in t
A. L. A. Bulletin on the professional bigots, by his
patience and vigilance in rallying A. L. A. members
and their friends to defensive action at the variow 13
focal points of trouble, Dr. Berninghausen (togethel
with his A. L. A. associates) has demonstrated that oui
modern Know-Nothings can be held in check—as has
happened lately in California, New York, New dency
Ohio, and elsewhere. 4
A questionnaire issued in 1951 by the A. L. A to
librarians in twenty-four states asked for their opinion of
t
proposals to label books on political grounds and seg res
gate some of them in “subversive” rooms or reserved
bookshelves. But were these not precisely the methods
of Stalin, several librarians asked? The. answers were
more than five to one against such action. eis
One wrote: “I’m an adult. Sound mind. Good
cation. Who the hell has the right to tell me wha
read or warn me what not to read?”
And another commented: ‘How soon after we
labeling books will we begin to burn them?”
They have begun.
fi
aa
EVER meddle with actors.” So pleaded one
Y Cervantes Saavedra, four hundred years ago. As
a hack playwright who had had a pretty bastard by a
loving player, he might have been accused of special
_ pleading and some slight bias, But, no, he was out to
_ state a rule for the general public, and to stand up
| proudly for the stage. “Actors are a privileged class . .
_ merry people,” he said, “who give pleasure, and whom
_ everyone favors and protects.”
_ Up to now, the American theater has enjoyed just
_ this sort of fond, fairly easy existence. Its practitioners
have been less troubled by sponsors’ prejudices and mob
_ pressures than those in practically any other branch of
_ the entertainment world. Its produce has been listened
to with that smiling leniency—and that half an ear,
_often—which mark it as bright but readily forgivable
stuff from the mouths of babes. We've had no royal
“ ptohibition snapping back at an impertinent Beau-
marchais. Our stage folk, in or out of grease paint, have
mever been much else than Cervantes’ merry people,
_ unminded and—uniless they took to killing Lincolns—
habitually exempt.
That’s how it was. Of such old flats and cut-outs was
| the scenery of this fools’ paradise assembled until today.
| Until today, too, it. still looked good and handsome
| from out front, still giving off the grateful shine of
‘that privilege to say, sing, dance, act, produce whatso-
| ever piece, hire whatsover talent, the theater itself
desired. All over the country, from Broadway to the
i) remotest summer barn, our living theater was going to
|. go on proving itself one of the least troubled refuges
of our right to the free expression of fun, stir, sym-
t pathy, ideas, the truth.
mi §=s It looked good, yes, and sounded all the better in
contrast to those strange new codes in the rest of the
- cousinly trades around. The movies might have to beat
G@* their celluloid breasts and mumble a billion-dollar mea
ae culpa, but nobody could involve the theater in such
_ monsense. Video might vie with the universities at ex-
_ tracting loyalty oaths and firing employees in crocodilic
_ sorrow, but the theater was honestly too busy to be
i ee eed: Ex-editors could give their all—and their ex-
GILBERT W. GABRIEL, Jia iid for Cue magazine,
t] 4s president of the New York Drama Critics Citcle. Formerly
| drama critic for the New York Sun, New York American,
d New York Telegram, he served for several past years as
/ chairman of the Anti-Censorship Committee of the Authors
League of America.
| June 28, 1952
£ Bel pat We stor C urtain
BY GILBERT W. GABRIEL
comrades’ all, of course—in suddenly glorious, solidly ;
profitable serials which the book clubs would canonize,
but the stage would never be stampeded by their breed.
Disgruntled academic painters could cue an obliging
Congressman to explode into official ranting against all —
modern painting trends as traitorous, subversive, Com
munist per se, and a phalanx of one society of sculptors
accuse the Metropolitan Museum of deliberately harbor-
ing maleficent left-wing bronzes, but the theater was too
wide, too wise, ever to let itself be dragged into such an
antic zone of dervish exhibitionism. Well, so we thought,
and so were reassured.
RANTED, we had been getting some gossip-col-
umn warnings to the contrary. We were already
hearing it on the wind, how the “Red Channels” outfit,
having paled the complexions of Hollywood and Radio
City, would proceed to catch and skin all the tawnier
showcats of the Times Square district. We were encoun-
tering certain theatrical celebrities loath to tell, but who
nevertheless told with bated breath, about other theatrical
celebrities being summoned mysteriously to appear in
Washington. We'd had rumors, first or secomd hand,
of acrimonious politico-patriotic powwows inside the
sundry professional guilds, equities, and unions. These
were bad things to hear. They made us want to believe
in the theater all the more.
Our faith wasn’t shaken even when, last winter,
the ladies’ advisory council of a benevolent producing
ofganization—we shan’t identify it further for it has
_a large heart and an ability to bring whole series of plays,
well done and at nearly nominal prices, to several scat-
tered neighborhoods of New York—resolved that here-
after no works shall be allowed upon its list which are
composed by known or suspected—mind you, suspected
—Communists. The ladies backed up their resolution
with three examples of the playwrights they were banish-
ing. One of this poor trio has been turning out a frantic
yearful of articles, plus an entirely denunciatory full-
length novel, to prove how much he hates Communists.
One is deservedly famous for beautiful but weepy
studies of female psychopaths and probably never had
a political notion of palest hue. The third has since
repented publicly a short party membership, and so will
undoubtedly be readily returnable to the collective bosom
of these ladies.
Let’s stop grinning about this: the theater is still a
happy-go-lucky institution, happier of purpose and
luckier in its several latitudes of make-believe than most,
625
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.
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but if we don’t watch out it will mot be so for long.
Let’s be blunt: the threat to freedom in the theater is
only just beginning, but it has begun. It has already
- reached that borderland of the ridiculous where, during
a recent tryout of the revival of s play as sentimental
and gaily old-Czarist as ‘“Tovarich”
tal, Legionnaires felt it an affront to our native land’s
honor and flung up a picket line.
This picketing of plays is fairly mew. So far it is
also fairly intermittent and none too effective. When the
Theatet Guild produced John Wexiey’s annal of the
Scottsboro Case, ‘They Shall Not Die,” back in 1933-34,
nobody organized any militant cordons to save innocent
audiences from its heat. But when the same piece was
revived a couple of years ago by a smaller producing
unit which—sin of sins—wanted to remind its listeners
that some parallel doubts were permissible in modern
Trenton, it had a rough sidewalk treatment throughout
its engagement. To its credit, it continued to run. Only
small companies can.
in the national capi-
OR around the theater picketing is a peculiarly dire
threat. A book will often outlast its noisiest critic.
A magazine has subsequent issues in which to justify
itself anew. An offending radio program is not nec-
essarily a fasting loss. But plays are much bigger
risks, much more perishable, grimly mortal. It costs
major efforts and round fortunes to bring productions to
Broadway nowadays. Failing, they seldom win second
trials anywhere, even amateurs mistrusting them, and
must be whiskbroomed off with a sickening finality and
speed. Axiomatic, but there’s the theater’s weak point—
its total dependence on a usually passive, easy-come,
easier-going audience. Regrettable, but there’s the rea-
son for the theater’s increasing jitters—that ghostliest
chance of any play’s surviving the two or three successive
empty houses which low-jinks measures like picketing
and boycotting can all too immediately bring about.
There were a couple of plays last season which had
to recognize this bull by the shadow of its horns. Long
before their first nights, shenanigans commenced. Their
bewildered New York producers were being pestered by
New Jersey phone-calls, anonymous advices to quit,
abandon work and all contracts, finances, and hopes
forthwith. Some of their actors were thumbed from the
rehearsal wings to hear similar abuse. The author of
one of those plays—his was merely an adaptation of a
classic—had a dream of doing something defensive in
advance. He spoke of declarations all prepared and paid
for to the billboard firms and newspapers. He conceived
a battle plan of counter-picket lines drawn up in re-
serve and of a protest meeting which might beat any
hoodlums to the punch, His dream, speech, plan got
nowhere. Fellow playwrights of more experience and
weightier reputation quickly turned them down. They
626
- dangerous source of Red influence. i
ks : at
ee pero rass ah a va
smacked of cna kere some mt armure ted;
others implied, of totalitarian domineering. Io. our de
cratic play-world, it was pointed out, the picketing
productions is all right, whereas counter-picketing reeks —
of the Left. That menace, in short, remains. Pla y
picketing is in. Some of us fear it may be in for bigger 4
use and sheer abuse next season.
HE American theater has been passing, not without a
growing pains, through twenty years of propaganda —
plays. This period seems to have begun with a neat-
masterpiece of romantic invective, John Howard Law-.
son's “Processional.” It included things as exciting as the
journalistic “One Third of a Nation,” several of the |
Group Theater's better choices, and, at this end of the
trend, Arthur Miller's magnificently protestant tragedies,
Seven times out of ten, the rest were pretty poor plays, ©
although that ratio can also be applied to other brands —
of plays with equal justice. The propaganda sort gradual- —
ly built up a public, a minority public but an intense one, ,
given to such fierce hurrahing for any of its first nights, —
good, bad, or plain dull, as almost to suggest an opera”
claque or the gallery at that historic Victor Hugo open- —
ing. But, anyway, this period is already on the wane. |
Thanks to frightened managements and reluctant audi-
ences-at-large, it looks pitifully close to being past, leav-
ing behind it little except a compunction to scent ulterior
purpose and tainted politics in every light-headed young
farce we go to see. a
Sorry, we are not exaggerating. Not when an anemic
but well-meant piece like “The Legend of Sarah,”” which ~
is much ado about the double-bedded memoirs of
a brave mistress of the Revolution—ours, ours in 1776,
please!—and is just corn-fed fun throughout, gets the -
pummeling it lately got in Pasadena. Not when Garson
Kanin’s hilarious hit “Born Yesterday,’’ which deals with |
a junkman’s graft on a world-war scale, gets the shilly- |
shallying treatment it got in some typical hinterland
repertory. Not when our own Manhattan drama de-
partments’ mailbags are suddenly brimming with wild
remonstrances against the revival of “The Male Animal,” |
the Messrs. Thurber and Nugent’s strictly hundred- “per
cent American salute to an ordinary college aie i
rudimentary courage. Not when Ibsen is gravely indicte
in one daily reviewer's court of higher learning as
¥
a
That did befall. A new version of Ibsen’s “An Bae :
of the People” was produced the winter before last.
It was a version much needed. It had a burly force t to
it, a colloquial tang, which made it a change from—if .
not a complete improvement on—the scholarly gen-
tilitye of previous translations, and so it was much
welcomed. Favorable notices prevailed. Within a week,
however, the tabloid editorials were scenting something iz
wickedly subversive in such an association of bri
teak
wi with such bold Hon ect the oe and the
‘s having lately had some Counterattack trouble—
a critic who had written one of those favorable
notices was backtracking and admonishing all his readers
ot to be caught in another Commie trap. That chap
bsen had gone bad.
Don’t hold it against us drama. critics as a whole.
Most of us do fight on the sane side. Our circle has, at
the very least, a liberal circumference, and we've done
out decentest to deplore this rabid mess. We should natu-
tally prefer to sit down to live plays than to dead ducks,
mo matter by whom or what about, but our plurality has
‘social as well as aesthetic consciences, and the stage we
still want is a free-speaking, adult-thinking stage.
Richard Watts of the Post will not hesitate, therefore, to
chide his favorite aisle-seat neighbor when he finds him
ivory-towering at the above-mentioned “The Male
Animal.” Brooks Atkinson of the Times, in his sage
‘Sunday corner, points out the clear and present validity
of that same play by citing last autumn’s actual gag-rule
on the Ohio State campus. He likewise gives “Born Yes-
terday” a clean bill of realism by recalling how, only this
|, Spting, two junkmen were put up for influence-peddling
in Washington. “Life catches up with the theater now
| and then,” he concludes, displaying a characteristic af-
fection for life on both banks of the footlights. But
| how long—here’s the glum question—can a thin file
| of tueful critics stave off a rush of fools?
il
n
pel
It
|
|
|
| JIS PROVED popularity remains a play’s best self-
defense. In New York, where “Death of a Salesman”
originated and ran for a gratifyingly long time, there
| may have been some moron-fringe mutterings against
| its emotional impact and message, but nobody dared any
open interference. It was too well liked, well respected,
§ for that. Red Channels & Co. would have to wait until
.9 it took to the road before advocating that.
| ,The road of the middle-sized cities is a comparative
Aci inch for idiocies and alarums. The Midwest road is
, i! known among amusement folk as the Ambush League.
q Peoria, Illinois, is part and paragon thereof. Peoria was
, | ag itself a rousing Anti-Subversive Week, where
¥ the principal speaker before its heterogeny of veterans’
Aq) associations, business-men’s lunch clubs, and fraternal
i 9 ders was an on-the-spot representative of “Red Chan-
-@ nels.” That gent was no mean opportunist. Spotting a
4g Placard which announced that “Death of a Salesman”
3 | was soon to arrive, he proceeded to demonstrate his in-
q side dope. The author, the producer,.the principal actor
of this troupe, he proclaimed, all belonged to Red-
front organizations and had been contributing stated
)portions of their earnings from the play to the Cause.
1 i Patently, anybody who'd buy a ticket to that play would
“Wbe helping to support the Communists. Obviously, boy-
_poott it, everybody; and so, then and there, vote to boycott
june 28, 1952
i o. <b oe
it everybody did. The Peoria papers made front-page
features of the yarn, the gent’s accusations—without
. troubling to investigate them—the glowing speech, the
sweeping vote, the editorial amens, all. It was one of the
most sterling smears in years of semi-yokel print. Four
days later, of course, those papers had the horse sense to
publish—as their attorneys may have advised them, even
if without the grace of a single regret—the explicit de-
nials which the author, the producer, the principal actor,
had wired back. But what about the boycott, who'd stop
that? What about that poor, lost-in-the-shuffle issue of a
mighty good play it would have done the people of
Peoria much good to see? The Authors League sent an
optimistic but apparently unpersuasive telegram to the
mayor of the city, detailing how many prizes the work
had won and urging him to keep his citizens from being
altogether silly. A national picture magazine talked of
sending out a photographer, in case they still were.
But there’s only this left to add: a week or so afterward,
that road company of “Death of a Salesman” called
quits, closed down, was done. Now the play belongs to
the movies.
HIS brings us, by uneasy stages, to this very drama’s
director, and to some other prominent and successful
commanders of the play parade in our area and our
time, and to what has been lately done to them, and
what they have lately done in turn to their theater and
ours. We are arrived at personalities.
That rumor of certain theatrical celebrities being
called down to testify in Washington came true with the
appearance there of Elia Kazan, An eminent director
now for both stage and screen, he had once been a mem-
ber actor—an excellent one—of the Group Theater. He
testified that he had concurrently been a member of the
Communist Party. His repentance of that error was
resonant, and not only orally so. He also made simul-
taneous recantation in an advertisement in the press,
going the whole hog of his erstwhile peccancy and his
present patriotism with a fervor which would win him
rounds of paragraphers’ applause. Kazan supplied the
committee with several names. He supplied some which
had been only tentatively mentioned hitherto, and
some which had not been even that. His intentions spe-
cifically to the contrary, he nevertheless came pretty
close to giving the impression that a connection with
the late Group Theater had been next door to inevitable
partnership in a Communist cultural plot. Talk—as we
have—to assorted ex-Groupers and they’ll tell you, as
affrighted as indignant, that that impression is unfair,
false. Talk to those of them who, by today’s process
of associational tarring, have been finding it almost im-
possible to get jobs in pictures, radio, or television, and
you'll understand why they are now resigning themselves
to similar block exclusion from the stage. It may all
627
be supposed to save our country, but it’s sure hell on
the theater.
Kazan named his old friend and Group comrade, Clif-
ford Odets. Since Odets is one of our foremost play-
wrights, this gave us a proper jolt. It may even have
jolted Odets. He took his turn down in Washington.
He seems, according to the news accounts, to have
spoken somewhat more heartily than Kazan had. He got
off some good, strong truisms in explanation of why he
had joined the Communist Party in his “ten-cents-a-
day” days, and why he had quit it within nine months,
“It wasn't for me.” They'd misused his talents, misap-
propriated his signature, and he was a liberal and still is.
His liberality now allowed him to do as others did, to
give other party members’ or ex-members’ names. One
was a new name, that of an actor last seen on Broadway
in—don’'t let this depress you—an Odets play. Another
actor was J. Edward Bromberg, who had recruited him
into communism, so he told. A year ago, appearing be-
fore this same House committee, Bromberg had refused
to name anybody. Half a year ago, suddenly deceased,
Bromberg was being memorialized by Odets as having
suffered an unnatural death, a death “by political mis-
adventure” . . . and, “Goodnight, sweet friend.” Odets
now took pains to corroborate that John Garfield had
never been recruited into the party, but it probably oc-
curred to nobody to solicit his goodnight to that sweet
friend, too. He made it anyway. “Julie, dear friend,”
Odets wrote in the New York Timtes (May 25th), “I
‘will always love you.”
One more distinguished dramatist, Lillian Hellman,
has—at this moment of writing—appeared before the
inquiry in Washington. She did so with exceptional dig-
nity. She was fully willing to talk about herself. She
refused to tattle about anybody else. Her Congressional
Hollywood Meets Fra nkenstein
Hollywood, California
N OCTOBER 24, 1947, three of Hollywood's top
directors sent a telegram to scores of key figures
in the film industry. The wire read:
THIS INDUSTRY IS NOW DIVIDED AGAINST ITSELF.-UNITY
MUST BE RECAPTURED, OR ALL OF US WILL SUFFER
FOR YEARS TO COME, YOUR AD IS REQUIRED IN THIS
CRITICAL MOMENT. THIS IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN
ANY PICTURE YOU EVER MADE. SIGNED,
JOHN HUSTON, WILLIAM WYLER, BILLY WILDER
The pseudonym X is used for a group of top-flight writers
who have important positions in major Hollywood studios.
628
"broad group of film people stood up and fought bac ;
But she alone, of this fresh batch Tie al wite
has done the theater no disservice and lost none of its
respect. ie
We whose knowledge of the law comes mostly
from old Al Woods courtroom melodramas can deliver —
no expert opinion on whether it’s so unalterably neces- —
sary for such witnesses to spill their giant-killing beans a
about their fellow pygmies. We who've been so b
going to plays that we've never had much time or temper
to go to party meetings of any tinge at all, are still left
wondering what ill wind eddying through Shubert Alley
could ever persuade one melancholy bit-player to take an
active interest in politics in the first place, to hanker for
the cold comfort of a Communist cell in the second,
third, and mth. We who never were, are not now, nor —
ever will be, and all those solemn so-forths of the most —
exhaustive loyalty tests, still contend that even the ex- —
Communists are none of our business. No, and none |
of our pleasure, either. But the theater is: the theater
which, we were praying, would retain its four-hundred- |
year-old right to favor and non-meddling; the theater of —
the one-time merry people where, it now stands to ¥
unreason, the slaughter of the semi-innocents may next ©
be going on,
“Actors are afraid to act, writers are afraid to write,
and producers are afraid to produce anything amateur 4
sleuths could possibly attack.” This gospel afterthought —
was uttered by whom but Elia Kazan himself, supple-
menting his Washington testimony with an address at
Harvard. He should know. He should have ‘showman's |
instinct enough to be afraid of this, besides: that that
large, passive, habitually so patient public has its own -
rights to stay away in disgusted droves, saying, “‘a plague
on all your playhouses.” «
a
w
it
be
tis
Out
Hol
ing
int
BY £X"Bh,,
“This critical moment” was an investigation of Hol-
lywood by the House Committee on Un-American Ac- PP
tivities, and the issue of “The Ten,” then still this sid
of prison. Pe
In those first days of the committee’s onslaught, a
More than fifty stars appeared on two pation wal ay
broadcasts. Others made a junket to Washington to J Pine (,
watch the shabby circus in action. Several top studio ting ty
executives, among them Dore Schary and L. B, Mayer, Jl
said brave words. Both insisted that what matte
in the case of talent was performance, not politics.
But in the hierarchy of the film corporations, men.
ne
>,
the industry are the New York executives who control
financing, distribution, and the theater chains. The mo-
é tion-picture business is primarily a real-estate operation,
and the real estate is in the hands of men like Loew's
_ Nick Schenck, Paramount's Barney Balaban, and Fox’s
_ Spyros Skouras. It was these big boys who, at the close
of the committee hearings, whistled the studio heads to a
peecting at the Waldorf-Astoria. The high-priced hired
help were given a brisk caning and a lecture on the facts
of life. They emerged from the meeting to issue a state-
‘ment announcing the firing of “The Ten.” A portion of
that document is worth quoting, for it has become a
; _Pike’s Peak of irony:
"
i
r
; In pursuing this- policy, we are not going to be
swayed by any hysteria or intimidation from any source.
We are frank to recognize that such a policy involves
dangers and risks. There is a danger of hurting innocent
people, there is the risk of creating an atmosphere of
fear. Creative work at its best cannot be carried on in an
atmosphere of fear. We will guard against this danger,
this risk, this fear.
| Actually, with the firing of “The Ten,” Hollywood
created for itself a monster that was to grow as pgrue-
_ some as any that ever frightened the wits out of children
| at a horror matinee. Since that day, the film industry has
| been in Panicky retreat before every attack on civil liber-
ties. It is now a hapless pushover for any witch-hunting
| outfit that seeks to collect blood or blackmail.
HE spectacle of a giant monopoly gibbering with
I fright may seem curious until one recalls a bit of
| Hollywood history. The film executives (not unlike those
. in other industries) have always had an abiding faith
in “the fix.” They would rather buy off a racketeering
- union boss than sit down with an honest labor leader. It
| Was this policy that led to the B-picture episode, a few
years back, when the studio heads left a satchel of green-
| “backs in a hotel room to buy off Willie Bioff. It was this
faith in the fix that (when a cog slipped somewhere) led
| to the ‘landing of 20th Century’s Joe Schenck in the fed-
eral pokey for income-tax evasion.
} = Hollywood is a company town, and beneath the fancy
q. publicity it is not so different from a coal town in
~§ Kentucky or a cotton town in Alabama. When a strike
“broke out in 1946, the studios smashed it by using tear
4 gas, fire hoses, and gun-toting deputies.
.|__ A few final details to fill in the background. Nineteen
“4 fifty-one was a rocky year for motion pictures. The Su-
: | preme Court had handed down an anti-trust decision or-
’ r dering the divorcement of theater chains from production
‘4 ; acilities. The public, hit by high prices, began to cut
7 down on money spent for entertainment. Television
a i ntennae darkened the sky. In Los Angeles, movie at-
‘tendance dropped 30 per cent. Hundreds of neighbor-
)hood theaters shut their doors. 20th Century’s Skouras
une 28, 1952
}
50
UE
asked his 130 highest-priced personnel to take salary
cuts, some up to 50 per cent. Warner Brothers (showing
a comfortable profit for the fiscal year) fired five depart-
ment heads, one of them with twenty-three years’
service. :
The film industry, following a national pattern, was
searching for a way to slash employee’s paychecks and
intimidate their unions. Many movie executives looked
upon the investigations of Hollywood as a faintly
noxious blessing. True, they created nasty publicity.
But they also made workers fearful and reluctant to press
wage demands. They also kept the unions from becom-
ing militant. Hadn’t the conviction of “The Ten”
knocked off half a dozen leaders of the Screen Writers
Guild?
Meanwhile, the witch hunters were busy. After “The
Ten” came the hearings of last year, which used Larry
Parks for a burnt offering. Then the Hollywood sub-
committee session at which Sidney Buchman turned out
to be the main event. Each of these investigations was
regarded by the employer element as the big crisis
which, once past, would get everybody off the hook and
permit a return from panic to Hollywood’s normal con-
dition of twittering nervousness. A spokesman for the
Un-American Activities Committee actually told an in-
terviewer on TV that last year’s hearing would definitely
wind up the investigations of “Red influence” in films.
Early in 1952 there seemed to be some easing of
the pressure against studio personnel. Studio heads were
no longer (or less often) making rousing speeches
against The Menace. (One top executive, at a compulsory
meeting of the entire staff, from producers and stars
to grips and messenger boys, demanded that every one of
the workers become an informer and report immediately
anything of a suspicious character in the words or actions
of fellow employees.) But this sort of thing decreased
and a numbed weariness settled over Hollywood. The
monster had been fed, it seemed, and for a while
would be content to digest its victims.
HIS prediction turned out to be wishful thinking.
A new quarry was marked for the hunt—tiberals
and “fellow travelers.” This meant attacks on more than
isolated writers, directors, actors, and a few producers.
It meant the impugning of certain top executives them-
selves, no matter how fervid their protestations of anti-
communism, no matter how many anti-Communist
pictures they had produced,
Dore Schary (in charge at Metro, the biggest studio
of them all) became a prime target. So did Paramount’s
chief of production, Don Hartman. So did Stanley
Kramer. The Wage Earners Committee, a local nuisance
group, picketed theaters throughout the Los Angeles area
and paid its respects to Schary and Kramer with placards,
on one of which their names dripped blood.
629
Neither Schary nor Kramer took it lying down, Both
filed suits for more than a million dollars against the
Wage Earners, and these actions are now pending in the
courts. Schary took a big ad in the movie trade papers
and the Los Angeles dailies, defining his suit as “a chal-
lenge to ali those who recklessly and viciously peddle
the tawdry wares of defamation and personal slander.”
Even the right-wing Producers Association came out in
behalf of the libel suits.
The picketing did not stop. But for a moment, there
seemed to be a stiffening of resistance. The worm
turned, ever so slightly. People who had long ago
resigned themselves to a relentless and inevitable Mc-
Carthyism crawled up from their cyclone cellars. There
even seemed to be a ray of sunlight. When the Repub-
lican faction on the Un-American Activities Committee
released a report denouncing Hollywood for having
failed to purge itself of Communist influence, elements
of the Producers Association blasted the report. So
vigorous was this reaction that the Democratic members
of the committee later dissented from the Republican
stand,
Had Hollywood had enough? Had the loss of talent
and revenue and the acres of damaging publicity finally
exasperated the studios? Had they glimpsed, in the light
of events, the shadowy reflection of a lost principle, the
principle of civil liberties? It almost seemed as though
the saturation point had been reached when, as in the
Salem witch hunts, the fanatics started to go after the
higher echelons.
ERHAPS py coincidence, perhaps by design, but at
this moment—at a time when Schary and Kramer
found themselves on the barricades lately manned by
people who are now for the most part jobless—Howard
Hughes joined battle with the Screen Writers Guild
over the issue of monies and credit due screen-writer
Paul Jarrico. The latter, a Fifth Amendment casualty, de-
manded both credit on a finished picture and $5,000.
Hughes galloped into the fray, Sir Galahad in tennis
sneakers, doing the noble thing to defend free Amer-
ica. That is, it began to be noble after $3,500, for which
sum Hughes was originally willing to settle with Jarrico.
The Guild, whose contract with the entire industry stipu-
lates that it alone shall arbitrate credits, tried to force
Hughes to honor a contract which he publicly and bland-
ly renounced. So far, two courts have upheld Hughes, or
at least relieved him of the cbligation to fulfill his con-
tract with the Guild.
And since we've come to the courts: recently a jury in
federal court awarded Adrian Scott (one of “The Ten” )
$80,000 due him under an unfinished contract with
RKO. Judge Ben Harrison, acting on the appeal of the
studio, reversed the decision on the ground that the jury
didn’t know everything it should have known about the
630
aes i: bey eae +r te oh gt a2
; is wee ie p ve
case. In announcing his ey udge Hartison
L,
list of some 300 names, furnished by letter to each —
a ep ee
i
a's) et
uF al ee
made a pejorative statement concerning what he thinks
of a man who refuses to answer a question at a Congres
sional hearing. At the same time, it is only fair to is A
that in the case of another member of “The Ten” the
judge allowed a verdict for a smaller amount to stand.
The Hughes controversy broke at just about the time
that Elia Kazan (with a juicy new contract pending) —
confessed all to the Un-American Activities Committee
and published an advertisement in which he urged “lib-
erals” to “speak out” and inform on associates. The
blasts from Hughes and Kazan sent a good many liberals —
scuttling back to their cyclone cellars to sit it out in w. at |
they hoped would be silence. :
Then came a development that reached down into the
cyclone cellars, a
oS =~ -
HE American Legion for some time has had a pro- |
scribed list which feeds the hungry maw of the
American Legion Magazine whenever that publication —
feels the need for more red meat in its diet. About three —
months ago, the Legion’s Americanism experts found a |
brilliant new way of harassing the studios and getting —
them to lop off reddish pinks and pinkish whites. The
method: picketing.
One or two pictures were picketed in one or two cities, i
and immediately Representatives of the Industry (run
when you hear that phrase) rushed to the Legion experts —
with a view to arranging some kind of truce. The idea
was to arrive at a formula whereby the studios would get —
a guarantee that pictures would not be picketed. What —
was dreamed up was a clearance mechanism that may —
well become Exhibit A in the evidence of this era’s cor-
ruption of the American tradition, The mechanism —
works something like this: a
Actor or writer finds himself on the list. He is called
in by the chief in charge of such matters at the studio
which employs him and is given a dossier of “charges” —
against him. These range from parlor gossip to hearsay —
quotes from the Tenney Committee FOpOtES, to scuttle- _
butt from the pages of “Red Channels,” to data from
state and county volunteer committees. Mention in the @J):
Daily W orker, other than outright attack, is considered a Aner
charge. Bone of
Out. of the “appeasement” meeting between the
Legion and industry representatives came a preliminary -
,
(i
We
&
§
Ue
|
Saal
studio. The letter stated that if the studio employed any * J hibi
of the listees, picketing on a national scale would ensue 10 Fon
when the picture involving the person. Ss setvices was inself
released. ey
To meet this, the studio now calls the listee, presents _
him with the charges, and asks him to write a letter “to
the head of the studio” answering, by what is known as wa )
an Affidavit of Explanation, the following questions:
The Nati bye! j ; * Ui hop
MU kg
AE
iy
ere 7 Rca * we Sen ,.
. Is this so?
a The reasons for joining organizations cited in the
ES.
. 3. The people who invited you to join.
_ 4. Did you invite others to join?
5. Did you resign? When?
The letter or affidavit (copies of which go to various
agencies and organizations, and to certain individuals, in-
cluding, so it is said, George Sokolsky, Howard Rush-
more, and Freddy Woltman) is then submitted to a
vague “central committee” for “clearance.”
_- What makes this of particular interest, even among
| the exhibits of atrocities against civil liberties that are so
| plentiful these days, is the unblushingly investigative
character of the questions, as revealed in the third and
fourth items. This goes beyond the Un-American Activi-
ties Committee in asking liberals or “sympathizers” to
name other liberals or “sympathizers.”
In addition to Hollywood's troubles with the Legion,
the Un-American Activities Committee has announced
| a new round of hearings for this coming autumn. Its
| _pfocess-servers are as busy as ever. Throughout the
| spring, deputy marshals sought out Los Angeles physi-
cians, lawyers, radio, and television artists. Film folk
| were not ignored. One of the latest to be subpoenaed is
| @ screen writer who received his summons on the floor of
) a Screen Writers Guild meeting—a meeting presumably
open only to members in good standing. Considering the
fact that the writer’s address and phone number appear
in the local directory and that no attempt was made to
| serve him at home, so far as he knows, the choice of
ime and place was clearly a calculated intimidation. Fear,
ae
FEW months before John Garfield’s death his
A: agent, Bobby Sanford of the Music Corporation of
America, received a telephone call from the producer of
one of the better dramatic shows on television.
“Who,” the producer asked Sanford, “have you got
like John Garfield?”
Sanford, a small, aggressive man with a disconcerting
habit of speaking his mind, reported later: “I say, ‘What
- d o you mean who've I got like Garfield? I’ve got the boy
himself. Why don’t you use him?’ And this producer
says, ‘We just can’t do it. I’m sorry but we just can’t, and
you know why we can’t.’ I tell him, “You’re damn right
eS
Pinges
“as
;:
i
M MERLE MILLER is on the National Board of Directors of
the American Civil Liberties Union and is president of
: he Authors Guild of America.
iz June 28, 1952
0 si a
ete
/
)
suspicion, and wild rumor can be kept at fever pitch
without the necessity of formal hearings. All the com-
mittee needs is an unlimited supply of pink subpoena
forms.
As matters stand today, Hoiitywood is using half a
dozen blacklists, as well as supplementary graylists based
upon the vaguest sort of innuendo. The assumption that
a person is guilty until proved innocent has become
standard operating procedure. A weedy growth of pro-
fessional witch-hunting outfits has sprung up. Fingermen
are doing a brisk business, hourly supplying additional
names. In an effort to protect themselves from the ©
cruder forms of blackmail, the studios are hiring their
own investigators. Quite likely the talent scouts who
once signed up young starlets are now combing the coun-
try for promising ex-FBI men.
All this has its effect on the kind of films that are
being made. A fair cross-section of the pictures now in»
production includes the following: “Time Bomb,” “Trib-
ute to a BadMan,” “Apache Trail,” “Flat Top,” “Road
to Bali,” “Pleasure Island,” “Something for the Birds,”
“Springfield Rifle,” and “Bela Lugosi Meets the Gorilla
Man”—plus two others whose titles seem uncomfortably
autobiographical: “Panic Stricken” and “Tonight We
Sing.”
It is the opinion of the seasoned if not shell-shocked
observers out here that if the industry goes all the way
with appeasement of the Legion or any other pressure
group on the setting of standards for employability, it
will finally deliver itself to the Sokolskys, the McCarthys,
and the Wage Earners Committee. After that there can
only be darkness and television.
rouble on Madison Avenue, N.Y.
BY MERLE MILLER
I know why.’ But I wanted him to say it. Not that they
ever will.”
The next week Dane Clark played the part which
might have been Garfield’s. Clark is not listed in “Red
Channels,” a 213-page publication issued on June 22,
1950, by three war-time appointees of the Federal .
Bureau of Investigation. Garfield is.
Shortly after Canada Lee’s recent death Walter White,
executive secretary of the National Association for the
Advancement of Colored People, wrote in the Phila-
delphia Bulletin, “A whispering campaign was citcu-
lated among broadcasting and advertising executives
that Mr. Lee was ‘too controversial’ because he had ap-
peared at benefits for organizations purportedly fighting
face prejudice which subsequently had been placed on
the Attorney General’s subversive list.
631
. He told me,” White reported, “of four lucrative
television appearances which had been offered him, in
each of which the sponsor told him that he would em-
ploy Mr. Lee after he had ‘appeared on some other pro-
gram.’ But none had the courage to be first.”
Lee, according to White, had wanted to dramatize his
problem by buying a shoe-shine box and setting it up in
front of the Bijou Theater where the movie version of
“Cry, the Beloved Country” was playing. Lee’s perform-
ance had been highly praised by the critics; nevertheless,
not only was he without work in radio or television, he
did not receive a single movie offer either. He proposed
to place placards on the shoe-shine box explaining the
boycott against him.
“Now,” White wrote, “I know I was wrong in dis-
suading him from his melodramatic plan.”
F GARFIELD and Lee were still living, neither of
those experiences could be related without doing them
further harm. In the present atmosphere in radio and
television, any mention of a performer's or writer's name
in such a context makes him more “controversial’’ and,
therefore, more unemployable.
There are several blacklists in use within the industry;
for example, the Columbia Broadcasting System has its
own catalog of those not to be employed on its pro-
grams, but, two years after its publication, “Red Chan-
nels” is still the most powerful, and one of this country’s
largest industries remains prostrate at the feet of what
Fortune magazine has called “a handful of busybodies.”
A well-known and widely respected television writer
named in the book recently tried writing under another
name because he was unable to get any assignments
under his own. He has nevertheless been turned down
for one hour-long dramatic assignment on television—
told his pseudonym “just doesn’t have enough credits,”
A long-time radio actress is now clerking in a depart-
ment store; a distinguished actor has turned to teaching;
a script writer is unsuccessfully attempting magazine
fiction; a former network executive is entertaining at a
summer resort; a second is “hopefully” shooting films in
Mexico. He has yet to make a sale.
These people are all named in “Red Channels”;
Canada Lee is not. Gilbert Gabriel, the novelist and
dramatic critic, is not. Nevertheless, a year ago he was
at the last minute turned down for a television quiz show
on which he had been scheduled to appear regularly.
When he asked the reason, he was reminded that he was
then head of the censorship committee of the Authors
League of America. “What difference does that make?”
he asked. “I’m afraid,” he was told, “it makes you too
controversial.”
But the fear is not confined to New York and the
Mecca of the advertising agencies, Madison Avenue. For
more than a year Dr. Harold H. Story, head of adult
632
4 A Pats z
ie “foe eae
ore pe Cate es
p Phar pa
change in the programming. ...
Rae ry Se ees
+ ‘ :
education for the ihe Angeles B Board o:
peared almost weekly on one or sacle panel show o
Station KLAC-TV in Hollywood. In April, ona p o
gram called “Hollywood on Television,” he said t
members of a local pressure group, the Freedom Clul bs,
were largely “Ku Kluxers in dinner jackets.” The Free:
dom Clubs and their affiliates, the Liberty Belles, w: at
to work on the program's sponsors; two immediately
canceled their contracts with the station, Dr. Story
was told that he could no longer appear on any of
KLAC’s programs. fe
A few days later Paul Price wrote in his column in the
Los Angeles Daily News, “Right now—this very minute
probably—some of these vicious and vociferous organ r
zations are trying to sabotage our more liberal and fre
thinking newsmen and commentators.” In Dr. story's
case, Price went on, “. . . KLAC took the easy way out.
. It doesn’t have to be that way. . ... Harry Maizlish
of KFWB fa local radio station] proved that you can
fight these organizations when they attacked his program
for presenting Eleanor Roosevelt. This particular attack
was as usual well organized and two sponsors withdrew
their support from the program. So do you know what
Harry Maizlish did? He countered by presenting Eleanor
Roosevelt twice a day!” There are very few ampli 5
like Mr. Maizlish in the industry.
Shortly after the infamous August weekend in 1950.
when because of a few telephone calls (some say 20,
others 200) Jean Muir lost the role of Mother Aldrich
in General Foods’ “The Aldrich Family,” she told the |
press that she would not cooperate with any committee
that wanted to “make a cause out of me.” She was, she,
added, afraid that the Communists would work thei.
wy into any such campaign,
“I don’t want the Communists to use me,” she i f
on. “I want to stay clean. The best way for me to refute
these charges is for me to get a job in television, radio,
or in some acting capacity. There must be someone with
enough courage to hire me.” Up to now, noone has. Mf, '
True, there has not been another Muir case; it seems Res
unlikely that there ever will be. According to Frank >“
Reel, executive secretary of the American Federation of aly
Radio Artists, “These days they just don’t hire anybody 9":
who might get into trouble.”. Or, as the ns of a a nat
network station in New Orleans put it, “Now tf you pir
have to drop anybody, you simply say you are making a. J
These things can be 9"
handled very simply if management is alert... . I haves}
had complaints about a couple of my people, “and i
there’s any more trouble, it’s off with their heads.” J
As for questioning the ethics of using a blacklist,
one in the industry has—publicly anyway; no one hag ess
questioned the motives of the three men mainly, respon- |" Buin
sible for “Red Channels”; apparently, no one has even P shy
bothered to find out who or what they are, a HC tthe
On
PES
ATMs
: ore C. ipa John. G. Keenan, and Ken-
. Bierly resigned from the Federal Bureau of
tigation shortly after the end of the Second World
: War; early i in 1947 they set up a firm with a capitaliza-
_ tion of $15,000 called American Business Consultants.
The first issue of Cownterattack, a weekly newsletter of
“Facts to Combat Communism,” was published in mid-
May. Most of the money to Jaunch the publication came
from Alfred Kohlberg, the wealthy importer who has
been one of Chiang Kai-shek’s most active and vocal
backers in this country as well as one of the most influ-
ential supporters of Senator Joseph R. McCarthy.
_ American Business Consultants was a success from the
S| part. Keenan, its president, told a representative of the
trade magazine Sponsor, “Conservatively, you can say we
| gross [from all the firm’s operations} between $50,000
and $100,000 annually.” But he hurriedly added, “That
isn’t really much. Why, we know plenty of other ex-
| FBI men who make a lot more dough than we do work-
| ing for big corporations.” A long-time admirer of the
organization was even more flattering in his estimate.
“They have an annual income, a net income, of about
| $70,000 from Counterattack alone. I know that for a
i fact.”
Among the targets of the newsletter have been Trygve
ie (“Stalin’s choice”); the U. N. itself (“Its officials
deny it is a shelter or cover for Communists and
| pro-Communists”); a judge of the New York State
Supreme Court who used the words “witch hunt” in one
of his decisions; William L. Green and Philip Murray;
| the Blatz Beer Company, for using a “fellow-traveling”
| actress from Milwaukee in one of its ads (the news-
| letter asked its readers to write directly to the brewery
| and complain) ; the book-review sections of both the New
| York Times and the Herald Tribune (sometimes for
} damning a book like “Seeds of Treason” of which
| Counterattack approved, again for praising a volume the
newsletter disliked); the Yale Law School, for having
} “Reds” on its staff; the Associated Press, for distribut-
‘ ing an article “misleading” the public on communism in
; ollywood; the “slick, sophisticated New Yorker maga-
'W zine . . . read in all parts of the United States .. . for
‘whiat the C. P. calls its ‘upper-middle-class’ type of
humor and culture”; Life, Look, Time, the Atlantic,
Fottune, Standard Oil of New Jersey, U. S. Steel, all the
eeior radio and television networks, and scores of pro-
‘ducers, directors, actors, singers, and dancers, and, of
course, The Nation.
-) ESIDES- the weekly publication, American Busi-
| 3B ness Consultants provides what the National Bet-
er Business Bureau has described as “. . . information
: te n subversive activities to newspapers, periodicals, radio,
and other public-opinion media’; it also “offers to busi-
0 ess firms research services on cubaeaive activities on a
] 7
EI
_
NPJune 28, 1952
'
fee basis.” The fees often total several thousand dollars
each.
Despite the fact that the organization does not have
access to the files of the FBI and has never been offi-
cially approved by J. Edgar Hoover, a book publisher
reports that in a recent interview one of A. B. C.’s sales-
men strongly emphasized the FBI theme. “He didn't
exactly say Keenan and Kirkpatrick still get a look at the
FBI files,” the publisher declared, “but he had a moth-
eaten letter which pointed up their former association,
and his whole approach was the ‘fear technique,’ imply-
ing that the firm might get in a lot of trouble if we
didn’t have an investigation made of our people or, at
the very least, take several subscriptions to Counter-
attack.”
Actually, many firms using such “research” have been
dissatisfied with the results. The managing editor of a
New York newspaper said, “We were led to believe
we'd be getting some ‘inside dope’ on a certain Commie
reverend we were gunning for... . There wasn’t a thing
we didn’t already have in our morgue or, for that matter,
hadn't already published ourselves, but the whole thing
cost us $500.”
Shortly after Connterattack remarked that, “All net-
works let some Communists and Communist fronters get
on their programs, but C. B. S. is worst of all,” the net-
work hired the publishers to “investigate” its employees.
The results, a high official has said, “were completely
worthless. It was the same kind of thing they put in
‘Red Channels.’ ”
1 Sail AINT
FoR FRANCO AND
CHIANG, YOU'RE
Te pAreenneny
Herblock in the Washington Post
“Whatever Happened to Freedom from Fear?”
: '. 633
aes
=<
Re ee
ane
Se =
a
Perhaps coincidentally, shortly after the Hutchins
Advertising Agency turned down an offer for an investi-
gation of the personnel used on the radio and television
programs it handles, including the Philco account,
Counterattack had an item headed “Philco Does It
Again" in which it denounced an actress appearing on
one of the Philco programs and urged its readers to
protest. Nevertheless, the agency still did not accept
A. B. C.’s proposal for a $1,060 “research” job.
According to Sponsor, “Whether intentional or not,
the organization is in the position of hanging a double-
edged sword over the head of broadcast advertisers. It
serves at one and the same time as disturber of the peace,
ptosecuting attorney, judge, jury, and detective agency.
That is to say, it publishes allegations in ‘Red Channels,’
then follows them up by urging letter-writers to put
pressure on sponsors in Counterattack; later holds hear-
ings on the accused in its private offices; and personally
solicits sponsors to hire its detective agency ‘research
service.’ ’’ Meanwhile, the two branches of the business
continue to operate side by side.
ECENTLY, however, the firm has been undergoing
eae dissension. For example, Vincent W.
Hartnett, a dark, thin-faced, intense young man who
now advertises himself as the “author of ‘Red Chan-
nels,’ 1s no longer associated with American Business
Consultants; Keenan has said that he never was and
Kirkpatrick has added, “He is not an employee and has
no other connection with us whatsoever except that he
did write the introduction [to ‘Red Channels’ }.”
Despite that, Hartnett not long ago placed an ad-
vertisement in the Brooklyn Tablet with the headline,
“ “Red Channels’ Was a Piker.” The booklet, the ad
went on, “only scratched the surface of Communist in-
fluence in radio and TV.” To hear “the full, docu-
mented expose,” Hartnett urged the readers of the Tablet
to book him for a lecture, “A MUST for every Holy
Name Society, K. of C. Council, C. W. V. Post.” His
rates in and around New York are, he has said, “usually
around fifty dollars a lecture.’’ Out of town, the fee is
higher.
Moreover, as the self-styled “nation’s top authority on
communism and communications,” Hartnett has gone
into the publishing business for himself. His office, com-
plete with files, is in his crowded East Twentieth Street
apartment in New York City. As his first independent
venture, Hartnett brought out a mimeographed loose-
leaf book called “Confidential Notebook (File No. 13).”
The book, which is sold by the publisher himself, is in
the hands of a good many sponsors and advertising and
network executives, most of whom, as usual, deny ever
having seen it.
The technique employed in assembling the material
is approximately the same as that used in “Red Chan-
634°
SOUS ess Ree 7 ae Fe a pra
nels,” and many of he names
earlier book, sometimes with more “fro ont” Oo. iz
tions which those listed allegedly belonged to or s
ported. However, “Confidential Notebook” includes
additional names of playwrights, musicians, book and
magazine publishers, editors, and writers, newspaper _
columnists, and even a few well-known lawyers. In some
cases, again as in “Red Channels,” Hartnett uses the
Daily Worker, a letterhead, or a report of the Un-Amer-
ican Activities Committee as the source for his allega
tions. In others, he credits only “a private source
During the Second World War, Hartnett was an offi ce
in Naval Intelligence. ¢
To supplement his income, Hartnett occasiona ly
makes his files available “to a few qualified persons.”
“By qualified,” he explained, “I mean not everybody —
would understand them and be able to weigh the infor-
mation properly.” This service is not given gratuitously
even to the “qualified.” “The price,” Hartnett declared,
“varies, but you might say it’s frequently in the neighb OF-
hood of $500.” Ha.
Finally, the one-time intelligence officer is working 4
on what he is said to have described to potential sub-
scribers as “an encyclopedia of communism and Commu- 4
nists in the United States.” The new book, he is quoted —
as saying, will “contain several thousand names, some of qi
which will be a complete surprise to everybody, and 4
there will be a lot of textual material too.” He adds that ij
owning the book will be “essential to anyone in a posi- Af
tion of authority who is a true anti-Communist.” It will
be available only in a limited edition—understandably,
since he told the executive quoted ahOve that the price |
will be $500 a copy. 1s
¥ >
N ADDITION to Hartnett’s separation from Ament
- Business Consultants, Bierly, one of the foun- :
ders, has also coke company with the firm in a manner
which he says “you couldn’t exactly call friendly.” He {
has moved his office to a West Fortieth Street address. ;
and has set up a new organization, partly concerned with |
“getting aes out of the trouble ‘Red Channels” got
them into.” One of his more lucrative accounts is |
Columbia Pictures. “ai
His first job for Columbia was “to clear up the confu- .
sion about Judy Holliday,” a “Red Channels” listee e phd
who has frequently been denounced in Counteraltack as
well. Miss Holliday has not recently appeared on either
radio or television, but she did play the lead (and wen
an Oscar for it) in the movie version of “Born Yester- Ma
day,” and, currently, in “The Marrying Kind.” When
the pictures were released there were threats of a picket
line wherever either was shown. (‘‘Born Yesterday” was | "hi
in fact picketed in New York when it played the Vic-
toria.) However, most of the threats did not material
and Bierly has said, “You might put it that
ea nethi 1 to ma oak petting t the facts, the true facts,
to the right people. . . . You can say ... that Miss
olliday is not a Communist and never has been, and
neither are a lot of other people in it.” By “it” Bierly
meant “Red Channels.”
_ More recently, Kirkpatrick himself is reported not to
_be active in the organization for which he was so long
“the most vociferous spokesman. At this writing, the
office of American Business Consultants will say only
that, “Mr. Kirkpatrick is on vacation.” They add, “The
time of his return is uncertain.” Kirkpatrick himself is
- not available for comment, but the rumor is that he
plans to run for Congress in Queens on the Republican
- ticket.
Be Thus, of the founders of American Business Consult-
ants probably only Keenan remains, a man described by
Bierly as ‘. . . more the business man and . . . the most
‘ftight-wing of us.” Keenan, now forty-one, was born in
_ Brooklyn, graduated from Fordham, received his law
_ degree from St. John’s, and, before joining the FBI in
_ 1941, was a member of his father’s long-established law
_ firm, Alexander and Keenan, at 42 Broadway. Now he
| is a partner. It was Keenan who said, “. . . After the
hullabaloo of ‘Red Channels,’ and the Korean War fol-
_ lowing after that, and all this hodgepodge and mess, we
felt we had laid an egg that was a bombshell. . . .”
Nevertheless, although its ranks are depleted, Ameri-
. can Business Consultants goes on; Keenan is still its
| president; Cownterattack continues to appear every week;
the firm continues to sell its “research” and “Red Chan-
_ nels” remains ‘the Bible of Madison Avenue.”
0
a
ca
|
|
}
HERE are 151 names in “Red Channels”; they in
clude’ such notable playwrights as Arthur Mil-
ler (who was told by a radio producer, “We'd like to
_ fepeat some of those adaptations you did for us right
after the war, but you’re in ‘Red Channels,’ brother’’)
and Lillian Hellman; there are important directors, and
world-famous actors and actresses. Some of those listed
“were only well-paid hacks and a few of the performers
never advanced much beyond an occasional soap opera,
oe
‘= but their talent or lack of it is unimportant. All of them .
|, have suffered, financially and spiritually. One influential
. and vigorously anti-Communist lawyer, some of whose
_ clients are named, puts it this way: “Every one [of the
» 151} has been affected. A few don’t even know it, but
_ they’ve all lost some shows. A majority have lost a great
_ many jobs, and a good-sized minority just aren’t work-
ing at their professions any more.”
After each of the 151 names isva list of organizations
#4) = which the person is “reported as” having once belonged
S| to or supported. Although the subtitle of the book is
i “The Report of Communist Influence in Radio and
f ie Television” and the cover shows a giant red hand grasp-
“| ing a mictophone, the publishers of “Red Channels”
“4 June 28, 1952
a)
ed
ee
a,
Pon ON LE
In Whose Image?
Speaking at the Baccalaureate services for George
Washington University on May 26, the Very Reverend
Doctor Francis Bowes Sayre, Jr., Dean of Washington
Cathedral, called attention to the fact that men are
forced nowadays to account to the American Legion
and “other 100-per cent Amerjcan groups” for their
character and integrity. “To me,” he protested, “‘that is
the next thing to being answerable to Moscow. In
whose image are we created? In that of the American
Legion or of God?”—From the Washington Post,
May 26, 1952.
have not said that all or any of the 151 is a Communist
or even a Communist sympathizer. According to Bierly,
the book was published because early in 1950 it had
. been quite some time since we had any special re-
port at all. Most of our subscribers [to Counterattack}
had come to expect these occasional things, and we were
wondering what perhaps might be desirable or timely.”
They decided on radio and television; there had been
previous special reports on such subjects as the Progres-
sive Party and the Mundt-Nixon “Communist-control”
bill.
However, in putting the book together the publishers
made no attempt to differentiate between what Kirk-
patrick was later to call “the dupers and the duped.”
Such a distinction, according to Bierly, was impossible.
“It was immaterial whether they [the 151] were Com-
munists, entirely immaterial to what we were trying to
do. It had no bearing on whether they were Communists.
In the first place, we don’t know who is a Communist.
In the second place, we coulc:.’t find out if we had asked
them who were anti-Communist and who were pro-
Communist.”
No attempt was made to check with those named to
find out whether or not the allegations were true. Irene
Wicker, for example, is listed only as having been a
member of the Committee for the Reelection of Benja-
min J. Davis. When her attorney failed to find her name
among those of the 30,000 nominating Davis for office,
he forced a retraction from the Da7ly Worker, which
had published the allegation first. Miss Wicker was offi-
cially “cleared” in Counterattack. Nevertheless, she is
still not working in radio or television.
Many of the listees have taken part in clear-cut anti-
Communist activities; with a few exceptions, these are
not mentioned. Gypsy Rose Lee has denied each of the
four activities attributed to her; more important, she
points out that she played benefits for France and Britain
during the non-aggression pact; she took part in another
for Finland when that nation was being attacked by
Russia. No party member or fellow traveler would have
done so, Yet these facts are not mentioned in “Red
635
Channels.” Miss Lee has said, “If a man (or woman) is
to be judged by the company he keeps, he should be
judged by all the company he keeps.”
But Bierly has said, “. . . we do not really concentrate
on collecting anti-Communist statements: as such.
We didn’t go out and . . . actively try to find out how
many Communist statements they [the listees] made at
cocktail parties, nor how many anti-Communist state
ments they . . . made at cocktail parties or in business,
or anti-Communist organizations they belonged to, nor
did we try to find out whether they were Communist,
pro-Communist, Fascist, or what have you... .” When
“Red Channels” was published Miss Lee was working
~ A Citizen’s Creed
None of us can knéw how much ef this inquiry into
the private lives of American citizens and government
employees is necessary. Some of it is necessary—but we
have no way of knowing which, when, or where. We
have seen enough to know for sure that a great deal of
it is altogether irresponsible. Well, there is a way of
making it all responsible, of fixing responsibility. As
one citizen of the United States, I intend to take that
way, myself, from now on,
Representatives of the FBI and of other official in-
vestigating bodies have questioned me, in the past,
about a number of people and I have answered their
questions. That’s over. From now on any representative
of the government, properly identified, can count on a
drink and perhaps informed talk about the Red (but
non-Communist) Sox at my house. But if he wants in-
formation from me about anyone whomsoever, no
soap, If it is my duty as citizen to tell what I know
about someone, I will perform that duty under sub-
poena, in open court, before that person and his attor-
ney. This notice is posted in the courthouse square: I
will not discuss anyone in private with any government
investigator.
I like a country where it’s nobody's damned business
what magazines anyone reads, what he thinks, whom
he has cocktails with. I like a country where we do not
have to stuff the chimney against listening ears and
where what we say does not go into the FBI files along
with a note from S-17 that I may have another wife in
California. I like a country where no college-trained
flatfeet collect memoranda about us and ask judicial
protection for them, a country where when someone
makes statements about us to officials he can be held to
account. We had that kind of country only a little
while ago and I’m for getting it back. It was a lot less
scared than the one we've got now. It slept sound no
matter how many people joined Communist reading
circles and it put common scolds to the ducking stool.
Let's rip off the gingerbread and restore the original
paneling. —Bernard De Voto in Harper's Magazine,
October, 1949.
636
hai in wae fa on Cisiee ‘eae
P, m i ; ee
‘ " me f
Ki age aks = ee ak ; P
LS? Ee a ” “Th ; "i aa ;
In the two years since June 22, 1950, the in ae )
been seeking an answer to “Red Channels.” Mo:
has simply not hired those named in the book. In 2
tion, the Columbia Broadcasting System has requ ited oa
each of its employees to sign a “loyalty statement.” One ~
or two resigned; the majority were humiliated and i
dignant; so far no “subversives” have been turned
There was talk of an industry-wide screening board on
of asking the federal government to declare the industn
“sensitive” and thus use governmental screening ag
cies. The board never materialized; the government re- |
fused. The American Federation of Radio Artists set o
a Rlearing house for voluntary statements by those listed —
in “Red Channels” or accused elsewhere of being “dis-
loyal.” A year after the plan was initiated, the union's
executive secretary, Frank Reel, said, “.. . in my opinior 4
it has been a failure.” A veennatalt debate constitu-
tional amendment aimed at those who have “ _ main-
tained membership in . . . or joined the Communist
Party since December 31, 1945,” has not at this writing .
been tested. It probably will not be. Sa
Actually, no one in authority in the industry, on either
the union or management level, has publicly defined —
what is being looked for. Is one affiliation in “Red —
Channels” enough to bar a man from future employ- ‘
oan = = ss «5
Who can say? :
To date, no one has even tried, A mnult-bilion a
basic industry has simply knuckled under to the pressure —
of a trio of troublemakers capitalized at $15,000. Cae
er
HORTLY after the publication of “The Judges oe ‘
the Judged, "a man from Atlantic City who identi-
fies himself as “a man on the street” but whose name
known to this writer wrote to the president of the ¢
lumbia Broadcasting System suggesting a way to de
with a blacklist. “I am giving it to you first because I li
your ‘Invitation to Learning’ program,” he wrote.
“All pressure groups,” he continued, “are overrated.
Like pressure, they blow up, and the man on the street
goes in the store and buys your stuff anyway. Why don’
you and your sponsors hire anybody, no matter who
or she is, just as long as he, or she, or they, have the t:
ent for the job, even if it’s being president of
company?
“In the first place, it is legal, which means it is consti- ii
tutional ... and... it is democratic . . . and it is vir-
tuous, ae The tego? Well, there Pali be a lull,
first few days, a lot of stupid talk, and then evety
on the other networks, and his brother, including
sponsors, will want to join your act... . And, final!
it will be the finest thing that ever happened to
country since Columbus came over and started all
trouble.”
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_ a. 4a ‘ tie
, YSELF, I’ve been as subversive as my energy and
M other means have permitted me to be. If I weren't
_ subversive I couldn’t endure myself. In 1948 the Depart-
ment of Justice published a list of subversive organiza-
tions and, according to the press, I was, or had been, or
‘was alleged to be, connected with most of them.
‘Then, in the spring of 1950, Congress appropriated a
Jarge sum of money for the Un-American Activities
_ Committee to prepare and publish a sort of Who’s Who
Pin American Subversion. The volume will probably re-
quire a five-foot shelf, for by press accounts it will
contain the records of more than a million individuals. I
hope mine will take up at least a page.
I don’t know—and in a way don’t care—how many
_ subversive organizations I was, or still am, or was or am
alleged to be, connected with. But I claim that I be-
longed to, or was on the sponsor list, or appeared on
_ programs of several of those that favored the Loyalist
government against Franco in Spain; went through the
_ motions of protecting the foreign-born; believed in im-
_ pfoving the status of Negroes; supported the war effort
_ under Roosevelt; favored the idea of avoiding World
War II immediately after World War II; preferred
_ friendship to conflict with any country, yes, even with
_ the Soviet Union; objected to the execution of Greek
_ subversives under the aegis of the Truman Doctrine
because, as reported in the press, they had “leftist lean-
_ ings’; and so on.
The Un-American Activities Committee never in-
formed me of the data it had on my subversiveness; but
whatever it has is all right with me, as far as it goes.
I'm sure, however, it doesn’t go far enough. I am guilty
| of derelictions that the committee isn’t aware of yet; and
| to get the space I deserve in the forthcoming Who's
SAL LLG
: | Who in American Subversion, here’s the record.
In my study hangs a framed diploma-like document
te th : : : :
that recognizes my help in selling war bonds during
| 1943-45. Some of the millions I wangled out of the
; | American public doubtless went—through the channels
of the American “free-enterprise” system—for lend-
lease to the Russians. This document on the wall of my
| study is signed by F. D. R’s personal friend, Secretary of
_ the Treasury Henry Morgenthau, Jr., a fanatic anti-Nazi
| who put forth the Morgenthau Plan to disindustrialize
4% Germany. I daresay Morgenthau will get into Who's
LOUIS ADAMIC’S last book was "The Eagle and the
— Roots,” which was completed before his death in 1951. This
_ article is an excerpt from an unpublished manuscript.
4 _ June 28, 1952
Confessions of a 33d-Degree Subversive
BY LOUIS ADAMIC
Who in American Subversion too, for advancing the
plan, unless of course the Herculean job is abandoned
when Washington discovers that practically everybody
in America is subversive and that there’s no point com-
peting with the telephone book.
While I was abroad in 1949, friends sent me dip-
pings of news stories which reported the latest “revela-
tions” about me by “ex-Communists” and self-confessed ©
Soviet spies converted to Catholicism and out to make a
name for speteseves. Reading the clippings, I found out
that I was “a tower of strength” behind I don't recall
what organization, a Stalin stooge, and, at the same time,
a Tito-tooter. One paper said that somebody in Wash-
ington had compiled a list of thirty-two “really dangerous
subversive organizations and publications”
tor to, thirty-three.
HE discrepancy bothers me. Was it my book reviews
for the New York Herald Tribune that made me
a thirty-third-degree subversive? Could be. According to
Westbrook Pegler, a rooter for the Un-American Activi-
ties Committee, the Herald Tribune, while nominally a
Republican sheet, is suspect for employing editors and
critics who are ill-disguised Reds. And Karl Marx
wrote for the Tribune when it was edited by Horace
Greeley, a radical to the left of Lincoln who was de-
nounced by the Peglers and Thomases of his day for
being not merely subversive but an out-and-out traitor.
Or was I a thirty-third-degree subversive because I was
a long-time member of the American Legion?
To be a member of the American Legion one has to
have served in the armed forces of the United States.
Could that be it? I did serve in the American army in
World War I, but subversion was no problem then. So I
reviewed my connections witb the United States army
during World War II, and I swear on a stack of Sears,
Roebuck catalogs that all I remember is the following:
I talked with Commander-in-Chief Roosevelt three times.
I urged General Staff and Intelligence officers to bone up
on the Tito movement before they decided to invade and
liberate Yugoslavia. And one evening in the Carlton
Hotel bar in Washington I bawled out a general who
had had a couple of highballs too many and practically
revealed the date set for the Normandy invasion. Could
any of these items have fattened my subversive record?
Or was I a super-subversive because I wrote “The
Native’s Return” on a Guggenheim fellowship? That
made me a Guggenheim fellow traveler for life, along
637
and that I
was or had been a member or sponsor of, or a contribu-
=
—_
with the poet who wrote “John Brown's Body” and the
novelist who wrote “God’s Angry Man”—both in praise
of a crazy character so subversive he had to be hanged.
Or let's consider this episode in my reprehensible
career. One day in 1937 I was sitting on the stage in a
ballroom in the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel during the pro-
ceedings of the annual New York Herald Tribune
Forum when the polite stranger next to me introduced
himself as David Stevens and turned out to be the head
of the Humanities Division of the Rockefeller Founda-
tion. Instead of listening to the speakers, most of whom
‘were subversives of one kind or another, Mr. Stevens
and I held a whispered conversation about a magazine
atticle of mine he had just read, and the first thing I
knew he asked me if I could use a grant-in-aid. I wasn't
Scientists in the Doghouse
EN and women who devote their time and energy
M to scientific research are peculiarly vulnerable to
suspicion, recrimination, and punishment in times like
these, when irrational fear restricts the fundamental free-
doms. The headquarters files of the American Associa-
tion for the Advancement of Science are rapidly filling
“with documents, many of them confidential, revealing
the startling extent to which individual scientists in all
parts of the country are suffering the consequences of the
effort to gain security through secrecy and of the cam-
paign to paralyze all independent thought, discussion,
and dissent concerning America’s foreign policies.
There are some obvious reasons why scientists are
favorite targets of those who look for potential traitors
‘and subversive characters behind every bush. In the
first place, scientists, by the very nature of their men-
tal habits, are internationalistic rather than chauvinistic
in outlook, They know that fellow scientists in foreign
lands are working on problems more or less akin to
their own. More than anyone else they are aware of
the deep indebtedness of American technology to the
scientific research pursued by citizens of other countries.
They know that the progress of science is most rapid
when there is the greatest freedom for uninhibited
communication among scientists throughout the world.
All who can afford to do so belong to one or more inter-
national organizations of researchers in their own special
field. As a group, scientists want to reduce the keep-
ing of scientific secrets to the absolute minimum neces-
KIRTLEY F, MATHER, professor of geology at Harvard
University, is retiring president of the American Association”
for the Advancement of Science.
638
bey i nt
a a an Ble
BE as BOSSES ie
pit broke at the time, but es er was
flukes that could happen only in ‘America; and who w
I to scorn our Way by refusing a Rockefeller grant? O
the other hand, being a subversive and hep to some of
the history of great American fortunes, and also being
tired after finishing a book, with my whole character in
a wobbly and sagging condition, I didn't—I couldn't
refuse Rockefeller money. In short, I took it. And fo s
while in 1949, thinking back, I was almost sure it was
that which made me a thirty-third-degree subversive. Foe I
guilt-by-association is a subtle, haphazard, long-arme d,
wide-ranging invention that's almost bound to drag y ou
in. There’s no dodging it except maybe if you live on an
island all by yourself and have nothing against anybody
or anything—and then you might as well be dead.
g..ft Ss =
Ss
BY KIRTLEY F. MATHE R
sary for national security. It is only natural that they
should heartily dislike the red-tape curtain dropped
around the United States by the 1950 McCarran act,
In the second place, scientists are necessarily devoted —
to the most important and most fundamental of the |
democratic freedoms, the freedom to think one’s owe
thoughts and to express them so that they may be ap-
praised in the court of public opinion. The fraternity of
scientists is, in fact, the outstanding example of a “free
society” in modern civilization. Each scientist is not ~
only permitted but encouraged to form and express h Lis”
own judgment. When he thinks others are wrong, he says
so. By the same token, he is ready to submit his opinion a
to the judgment of his fellows. os:
It is not surprising, therefore, that scientists occa
sionally speak up in defense of a fellow scientist who is
charged with disloyalty because of his associations or who |
is being persecuted for alleged “un-American” ideas h =
may have expressed. Even though one scientist n
strongly disagree with another’s opinions, he knows
must defend the other's right to express them, else’ he
will be false to his high calling as a seeker of the
truth. He trusts the laws of libel and misconduct to
take care of any pernicious extension of the principle of
freedom, and with Thomas Jefferson, who was a scienti t
as well as a statesman, he says, “We are not afraid to
follow truth wherever it may lead, nor tolerate error a
long as reason is left free to combat it.” And if choca
enters his mind the suspicion that perhaps in times of
ideological conflict a little thought control might be
desirable, he has only to remind himself of the so
plight of the biological sciences in the Soviet Uni
These attitudes, the inevitable fruits of the int
The Natic
cocina
3
gs
ane ; 5 cs, P ; ,
discipline of science as a method of gaining
2», are of course in perfect accord with the
geniu ; of Peaissicka democracy. Once confirmed by train-
- and experience in the laboratory, they are almost
E “certain to characterize the scientist in all aspects of his
life, as a citizen as well as an investigator of nature or
a technician in industry. Indeed, therein lies the danger
_ for the man of science. Freedom to think for oneself and
to express one’s own thoughts in the comparative
safety of the white-tiled, gadget-crowded laboratory is
one thing. To carry over that habit into the world beyond
the laboratory is quite another—as many a scientist has
_ learned through bitter experience in recent years.
- HE machinery for teaching scientists that lesson is
OP earortonatcly extensive and well oiled. There is as
| yet no equivalent of “Red Channels” for the nation’s
| scientific man-power, but Cownterattack is right on the
| job, and Senator McCarthy has made a start in compil-
| ing his own blacklist of scientists. On October 20, 1950,
the ineffable Senator spread on the pages of the Con-
| gressional Record a blacklist of seven prominent scientists
| who, according to him, are “supporting the causes of
| Stalin’s fifth column in this country.”
The Subcommittee on Subversive Activities of the
National Americanism Commission of the American
| Legion periodically publishes its blacklist of lecturers,
| writers, and others “whose past activities make them
unsuitable or inappropriate for Legion sponsorship.”
Several well-known scientists are included in this list.
| Although the directive concerning the use of the “in-
formation” by Legion posts states that it was compiled
so that no Legion post would endorse, or its members
participate in a meeting with, a subversive person, the
practice in many local posts goes far beyond the in-
structions from national headquarters. On many occa-
sions over-zealous Legionnaires have made strenuous
attempts—not all unsuccessful—to bar scientists from
' appearing on local programs.
Scores of scientists connected with institutions of
higher learning are listed in “Red-ucator Dossiers” —
“Red-ucators at Harvard,” “at Columbia,” “at Chicago,”
' etc.—issued by the National Council for American
_ Education “as part of its campaign to rid the schools and
p colleges of socialistic, un-American teachings and teach-
= ets.” Fortunately, the stronger universities have stood
_ their ground. But the campaign has made headway in
- other institutions, and its repercussions have ramified
| throughout the entire company of American scientists.
Younger men and women, especially, have regretfully
decided that the opportunity to pursue ‘their chosen
_ profession undisturbed can be gained only by com-
pletely avoiding controversial issues.
_ The election of Dr. E. U. Condon to the presidency
_ of the American Association for the Advancement of
dune 28, 1952
Se TEN ORI
pe ee ee ee ee eed
‘Science in December, 1951, was seized upon by Rep-
resentative Richard B. Vail, of Illinois, as the basis for
an attack upon the association itself. “What manner
of organization is this association and what sort of peo-
ple comprise its membership who elect such characters
as their leaders? I commend the outfit to the attention
of the FBI and the Committee on Un-American Activi-
ties.” Fulton Lewis, Jr., eagerly picked up the Repre-
sentative’s allegations that the association follows “the
typical Commie line’ and spread across the country
smearing insinuations about its officers and members in
his syndicated newspaper column.
Without exception, the tactics of these would-be
repressers of the civil liberties of scientists involve the —
use of the obviously un-American procedure now known
as “guilt by association.” Justification for labeling a per-
son “fellow traveler,” ‘‘Commie sympathizer,” ‘‘pinko,”
t “Red” is based upon his alleged affiliation with
organizations that have been listed as subversive by the
Attorney General, the Un-American Activities Commit-
tee, or the legislative committees to investigate com-
munism that have been set up in several states. Scarcely
any publicity has been given to the Supreme Court’s
stinging denunciation, in the case of the Joint Anti-
Fascist Refugee Committee, of the Attorney General’s
procedure in compiling his blacklist, without notice or a
hearing, a rebuke that presumably would apply to legis-
lative committees as well. This ruling was handed down
neatly a year ago, and yet no hearings have been
granted, and the list still stands.
Although the heads of many scientists are bloody but
unbowed, the heads of many others have been lopped
off. The number of such tragedies is far greater than
any statistician can ever discover. Both the unfortunate
victims and the institutions by which they have been
employed have characteristically shunned publicity, for
reasons that may differ from case to case but add up toa
definitely “hush-hush” policy.
HE major portion of research activities in university
laboratories is subsidized by federal agencies—
which makes the universities and science particularly
vulnerable to the Congressional witch hunt. Conse-
quently, political screening, rather than mere technical
competence, has been accepted as necessary at many
academic institutions even when the work is com-
pletely unclassified and does not involve access to
anything that could be considered a military secret. Ad-
ministrators dare not risk charges that might be made
by Congressional committees or radio and newspaper
commentators that they are employing “red” scientists.
Visits of FBI agents to heads of departments, project
directors, deans, and presidents did not cease with the
war. Some institutions have their own security officers,
who are concerned not only with classified projects but
639
CU ies
nie eters ®
also with research projects not covered by security regu-
lations. Particularly where academic tenure has not been
a stumbling block, it has been comparatively easy to dis-
miss, or bar from employment, capable scientists ac-
cused of past association with organizations now
considered questionable or subversive.
There are, moreover, other ways of punishing scien-
tists who are under suspicion of political heresy. Espe-
cially since the passage of the McCarran act, despite
President Truman's wise and strongly worded veto,
the Department of State has been exercising increasing
control over the movements of American as well as
foreign scientists, both in and out of our country. The
power to withhold passports and visas is a power which,
when improperly used, can deal a serious blow to
scientific progress. International gatherings of scientists
have been seriously curtailed, both in America and
abroad, by the establishment of political and ideological
tests of fitness. Freedom to travel may not be one of the
justly celebrated ““Four Freedoms,” but for the man of
science it ranks at least as high as any other.
The seriousness of the present situation and the at-
titude of responsible scientists toward it are accurately
portrayed by the resolution adopted unanimously by the
Council of the American Association for the Advance-
ment of Science in Philadelphia last December:
The Council of the American Association for the
Advancement of Science is profoundly disturbed over
the present world conditions which so severely impede
the free interchange of knowledge even among friendly
nations. Danger to the future of our nation is implicit in
such restrictions.
The Council recognizes the need for measures which
will effectively safeguard our security, but expresses its
troubled concern over the manner in which such
measures, in particular the McCarran act, are being
administered, to prohibit American citizens from going
abroad and citizens of other nations from coming here
to interchange knowledge of science which does not af-
fect security.
The Council strongly urges that the administrative
procedures under the McCarran act be reviewed and
modified so as to minimize injustices and to increase
both our internal strength and our prestige abroad.
The Council further urges revision and improvement
of the relevant portions of the act, to retain the ob-
jectives of necessary security, but with adequate pro-
visions to maintain free interchange of knowledge
that has no security implications.
Since the adoption of that resolution there have been
numerous incidents that emphasize the wisdom of giving
consideration to its recommendations. For example, a
letter was recently received at the Washington office of
the Federation of American Scientists from Louis
Leprince Ringuet, eminent physicist and member of the
French Academy of Sciences, concerning the difficul-
640
. a re meee est) ype ae }
ties eee a ek
to attend scientific gatherings in the United § at
accept invitations to teach or do research in 2 Americ
institutions. He wrote, in part: Sik 7
Many French physicists who would like to have cons
tact with their colleagues in the United States are no
longer willing to make the request, since the resulting
formalities will complicate their lives... . We are often —
ignorant, moreover, of the reasons for these delays... ._
aaecloadies with the American officials often raise —
hopes that visas will be granted after a short period, —
and this impression is repeated at each request for —
a complete inquiry. . The applicant has the real
feeling of being a suspect who is put off from week to
week; the more so because he receives a long inter-
rogation as if before a police magistrate. This state of —
affairs seriously impedes the possibilities of contact
with scholars in the United States and is most detrimen-
tal for science. . . . Lastly, the multiplicity of instances
of delay produces a deplorable effect on French opinion. —
. I have even seen the expression “iron curtain of the
West” applied to the United States. .
i
a
2 other aspect of the passport problem is the
refusal of the State Department to grant passpo ts
to American scientists for foreign travel, which often
prevents them from pursuing research projects of vital
importance to the United States. There have been manj
such instances; one of the most glaring is that of Lim is
Pauling. Dr. Pauling is one of our most eminent
chemists, former president of the American Chemical
Society and chairman of the Division of Chemistry and
Chemical Engineering at the California Institute of Tech-
nology. His outstanding contributions to our military
strength during World War II won him the Medal
of Merit, bestowed on him by President Truman in
1948. Dr. Pauling applied for a passport to enable hid
to take part in a conference of the Royal Society. of
London, this spring, on the structure of proteins. His
application was denied; the only explanation offered
the State Department was that it had refused to issue
a passport on the grounds that issuance would not be i in
“the best interests of the United States.” d
Not only does this appear to be unreasonable an nd
unusual punishment of Dr. Pauling, but the repercu:
sions of such events throughout the great body
American scientists cannot but be deleterious in
extreme. Not knowing what alleged crimes have bro
this penalty upon one of their number, the scien
upon whom the future security and prosperity of
country depend, will find their efficiency decreasec
subtle but significant ways. Each will decide th
only way to avoid a similar fate is to withdraw c
pletely from all participation in public affairs. No lot
will they dare to give critical consideration to the
implications of their work. In one large compartm
ves ae ey ‘should ee ee respon-
ities as citizens in a democracy, they will fit their
~ minds into the Procrustean bed of rigid conformity to
| official governmental policies and majority opinion.
| How soon this acceptance of authoritarian dictates will
catty over into the other compartment of their lives, in
_ which scientific habits of thought have proved so in-
- vigorating for scientific progress, is a neat question for
_ the psychologists. At the moment, it is generally held
| _ that schizophrenia is quite bad for a man.
Certainly the scientists of America cannot be ex-
pected to do their best work as long as they remain in the
doghouse. The appeal to get them out into the fresh air,
where the winds of freedom and confidence will once
more stimulate them to high intellectual adventure, is
based not so much upon selfish desire for the personal
welfare of individual scientists as upon the recogni-
tion of what is absolutely essential to the continuing
health of science as an important contributor to the
future of America.
| The Bigots and the Professionals
OR years the House Un-American Activities Commit-
Bice and its allies in bigotry have had three favorite
| targets: labor unions, entertainment stars, and govern-
ment employees. Recently there have been growing
indications that the bigots are beginning to focus on
certain other professional groups: lawyers, ministers,
doctors, and newspapermen.
The attack on the lawyers is of longest duration, and
understandably so. Many people haled before com-
_mittees on “un-Americanism’” have retained lawyers
who, with varying degrees of success, have opposed
the typically high-handed methods of the investigators.
And as any members of a committee on un-Americanism
| can tell you, a person who opposes the committee is a
| Communist.
This sort of reasoning was employed in the House
-committee’s’ report of September, 1950, labeling the
National Lawyers Guild the “legal bulwark of the
Communist Party.’ In addition to a typical distortion of
the Guild’s record to make it coincide with the “party
“line,” proof for this charge was found in the fact that
a@ number of Guild members had advised their clients
to invoke the constitutional privilege against self-in-
crimination when asked about Communist Party member-
ship. (In December, 1950, the Supreme Court held
this to be sound advice.) These attorneys, said the
| committee, “knowingly or unknowingly function under
| adirective issued by the . . . Communist Party which
_ pfohibits its members from cooperating with the com-
mittee.”
| The committee also charged that “almost without
exception” Guild leaders “seek to bring the courts and
Fe {sic} procedures into disrepute.” Evidence for this
| Sweeping charge was found in Judge Harold Medina’s
|
5
d
7
y VI RN COUNTRYMAN, associate professor of law at Yale
4 University, is the author of “Un-American Activities in the
ai i State of Washington,” a study by the Canwell Committee.
LW
ne 28, oe
Ps
BY VERN COUN TRYMAN
action holding five Guild members—three of them
Guild officers—in contempt of court for their conduct
of the defense in the Dennis case. Although the Su-
preme Court confined its review of these contempt
actions to procedural matters, three justices expressly
indicated that they considered Medina as much at fault
as the lawyers for the spectacle the trial provided. But
Medina was promoted and the lawyers went to jail.
Nor was that the extent of the punishment, for some
of the lawyers at least. Two of them have been dis-
barred and proceedings are pending against a third.
Strangest of these proceedings is the action of Federal
Judge Hincks in disbarring Harry Sacher for “an excess
of zeal.” The incident which most offended Hincks was
a remark by Sacher that if the prosecutor were a con-
temporary of Jesus he “would have had Jesus in the
dock.” This remark, said Hincks, was ‘crowning proof
. that Mr. Sacher is a skilled master in the art of
inflammation and so habituated to the practice of that
art that he cannot safely be left as a member of this
bar.” Thirty-two years ago, in another Communist
prosecution, Clarence Darrow charged that the prosecutor
“would have sent Christ to jail just the same as you
would these defendants.” In the comparative calm of the
1920 Red hunt no one thought of disbarring Darrow or
holding him in contempt. And the bar weathered many
more years of his zealous arguments for the defense.
The House committee’s latest move on lawyers came
in its Los Angeles hearings last January when sixteen
local attorneys who had been active in liberal causes were
subpoenaed. Because the sixteen opposed the sub-
poenas on constitutional grounds, the committee has
not yet moved to compel them to testify. But the nature
of its proposed inquiry can fairly be anticipated from
its past attempts to compel lawyers and their clients to
disclose confidential conversations covered by the legal
ptivilege for attorney-client communications.
This type of harassment is not confined to lawyers,
641
e.ae~
Judges who preside over convictions in political cases
are promoted and successful prosecutors get judicial
appointments. But judges who make rulings favorable
to the accused feel the wrath of the bigots. Judge Ed-
ward Dimock, when he permitted certain Smith act
defendants to leave New York to collect defense mate-
rial, was subjected to bullying editorial abuse by the
New York World-Telegram and the Journal-American.
When Judge Delbert Metzger reduced the bail of Smith
act defendants in Hawaii from $75,000 to $7,500,
Senator O'Mahoney denounced his order as “outrageous”
and declared that Metzger, whose term expired a month
later, would not be reappointed. Three months later
the Supreme Court reversed a federal judge in Cali-
fornia who had fixed bail for still another group of
Smith act defendants at $50,000, and bail in their cases
was ultimately fixed at $5,000 to $10,000. Judge Metzger
has not been reappointed.
Longest under attack has been California’s Federal
Judge Leon Yankwich. In 1947 the Tenney “Little
Un-American Activities Committee” labeled the People’s
Educational Center in Los Angeles a Communist or-
ganization and listed Judge Yankwich (who had de-
livered one lecture before the center in 1945 attacking
Hitler's racist theories) as a member of its “faculty.”
Years later, Judge Yankwich presided over a suit for
breach of employment contract brought by Lester Cole,
who had been discharged by M-G-M because of his
failure to answer questions of the House committee.
When the jury gave answers favorable to Cole on cer-
tain factual questions submitted by M-G-M, Yankwich
entered judgment for Cole for $75,000. This judgment
was reversed on appeal because of some erroneous in-
structions to the jury, but M-G-M, apparently far from
confident of its case even in a new trial with corrected
instructions, settled out of court with Cole and Dalton
Trumbo, who had a similar suit pending, for a sum
reported to exceed $100,000. A few weeks ago, Rep-
resentative Richard B. Vail reached into the grab-bag
of unsupported charges, pulled out the Tenney Com-
mittee’s attack on Yankwich, added his own charge that
Yankwich had interpreted “the law and the evidence in
diametric opposition to the national interest’ in the Cole
case, and demanded a Congressional investigation of the
judge's fitness for office.
ACED with the intimidation of lawyers in political
cases, disregard of the attorney-client privilege, and
insistence that judges interpret the law and the facts in
accordance with the “national interest,” it might be
supposed that the American Bar Association would be-
come concerned about such constitutional fundamentals
as the right to counsel and a fair trial. But the A. B. A.
is preoccupied with other matters.
In February, 1951, it adopted resolutions excluding
642
from the A. B. A. and aging inane cnt fc or al
who ate members of the Communist Party or ¥
vocate Marxism-Leninism.” Since that time it sai
engaged in circulating a Brief on Communism: = a
Leninism, prepared by a committee working “in clos
cooperation with the American Legion.” The brief fai
to define “Marxism-Leninism” in any comprehensit ble
way, but it does throw some light on how the A. B. A
resolutions are to be interpreted: (1) “All Communis
conspirators are not members of the Communist Party”—
some of the “most important .. . Communists and fel-
low travelers are forbidden . . . to hold official mem:
bership.” (2) ‘The Communist conspirators . . .
depended upon to support the increased domain of gov-
ernment in business, in credit, in transportation, in com-
munication, in housing and power projects.” (3) Any ‘
lawyer “who is a member of the Communist Party...
or who embraces and practices the doctrines of com-
munism, either as an ardent Communist or as a fellow
traveler,” should be disbarred. a |
fe are less frequently involved in politi- ‘
cal causes than lawyers but have no greater
immunity from attack if they do participate—on the
wrong side. Three years ago the Reverend John Hoy =
ard Melish was removed by the Protestant Episcopal —
Church from a pastorate he had held for forty-five years
because his son and assistant had been identified with h
a number of “Communist-front” organizations, More
recently, the Reverend George Abbe of the First a ; i.
versalist Church of Annisquam, Massachusetts,.
dismissed by his parish committee because he joined 1
committee for the defense of Professor Dirk Struik of
the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, who is
charged with violation of a Massachusetts version of the:
Smith act. And a few weeks ago the Reverend Henry J. me
Carpenter, executive secretary of the Brooklyn Division
of the Protestant Council of New York City, was denied
a passport to visit Japan for the State Department's us al
non-revealing reason: his trip would be ont 9
best interests of the United States.” fi
A less publicized but still current instance is that | of
the Methodist Federation for Social Action, which fo c
many years has been under attack by the Hearst and
Sctipps-Howard press. Late last February—and less than
two months before the Methodist Church’s quadrennial
conference—the House committee released a special re
port on the Federation, consisting of a collection of
previously published statements (principally from such
reputable sources as the New York Herald Tribune, the
Daily W orker, the Chicago Tribune, the National Repub- b-
lic, and the Bureau County [Ull. } Republican) and
concluding with a simple exercise in addition: “The Fed-
eration advocates social-economic planning in order to
develop a society without class distinctions and privileges.
may be
"
¢ a. Socinliom't fe tic fist stage
”” The Methodist conference in April
to request the Federation te drop the word “Meth-
from its name and to vacate its offices in the New
York Methodist Building. The conference also amended
its Social Creed to endorse “the principle of the acquisi-
ion of property by the Christian processes. .
"The bigots were less successful with the Reaaend
Stephen Fritchman, minister of the First Unitarian
Church in Los Angeles, who refused last September to
violate the confidence of his congregation by answering
questions of the House committee about activities in his
church. On December 14 Counterattack labeled Fritch-
man and his church “a center of front activity” and
: urged its subscribers to complain about Fritchman’s
regular Sunday broadcast over station KFWB. On De-
‘cember 21 Fritchman was notified that his contract had
been canceled because the station “had been subject
to criticism.” The board of trustees of his church—which
had also endorsed his position before the House com-
‘mittee—promptly appealed his case to the public and
stirred up such a protest that the program was rein-
‘stated on December 30.
FOIOR doctors, signs of a concerted campaign began
last September and were repeated in January when
the House committee summoned a number of them to
testify about their own and others’ political activities.
One of those who refused to answer the committee's
questions at the first hearing was Dr. Murray Abowitz
of Los Angeles. Two months later, as described by Han-
nah Bloom in The Nation, May 3, 1952, Drs. Abowitz,
ichard Lippman, and Alex Pennes—all of whom had
opposed the Tenney Committee's proposed loyalty oaths
for licensed professions—were dropped from the staff
of Cedars of Lebanon Hospital, without hearings or
charges, for “political” reasons. Only concentrated com-
-fnunity action forced the hospital trustees to reconsider
their decision.
Coincident with the committee’s hearings was the
announcement by Henry Kaiser’s Permanente Hospital,
Eee in Los Angeles, that it would employ no doctor
“whose loyalty to the United States government is not
established to thé satisfaction of Permanente.” This same
‘policy is required of all public hospitals in California
under the Levering act, which imposes a loyalty oath on
all state employees. Pennsylvania's Pechan act imposes
the same requirement, and Philadelphia General Hos-
pital last April dismissed a resident physician, a nurse,
and a group of internes because they refused to take the
‘oath.
| The Doctors’ Draft law of 1950, permitting the draft-
ing of doctors up to age fifty while others are subject
o draft only up to age twenty-six, has also become an
strument for testing loyalty. Doctors who will not take
- Laie
_ June 28, 1952
. BUN aPC hn
Teatro ei
a loyalty oath are denied commissions. Without a com-
mission the army will not permit the doctor to practice.
But he is drafted anyway—as a private—and, if he
is lucky, may be assigned to duty as a laboratory tech-
nician.
So far the intimidation of doctors for their political
views has brought no protest from the medical associa-
tions. The A. M. A. has busied itself, instead, with vot-
ing contributions to the American Legion’s All-American
Conference - to Combat Communism, memorializing
Congress to investigate the schools for “infiltration of
un-American fallacies of collectivism,” and pinning the
“socialist” label on all who support national health in-.
surance. And the New York State Medical Association
Jast May raced ahead of the A. M. A. by adopting a
resolution that made the loyalty oath obligatory for all
of its members.
EWSPAPERMEN thus far have been subjected to
N few attacks from the investigators of “un-Ameri-
canisms,” but this is not surprising; with very few excep-
tions the press has given the investigators invaluable
support by headlining their irresponsible charges and, in
many instances, embellishing them somewhat. But when
Drew Pearson criticized Senator McCarthy, the Sena-
tors appeal for a boycott of Pearson’s radio sponsor
pushed Pearson off the air for several months, and Mc-
Carthy’s response to similar criticism from Time maga-
zine was: “I am preparing material on Time magazine to
furnish all your advertisers.” Senator McCarran resorted
to the same technique against a Las Vegas newspaper
which had the temerity to criticize him in his own baili-
wick,
There is evidence, moreover, that the House com-
mittee is not fully satisfied with the performance of
the press, and that newspapers and magazines may ex-
pect fuller treatment. In its hearings last January the
committee produced two ex-Communist newsmen to
begin revelations on a “cell” of journalists in Los
Angeles, and Tom O’Connor, managing editor of the
New York Compass, was haled before the committee last
month. This inquiry may work from the bottom of the
profession up, following the bait tendered by Bishop
Fulton J. Sheen, who—speaking either from divine reve-
lation or from some remarkable detective work for a man
in his position—told a Rome audience last April that in
the United States in 1936 “there was hardly a prominent
newspaper commentator who did not have a Communist
secretary.” Louis Budenz, one of the Bishop’s converts,
will doubtless supply references as needed.
Resistance to this assault can be successful if it
is vigorous, courageous, and prompt. Meanwhile, Amer-
icans must apparently be careful about what they confide
to their lawyers, ministers, or doctors—their confidences
may make newspaper headlines any day now.
643
oe
~ 6,000,000 Sxond Cult Cane i :
eee
9 Soe yy ee
any difference between political liberalism and
communism, and assert the right and duty to impose on
others their own standards of belief and conduct. One
group that is especially vulnerable to such imposition is
the six million Americans who work for the govern-
ment—federal, state, or local.
Working for the government means working for all of
us. If “we” want to limit the civil liberties of our employ-
ees, several rationalizations are available, One is to assert
that since public office is a public trust certain disabilities
attach to its acceptance. A less velvety way of reaching
like results is to advance the doctrine that public employ-
ment is a privilege, not a right, and may therefore be
burdened with conditions. Another approach derives
from the contrary assumption that the government em-
ployee, far from being a servant, is our master. We must
put hooks into Leviathan. The immense opportunities of
bureaucrats for corruption, sabotage, oppression, and
subversion must be held in check, even if the process de-
prives the bureaucrat of liberties cherished by other free-
born Americans,
The Hatch act, with its brood of little Hatch acts in
the states, was directed at overt political activity. It left
untouched the right to vote, to belong to a political
party, to contribute to it, and to join in petitions. Little
noted at the time was another provision that marked the
beginning of loyalty tests for federal employees. Section
9-A of the Hatch act denied federal employment to any-
one who belonged to an organization advocating the
overthrow of the government.
If 1939 marked a turning point in the civil liberties
of government employees, as it did in so many aspects
of human affairs, its importance was soon submerged in
the tide of war. Section 9-A and similar requirements in
appropriations acts were interpreted to refer, essentially,
only to membership in the Communist Party, the Bund,
and a few other clearly Communist or Fascist organiza-
tions. The Civil Service Commission was the chief en-
forcing agency; its War Service Regulations permitted
denial of an appointment if there was a “reasonable
doubt” as to the applicant’s loyalty—the same standard
that is now in effect in the federal loyalty program. But
it was applied with a difference: the commission’s in-
structions implementing the regulation showed some
Ay people today refuse to admit that there is
RALPH S. BROWN, JR., associate professor of law at Yale
University, is currently studying loyalty and security programs
on a grant from the Louis S. Weiss Fund.
644
apart, with its own statutory command to satisfy itself :
BY RALPH S. BROWN, JR.
sophistication and restraint. By the time the Trim: in
Loyalty Order came into effect, more than 1,300 app i
cants had been declared ineligible by the commission. a.
Loyalty dismissals by employing agencies probably d
not exceed 200. ae
During the war little public attention was directed to:
this program, or to the dismissal of civilian employees
on security grounds, which the military departments
were making in considerable numbers. When in 1947,
under Congressional pressure and amid confused cross-—
currents of public opinion about spies and “subversives”
in the government service, President Truman inaugu-
rated the present loyalty program by Executive Order
9835, he attached considerable importance to its aim to
protect the employee as well as the government. Pro-
cedures and criteria were now to be uniform, in contrast ry
to the mists of obscurity that surrounded the war-time
programs.
, 4 . yt
E HAVE now had almost five years under Exec-
XK) utive Order 9835, and the mist is still swirl-
ing. With the federal government showing the way,
anti-subversive legislation has proliferated in the sta a TF:
and municipalities. Congress has added trimmings he
and there, and a ponderous capstone in the Internal
Security Act of 1950. bone
Since national security was the ostensible goal of 4
the turmoil, special efforts were directed toward e
agencies most concerned to protect it. There is no ques-
tion that they have been given ample powers to eliminate
security risks and have exercised them alertly. The war
time legislation authorizing summary dismissal by the
military departments was revamped in 1950 and ex.
tended to the State Department, Justice, Commerce, and
other agencies that deal in state secrets. In its presen
form it might better be called a “‘summary-suspension
statute, for the procedures leading to final dismissal d
not differ significantly from those of the loyalty pra One
gram and are usually carried out by joint loyalty-se )
boards. The Atomic Energy Commission stands a little
the “character, associations, and loyalty” of every em
ployee, and of every contractor's employee having a Mth
to “restricted data.” But its procedures also follow t th hie 4
general pattern. than
Consistency of procedures between security and sill c
. . y Pn Or
programs is a normal development, but one might have W ji:, 0
expected sharp differences between the standards fc hh i
dismissing an electronics expert and a charwoman. Th ty
The NA
pais, mark of a loyalty case may be that it
to the Loyalty Review Board, which does not have
ecu curity jurisdiction. Critics have called for a sharper
description of sensitive positions and for a refinement.of
secu ity standards, but the overlap exists, so that the main
a roblems persisting after five years are usually common
to both security and loyalty cases.
_ These problems, as they affect the fairness of the pro-
gre ams and thus, both directly and indirectly, the civil
liberties of government employees, are fairly well
known, One way of listing them, as The Nation (May
1 7, 1952) and others have done, is in terms of the devi-
ations of loyalty cases from what would be considered
constitutional rights in a judicial trial.
In this piece I shall not discuss, how close to a judi-
cial trial these proceedings ought to be; legally, there is
no present constitutional necessity for any resemblance,
n view of the Supreme Court’s failure to upset the deci-
sion of the Court of Appeals in the Dorothy Bailey case.
if we are to consider the effect of the program on the
ireedom of the employee to hold, voice, and act on un-
‘po pular opinions, three elements stand out: the lack of
any intelligible published standards, the consequences of
secrecy (these two are of course related), and the multi-
tude of apparently groundless cases,
TE A government employee is fired because there is a
| _teasonable doubt of his loyalty, everyone, including
the administrators of the program, agrees that the stigma
is overwhelming. But does the decision—as a matter of
underlying standards, not just the facts of the single case
—mean to imply that the victim is another Benedict
Arnold? Or only that he is not another Nathan Hale? If
we can take-at face value one of the definitions that have
been proffered by the chairman of the Loyalty Review
Board, Nathan Hales are called for. Mr. Hiram Bing-
ham, addressing the American Bar Association in 1951,
aid, “Where there is reasonable doubt as to whether an
individual will put his country above his personal inter-
, his employment constitutes a potential danger to the
ity of the government.”
- One can surmise that everyday administration is not
» exacting for if unswerving subordination of personal
Oo ) national interest were in fact the test, the executive
de partment would have been decimated, while the imag-
ination recoils at the hypothetical application of such a
a to the legislative branch. Indeed, there is more than
urmise that the standards in fact consist of a rather
'mechanical schedule of so much involvement with pro-
isctibed organizations and so many associations with sus-
ected individuals, |
| The present point, however, is not what the cases
‘wou Id show, but that it is settled policy for them to show
I bh t
une 28, 1952
“Constitutions must be defended by the wisdom and
fortitude of men. These qualities no constitution can
give. They are the gifts of God, and He alone knows
whether we shall possess such gifts at the time we
stand in need of them.”—Edmund Burke
nothing, except the final decision of the boards. Even
for internal use, opinions and findings are discouraged.
Though the facts of a number of celebrated cases have
been widely ventilated, mostly by Congressional curi-
osity, in literally only one case do we know what influ-
enced the departmental board (as it happened) to clear
and the Loyalty Review Board to dismiss, That was the
result of the State Department’s insistence on explaining
why when it was finally ordered to fire John Stewart
Service.
This secrecy is defended in the interests of security be-
cause of the counter-espionage elements that may be
present in some cases, or in the interest of protecting the
employee, of which more later. The failure to expound,
even in expurgated summaries, the meaning of the work
of the loyalty boards is thus part of the general pall of
security censorship that makes these cases so difficult to
defend. As is painfully familiar, the FBI and other in-
vestigative reports that form the basis for federal Joyalty-
security cases need not be disclosed to the respondent if
in the judgment of the investigators the security of their
operations would be prejudiced, and the source of re-
ports may be withheld even from the boards.
This policy has two major consequences. First, the
charges may be incomplete, Second, the presentation of
the defense is hampered by the inability to confront wit-
nesses and to know what the board may have up its
sleeve. These obstacles are not insuperable. The respond-
ent is not barred from guessing at what episodes in his
life lie behind the charges, and he is free to develop at
Jength what a good boy he is, in the hope that a shining
record of anti-communism (if he can prove one) will
either meet the lurking but unspecified accusations or
overbalance them. Further, there is said to have been a
marked improvement from the primitive and suspicious
beginnings of the programs. But however great the in-
genuity of employees and their counsel at divining that
a disgruntled landlady is at the root of it all, the burden
of defending a loyalty case is still exhausting. Even if a
successful defense led to a certificate of purity instead of
to further harassments, the difficulty of making it seems
certain to curb freedom of action.
The resolution of the security dilemma has so far
stumped the experts. Professor Zechariah Chafee, Jr.,
doughty battler though he is, accepts the proposition that
if all witnesses had to appear, “the operations of the
FBI would be crippled.” One of the great riddles of the
loyalty program is whether this concession is necessary.
645
"It is in partial recognition of the inadequacy of stand-
ards and the potential unfairness of decision, I suspect,
that the reviewing mechanism of the program has be-
come so elaborate. As Alan Barth says, several heads
are no better than one when they are acting on faulty
premises, but the troubled administrators seem to wel-
come the gamut of screening and appeals that, though it
may only multiply fallibility, at least spreads responsi-
bility for it. The Loyalty Review Board was probably de-
signed in part to take the heat off administrators, and it
served this function boldly, for example, in finding no
grounds for denying William Remington’s present loy-
alty at the time when he was under public attack.
F LATE, however, the board seems to conceive its
function to be turning on the heat. To substantiate
this view one need not resort to the pungent minutes of a
board meeting that someone leaked to Senator McCarthy
and that were never disowned. The 1951 shift in the
formal standards from the requirement that “reasonable
grounds exist for belief that the person involved is dis-
loyal” to the present rubric that requires dismissal if
“there is a reasonable doubt” was initiated by the board.
There have been a number of attempts, both official and
amateur, to define the difference between these formulas.
The best is probably that proposed at a recent meeting
of the American Society for Public Administration:
“Another turn of the screw.”
Besides turning the screw, the Loyalty Review Board
persists in a policy that to my mind is the worst defect of
the program, because, unlike the two already mentioned,
it could easily be corrected. That is its insistence on hav-
ing cases carried through to formal hearings, though the
statistics show that most of them should not be. To mini-
mize the effect of the program it is customary to point
out that fewer than 400 employees have been fired
(these figures, based on detailed tabulations, refer to the
loyalty program; no adequate data have been published
on the security cases), Walter Gellhorn and other acute
critics argue that this is not a boast but an indictment,
when it is compared to the number of adjudicated cases,
now about 10,000. That is, no more than 4 per cent
of the loyalty cases have resulted in “convictions.” The
defendants in the other 96 per cent have had the dubious
blessing of being cleared—until something else turns up
and proceedings start again. The board views the hear-
ings simply as an extension of the investigative process
and points to a supposedly beneficent kind of secrecy,
their confidential character. This is an illusory safeguard.
Aside from the suspicions aroused among neighbors and
others by a “full field investigation,” the defense of a
case, as former Attorney General Francis Biddle has
pointed out, requires the employee to enlist the aid of
his family, his friends, his associates. Total strangers
need know nothing about it.
646
me 4 i Seis a5
mee ‘si -
: ay . =
The chief impact oF tbe federal es yalty pre
come from the hearings and the threat of disn
rather than from sweeping purges. The search pity
loyalty has diminished the liberties of civil cee
three ways. First, there are the procedural shortcomings.
Second, an employee who has once been involved in a_
proceeding loses a good deal of his former freedom to
transfer to a different job, either outside or (capeciali
within the federal service. These effects are felt by those
who have got caught in the wheels. Third, and this a
fects millions rather than thousands, it seems certain ,
that a program of “thought surveillance’ operates .
twist the political and social thought and action of any- «
one who is or may want to be a federal employee. A job
applicant, by the way, may never even get to the hearing —
stage. If the personnel officer thinks the record might —
lead to a hearing, the prudent course is to find the appli- —
cant “unsuitable.” Vy
ae
4g
39 5
; :
HE effects of the program on the morale and inde-
pendence of government employees, of which we
have had many impressionistic reports, are now receiving —
experimental verification. Marie Jahoda and Stuart Cook —
of New York University have made a preliminary study —
based on seventy extensive interviews, the results of
which were published in the March issue of the Yale ©
Law Journal. It seems likely that a wider survey would —
produce further evidence that the threat of loyalty or |
security proceedings has made federal employees less —
willing to read, to criticize, to join civic groups, and, —
what is most depressing, to trust their fellows. 4 |
For what have we paid this price? The goal of all ihe
programs is supposed to be to strengthen national se-
curity. It is ostrich-like to deny that spies and saboteurs 9
exist and that the government must make strenuous ef- 9}!
forts to frustrate them. But we have chosen a terrifying
device. No one, I think, claims that the loyalty ss
have caught a single spy. d
Political tests have so far been applied to ciscieieeeeae
the liberties of government employees with a Communist J"!
record or with a radical record that, any time in the last E
generation, could easily be smirched by Communist asso- q
ciations. But there is nothing to prevent the Communist —
smear from being spread thinner and thinner. Finally —
it may represent only a token allegation whenever a_
majority, or a resolute minority, is bold enough and - ploy
illiberal enough to take hold of the existing loyalty ma- ps
chinery and use it without restraint against its opponents. ag
The djinn is out of the bottle. %2,
Some people still look to the courts to rub their lamp "0h
and dispel the monster. The judicial record to date on
the issues should dispel the hope. Fear of communism, —
or, as Arthur Sutherland has shrewdly suggested, anger
at communism, has provided the driving force for these
programs. One can only hope that it will abate before we |
The NATION:
AR} AY
Fra
§a
- modest nei the Civil Service Commis-
or legislative assistance illustrates this last point.
ere has been a long and obscure struggle within the
yyernment over the control of the hiring and firing of
hearing examiners. The Administrative Procedure Act
of 1946 confirmed their quasi-judicial status and pro-
“HERE are those who say that the effect of the
witch hunt on the learned professions, the schools,
the churches, the universities, the courts, and the insti-
tutions which concern themselves with things of the
spirit and intellect may be even more serious in the long
tun than on the labor movement. That may be true,
I but if the iti movement is destroyed, there will be no
“Jong tun.” It is important, moreover, for professional
and academic people to understand that the organized-
labor movement stands between them and the abyss of
‘complete conformity and spurious scholarship, if only
through sheer weight of numbers, its strategic position,
and its traditional concern for civil liberties and the gen-
e sal welfare.
| What i is the proof of these statements? Simply this:
t e employer groups who are behind the Taft-Hartley,
Smith, and McCarran acts, the new anti-labor proposals
in Be scress, the assault on minimum-wage laws, the
witch hunts qn all levels and in all segments of society are
not interested in ideologies or abstruse theories. No high
principles, for example, prevent them from granting the
engi shop to one union on Monday and withholding it
from another on Tuesday.
| Their attack on the labor movement, using the witch
hunt to divide and confuse it, is right out of the adding
fen machine. If their calculations had shown them in 1945
th at by continuing the labor practices of the New Deal
¢ would have been able to increase net profits, life in
A! metica would have been very different these last few
years. But the adding machine told them that if labor
in pict its relative and absolute economic position,
p rofits and dividends would shrink. And if, as they
th ought in 1945, and are beginning to think again in
i" 1952, a depression is on its way, there will have to be a
/concentrated drive to weaken the bargaining power of
a
|ARTHUR EGGLESTON served as labor reporter for the
vides that they can be removed only “for good cause.”
_ The commission would like Congress, please, to relax
this requirement. It has had loyalty complaints about
some of the examiners, but its hands are tied. Why?
Because of some troublesome constitutional rights.
“Good cause” means that hearing examiners are entitled
to due process of law.
Labor and Civil Liberties
BY ARTHUR EGGLESTON
labor—to prepare for wage cuts, mass lay-offs, and the
speed-up.
From 1945 on it has been war—against all labor or-
ganizations, No matter how ‘‘anti-Communist” the union
and its leaders may be, no matter how actively they sup-
port the defense program or the Administration, when
it comes to cents-per-hour, contract benefits, and labor’s
rights to an equal voice in determining wages and condi-
tions, the war is against all unions. Effective unions and
Ieaders can never “purge” themselves unless they allow
themselves to be captured, neutralized, or destroyed.
The witch hunt is a tested device. The first recorded
use of the “foreign-agent” theory of labor troubles was in
Boston in the 1820's. Carpenters struck for the ten-hour
day. The master-employers could not believe “this project
to have originated with any of the faithful and indus-
trious Sons of New England, but are compelled to con-
sider it an evil of foreign growth.”
So it is today, Under the guise of rooting out “foreign
agents,” the drive got under way in 1947 with the loyalty
“purge” of government employees a year after the United
tates Chamber of Commerce suggested that this might
be necessary, Then came the Chamber’s demand for pub-
lication of a list of “Communist-controlled front organi-
zations and Jabor unions’”—a suggestion now being
seriously considered by the labor-management subcom-
mittee of the Senate Labor and Public Welfare Commit-
tee. But the real drive was foreshadowed in a report of
the Chamber early in 1947 on Communists within the
labor movement, which predicted: “It is probable that
the Eightieth Congress will modify the Wagner act so
that employers can work more effectively and without
fear of law violation with American-minded employees
in opposing Communists within the labor movement.”
Congress got the point immediately and in June, 1947,
passed the Taft-Hartley act.
So the witch hunt, which began with “foreign agents,”
is being extended to cover liberals of all shades of eco-
nomic and political belief. Those who do not conform
must be barred from factories, business offices, schools,
colleges, government, the entertainment world—in short,
647,
from their jobs. The Chamber of Commerce is behind
this suggestion, too.
Congress is acting promptly. The Senate labor-manage-
ment subcommittee, headed by Hubert Humphrey, is
considering the best methods of “ridding unions of Com-
munist-domination,” without, as Secretary of Labor
Tobin puts it, “injecting the government too far into the
regulation of the internal affairs of unions.” It is getting
helpful advice on how to deprive members of accused
unions of their jobs. James B. Carey, head of the C. I. O.
International Union of Electrical Workers, which is
fighting one of the independent left-wing unions, the
United Electrical, Radio, and Machine Workers, does not
favor new legislation to bar Communists from union
offices. But he likes the method used by the Atomic
Energy Commission, which simply refused to allow com-
panies working on its materials and supplies to deal with
the U. E. This method, it seems clear, could easily be
used by other government procurement agencies.
HIS is not an isolated case. Albert Epstein, a labor
economist, told the Humphrey Committee: “The
problem of civil liberties is not involved since it is
already public policy to disestablish company-dominated
unions and one could hardly contend that a Communist-
dominated union should enjoy any more privileges than
are allowed to a company-dominated union. It is clear
that we are dealing in an area where government inter-
vention is accepted and proper.”
Members of a union choose their officers; employers
impose both leaders and union on employees in the case
of company-dominated unions. There is no similarity
between the two situations, Neither the Communist nor
the Republican Party imposes Harry Bridges on the
International Longshoremen’s and Warehousemen’s
Union. The members elect him by secret ballot and
can remove him at any time by recall proceedings which
can be instituted by only 20 per cent of the members.
Yet the National Labor Relations Board told the
Humphrey Committee that since the C. I. O. Steel Work-
ers have barred Communists from holding office, Con-
gress can bar Communists from holding union office. No
doubt the board would argue that because the C. I. O.
convention expelled a number of unions, Congress can
expel a number of unions from the C. I. O.
Benjamin C. Sigal, attorney, wants government pro-
curement agencies to set up tripartite boards to investi-
gate charges of communism against unions and leaders
and withhold contracts from firms which continue to
deal with unions found to be dominated by Commu-
nists. Sigal, who has represented a number of unions,
including the United Shoe Workers, recently learned
. what it was like to be on the receiving end of the witch
hunt. He and John Brophy, C. I. O. members of the
Wage Stabilization Board, were “Red-baited” by Rep-
648
_ Strong stand which Hugo Ernst, general president of the
_ of democratic ideals.”
Lee
Yj aay re a Se
yeschtative Richard B. Wail st a Seceiaaie ic heaie ring 0
the House Labor Committee, as the dutta
without objection and the other committeemen, inchue
some “‘friends of labor,’ maintained an embarrassec
silence. Both men, of course, denied the chategia So |
goes. The purgers are purged and then the purgers of the
purgers are purged. :
O THESE examples indicate that division and con <.!
fusion have gone so far that labor leaders have
lost their grip on reality? No. A number of sane voices
are raised now and then in protest, and if the trend ob=
servable in recent conventions is an indication, the hey
day of the witch hunt in the labor movement is over.
An outstanding recent instance of this trend was the
A. F. of L. Hotel and Restaurant Employees and Bz m
tenders International Union, took in defense of Abram
Flaxer’s refusal to turn over membership lists of ‘the
United Public Workers to the McCarran Committee,
Ernst did this because, he said, “if we don’t rise up °
defend ourselves against these violations of our basic
rights, we are certain in the end to pay heavily for
precedents now being set at the expense of the ‘untouch-
ables.’ He cited, too, with approval the protest mad
by Charles MacGowan, president of the A. F. of L.
Boilermakers Union, and Dan Tobin, president of the
A. F. of L. Teamsters, against the Supreme Court deci-
sion upholding a Taft-Hartley act $750,000 damage suit
against the I, L. W. U. Both leaders are ultra-conserva:
tive, but as MacGowan said, the fact that the union in-
volved was considered to be “Communist-led does not
change the fact that if they can legally do it to that
organization, they can likewise impose it on the mo: ty
conservative labor organization.” :
A few sane voices were raised, too, before the
Humphrey Committee recently. Joseph Curran, president
of the C. I. O. National Maritime Union, bluntly told
the committee: “Unions in a free country should be per-
mitted to take their own action to keep their house in
otder. Repressive legislation cannot help. There already
exists enough law to protect our country against treason,
etc. Committees should examine into the questions on
which Communists thrive, discrimination, slums, and
so forth, with a view to helping to stamp out violations
William Green, president of the A. F. of L., also op-
posed legislation to deal with Communists in the ae
movement. Let the movement handle the problem, hi
said, “It would be extremely difficult,” he told the com-
mittee, “to prove that members in a labor union are Com-
munists, to establish beyond peradventure of a doubt that it
members of a labor union or those who are members and lh
dominate a labor union are Communists.”
Philip Murray, president of the C, I. O. and of the
The Natio N
; pers
oe .
te < eee
Workers, termed the committee's pelea
Das stirs which would intervene in trade-union
“unnecessary and unwise.” He said:
a basic philosophy, we in the C, I. O. believe that
right of American workers to choose their own col-
ive-bargaining representatives is as fundamental to
our democratic way of life as the right to speak, to wor-
ag p, and to assemble freely with one’s fellow-men.
Encroachments upon this fundamental right to choose
co ollective-bargaining representatives should never be un-
dertaken except after a showing that such encroach-
ments are vitally necessary to our national safety. We do
not believe any such showing has been made. We be-
lieve that if the government undertakes to determine
‘What unions can represent workers in this country, it
will have embarked upon the long trail toward govern-
“ment control of unions.
J. B. S. Hardman, veteran labor editor, warned the
Humphrey Committee, “not many will buy anti-unionism
dis “caleging as anti-communism—nor will union members
cept ineffectual union leadership mately. because it is
attired in anti-Communist battle dress.” “Unions,” he
added, “do not seem to respond easily to compulsion.
I Legislation, and likewise the courts, proved unable to
check unionism when that was the objective in the early
days of the Republic. They succeeded only in making
union advance painful, halting, and more costly.” That
is a delightful reminder to the labor movement, which
sometimes becomes pessimistic, and to its attackers, who
ate somtimes too optimistic, that the movement has more
vitality than appears on the surface.
Of all the testimony concerning the latest phase of the
witch hunt against labor which was introduced before the
oe Committee, the most revealing was given by
. R. Boulware, vice-president of General Electric, and
swilym A. Price, president of Westinghouse. These
were not off-the-cuff statements, but formal responses of
two key industrial executives to a policy question posed
y the committee. Boulware is one of the newer mili-
: nt and surprisingly frank industrialists who have to
deal with labor organizations but don’t like them and
+ don’t pretend that they do. He starts off by saying: “Con-
cern for the national security in this area [ presumably
electrical manufacturing} involves necessarily the con-
side ation of some possible limitation on free choice of
ih re sresentatives by employees.” He wants Congress to use
its full powers to hunt Communists out of labor
unions, to identify and expose them, to place Communist.
h dominated unions on ‘“‘subversive”’ lfsts and thus remove
the possibility that strikes for “political” purposes will be
cal led, But here is his dilemma:
In practice, however, it is not only difficult to de-
termine what strikes are “political,” but we would
hardly feel justified in identifying unions as being Com-
ie pease Aominated merely because they call or support
2 28, 1952
strikes in defense plants, Certainly in the present de-
fense period, the various anti-Communist or right-wing
unions are at least neck and neck with any left-wing
unions—publicly suspected of subversive tendencies or
dangers—in their threatened or actual interruption of
critical defense production in our own atomic, steel,
electronics, and aircraft plants.
Our own actual day-to-day negotiations and other
such governmentally compelled relationships have not
provided us with any conclusive evidence for our re-
liably and authoritatively determining that one or more
of these unions were in actual fact under Communist
domination. In certain anti-Communist unions, we so
often find ourselves dealing with substantially the
same leaders in a new role who only yesterday and for
years past were in the camp they now denounce.
Now it comes! How lasting is conversion? What does
it profit a right-winger if he used to be a left-winger?
And how do you tell whether he’s a right- winger who
used to be a left-winger or a left- "winger posing as a
right-winger? “It is our impression,” says Boulware,
“that the employees and the country at large are entitled
to know authoritatively who are the leaders who have
shifted for reasons of internal union expediency or,
more important, who are agents of new infiltration of
the reformed group.”
And then he levels on the whole basis of the witch
hunt without realizing that he is giving the show away:
One of the criteria we hear most frequently urged—
for use as positive proof of Communist Party member-
ship or other such dangerous association—is sworn testi-
mony before the Un-American Activities Committee or
other Congressional committees. But we have never been
able to convince ourselves that we could determine what
unions or individuals were Communists merely upon
the existence of such testimony, for the reason that we
did not believe that we were qualified to determine the
. trustworthiness of the individuals who testified.
It seems to us to be obvious that individual employers
such as we, cannot and should not make the determina-
tion as to what unions are led by Communists even on
the basis of sworn testimony, for the reason that some
of those union leaders who are now most avowedly anti-
Communist have, in fact, been identified by testimony
under oath as having been at one time members of the
Communist Party. For example, there is testimony un-
der oath before the House Un-American Activities Com-
mittee in October, 1939, that Mr. James B. Carey,
secretary of the C, I. O. and now president of the Inter-
national Union of Electrical, Radio, and Machine Work-
ers (C. I. O.), who is quite vocally opposed to
communism and Communists, was a member of the
Communist Party. From anything we know, we should
think that such a statement was inaccurate in the extreme.
Obviously anti-communism, no matter how loud, is
not enough. If you still continue to represent a union
which presses for increased wages, benefits, pensions,
649
JP pS
aS
Next in importance to personal freedom is immunity
from suspicions and jealous observation. Men may .be
without restraints upon their liberty; they may pass to
and fro at pleasure: but if their steps are tracked by
spies and informers, their words noted down for
crimination, their associates watched as conspirators,
who shall say that they are free? . . . The freedom of
a country may be measured by its immunity from
{espionage}. Rulers who distrust their own people
must govern in a spirit of absolutism; and suspected
subjects will be ever sensible of their bondage—May’s
“Constitutional History of England.”
seniority—for all the things that interfere with an em-
ployer’s unilateral determination of his workers’ wages
and conditions—you’re from the other side of the rail-
road tracks. Incidentally, Mr. Boulware, who wants the
government to prepare blacklists and void union elec-
tions, gives as support for his recommendation his view
that the left-wing unions were expelled, “not because
they were found to constitute a danger or threat to the
country, but chiefly because they had refused to follow
the political and other policies which had been adopted
and endorsed by the C. I. O.”
Mr, Price, head of Westinghouse, doesn’t express as
many doubts about what to do as Boulware does. He has
a sort of “germ theory” to apply to labor leadership:
“Active participation by an individual in the affairs of a
union found to be Communist-dominated should create
a presumption that the individual is a Communist sup-
porter, and that presumption should taint other labor
Organizations with which the individual becomes as-
sociated. . . . The active participants in the affairs of
Communist-dominated unions should bear that stigma
with them wherever they go.” But sometimes Commu-
nists deliberately refrain from taking office so they can
operate under cover. Or they actively oppose the union
leadership. Therefore, government must investigate
everybody in the union, officials and members. And any
“interested party,” including employers and rival unions,
should be able to initiate investigations of individuals
and should be free from libel and slander charges. In
addition, employers should be permitted to suspend in-
dividuals whom the employer has accused.
Well then, what are the witch-hunters up to? Are they
worried about Communists and foreign agents or are they
wotried about so many cents per hour, vacations with
pay, pension plans, and the like? Listen to Mr. Boulware.
Recently he testified that the attitude of several anti-
Communist unions in wage negotiations with General
Electric “‘is just as much help to Joe [Stalin] as if these
union officials were, in fact, Communist agents.” And
to which unions was he referring? The conservative and
anti-Communist A. F. of L. International Association of
Machinists, the anti-Communist C, I. O. United Auto-
650
proceedings of this type.
iN ae! ae 08 may eRe
7 Ep vie eh
mobile Workers, the suit Caen Fo
national Brotherhood of Electrical Workers,
anti-Communist C. I. O. International Union of J Bled
cal Workers. What price the witch hunt?
All these attacks are hopeful signs that the n mas
will soon be ripped off, that the labor movement r
cease to be confused and divided into warring -ctio
which destroy one another. Recent conventions represet
ing nearly three million workers spoke out strong!
against the Smith, McCarran, and Taft-Hartley ac
against the McCarran immigration act, against attacks 0
minimum wages, and against attacks on civil libertie
Frank Rosenblum, vice-president of the C. I. O. Ama
gamated Clothing Workers, declares that these mea re
have “created, in effect, a parallel legal system supersed.
ing the Bill of Rights, the Constitution, and our tradi
tional body of law... .” .
HERE are other equally hopeful indications tha
opposition to the witch hunt with its “parallel
system of law is mounting. Under a Presidential Exec
utive Order of October 12, 1950, the Coast Guard
has been screening the nation’s waterfronts and ships
At first the longshoremen and seamen accepted th
screening in good faith as a necessary part of what was
termed a “port-security program.” But evidence has been
growing that it is being used to bar from the docks men
with militant trade-union backgrounds, .
The contention of the maritime workers who hay
been “screened” off the docks and the ships—and out of
their jobs—that the Coast Guard has failed to obser ve
due process in its investigation was recently ages by
Federal Judge John C. Bowen in Seattle. In a decis
which is destined, perhaps, to become an important teal le .
union and civil-liberties precedent, Judge Bowen ruled
that “the loyalty-screening proceedings .. . violate €
due-process-of-law requirement [of the ‘Conistiegt 0 n)
because the defendants are not advised of the nature
of the disloyalty charges against them and fare not]
given a hearing on those charges before adverse findings § “
are made.” This, in effect, is the decision which | Md
United States Supreme Court avoided making in its 4-49) ™y
split on the Dorothy Bailey case last year. If upheld, P
Judge Bowen’s ruling will put an end to star-chamber 9 %3¥
The words of a longshoreman who was screened out
of a flour mill by the Coast Guard—not off the ships "lr
or the docks but out of a flour mill—are worth record-9 Sit
ing. After pointing out that screening as practiced by . ae
Coast Guard has been a thought-control and black
listing device, this man remarked: “The real solutic ong
lies with the labor movement and with the people ing“:
general. It is traditional in America for people to come
to the aid of anyone who i is being mistreated—once they
realize what is going on.’ eh
The NA c D !he
{HE past few years have witnessed an anomalous
s _ development in the struggle to safeguard human
freedoms. Some progress has been noted in the effort
0 extend civil rights, but serious setbacks have occurred
n 1 almost evety category of civil liberties. The more
bvi ous this paradox has become, the greater has been
the stress placed on the distinction between civil rights
and civil liberties—as though it somehow explained the
paradox,
_ The distinction has, of course, some historical basis.
Since the passage of the original federal civil-rights act,
tights which stem from legislation aimed at preventing
disctimination on account of race, creed, or color have
been called “civil rights,” whereas the basic liberties are
those previously sanctioned by the Bill of Rights. Though
historically valid, the distinction has been used to create
tected, when in fact the opposite is true.
Recent events explain the emphasis now placed on
the distinction. When President Truman presented his
civil-tights program to Congress on February 3, 1948,
ios it on the report of his Committee on Civil
Rights, he created an issue that was a major factor in his
election that fail. But by then the cold war had begun to
ma e serious inroads on civil liberties. Even earlier, in
fact (March 22, 1947), the President had signed the
executive order creating the federal loyalty program; and
it was not long before a marked change was noted in the
climate of national opinion, The freedom of public
debate and minority dissent which had been allowed
with few restraints in the war years began to be sharply
dartailed. For exainple, many outstanding radio com-
mentators with a liberal point of view who had won large
audiences during the war found that the networks now
had no place for them, and thé radio time of the few
that were retained was reduced to an insignificant mini-
mum. It also became clear that the people were accept-
) ing without question the slanted opinion dealt out to
: a them.
_ At first the inconsistency of distinguishing between
“| civil rights and civil liberties remained unnoted. The
yo i “great ferment of the war years about human rights
seemed to carry into the post-war period. The cold
war even appeared to add impetus to the movement for
¥ vil rights. We could hardly continue, many hopefully
7 +b lieved, to sanction racial discrimination at home while
| : b idding for world leadership abroad. But by the end of
1949 disturbing signs had appeared. The joint report on
: civil rights issued by the National Association for the
the impression that human rights are adequately pro--
BY CAREY McWILLIAMS
Advancement of Colored People and the American
Jewish Congress for that year called attention to
“an ominously increasing recourse to violence by groups
intent on maintaining existing discriminatory and racist
standards. . . . The opposition to racial equality was able
to stymie the federal civil-rights program in the United
States Congress so that not a single civil-rights measure
was enacted.”
In 1949, it will be recalled, occurred the savage
Peekskill riots, which began as an “anti-Communist”
demonstration but quickly became the occasion for the
manifestation of extreme hostility not only to Negroes
but also to Jews. Compelling evidence of the same trend
may be found in the killing of two unarmed Negroes in
Westchester County, New York, by a retired Yonkers
policeman and his recent acquittal by an all-white
jury. The year 1949 also witnessed the Peoria Street
riots in Chicago, which lasted off and on for five
days, and the week-long violence in Groveland, Florida,
over the alleged rape of a white girl by four Negro
youths. Reports of the N. A. A. C. P. and A. J. C, refer
to thirty-four Negroes killed in 1949 while “in the cus-
tody of the police,’’ to forty-one cases in which Negroes
were injured by mobs, to forty-two acts of anti-Semitic
violence, and to scores of attacks on Negroes who sought
better housing in Chicago, Atlanta, Richmond, Chatta-
nooga, Nashville, Birmingham, and Washington.
HE trend continued the following year. According
to the joint report of the N. A. A. C. P. and the
A. J. C., “after fighting broke out in Korea, the civil-
rights issue rapidly lost ground. It failed to figure ia the
election of 1950 to anything like the extent it did in
1948.” Moreover, “the Eighty-first Congress, which came
to office in an election generally regarded as a clear-cut
victory for the civil-rights program, belied the promises
of both the Democratic and Republican 1948 platforms
by failing to enact any major civil-rights measure. The
civil-rights issue was no more than a political football.”
At the same time the outrageous attack on the appoint-
ment of Mrs. Anna M. Rosenberg as Assistant Secretary
of Defense indicated how anti-Semites had begun to use
the “anti-Communist” sentiment generated by the witch
hunt for their own ends.
By 1951 the full impact of the witch hunt on the
struggle for civil rights had become apparent. The mur-
der of the Florida N. A. A. C. P. leader Harry Moore
and his wife, the Cicero housing riot, and a succession
of dynamite bombings in Miami designed to terrorize
651
Negroes, Jews, and Catholics were a few of many symp-
toms of the increased tension. In 1951 at least 131 cases
of police brutality involving members of minority groups
were reported, and 33 Negroes were killed “while in the
custody of the police.” While the number of lynchings
declined in the post-war years, the night-time dynamite
bombings greatly increased. Thoughtful citizens could
only conclude that the reason for the decrease in the
lynching rate was that mobs no longer needed to lynch
Negroes—the police killed them “by due process of law.”
“More disturbing than the resort to violence itself,”
reads the joint report of the two organizations for 1951,
“was the apparent unwillingness or inability of organized
government to deal with it... . This increasing spread of
lawlessness and the use of brutality have consequences
far beyond the struggle for civil rights. Human freedom
is indivisible, and we cannot advance on one sector of the
struggle while we retreat or are forced back in another.
The social atmosphere of the past few years has been
surcharged with political emotion and, too frequently,
with panic.”
In an attempt to identify the causes of the retrogres-
sion noted the same report states:
The excesses of many of the loyalty investigations and
the unreasonable character of much of the federal and
state security legislation have intensified the tendency
to identify support of unpopular or controversial causes
with subversion. The blacklisting, official or otherwise,
of persons suspected of unorthodox opinions or asso-
ciations has had an intimidating effect. Opposition to
segregation or discrimination has too frequently been
cited as an indication of disloyalty or unreliability.
Thus .. . many persons have refrained or withdrawn
from active participation in or identification with the
cause of civil rights,
The direct effect of the loyalty program on the strug-
gle for civil rights is clearly shown in the accounts of
loyalty hearings. For example, among the questions asked
to determine loyalty have been these: “Did you ever
write a letter to the Red Cross about the segregation of
blood?” “Do your convictions about equal rights for
all races and classes extend slightly beyond the normal
feelings of the average individual?” One Loyalty Board
member said: “Of course the fact that a person believes
in racial equality doesn’t prove that he’s a Communist,
but it certainly makes you look twice, doesn’t it? You
can’t get away from the fact that racial equality is part
of the Communist line.” And members have asked: “Do
you associate with Negroes? Do you invite Negroes to
your home?”
This “fear of the smear” has today become a major
deterrent to participation in committees concerned with
cases involving civil rights. The knowledge that federal
employees, despite civil-service status, have lost their
jobs because they contributed to the Scottsboro defense
652
— bh s Ps r faa
pan aay a ale ne ret vt
fifteen years ago, his effectively 'p ed the imp
to make similar contributions today, Ca
The “smear” has also a reverse application. W Whet
extreme left-wing elements have displayed an interes' ;
a particular civil-rights case, liberals have shied aw
On the other hand, when liberals have taken the initia tive
and organized a defense committee, they have frequen
been so fastidious about their associates and so concerne
with keeping their committees or picket lines “pure
that little else has been accomplished,
The consequences of this disgraceful internecine feud
ing have been tragic. Witness the outcome of the niet
causes célébres in the past half-dozen years: Willie Mc-
Gee, the Martinsville seven, the Trenton six, the Grove-
land case, the Cicero riots, the Cairo bombings, and the
murder of Harry Moore. In the Groveland and Moore
cases, where the facts were especially shocking, the spon-
sorship of the protest was impeccable, but no national
of international action of significant proportions hi
been organized after six months, and neither the ta te
nor the federal government has announced any clue to
the identity of the perpetrators of the Moore bombings.
a4
al
HE failure to break through the divisive walls of
eerie and partisanship is not to be explained
solely in terms of the sins and shortcomings of the left-
ists. Sooner or later the advocacy of civil rights was bound
to reach a point where it ceased to be intellectually
fashionable. Even now the struggle is being conducted
on the assumption that full equality can be won for
minorities without substantial changes in the political
and economic status quo. But it is impossible to achieve
fair employment practices without at the same time being
seriously concerned about full employment. Nor an yi
segregation be abolished in the public schools of the re
South without a great expansion of existing school facili-
ties. Paradoxically, the so-called progress that has been
made in civil rights has contributed to the impasse we
now face. It is one thing to have brought about the d-
mission of a few Negro students to a state-supported
law school; but a new problem arises when we attem
to use this precedent to compel admission of Negro
students on a non-segregated basis to the public graded Wh
schools of a state. The Clarendon County, South Caro- hia
lina, decision is a case in point.
The present impasse in the struggle to enact a civil
rights program has become a source of acute embarrass- - |
ment to those who conduct American foreign policy. ah
Every act of racial violence undermines the prestige of
the United States. Not only do our spokesmen at the
United Nations find it difficult to offset the damage, b ut
the same forces that block the civil-rights prognaes .
Congress intimidate those who protest before the U.
Under the lash of McCarthyism many formerly saieal t a 0D
American spokesmen now hesitate to support human-
O
or initiated. At the same time the Adminis-
on has increasingly sought to use minority spokes-
-American Negroes, for example—to explain
tic Jim Crow practices and defend American
| policies. To the extent that minority representa-
s have cooperated in this endeavor, minority protest
inst discrimination has been weakened in the United
“Since 1949 it has indeed become increasingly clear
hat the civil-rights program cannot be enacted as long
s the witch hunt goes on. It is folly to think that any
1 major civil-rights legislation can be enacted by a Con-
ress that has approved the McCarran immigration act.
On 1 the other hand, the moment the demand for full
civil equality begins to find expression in independent
political action, the struggle for civil rights will become
one with the struggle to maintain civil liberties. At this
point the protagonists of civil rights will either be
ae as Reds or threatened with legal action as dis-
turbers of the peace. For example, just as in Chicago
the first indictments in the Cicero housing riots were re-
turned not against the rioters but against those re-
sponsible for the presence of a Negro tenant in the
ie A PICTURE of what has happened to educational
freedom in the period of general reaction since the
death of President Roosevelt can best be seen in per-
spective. From the earliest days of public education
communities have often made special demands on their
sachers: church attendance, Sunday School teaching,
| Ealibacy, no dancing, no smoking, no card playing, no
drinking, no cosmetics or bobbed hair. There have been
epidemics of loyalty laws during or after each major
wat—1862-67, 1919-23, as well as since 1945. The
depression decade, 1929-39, intensified both the criticism
of our social order and the consequent curbs on such
utterances. Almost every convention of teachers was then
discussing issues which today would be regarded by even
| the leading academic organizations as dangerously sub-
versive. But at the same time restraints and attacks on
| educational freedom were multiplying.
_ Attacks on schools, curbs on teachers, and purges
! of texts are an old story. But during the past half
do en years, as the social pendulum has swung to the
| GOODWIN WATSON is a member of the faculty of
Teachers College, Columbia University.
project, so in Cairo, Illinois, the leaders of the movement
to eliminate a Jim Crow school were indicted. That both
indictments were later dismissed is of secondary im-
portance.
Civil liberties and civil rights are not separable. One
cannot be achieved while the other is denied. Indeed, the
most important item on the agenda of organizations con-
cerned with civil rights should now be to bring the witch
hunt to a speedy end. This is not to say that in the
field of civil rights token concessions will not be granted;
they may in fact be granted as a means of dividing the
forces which if united might terminate the witch hunt.
But any concessions granted by the witch hunters will be
subject to the implied condition that minority groups
continue to talk about civil rights, not civil liberties, and
agree to support the cold war.
In short, the witch hunt threatens to retard the
movement for both civil rights and civil liberties for a
long time unless there is early and widespread realization,
particularly among minority groups, of the truth pointed
out by Walter White, executive secretary of the
N. A. A.C. P., and David Petergorsky, executive director
of the American Jewish Congress, that “human freedom +
is indivisible.”
be Public Schools Retreat from Freedom
BY GOODWIN WATSON
right throughout the Western or “free” world, there
have been five significant changes in the nature of the
problem of preserving educational freedom.
1. Established policy.
The sporadic incidents of repression which occurred
during the New Deal and earlier have become organized
and accepted public policy. Restraints once limited to
certain localities are now the law of the land.
The number of states. with one or more laws designed
to assure teacher “‘loyalty’” and freedom from “‘sub-
versive” tendencies has grown to thirty-three. Twenty-
six now require “‘oaths,’’ despite increasing evidence
that such tests of orthodoxy are worthless as security
measures. Massachusetts has required a loyalty oath since
1935; only three employees have refused to sign and
they were all conscientious persons of undoubted loyalty.
Opposition to the oath requirement at the University of
California was headed by Edward Tolman, a psycholo-
gist of unimpeachable character and patriotism who well
merited the honorary degree Yale gave him in recogni-
tion of his leadership in the cause of freedom.
Maryland’s Ober law, enacted in 1949, is one of the
653
j
most sweeping efforts to curb “subversives”: to become
or to remain a member of a subversive organization is
a felony; the public schools must bar from employment
anyone who “aids, ... advises, or teaches by any nieans
any person . . . to overthrow, destroy, or alter . . . the
constitutional form of the Government of the United
States or of the State of Maryland . . . by revolution,
force, or violence, or who is a member of a subversive
organization.” Pennsylvania's Pechan act, like the Ober
law, requires that all public employees sign an oath. Here
again the few “‘screened” by the oath test turned out
to be highly valued and respected public servants.
The Feinberg law enacted in New York calls upon
the Regents to promulgate a list of subversive organ-
izations and requires dismissal of any teacher who
belongs to them. When the Supreme Court sustained
this law in February, 1952, John O'Donnell exultingly
proclaimed in his column in the New York Daily News,
“Guilt by association is now the law of the land.” In
his dissenting minority report Justice Douglas warned:
“The law inevitably turns the school system into a spy-
ing project. . . . The principals become detectives; the
students, the parents, the community become informers.
. - It produces standardized thought, not the pursuit
of truth.”
Even before the Feinberg law was upheld, New
York’s Superintendent of Schools William Jansen had
used his power to remove teachers for “misbehavior and
unfitness” and to suspend on charge of “insubordination”
and “conduct unbecoming a teacher’’ those who resisted
his inquiries into their past political affiliations, their
attendance at meetings, their contributions, their friends,
and their libraries. Teachers with a record of many years
- of excellent service were i teceel * pct
era) Vern — “ a
' oe rhs a.
offered few legal safeguards for the suspects aod"
unrelated to anything they were alleged to an
or done in the classroom or with their students. im
actions have been-reported from Philadelphia; Silve
Spring and Chevy Chase, Maryland; Arlington, Virgin
Honolulu, T. H., and other cities. 4
What has been the effect of bans against Commun ist
upon the freedom of non-Communist teachers? This is
a critical question with far-reaching implications. One
faction holds that successful attacks on Communists e
courage reactionaries to make more vigorous otal
upon the next group: “fellow-travelers,” “Socialists,”
“pinks,” “progressives,” “New Dealers,” “liberals,” and
finally anyone who opposes McCarthyism, Another
holds that once the real (é.e., “Commie”) subversives
are ousted, a better and stronger defense can be made
for the freedom of the remaining teachers. The co
of events seems to support the first thesis. The ba
to remove the tiny number of Communist teachers has
been pretty well won but the furor is not subsiding. The
post-war witch hunt is seeking more victims, Ele anor
Dushane was suspended in Buffalo (later reinstated by
court action) on charges the gravest of which was an-
nouncing to her class a lecture by Max Lerner. Mobs
demonstrated in Gregg Township, Indiana, against
School Principal William Lewis and forced him out of
his job, although his refusal to salute the flag (he stood
at attention while pupils saluted) stemmed not from
communism but from his religious beliefs. The two
teachers, Eugene Leroy Mercer, Jr., and Paul W. Gould-
ing, dropped on April 1, 1952, for refusal to sign the
Pennsylvania oath were Quakers and neither had
been charged with any Communist connections. None of 7
the Pasadena board members who fired Superintenden
Willard Goslin really believed that he was then or
had ever been a member of the Communist Party or
any other group committed to violent overthrow of the
government. Frederick G. Cartwright’s attempt to fi
five Englewood teachers was not based on evidence that
these teachers were or had been party members. Similar
attacks in Port Washington, New York; San Ane
Texas; Ferndale, Michigan; Montgomery County, M: ite ie
land; Arlington, Virginia; and Denver, Colorado, were
aimed- not at Communists but at persons vaguely called pion
“subversive. ” a
John T. Flynn’s tirade in the Reader's Digest attacked
educators who have been as vehemently anti-Commun fi hea
as he is. When the National Society of Sons of the ent ny
American Revolution declares that “subversive textbooks "hi
are in general use in the public schools of most of the
states,” it does not mean that these books are instruments Yu
of the Communist Party; it means only that its spokes- Bets 20
man finds passages which he considers radical. Dr. Cor- |}
liss Lamont reported recently (New York Times, April
The Natic 1 v Hine 1g
i
tt had been repri-
her teacher pl quoting in her paper on
foreign policy a statement by that famous old
ve Herbert Hoover. The evidence that present
spread beyond the debatable “Communist” issue is
helming.
Subsidized attacks.
A second development of the past seven years has been
= ingly effective organization of the forces opposed
freedom in aaa. In an unusual Publisher’s
troduction to “This Happened in Pasadena,” a
okes man for the Macmillan Company writes: “It is
fac that certain forces, vicious, well-organized, and
Idly y calculating, would like to change the face of edu-
a in the United States.” The best-known is the
Council for American Education, run by Allen
. Zoll, who claimed a “‘large part’ in engineering the
sti in 8 of Pasadena’s very competent school super-
endent, Goslin, and referred to “the millions of pieces
E literature we have sent out during the past two and
half years to tens of thousands of molders of public
pinion.”
Zoll’s N. C. A. E. is not alone in its efforts. One
Iso finds the Guardians of American Education, Inc.;
he Institute for Public Service; the Committee on
ucation of the Conference of Small Business Organ-
ations (their publication is Mrs. Lucille Cardin Crain's
Jucational Reviewer) ; the American Education Associa-
on, headed by Milo F. McDonald; the Committee for
Sonstitutional Government, founded by Frank E. Gan-
ett and led by Edward A. Rumely; the American
rents Committee on Education, headed by Merwin K.
Jart; the Church League of America, run by George
Wa: Stn Robnett; the Constitutional Educational
eague, piloted by Joseph P. Kamp, who edited the
sro-Nazi Awakener; the Employers’ Association of
thicago, with Gordon L. Hosteller as executive vice-
resident; the Foundation for Economic Education; the
friends of the Public Schools of America, Inc., under
etired Major General Aros A. Fries; the National
sociation of Pro-America; the Coordinating Com-
nittee ee to Oppose the New Methods of Progressive Edu-
cation; and, of course, such groups as the American
egion’s Committee on Evaluation of Instructional
Aaterials. In addition there are numerous local groups.
A slick scheme has been evolved which usually works
like a charm. A local committee is formed, with promi-
nent names to screen the actual agitator. The starting
point is any dissatisfaction with the*schools, and there
s always plenty to be found. Taxpayer organizations
y yant costs cut down. “Americanism’’ committees want
itexts and teachers purged. Clergymen deplore the “‘god-
* curricula. Employers complain that pupils can’t
, are disrespectful, or don’t work hard enough. Any
1e 28, 1952
Important books on Civil sien ehe issues
EE EOE ee <i
The Troublemakers
by BENJAMIN R. EPSTEIN & ARNOLD FORSTER. Sponsored
by the Anti-Defamation League. Bigotry in America—how it
is organized into a vicious network, directed by professional
rabble-rousers. “A lively and absorbing account of the people
who make a living by selling bigotry and prejudice.’—Senator
William Benton. Just published. $3.50
The Judges and the Judged
by MERLE MILLER, for the American Civil Liberties Union.
Foreword by Rospert E. SHERWOOD. This shocking full-scale
report on black-listing in radio, TV and the entertainment in-
dustries thoroughly investigates Red Channels, Counterattack,
the Jean Muir Case, and “defamation as a commercial enter-
prise.” $2.50
The Fear of Freedom
by FRANCIS BIDDLE. Introduction by Harotp L. Ickes. A
thoughtful, authoritative and highly intelligent book that pours
cold common sense on the current flames of hysteria regarding
un-American activities. ‘“‘A splendid contribution.”—Stuart
Chase. $3.50
At all booksellers DOUBLEDAY
KEEP ABREAST WITH THE TIMES —
Order your copy of
CIVIL RIGHTS
IN THE
UNITED STATES
By Alison Reppy, Dean, N. Y. Law School
PRICE $4.50
This book constitutes the most intensive coverage
ever drawn up concerning the development of civil
rights in the United States.
“One is necessarily impressed by the clarity
and simplicity of this book, as well as the
industry of the writer. Dean Reppy has not
only presented the law, but has provided in-
teresting reading both for laymen and law-
yers. At the same time the legal problems
presented are skillfully analyzed and treated
with a measure of judicial impartiality sel-
dom found in dealing with a subject which is
as inherently controversial as is the subject
of Civil Rights.” ARTHUR GARFIELD HAYS
General Counsel, American Civil Liberties Union
CENTRAL BOOK COMPANY
261 Breadway e New York 7, N. Y.
655
aS nee
ee ee
”
+ elite Enmmjd a
innovation in the school program, redistricting to meet
population shifts, “‘social studies,” sex education, in-
tercultural education, delayed beginning reading, of
study of the United Nations may be played up as an
indication that old-fashioned virtues have been lost.
Local newspapers seize on the charges and counter-
charges, for controversy makes news. Leading citizens
make statements and pressure groups are enlisted. Those
who defend a modern school program are linked with
atheistic comunism. Too often the school administra-
tion, secking to restore harmony at any price, accepts
the dictatorship of the obstreperous minority.
3. Self-censorship.
The third change—increased precaution against any
possible charge of subversion—is a consequence of the
growing prestige and power of the witch-hunters.
A Colorado teacher was advised to discontinue a study
of the Mexican laborers in beet-sugar fields as “too con-
troversial.” A home-economics teacher concluded that
a project in which pupils had tested certain advertised
brands of household appliances would be criticized by
business men and should be dropped. An English teacher
found it wise to remove John Steinbeck’s books from the
literature course. A biology teacher was forbidden by his
principal to continue use of the film “Human Growth.”
A Kansas teacher reports that he interprets the state oath
to mean that “a teacher must be thoroughly sold on the
American system of free enterprise” and must not sup-
port rent control or price control.
While there still are numerous reports of texts being
banned—Frank A. Magruder’s classic, “American Gov-
ernment,” for example, has been dropped by Houston,
Texas, and all Georgia schools—the repressive action
now affects the stage at which books are being prepared.
Publishers take few chances. An editor reported to the
United States Conference on UNESCO in 1952 that
D. C. Heath has been requested by one school board to
omit from its textbooks any reference to the United
Nations Declaration of Human Rights. Manuscripts in-
tended for school texts now must be censored in advance
of publication by the same type of mind which continues
to ban The Nation from New York and Newark school
libraries. Speakers proposed for school conventions are
checked against “Red” indices and only the “safe” ones
are invited. Hence a row such as that raised by trustees
over Professor Harold Rugg’s speech at Ohio State Uni-
versity, or the controversy caused when Red Bank, New
Jersey, canceled its invitation to Professor Theodore
Brameld, or when the Englewood, New Jersey, Board of
Education barred Mary McLeod Bethune, occurs only
when the precautionary process has failed.
4. Faint-hearted defense.
A fourth feature of the present predicament is the
pusillanimity of the fight for educational freedom.
656
- pressure to bar The Nation from the public sclioois ar
. ae ee oa bat r
Earlier attacks upon educational freedom dou
orous and often successful opposition. “Seven state
troduced an oath of allegiance for teachers during
Civil War period, but in five of the seven, cour
attacks led to repeal. The Lusk laws in New York
World War I were met by a fight which forced th
repeal within two years. The “Little Red Rider” it
District of Columbia was thrown out after two ye
Ohio's 1919 oath was wiped off the books in amy
Valiant struggles for educational freedom stil
reported from a few communities—Scarsdale’s embat tt!
citizens, strengthened by a remarkable local newspap'
refused to bow to demands from its one-man “Co
mittee of Ten’’—but instances of successful resistar
are not too numerous. Frequently an effort is mad |
keep some measure of enlightened education by ‘OY
ing to the wolves the most contested part of the prog) pra
—a teacher workshop, a guidance program, a con
troversial book, or any effort at objective study of Sovie
Russia. a
When, in 1949, the House of Representatives om-
mittee on Un-American Activities sent to colleges and
state education boards questionnaires asking for lists o!
textbooks, a number of colleges raised a rumpus, bu
the public-school officials quickly complied. When the
N. E. A. Committee on Tenure and Academic Freedom
recently polled its.400 advisory members (especially
selected because of their concern with educational free
dom) only 168 replied, and of these only 3 per cent
believed teachers should have more freedom.
When charges of dangerous ideas arise they are ne
longer met by the answer that in a democracy we are
not afraid to examine all sides of controversial issues, t
The standard defense is now one which accepts ¢ eB (
totalitarian assumptions of the witch-hunters and merely
insists that no deviant ideas are to be found in the loca i
texts or teachers. This is surrender without a struggle. —
5. Religious controls. ™
A fifth feature of the present disturbed scene is the
growing influence of religion in public education. Be-
tween 1926 and 1950 the proportion of church mem-
bers in the population of the United States rose from 9M
46 per cent to 57 per cent, a change which tips the i
scales noticeably. Parochial schools are expanding. The
because it published Paul Blanshard’s criticisms o£ the so-
cial and political activities of the Roman Catholic church.
In January, 1948, the New York City schouls carr gy
Dr. Bernhard J. Stern, a lecturer in sociology at Col “tom t
bia University, from conducting one session in a tll
shop in Intercultural Education designed as in-service
training for teachers. The official explanation was that
long before, in a pamphlet no longer in prine, Dr. Stern
had been critical of established churches. oe
The Natio
upa peak to He used “ise with the ere
ance to the flag. One regent stated that the
was to be—“only a beginning.” The Supreme
ked to rule on a New Jersey law requiring
ding and the Lord’s Prayer, evaded the issue
t significant ruling (March, 1952) that since
fitioners did not show tangible damage, such as
e f money or property, but claimed merely a viola-
1 of spiritual values, rights, and freedom, they had
‘established a sufficient degree of interest in the
¢ to warrant their suit.
In January 20, 1952, Principal James P. McGeough
East High School, Pawtucket, Rhode Island, sus-
aded one of the student clubs which called itself the
SCO Thinkers. His reason? A charge by a Catholic
© that UNESCO is “under atheistic control.” He
¢ Do herstulated by the local school committee, the
awtucket D. A. R., and the Visitor, organ of the Roman
atholic diocese of Rhode Island. Another school ad-
ini istrator objected when the dramatics club planned
present Arnold Bennett's “The Great Adventure,” in
hich two young parsons appear as somewhat humorous
jaracters. “It would never do, even in a friendly way,
aa members of the clergy,” he said. The play
s rewrittea to make the humorous characters teachers!
x e retreat is not yet a rout. Despite the general ac-
eptance of loyalty oaths, a handful of University of
alifornia professors made a stand which has heartened
ther teachers. The Scarsdale citizens still hold their
Thermopylae. Dean Ernest O. Melby of New York
Jn iversity’s School of Education has warned that free
ducation “tay be destroyed by noisy super-patriots.”
[he Citizenship Education Project conducted at Teachers
ollege, Columbia University, is encouraging high-
chool pupils to study and to practice democratic citizen-
The National Citizens’ Commission for the Public
sdhools, headed by Roy E. Larsen of Time, Inc., has
en ncouraged local groups of business men to give in-
creased study and support to the public schools, wh
results still not wholly clear.
_.The present social context, however, makes the prog-
nosi for the current plague of repression less favorable
1an it would have been in 1876 or 1920. We now live
an economy which extricated itself from its worst
pression only by defense and war expenditures and
vhich depends upon these for continued equilibrium.
| Our world is pervaded by tension between two great
powers, each of which strives to insulate its public
from the influence of the other. Sc many atomic bombs
are mow ready that even the careful, peaceful ob-
ration of them would imperil human health on a
bal scale, The financial burdens in prospect may prove
> heavy even for a wealthy nation. Neither insecure
ers nor an anxious public is likely to be tolerant of
IMPORTANT BOOKS
on Civil Liberties Issues
CONFLICT OF LOYALTIES
Edited by R. M. Maclver, Columbia University
The Hiroshima bombing, limitations on academic
freedom, private profit versus public interest—
these are contemporary examples of actions which
always involve a clash between group loyalties and
personal standards of conduct. In this volume a
distinguished group of scholars characterize the
issues which create moral conflicts, and beyond that,
offer guideposts for making the difficult choice be-
tween opposing loyalties in the numerous conten-
tious issues of our complex society A publication
of the Institute for Social and Religious Studies.
$2.00
CATHOLICISM AND
AMERICAN FREEDOM
by James M. O'Neill, Chairman of the
Department of Speech, Brooklyn College
The important reply to Paul Blanshard’s “Ameri-
can Freedom and Catholic Power,” by a long-time
leader in the American Civil Liberties Union.
“Every reader of the Blanshard books owes it to
himself to read now the O’Neill book. Indeed, this
volume is just about ‘must’ reading for every liter-
ate American — Jew, Protestant and Catholic... I
am bound to write that, on material submitted, sup-
ported and defended in the two volumes, James
O’Neill answers Paul Blanshard.... This volume
renders American freedom and presently our basic
American unity a significant, timely service.”—
DANIEL PoLine, Editor, Christian Herald, $3.50
FREE SPEECH
And Its Relation to Self Government
by Alexander Meiklejohn,
Formerly President of Amherst College
An educator points out the threats to one of our
basic rights which have developed because of fail-
ure to distinguish between freedom of speech in
private affairs and freedom of speech on issues of
social importance.
“This is an important book....I know of no other
work more sorely needed at the present time when
freedom of speech has become part of a creed to
be accepted rather than a threatened principle to
be fought for.”—LAURENCE SEARS, American Civil
Liberties Union News. $2.00
At your bookstore or from
HARPER & BROTHERS
49 East 33rd Street New York 16, N. Y.
657,
SRD ee te es
ee ees ae
Academic Freedom ad Ano %
F ALL the civil liberties currently under attack,
@) perhaps the one most seriously threatened is aca-
demic freedom, It is important, first of all, to recognize
that this latest challenge to the universities cannot be dis-
missed as merely the most recent manifestation of the
anti-intellectual tradition. Nor is it primarily aimed at
campus Communists and radicals. It is directed, rather,
at academic freedom itself: the right to free inquiry and
discussion in the classroom. It demands from the schools
not inquiry, but suppression, not discussion but distor-
tion, not, in short, teaching but indoctrination. And it
will be satisfied, not when the last Communist is exiled
from the schools, but when the last honest seeker after
truth is driven out of education.
Unfortunately, however, the cries of the professional
school-baiters have spread doubt and confusion among
citizens. Many today question the basic tenets of educa-
tion and the essential functions of teachers. Some seri-
ously wonder whether their offspring should be
permitted to spend four impressionable years in the
clutches of a university. If may be useful, therefore, to
set forth the root principles and assumptions of academic
freedom and to examine the threat to our schools.
Few teachers, of course, would argue that freedom to
teach, to paraphrase Justice Holmes, is the freedom to
shout “Fire!” in a crowded classroom, but beyond that
extreme and necessary limit of all freedom, freedom to
teach is restrained only by the obligation to search for
truth. That obligation, in turn, requires full freedom of
discussion in the classroom. The teacher is also entitled
to full freedom in research and in the publication of
results. The student, at the same time, is entitled to
freedom to learn, including the opportunity to read any
book and listen to any speaker. Moreover, since both
teachers and students are citizens, they enjoy the same
rights and have the same obligations as other citizens
when they speak, write, and participate as citizens.
Finally, the rights and obligations of the teacher suggest
that the only legitimate basis for judging him is his
performance as an individual and as a teacher. If there
is any other test, if, in the words of Robert Hutchins,
“we once let go of the Constitution and the law as mark-
ing out the area in which a professor is free to operate
H. H. WILSON, a frequent contributor to The Nation, is
associate professor of politics at Princeton University, author
of ‘Congress: Corruption and Compromise,” and a member
of the Academic Freedom Committee of the American Civil
Liberties Union.
658
~cial privilege for an academic élite, and not a cela h
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BY H. H.WILSO!
as a citizen, and of the ability to think independently
establishing the standard he must meet as a schola
are lost.” ;
We are similarly lost, Hutchins warns, if we abs id
the principle of academic tenure, essentially a device’
insure the teacher's role in society. There can be |
freedom to teach if thinking is subject to the control
alumni, presidents, trustees, regents, or the public, ht
after a probationary period teachers should have pet
manent tenure, with service terminated only for adequate
cause and after proper hearing by fellow-teachers. N
one denies that mistakes may be made, that some in
dividuals may be falsely accused of the ability or th
desire to think. Faculties, however, are better jndees
teaching competence than administrators, politiciaaeaas
pressure groups. ,
But teachers are not the only people who have a vested
interest in academic freedom and tenure. Society a 7
whole benefits when the university can provide it with
the results of research, discussion, and thinking in all
the areas—physical, philosophical, social—that impinge BY
upon human behavior. Primarily, the university “is
center of independent thought,” and “g university
faculty is a group set apart to think independently and te
help other people to learn to do so.” On this assump-
tion, society is not well served unless it receives from
the teacher an honest report of his findings, based on
careful analysis. To the extent that his findings refle
pressure from other men or organizations, or are
fluenced by the prevailing climate of opinion, socie
cheated and weakened. And a society so betraye
society in which men cannot or will not think for the
selves, is a society that will perish. |
By hard experience acquired over hundreds Is
we have learned that only under conditions of comp
freedom, including economic security for the teache
can the university perform its social function. Thanks
to the Neanderthals of our age, it needs to be reempha-
sized that academic freedom is not a luxury, not a spe-
interest of the teacher or university. Rather, academ ic
freedom is.an indispensable requirement of a hea
society. Without it society will cease-to benefit from
discovery, and the university will cease to function
an educational institution. Finally, since education is
absolutely vital to good citizenship in a democracy, to A
attack education is ultimately to attack and under in ‘Ul
democracy itself. ae
The attackers assert that the colleges harbor a.
analyze and suggest. Indeed, the ordinary pressures
a within and without faculties are effective enough
is cours ging fresh thinking, proposals, and hypotheses
bout the nature of society. Characteristically, we have
9 new ideas—or few that can safely be presented—
bout wars and depressions, but are surfeited with in-
vations in treating tropical diseases and splitting the
at com, These discoveries are not unimportant, but equal
ion should be paid to the social sphere. The danger
not that academic freedom may lead to some ques-
ing of the verities but that teachers will fail to
pair academic freedom to the fullest extent in the
pe osin sing of challenging analyses of vital problems.
VU HEN it comes to the point, many of us do not
Vi really believe in education, although as a nation
we have placed great emphasis on something we call
ucation.’’ Thus parents, in general, do not want their
offspring educated; they want them trained, or house-
broken. Students, in general, do not want an education;
th ey want to acquire salable skills and/or degrees. The
najority of teachers do not want to arouse anxiety in
either students or parents; they want to survive, and,
a > often, survival limits the horizons of knowledge
from graduate school to emeritus retirement.
jf BAS a graduate student the would-be teacher is almost
t otally dependent on the judgments of his professors,
judgments which are too frequently entirely subjective.
Then follows the long period of economic insecurity,
punctuated by decisions of senior colleagues, which,
n, may be subjective. By the time the gantlet has
been run, the average teacher has lost the drive and in-
cer sntive to be even remotely interested in challenging the
sta tus quo, and has probably been beaten out of the urge
to do creative thinking and research. Geniuses there are,
but as Robert Hutchins has noted, they “have had a
ard time as professors in America.’’ Most teachers,
vt tites Max Lerner, have lacked “not the freedom to say
something, but something to say... . The safe course is
to be either noncommittal or else the over-emphatic
champion of the possessing groups.” Thus the whole
pro ess constitutes a kind of natural selection by which
+.
the ' safe, the timid, the orthodox—or the indifferent—
erhaps the most effective device for enforcing ortho-
y and discouraging creativity among teachers is the
re from colleagues. The casual phrase, “He is un-
nd,’ or “He is not scholarly,” is often the most
erful and insidious challenge the young teacher has
1952
APPEAL TO AMERICANS
Millions of Negro children in the South
attend schools grossly inferior to schools for
white children.
This situation has had legal sanction,
despite the Fourteenth Amendment, ever
since 1896. In that year the Supreme Court
ruled in Plessy v. Ferguson the doctrine that
segregated facilities could be equal. In his
great dissent, Mr. Justice Harlan assailed the
“separate but equal” idea as a legal fiction,
declaring ‘Our Constitution is color blind.”
The N.A.A.C.P. Legal Defense and Educa-
tional Fund has consistently sought to secure
equal educational opportunities through
scores of actions in the courts. The U. S.
Supreme Court has consented to hear in its
1952 Fall term two cases brought by the
N.A.A.C.P., which squarely question the
right of Kansas and South Carolina to deny
Negro pupils the same public education
furnished to white children without violating
the Constitution.
This is an historic event. These cases
challenge the Court to decide whether Negro
first-graders may be compelled to walk ten
miles to a one-room shanty schoolhouse
while white youngsters are taken by bus to
modern consolidated schools.
The N.A.A.C.P. is leading victorious at-
tempts to utilize orderly court processes to
achieve the promise inherent in democracy.
But legal actions require large expenditures.
Before these two cases can be argued before
the Supreme Court, the N.A.A.C.P. must
secure $25,000 to pay expenses for printing
the necessary trial records and appeal briefs.
The “Committee of 100” has undertaken
to raise this sum within the next two months.
This is an unparalleled opportunity to affirm
that benefits and responsibilities of our
society shall be shared equally by all Amer-
icans, whatever their race, creed or color.
We need your help.
BISHOP FRANCIS J. MCCONNELL
Honorary Chairman
Dr. ALLAN KNIGHT CHALMERS
Chairman
[SERRAMGEI et Cn cee ee rs yet rrr tel
THE “COMMITTEE OF 100
20 West 40th St,, New York 18, N, Y.
I want to support the fight to abolish Jim Crow educa-
tion, and enclose $ toward the $25,000 needed by
the N.A.A.C.P Legal Defense and Educational Fund to carry
this issue up to the Supreme Court
Address Sian
Please male checks payab’s to Allan Knight Chalmers, Chairman
Contributions are dedunible for U. S. Income Tax purposes.
i
i
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eal
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659
“One of the best and most incisive commentaries on our
state of exaggerated apprehension to have appeared.”
—The New Yorker
Civil Liberties
Under Attack
By HENRY STEELE.COMMAGER and others
IX eminent champions of human freedom ex-
amine calmly the spectre of totalitarianism as
it haunts American life today.
“May help to preserve our sanity.” —The Nation.
“A valuable addition to the literature
of protést.""—The Progressive.
“Six bold men...argue persuasively...with
wisdom and wit.”—N. Y. Herald Tribune.
Use this sane powerful book for help in your
arguments, your efforts, your fight to preserve
YOUR American civil rights.
At all bookstores, $3.50
Send for free Brochure of current publications
UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA PRESS
Dept. NS, 3436 Wainut St., Phila. 4, Pa.
WITCH HUNTING UNCONSTITUTIONAL ?
THEN WE'LL FIX THE CONSTITUTION!
This cynical expedient is sought by the
leaders of the witch hunt in California.
» On November 4 California citizens will
vote on two proposed amendments to the
California Constitution. These propositions
(now known as ACA 1 and ACA 9) seek,
two years after its enactment, to establish
the constitutionality of the Levering Act
(California’s “loyalty oath” law). They blue-
print a witch hunt affecting every resident
of the state.
» In California, for the first time in any
state, the people will vote on McCarthyism.
Political leaders everywhere are watching
this fateful choice. The future of freedom
throughout the nation may be decided in the
polling booths of California.
Help Defend the California Constitution
SUPPORT THE FEDERATION FOR
REPEAL OF THE LEVERING ACT
435 Duboce Avenue
San Francisco 17, California
660
believe in education but, as revealed by their literaty ut
a
i tak ‘va one icately by ¢
dent, “the coercion of sound oie gment
university faculty will always be a corrective infh
upon the immature scholar who is inclined to cc
untested findings and half-truths.” “Coercion” is,
deed, the precise term to use, ‘a
Finally, our whole educational system, especially
secondary-school aspect, is only secondarily an in '
tion for encouraging independent thought and for h
ing students learn to think. Partly because it has b
regarded as ‘America’s magic’ and open to alll, :
can education has been primarily a social device, a1
of stamping “Made in America’ on a diverse Deo}
and a means for housebreaking the young. Conseqr ent
it is extremely vulnerable to pressure from those y
believe in indoctrination. a
te
ERNARD DE VOTO once dilassified those «
posed to academic freedom as the simple- ind
nincompoops and the very clear-minded illegitim
A third element should be added: an indifferent sub
composed of those who fail to understand the nature
the educational process and its relation to other’e enti
characteristics of a democratic society. This public fa
to understand the nature of education and the fun mS
of the university has strengthened the hands of the vei Y
clear-minded illegitimates who seek to subvert educati
for their own ends. ae
Let us not delude ourselves. Those who are condu
ing the campaigns today against our schools and colleg
are not misguided. They know perfectly well what the
goal is: to make a mockery of the democratic process
Specifically, I refer to: (1) Senators McCarran an
McCarthy; (2) the (Illinois) Broyles committee; (3) th
(Washington) Canwell committee; (4) the Educi
tional Reviewer, edited by Lucille Cardin Crain for | d
Conference of Small Business Organizations; (5) #
National Council for American Education, Allen A. Zo!
(6) the Church League of America, George Washing
ton Robnett; (7) William F. Buckley, Jr., “God_ar 1
Man at Yale’; (8) all others who adopt the technique
of censorship, repression, and thought conformity f
the solution of contemporary problems in public '¢ educe
tion and elsewhere. a
Let’s face it: these individuals and. groups do 1 nc
and public statements; in indoctrination. Convinced tha
they have the truth, their disagreement with our schoo
and colleges is simply that these institutions do:
indoctrinate and propagandize their truth. Alt
they think that colleges are centers of indoctrinat
they do not really object to that. They intend to 1
certain that it is their particular credo that is in
nated. Using words like “freedom’’ and “individu
but fundamentally authoritarian and anti-democratic, th
The N.
» dan
ren of fee. Cae to follow the first Pied Piper
comes along, they are determined to pick the Pied
ers s. And if they succeed, they will force on all of
their corrupt methods and warped values.
le afe much concerned today about corruption in
uington and elsewhere, but the really significant
ption in American society is not evidenced by gifts
ep freezes or vacation trips, mor even symbolized
the sacrificial slaughter of innocent mink. The really
ificant corruption in America is our willingness to
both our institutions and our ideals, and to dis-
ye in ourselves, in one another, and in the demo-
: process. In this time of crisis, as the normal pres-
es in a conservative society are intensified by the cold
; r, the ptimitive elements among us seek to capitalize
m our individual corruption by manipulating terror,
hy, and distrust. Today they demand control of the
pols; tomorrow they will accept nothing less than
ul power.
ry tHE present international tension makes us dramati-
Bs _ cally aware of the struggle between nations, but
w pein all societies power is moving from ruling groups
> new contenders, and those who wield dominant
ower are mobilizing for a last-ditch stand against any
a enger. It is against this background that the whole
sue of academic freedom must be considered. The
into a nation of mutes and neuters has already produced
ie x 5
AMERICAN education, often a target of attack,
4 now facing perhaps its most serious onslaught of
ellectual vigilantism. The campaign is being waged
every educational level, and its deleterious effects have
de themselves felt not only among teachers and stu-
nts but in the wider arena of the community. Its net
mulative effect is a mood of fear and distrust in col-
lege faculties that has inevitably filtered down to the
. undergraduates, narrowing their traditionally unlimited
| area of thought and inquiry. Yet.nowhere is it more
| important, as Dr. Alvin Eurich, former pint a of the
4N SEIGEL, a New York reporter, won the George
lk Memortal Prize (for education reporting) for a series
ticles in 1951 based on a survey of freedom of thought
Speech on seventy-two major college campuses.
3
Se
Ee ae
a
aS 2
dal Wibieae ot Si AST, The Poe
~ student Doe ered any kind of political action and
a reluctance to write papers on controversial subjects. .
No wonder Time can report that “the most startling
fact about the younger generation is its silence’’; that
intellectually our young people are “a bit stodgy...
mild, and safe,” that they “seem to have no militant be-
liefs. They do not speak out for anything.” The report
concludes: “Many students and teachers blame this lack
of conviction on fear—the fear of being tagged ‘sub-
versive.’ Today’s generation, either through fear, passiv-
ity, or conviction, is ready to conform.”
An even more serious state-of affairs is revealed by
the recent Purdue Opinion Panel Poll of 3,000 students
carefully selected from 15,000 high-school respondents
in all parts of the United States. The poll showed that
49 per cent believe that large masses of the people are
incapable of determining what is and what is not good
for them—a massive rejection of the theory of demo-
cratic government; 75 per cent state that obedience and
respect for authority are the most important virtues that
children should learn; 42 per cent believe that we should
firmly resist any attempts to change the American way of
life; and 58 per cent agree that police may be justified in
giving a man the “third degree” to make him talk.
Clearly, 100 per cent American, native-born authori-
tarianism is already far advanced. It is no figment of
Orwell's imagination that we are becoming, as a nation,
a “captive audience,” slaves of the demigods and dema-
gogues of the status quo. As John Jay Chapman said, “An
age of corruption destroys faith, This is the essential
injury. This is the disease.”
vs Note: The Campus Strait-Jacket
BY KALMAN SEIGEL
University of the State of New York, has said, “to cher-
ish and protect freedom of inquiry, thought, and speech
than on college campuses—the training grounds for
some 2,500,000 future citizens who must understand the
values and responsibilities of democracy.”
The present attack is not a new phenomenon, nor is it~
much different from the general pattern of conformity
that is being forced upon the motion-picture industry,
the stage, radio, and television. It has been gaining im-
petus in the last five years, fed by an unwholesome fear
of subversion that assumes that ignorance of an idea is
the best protection against it.
The current press makes gloomy reading as it details
case after case of interference and pressure from political __
of super-patriotic groups organized as “‘citizens’ commit-
tees.” This meddling by special-interest groups—their
661
ceailcteelinaeadiieg
sudden concern for education cannot be called anything
but meddling by design—has made teachers and students
unwilling to discuss in the classroom such controversial
topics as separation of church and state, communism,
and race relations.
In some instances this intellectual timidity is nothing
tangible; in others it is more definite. Discussions with
students leaders, teachers, and administrators—part of a
survey of seventy-two major colleges made in 1951—
disclosed that among students this trend toward self-
censorship and caution largely took these forms:
1. A reluctance to speak out on controversial issues
in and out of class.
2. A reluctance to handle currently unpopular con-
cepts even in classroom work.
3. An unwillingness to join student political clubs.
4. Neglect of humanitarian causes because they may
be suspect in the minds of politically unsophisticated
officials.
5. An emphasis on lack of affiliation.
6. An unusual amount of serio<omic joking about
this or that official investigating committee ‘‘getting
you.”
7. A shying away, both physically and intellectually,
from association with the words “liberal,” “peace,”
“freedom,” and from classmates with progressive ideas.
8. A concentration on college problems to the exclu-
sion of broader current questions.
While some students say they feel no constraint about
speaking out on controversial subjects, many of them
ptivately admit hesitation to “sound off’ and are cautious
about what they say and where they say it. Among stu-
662
dents who plan careers in in gov -rament tor
; : G (ee ’
- -
és ces Unt . “he A
i
n
there has been a general eecbdince of cor
cause of investigations and loyalty checks. One stud
editor reported that agents of the FBI were constantly
quiring about students who apply for government jot
and that some graduate schools with government-clas
fied projects were extremely leery of accepting studen
who had advocated “unpopular” ideas. The result
been sufficiently. marked to bring from Justice Will
O. Douglas the accusation that youth is “holdi -
tongue” and sitting out the revolt against orthodoxy. —
INCE independence of mind is essential to studen
S in a free society, the growing conformity and tl
limitation of the. areas in which ideas can find free &
pression are negating the business of a university, whic
educators maintain is education by differences of opinion
Students are playing it safe because instructors are doin
likewise. “The willingness of instructors to express | the -
own honest viewpoint,” to quote from one undergradua
paper, “has been slowly ebbing. Evidence in suppo i ¢
this statement cannot be given in black and white. It ca
only be felt in the classroom.” “Girls are becomin
afraid to advocate the humanitarian point of vie
writes Dean Millicent C. McIntosh of Barnard Galley
“because it has been associated with communism. The
most fearless will not be influenced, but the middle grou IP
is made to feel the confusion and fear involved i in t the
‘obscurantism’ that is McCarthyism.” The Barnard | pla
ment director reports that “‘liberal’”’ is a “poisonous word
to many would-be employers, who regard the ° ‘liber
girl” as an “obstructionist” and “organizer against a
ployer interests.” ,
The narrowed areas of free discussion and inquiry.
with their characteristic moral equivocation, are an 0
growth of the developing cold war during the past
years—a half-decade in which demands that tea
sign loyalty oaths, the screening of speakers, visiti
scholars, and graduate students, and the banning of criti
cal texts grew at an alarming rate. The wariness_and
apathy are not solely the product of the current
a ” or as a majority of students and faculty
“the ao generated by Senator Joseph McCartl
of Wisconsin.” This is an important factor, but much g
the wariness and apathy stems from the “times’—
the imminence of the draft, the fear and uncertainty it
national life, and a fatalistic conviction that little
be done on the campus to affect international deve
ments.
The pattern of the attack on American edna
today is quite different from that directed aga
American schools, teachers, and students twenty- five
fifty years ago. The present assault is national in sc
uniform in procedure, and apparently initiated by a
powerful groups. Earlier in the century the a
The}
takes its
_ place in the
language —
and this is
what it means
NCE there was no such word as sandwich.
Until the Earl of Sandwich had the
wonderful idea of putting some fine morsel
between two pieces of bread. Once there was
no such word as thurber, until Mr. James
Thurber thought of a wonderful way of writ-
ing that is humorous and wise and beautiful
and—well, in a word, thurber. His new book,
THE THURBER ALBUM, is the first big thur-
ber book in three years. The definitions we
have underlined in the reviews that follow
will give you some idea of what the new
word means:
THE NEW YORK TIMES: “The gravely quiet prose
becomes as unexpectedly conquering as a secon
time, some person is sure to say of this book “Thur-
ber has done it again.’ So, let’s say it now and get
it over with.”
NEW YORX HERALD TRIBUNE: “‘A picture gallery of
American characters that will fill those of us who are
as old as the century with nostalgic happiness and
¥
will charm the very young as tales of some far off,
fantastic, utterly delightful world. Everything he
mentions I recognize instantly, not by its contours or
its setting, but by the touch of the uncanny, the
blatant impossibility, and the wild humor that in-
orms it all.
CHICAGO SUN TIMES: “What a joy it is to greet this
new collection by wonderful James Thurber, to
savor mellow memories of his boyhood and young
manhood. All is told in Thurber’s individual way,
with tender wit. Thurber at his nostalgic best 1s one
of the delights of our time, and this is Thurber at his
nostalgic best.”
ST. LOUIS POST DISPATCH: “What gives his subjects
the appearance of uniqueness is not the resuk of
imaginative retouching but of his ability to detect
the freshness and uniqueness of personality in every-
body he meets.’ :
THE SATURDAY REVIEW: “Mr. Thurber, more than’
any writer I know of, living or dead, is able to se
within a-single sentence from reality to unreality,
from nonsense to the sublime. He does it by a com-
bination of osmosis and lateral passes. A straight
line through this Album is about the pleasantest
journey I have made in a long, long time.”
THE THURBER ALBUM
By JAMES THURBER. With 59 family snapshots and other photographs.
346 pages. Price $3.50. Simon AND ScHusTER
663,
Pe See Ses eee ert ee eS
4
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.
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,
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a os
eo &
PE ae a wy th ey
3 G BPR
tigd ; er Bret ue yd ae ny t + ie en
were isolated, aan nized and directed gainst
viduals rather than the educational system,
In another area of the war against
munity pressures have affected the teaching of a
affairs in a large number of American comn nite
Congratulations to survey of the nation’s schools during the 1948-49 sch
year by three New York City school teachers under
THE NATION lowships established by the New York Times and
Board of Education showed that community press
made teachers of current events tend to deal 7 "
“safe” subjects, prevented students from getting va
sources of information, and discouraged pupils from p
ticipating in community affairs.
The abridgment of student editorial freedom by y ¢
leges and non-academic authorities has grown in ef
years, with a corresponding increase in instances
political censorship. The Harvard Crimson survey
1951 gave eleven examples of censure of college edite
in the 1950-51 school year alone. In the schoo ye
ending this month the Crimson found fifty-three cases
NATIONAL FARMERS UNION violation of academic freedom in twenty-five of t
nation’s colleges. Another recent development has be
the extension of control over what can be heard an
read outside the classroom; almost every college cz np
has had its case of a banned visiting speaker. As Matthew
Josephson points out in his article on page 619, the
self-appointed pressure groups have also stepped v
their drive against alleged subversive material in text
books. 7
The end is not yet in sight. But a growing awar
BULK ORDERS FOR THIS ISSUE ness of the danger is now manifest, and protests coup ed
with pleas for rededication to the ideals of free ai S-
To enable organizations and individuals cussion are gaining in volume and intensity. The a
to get this special CIVIL LIBERTIES mirable statement of the Board of. Trustees of -
issue into as many hands as possible, Lawrence College in rejecting the demands of cer
we have reduced rates sharply for bulk pressure groups is a case in point. Another is the acti
orders. Fill out the coupon below and of students on the campus of the University of Br
ait zi ne who organized, managed, and financed an all-day co
ence on civil liberties. Many similar instances might
20 oe ere - cited. Prominent members of the educational com m
aes have spoken out boldly against attempts at répres
acannon EE even if not all have been able to match their words
‘
For its special edition on the
vitally important issue of
CIVIL LIBERTIES
1555Sherman Street
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For the enclosed remittance of $ please send — deeds.
me, postpaid, copies of the 64-page CIVIL American education will lose the vigor sae
LIBERTIES issue of The Nation. pendence that have distinguished it from most fo:
. . ducational systems if the present trend to conform:
10 Copies $1.80 50 Copies $8 . y P
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gs unaccustomed conduct, but from those, the m 7
Address ___ us, who take their virtues and their tastes, li ®
City outs State : shirts and their a from the limited p he
(6/28/52 which the market offers. rep
d Formula for Success
AOST observers in Washington believe that con-
fi firmation [for appointive public office] can be
by paying attention to a few simple rules.
these are the following:
sure you are for the things that are going to
ular six or seven years from now.
‘Don’t join anything, ever.
D on’t let your wife join anything, either.
Don't get involved in foreign-affairs questions at
£ you can help it. If you can’t help it, back the
e Doctrine and the Open Door Policy and be
ist communism.
if f you must have political convictions about foreign-
questions—which is not recommended—make
re that the President sends your nomination to
;. Hill at a time when your convictions are
eeepicious of the British. And if you know what
yt yp to today in northern Rhodesia, all the bet-
. Don't write books.
. Master various clichés that are popular on Capitol
J 1, including the following:
I am for adequate defense, but we must not
per d ourselves into bankruptcy.
b. am for helping other countries, but they must first
rove that they are helping themselves.
c. America cannot defend the whole world.
d, Communism is merely socialism in a hurry, and
I hate both from the depths of my soul.
-e. I am ngt and have never been a Communist or
ember of any Communist front organization.
. If possible, be Irish. This pleases Senator Pat Mc-
tran, Democrat, of Nevada.
10. Keep up with the Senate's favorites. A word of
aise on your behalf by Bernard M. Baruch, for ex-
ple, is worth maybe forty votes. Similarly, if you have
riends who are unpopular on Capitol Hill, abandon
of, better, denounce them publicly.
. Glorify the days when we had no entangling al-
. This proves you are a “sound fellow,” longing
r the happy sunlit past.
2 . Stay out of the Far East. If you go there, you
be expected to have views on it, and somebody is
id to disagree with any views you have. Ignorance
it, however, is no disqualification.
. If possible have at least one reformed Commu-
testify on your behalf, preferably Louis Budenz, for-
itor of the Daily Worker.
Never accept any invitation to any off-the-record
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665,
Civil Liberties Reading List
‘A Check-List of Books Published Since January, 1950
(HE TENNEY COMMITTEE. Legislative Investigation of
Subversive Activities in California, Cornell University
Press. $5.
THE LOYALTY OF FREE MEN. By Alan Barth. Viking.
$3.
THE FEAR OF FREEDOM. By Francis Biddle. Doubleday,
$3.
CII*IL RIGHTS IN AMERICA. Edited by Robert K. Carr.
The American Academy of Political and Social Science,
Philadelphia.
DOCUMENTS ON FUNDAMENTAL HUMAN RIGHTS.
Edited by Zechariah Chafee, Jr. Harvard. Pamphlet 1, $3.
Pamphlet 2, $4.
LOYALTY AND LEGISLATIVE ACTION. A survey of
Activity by the New York State Legislature, 1919-1949,
By Lawrence H. Chamberlain. Cornell. $4.
CIVIL LIBERTIES UNDER ATTACK, By Henry Stecle
Commager, Robert K. Carr, Zechariah Chafee, Jr.,
Walter Gellhorn, Curtis Bok, and James P. Baxter III.
Pennsylvania. $3.50.
UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN THE STATE OF
WASHINGTON. The Work of the Canwell Committee.
By Vern Countryman. Cornell. $5.
CHARACTER ASSASSINATION. By Jerome Davis. Philo-
sophical Library. $3.
SET CONGRESS FREE!
“CONGRESS HAS BECOME A HOSTAGE OF ITS OWN CREATURE—THE HOUSE UN-AME]
CAN ACTIVITIES COMMITTEE. It is afraid to arrest the Committee’s mad course.”
—Ex-Attorney General Francis Biddle in “The Fear of Freedon
WE DID NOT ELECT CONGRESSMEN TO BE JUDGES!
Yet the House Committee has usurped powers of the judi-
ciary, fastening on citizens the stigma of guilt without due
process of law.
It ereated and sustains a nationwide hysteria through the
un-American doctrines of GUILT BY ACCUSATION AND
GUILT BY ASSOCIATION
It fosters UcParthyisth:
It outrages the American sense of fair play and morality.
THE PEOPLE CAN DO IT
RETIRE YOUR CONGRESSMAN if he is a member of the _
House Un-American Activities Committee.
Martm Dies, knowing his district, did not choose to run
again.
J. Parnell Thomas was retired by way of a felony conviction.
Voters have ended the careers of other committee members.
Make membership on the Committee a political “hot seat.”
For further information write:
CITIZENS’ COMMITTEE TO PRESERVE AMERICAN FREEDOMS a
6513 HOLLYWOOD BOULEVARD
Your check for the support of the pioneering work of the Committee will be welcomed.
666
ny i. ioe ef [Cr ’ he w?
° ™=* S +
should be wholly abolished.”
rs py r
7
a
ey rs r c Le , 7)
x Sa:
THE TROUBLE-MAKERS. An ‘ape
Report. By Arnold Forster and "Benja min | H. Ef
Doubleday. $3.50. ee
SECURITY, LOYALTY, AND SCIENCE. By Walt
horn. Cornell. $3. ;
THE SPIRIT OF LIBERTY. Papers and Addres ses
Learned Hand. Collected, and with an Introductior
Notes, by Irving Dilliard. Knopf. $3.50. i:
THE INVESTIGATING POWERS OF CONGRESS
piled by Julia E. Johnsen. The Reference Shelf. Vi
No. 6. H. W. Wilson. $1.75. >
THE LEGACY OF SACCO AND VANZETTI. B
Louis Joughlin and Edmund M. Morgan. Harcourt, E
$6. ;
CONFLICT OF LOYALTIES. Edited by R. M. Mac
Published by the Institute for Religious and Social St
Distributed by Harper. $2. .
WITCH HUNT: THE REVIVAL OF HERESY. By Cai
McWilliams. Little, Brown. $3.50.
CRISIS IN FREEDOM: THE ALIEN AND SED
ACTS. By John C. Miller, Atlantic Monthly Press Box
Little, Brown. $3.50. Won:
THE JUDGES AND THE JUDGED. By Merle Mille
Foreword by Robert E. Sherwood. Doubleday. $2.50. —
CIVIL RIGHTS IN THE UNITED STATES, By # lis
Reppy. Central Book Company. $4.50. e
FREEDOM AND CULTURE. Compiled by cca
troduction by Julian Huxley. Columbia University.
It nullifies Amendments 1, 5 and 6 of our Constitution.
It has cost taxpayers $1,627,500 without constructive legis -)
tive results. E
F. D. R. called the Committee “sordid, flagrantly unfalr & and
n-American.”’
The AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION, long ago,
—“Nothing is so un-Ameriean as the Committee’s own aetiv
. There ean be no compromise with the conclusion
CALIFORNIANS POINT A WAY! ' bc
A representative Citizens’ Committee has held three en List
siastic rallies, circulated briefs calling for the quashing of a
poenas seryed upon doctors and lawyers, and is arranging f
publie meeting to honor all ealied.
A series of three ads exposing the reeord of the Hou
mittee is ready for publication before the next “heari
Logs Angeles.
Through ads in community papers and by special camp:
leaflets assistance ig given voters in retiring House Comini
Congressmen.
the
ike
LOS ANGELES 28, CALIFORNIA
| dine
OW. FREE IS YOUR TOWN? —
the American Civil Liberties
The Nation asked the various
pstie for publication here, and
hope to print others later—THE
o
Pittsburgh
| present-day search for security
ainst subversion has resulted in
or many American citizens in the Pitts-
gh area. Alleged Communists have
dismissed from their positions with-
Bega for actual security interests.
te violinists in the Pittsburgh Sym-
ony, suspected Communists have felt
he ic repercussions of the spirit
o! f the times.
Em his attitude extends to non-Com-
ist individuals with liberal or non-
\formist political beliefs. Personnel
gets of large industrial concerns,
‘the most part politically unsophisti-
ed and unable or unwilling to dis-
guish between Communists and lib-
, tend to avoid trouble by denying
employment ¢o all whose ideas do not
fall into the prevailing political pattern
—particularly in the field of scientific
es earch. Especially suspect are mem-
ders of minority groups, including
groes, Jews, and persons of Russian
outhern European background.
_ Only occasionally is it possible to pro-
tect the jobs of those who are attacked
their liberal beliefs. Last year a suc-
ul fight was made to reinstate
mun
tor ey Mrs. Marjorie Matson, the
al representative of the non-Commu-
| American Civil Liberties Union,
OS Charles J. Margiotti.
The economic pressure for political
odoxy has further expressed itself
almost universal acceptance, by
hool teachers et government em-
the
der a 1951 statute. Not one case of re-
fusal to take the oath has occurred in the
Pittsburgh District.
As the spirit of conformity has spread,
liberal organizations have, for the most
part, lost their backbone. Nowadays,
even when a clear-cut issue arises, it is
almost impossible to get united com-
munity action. Organizations are afraid
to work with others for a common ob-
jective lest at some later date a cooper-
ating group might be “labeled.” A
minimum of collective action in the
field of civil rights has been preserved
through the Allegheny County Council
on Civil Rights, which includes more
than forty non-Communist civic groups.
Surprisingly enough, the pervasive
fear which casts a shadow over liberal ac-
tivity has not prevented progress from
being made in the field of race rela-
tions. Under the leadership of the
Mayor's Civic Unity Council, increased
employment and recreational oppor-
tunities have been made available to
Negroes. The summer of 1948 saw riots
at a city swimming pool when inter-
racial swimming was attempted. A firm
stand on the part of the city administra-
tion, plus intensive but quiet activity
on the part of church groups and others,
is opening public facilities to all com-
ers on an equal basis, and we no longer
anticipate serious trouble. A local
F. E. P. C. ordinance may be passed
this year,
In the field of political activity, sus-
picion and caution are the watchwords,
Only in the most intimate groups are
politically divergent ideas freely ad-
vanced. Public discussion is circum-
scribed by the fear that an inadvertent
statement may result in a listing as a
“subversive’’ by such local guardians of
conformity as Americans Battling Com-
munism or the Minute Women.
At the University of Pittsburgh re-
cently, all campus political organizations
were banned. Protests brought sufficient
relaxation of the rule to permit estab-
lishment of Republican and Democratic
clubs.
On the other hand, when the Minute
Women attempted by a smear cam-
paign to prevent Dr. George S. Counts
from speaking at ‘Carnegie Tech,
Chancellor Warner spoke up in defense
. program,
of academic freedom and Dr. Counts
delivered an address in defense of dem-
ocratic freedom of inquiry as opposed
to totalitarian (including Communist)»
conformity.
Despite discouraging aspects, it seems
possible that things are looking up
a little for civil liberties in the Pitts-
burgh area. Liberal Democrats in local
political offices have minimized rather
than contributed to the hysteria of the
times. Mayor David L. Lawrence has
spoken out courageously in the Matson
case and on other civil-rights issues. A
number of office holders in the area are
members of Americans for Democratic
Action.
The most serious damage to civil
liberties has come from the Congres-
sional investigations, the federal loyalty
and the state loyalty act.
The Jast, not content with exacting an
oath, provides in addition a procedure
for dismissal of government employees
on loyalty charges. These influences still
predominate and will continue so long
as international tension remains una-
bated. May 21
Chicago
HAT has the current witch hunt
done to civil liberties in Chicago? —
In the first place, it has made it much
more difficult to answer that question.
The Communist Party is underground,
The other parties of the left are but a
whisper.
We find ourselves in a political night-
mare. The times call for thoughtful and
creative citizenship. The two major par-
ties deal in invective instead of issues.
The only other party visible is the Pro-
gressive Party, which seems to be a fig-
ment in the imaginations of a few die-
hard members.
The citizenry knows nothing of the
federal loyalty program beyond the fact
of its existence. How many it has af-
fected in Illinois is unknown. In the
early phases only government workers
were under its jurisdiction. Now the
program has moved out into private
industry. Of the many cases that have
come to our attention, all have been
“cleared.”” “Cleared” after months of
misery. ‘‘Cleared’’ after the neighbors
have been interrogated by “agents.”
667,
on ere
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THE READERS’ SERVICE DIVISION
New York 7, N. Ye
“Cleared” to ebout the same degree as
the person who returns home from the
mental hospital with a statement attest-
ing his sanity. Nothing has appeared in
the press to substantiate the claim that
we are gaining ‘‘security.”
The result is the frightening abandon-
ment by the accused of participation in
anything that might be considered to be,
or likely to be, controversial. Those who
know of the fate of their fellow-em-
ployees follow suit. In the end there
is the silence of fear and compliance.
What can we know of the ultimate
results ?
In the Chicago area particularly or-
ganizations are springing up which aim
at providing the “Pasadena treatment”
for the schools. The diatribes of Allen
Zoll and Lucille Crain are circulating in
quantity, along with local productions
similar to How Red Is the Little Red
School House? To date, there have been
no overt restrictions of primary- and
secondary-school teachers, but the cloud
of accusation lowers. Colleges and uni-
versities are noticeably sensitive to
charges of unorthodoxy.
The 1951 record of the numerous
“anti-subversive” bills in the legislature
is perhaps the most revealing index
of the state of civil liberties in Illinois,
and has implications of national sig-
nificance. In January of 1951 we were
told by those presumably in the know
that there wasn’t a chance of stopping
passage of at least several of these bills.
It was said that no politician would
dare vote against them.
The American Civil Liberties Union
developed the first state-wide, all-out
campaign against this kind of legislation.
Members of the legislature were sen-
sitive to our problem but feared the
political consequences of opposition.
They were willing to vote against the
bills if “a few substantial constituents”
asked them to do so; we were able to
obtain the requests. }
Only one bill, a revised version of
Maryland’s Ober law, passed the legis-.
lature. The measure had a comfortable
margin, but when Governor Stevenson
vetoed it he was supported by about
forty reputable organizations and seven-
teen of the nineteen newspapers in Illi-
nois that had taken an editorial position
on the legislation. Those who hoped the
veto would injure the Governor were
disgusted to learn that the Executive
Mansion had more mail on this vet
than on any other matter during the ses-
sion; twenty-five letters favored the vete
for every one that opposed at.
In spite of the serious interracial p
lems in Chicago, where the Negro p
ulation is growing at the rate of
a year, the record of late indicates p
ress. Certainly there is better org
zation of effort in the minority-fi
field than ever before.
We have in varying degrees all ¢
symptoms of the anti-Commui ist
hysteria that the rest of the co 4
knows. We have the rash of organiza
tions and publications that spring up to
flay public opinion with violent pre-j
dictions of socialist doom—characterized
by an appallingly short memory of th
state of the nation in the thirties.
We have our share of bellowing
patriots who pronounce such people 4
Gypsy Rose Lee unfit for radio and
television because they have been “cited”
by the Un-American Activities Commit-§
tee. We have not had much of the?
organized industry censorship typified
by the Jean Muir case in New York.
May 27
ob-
Ss #8
=
=
s &
—
Baltimore
ARYLAND’S contribution to the |
national witch hunt is the notori-
ous Ober law, which was finally ac-~
cepted by the state in a referendum
held on November 7, 1950. The law
has three prongs: it requires a loyalty ;
oath of public employees; it requires
a loyalty affidavit of candidates for pub-
lic office; it provides fines and im-
ptisonment for individuals convicted of |
acting with intent to alter the con-}
stitutional government by unlawful /
means, and for membership in or con-—
tributions to a domestic or foreign sub- |
versive organization.
To date no one has been accused or
prosecuted under the third provision.
The loyalty-oath requirement has re-
sulted in the dismissal of five persons, ©
four of whom are members of the So-
ciety of Friends and are as conscien- ~
tiously opposed to force and violence ©
as they are to loyalty oaths. The indi- ~
viduals are Dr. Miriam Brailey, former —
director of the bureau of tuberculosis
of the city Health Department; Miss
Doris Shamleffer, formerly a personnel —
examiner in the State Department of —
Employment and Registration; Miss |
ete E
The Nation”
ore; Miss Vera
eleased from their jobs only be-
AUSE | hey could not in conscience sign
ath which in itself impugns their
rity.
malty. for candidates for public
kept the names of two Progressive
candidates off the ballot in 1950.
g for governor and member of the
ouncil, respectively, refused to
the affidavit.
ylanders are not convinced that
law offers them sufficient pro-
‘ion coin subversives. To make
ly sure, the legislature enacted this
_@ measure requiring the dis-
tment of any lawyer found to be a
member of an organization which is
> randed subversive under the Ober law.
TI he bill carried the indorsement of the
Balti more bar, which passed a resolution
asking for its passage without a dis-
senting vote. After the mecting some
of the lawyers confessed shamefacedly
that the overwhelming shouts of “Aye”
it impossible for them to vote
heir own convictions.
The University of Maryland felt the
force of anti-Communist feeling in Au-
gust, 1950, fwtien. at the request of
sovernor Lane, the administration can-
ee a scheduled debate between Philip
Prankfeld, then chairman of the Com-
Party in Maryland, and an Aus-
, Mr. S. C. Schwartz. The debate
‘on the subject Is Communism a
end of America?
a yland’s best-known controversial
onality is Professor Owen Lattimore
the Johns Hopkins University. In
ch, 1951, following his clearing
the Tydings subcommittee in the
enate, he was asked to speak to the
United Nations Youth Club at City
College, one of the Baltimore high
ols. At the request of the American
on, the City Council passed a reso
by a vote of thirteen to six
ting the Board of School Commis-
rs to. cancel the speech. Because
ofessor Lattimore had never been
wand guilty of disloyalty by any te-
°S be
eke
NadEe
m ani :
- sioners ed t to ead, Riidance:
at the lecture was voluntary, but about
2,000 students were present.
More recent hearings by Congres-
sional committees, with Professor Latti-
motre-as target, have increased the feeling
against him. Some pressure has been
brought on the Johns Hopkins Board
of Trustees to dismiss him, The board
- has declared that it will not condemn
him before his disloyalty has been es-
tablished by a responsible group.
Six confessed Communists, including
Philip Frankfeld, were recently con-
victed in Baltimore under the Smith act.
The Maryland Civil Liberties Commit-
tee filed an amicus curiae brief with the
trial court, and will file another on the
appeal, questioning the law’s power to
inflict punishment for advocating or con-
spiting to advocate overthrow of the
government,
Picketing to enforce blacklisting has
just appeared on the Baltimore scene.
The following item was printed in the
Baltimore Sun of May 20, 1952:
The American Legion last night began
picketing the Stanley Theater because
José Ferrer, star of the current film
“Anything Can Happen,” is on the Amer-
ican. Legion’s blacklist.
Daniel Burkhardt, State Adjutant of
the Maryland Department of the Legion,
said Mr. Ferrer is one of twenty-five
actors or entertainers blacklisted by the
Legion on grounds of “questioned loy-
BIEY) Sie ian,
During a conference with Rodney Col-
lier, manager of the theater, Mr. Burk-
hardt suggested that Mr, Collier buy the
book “Red Channels.”
May 21
Los Angeles
ee dangerous drift toward repres-
sion is nowhere more evident than
in Southern California. It takes its line
from the procedures of the House Un-
American Activities Committee. Pros-
tituting the purposes of legislative
investigation, the committee has created
and sustained a nation-wide hysteria, in-
tensified in California by the Tenney
committee’s-imitation of its worst prac-
tices. In the movie industry, particularly,
-the committee has been an efficient
wrecker of morale and production as
well as of constitutional principles. Its
first major victims were the “Hollywood
Ten,” whom future generations may
recognize as protectors of our Bill of
1. THEORIES OF SURPLUS
VALUE
By Karl Marx. Selections from the fourth
volume of Capital, dealing with the theories
of Adam Smith, Ricardo, and the Physio-
crats. Translated from the German by
Emile Burns. $4,00
2. ATOMIC IMPERIALISM
The State, Monopoly, the Bomb
By James S. Allen. A detailed and thor-
oughly documented study of how the large
corporations have moved into the atom-
mb business and control atomie diplo-
macy. $3.26
3. The Life and Writings of
FREDERICK DOUGLASS
By Philip S. Foner. Volume 8: THE CIVIL
WAR, The latest volume in the widely ac.
claimed four-volume collection of Douglass”
articles, speeches and letters with a full
scale biographical section, ‘‘Puts all Amer=
ica under deep obligation.”—Dr, W. E. B.
Du Bois. Vol. 1 Karly Yeara, $4.50; Vol. 3
The Pre-Civil War Decade, $5.00; Vol, 8
The Civil War, $4.50
4. HOW MUSIC EXPRESSES
IDEAS
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ZONE__ STATH______N
669
r
Rights. More recently it has heightened
tension by inducing “friendly witnesses”
to brand as Communists friends and as-
sociates of long standing. A spokesman
for the committee is reported to have
boasted that when the twice postponed
second meeting of the committee is held
in Los Angeles there will be ‘‘the great-
est parade of witnesses in the commit-
tee’s history.” To a long list of movie
people on whom subpoenas were served
have been added nearly fifty lawyers
and doctors identified with liberal
causes.
Forced to resign from the California
Senate committee, through which he
discredited the state, Jack B. Tenney
is reported to have acted as consultant
in drafting loyalty-oath legislation for
the Los Angeles Board of Education,
the County Board of Supervisors, and
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ie *< ‘eo Pee me aw‘
eave — ue a, a f
- ets i ee &
tne Cty Coun. Th lp oath i pees ees whe wht
posed by its regents on the University of
California, and found unconstitutional
by the Appellate Court, was the direct
result of years of sniping at university
teachers by the Tenney committee.
An attempt was also made to enact
legislation requiring an “oath of re-
nunciation” from the thousands of men
and women, including doctors and
lawyers, whose livelihood depends on
a state license. The sudden awakening
of professional groups blocked the
scheme. However, the Levering act, re-
quiring a test oath before a check can
be issued in payment for services in any
branch of government, was passed. Re-
cently a mother was compelled to sign
an oath on behalf of a three-year-old
child who had posed for a junior-college
art class for a total of four hours.
To the considerable army of govern-
ment workers subjected to this cloud of
suspicion must be added the much larger
number of workers in industry. Being
in defense production, employees of
airplane plants and the many smaller
factories which furnish parts have to
undergo federal “loyalty” procedure.
Private racketeers make a good living
not only by keeping gullible business
men “informed” on the Communist
menace but by negotiating private con-
tracts to ‘‘screen’’ employees. An Amer-
ican Legion post is supplying movie em-
ployers with its own private list of more
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A
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thinks should be feed, &
of ‘icon has Been: GOT ilty o
offense against the government,
Civil liberties are being 3 stifled
this atmosphere of repression. “Patria
in government and industry are, in
words of President Truman, a
away at our basic freedoms just
insidiously and far more effectively ¢
Communists have ever been able to d
Minority rights—political, racial,
economic—suffer increasingly; af
Semitism finds fertile soil; Negro hoi
are bombed; expressions of concern {
democratic brotherhood are denounc
as communistic; social-welfare projec
are labeled “creeping socialism.” Ev
in the churches attempts are mad e
bar fully accredited ministers lll
long lay Bible teachers because che
names “appear in the Tenney reports
Caution, silence, and subservience ;
getting to be a habit with the citizens of
Southern California. June 2
4
Detroit o
ies year the principal attacks on
civil liberties in this area were as
follows: 4 ‘
1. The one-man grand jury recreated
by the legislature denied counsel to wit-
nesses inside the jury chamber, thus con-
firming the fears of the American
Liberties Union, which had urged Gor )
ernor Williams to veto the measure on J)
the ground that the Circuit Court ju
could not be trusted to enforce
liberties safeguards. ee
2. An act was passed authorizing # he
Secret State Police to open the sup-
posedly secret records of the State Ba
Association for the purpose of disc#plin-
ing allegedly subversive lawyers.
3. The so-called Trucks bill outl
ing the Communist Party was apple ed
the Secretary of State to all “socialist
political parties.” The ballot was the
cleared of all minority parties.
4, An attack by the House Un-At
can Activities Committee on L
of the United Automobile Work
ceeded in replacing its militant
with persons more in harmony wit
international administration.
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@ Tennis, ping-pong, shuMeboard
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@ Honeymoon cabin
@ Summe: theatre and dance festival near
Write Diana & Abe Berman, Brandon, Vt.
HARRITON’S FOREST & STREAM
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_.. continental cuisine, Write for booklet-—
R. D. No. 1, Cresco, Penn. Phone: Mt.
Pocono 6511.
SUMMER RENTAL
BUNGALOW, 1100 ft.
above sea level,
rivate, beautiful view; 5 rooms and garage.
Bane: CI 6-7469 or Cold Spring 5-3854.
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Now! The most glorious of all
SPRINGTIME VACATIONS!
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HATHAWAY LODGE fiche: gTannorville, 298
50 Miles to FOREST HOUSE
Near enough for easy travel, far enough for an
unforgettable vacation, Forest House achieves
new levels of gay relaxation in inspiring sur-
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cordial hospitality. Two grand lakes. All sports,
FOREST wHouse
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we. Mayavastc | a |
oa eel eatin
Phone 6-7000
A resort of distinction offering
relaxation and recreation in the
modern manner. Outdoor activy-
ities, tennis, water sports on
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RATLS MODHRATE.,
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Evening FORUM, July-August, SPEAKERS
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Charming Watate * Limited to 90 © Pollen free
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Special Bachelor Club Rate * Fine Food
N. Y. Office: 250 W. 57th St. Circle 6-6386
Reduced Ratos to July (2th Louls A. Roth, Dir,
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KENOZA LAKE ¢ NEW YORK
A delightful, peaceful resort for adults and
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SPECIAL RATES FOR FAMILIES AND EX-
TENDED VACATIONS. Write for Booklet B.
SMALL COTTAGE, twin beds, private
bath, weekends or vacations. Meals. Quiet,
secluded. Two hours New York. Write, Ruth
Graeter, Sherman, Conn., or telephone New
Milford, Elgin 4-7216.
Informal
Adult
resort
that is
"different"
On Schroon Lake
Pottersville, N, Y.
Season-Long Festival of MUSIC & DANCH
Arthur Sherman, Dir,, Jules & Anita Adolphe, Adriene
Angel, Pat Brooks, Bob Fitzgerald, Howard Fried,
Allegro Kane, Guest Artists for Special Pyents,
Lee Evans & Band ¢ Cosy Bar ¢ Excellent Yood
All Sports—Private Beach, Boating, Canoeing
5 Championship Clay Tennis Courts
Low June Rates « Honeymoon Cottases
NY. Office: 142 Montague Street, Brooklyn 2, N. Y¥,
Phones: MAin 4-8570 or MAIn 4-1230
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672
Crossword Puzzle Ne AN
BY FRANK W. LEWIS 4
CT ae
epee ee
Pi es
fe i
ee gl
ACROSS
1 Sounds like the capacity of a list,
but it means someone has to act
“unselfishly”? (5, 2, 8)
9 One’s opinion of postcards? (5)
10 The sort of herald that follows Tom
into church? (9)
11 Gains strength from conventions,
perhaps. (7)
12 Franklin kidded the English by re-
ferring to the grand leap of the
whale up this. (7)
13 Hoped to return home to the animals
after a time? (7)
14 This indicates you should get beat
fast. (7)
16 See 19 across.
19 and 16. Your standing in it might
determine your chances of getting
into hot water! (5, 2, 3, 4)
21 Suggested a statement an oar could
make. (7)
23 Rumbles like death, according to
Shelley. (7)
24 Mes cook-and-bottle-washer?
)
25 Does this girl measure about ae 1/12
inches? (5)
26 Several rooms for the opener of
Brazil, for example? (10, 5)
DOWN
1 Is a tricky stop never very poor?
(7-8)
2 Headquarters of the Bicycle Bri-
gade? (Your parking difficulties
might increase in meee ren to it.)
(9)
requests to Puzzle Dept.,
re eS a
rt Se
Eo eee
BHoEhEE
Sl | Lae
ee
coh
15
a6,
18
19
20
22
ACROSS :—1 FOLLOW-THROUGH; 9m,
RUMOR; 10 ANGELFISH; 11 ICEBOAT: 12
TROPICS; 13 DRINK; 14 DESPERATE; 16.
NEGATIVES; 18 TUTTI; 19 REPEALS;
BACKLOG; 22 INTESTATE; 23 IMAGO; 24
IN THE MEANTIME. ‘
re hae
bide
a,
_
ie te
a
a =
=
Sea aneannEaaa aman ae 7
3 Shakespeare referred to this bear as
rugged. (7)
Concentrated. (7)
“Bottomless love’ would certai
not be descriptive of her temporary
state. (7) a
Is it singular for workman’s clothes
i go from one extreme to the other?
)
Bellini’s opera is little less than
ordinary. (5) "
With such a notary fee, cancel
meeting to agree upon voting pro
cedure. (5, 10)
This patriot is rather vulgar at
heart. (9)
Entrance her, but get excited if all
this. (7) ;
This could be very pleasurable. (7) ) YF
Verbose remark. (7)
They might put the polish on you
shoes. (7)
Is this sort of jury mean? (5)
SOLUTION TO PUZZLE No. 470
DOWN :—1 FORBIDDEN FRUIT; 2 LUM- Mi
BERING; 3 OARLOCK; 4 TOAST; 5 RIGHT e
ISTS; 6 UNLOOSE; 7 HAITI: 8 WHISPER.
ING HOPE;
KALI; 17 TRANSIT; 18 TACTION; 20 PAT:
Fi;
Readers are invited to send for a free copy of Mr. Lewis's
The Nation, 20 Vesey Street, New York 7, New York.
14 DEVASTATE; 15 ANTAL.
21 BREVHE.
“ground rules.’ Address
ic e William O. Douglas has said, ‘‘Tyranny is the same, whatever mask it wears.'’ We agree, and
d that all tyranny, all authoritarianism, endangers the principal achievement of American civili-
the rights of the individual established in our Bill of Rights.
ni ‘issue of The Nation there is evidence of the loss of the liberties which Americans in the past
> been willing to fight and die to maintain.
ou belong to a group which is insisting on the American principle of individual freedom, the right
lissent, the right to assemble freely and to petition freely, the right to travel abroad and the right
ngage in political activities—then you are loyal—loyal to the best interests of the American people.
ou shake your head and say, “What can | do about if?"’ you have already surrendered to America’s
st enemy—authoritarianism! We still have the right to act and we must do so if we are to preserve
nocracy and liberiy. Do something!
Emergency Civil Liberties Committee was organized in 1951 by a group who felt that not enough
being done to expose the forces which are trying to take away your freedoms and ours. We feel
it this is the essential fight for American democracy and American security. Write us for details of
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L, LEHMANN, Chairman JAMES IMBRIE, Secretary-Treasurer CLARK FOREMAN, Director
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poklyn, N. Y. CAREY McWILLIAMS, Editor and author, New York City
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TO IMPLEMENT—through legal action and educational campaigns
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more: Single copies of any or all of #
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19.
81.
41.
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Chairman, Board of Di
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General Co an
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Executive Di
=~
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